Helpful Score: 7
Beautifully written and translated from Turkish. It is about a poet who returns to his homeland -- an area subject to invasion from all sorts of neighboring governments and regimes. The language itself is pure poetry. The aching of the characters is clear throughout. Excellent book. I'm better for having read it.
Helpful Score: 5
I really hated to give up, but I just couldn't hang in there any longer. Just when I was beginning to think maybe I was catching on, I''d move on to the next paragraph only to discover I was just as lost as I'd been a few pages before. On the other hand, there was something magical and dreamlike about the way I kept getting drawn into the narrative which is why I kept reading even though I was totally bewildered (much like being in a dream.) And I very much liked the way Pamuk kept using the image of the snow that kept falling and falling and falling so tranquilly while at the same time so much violence was taking place. That being said, I have a hard time sticking with books that make me feel uncomfortable about not being able to understand what's going on. And this was definitely one of those books. It made me feel like I needed someone much more clever and erudite than I to give me some hints. I guess I'm getting to old to spend my time trying to figure out books that baffle me. There are are too many other ones waiting on my TBR list.
Helpful Score: 5
This is a beautifully written book, with a flowing, poetic style. The fact that it's translated from Turkish speaks to the skill of the translator. It will pull you in to the story and open your eyes to a completely different city, culture, and political system. This may be the best book I've read this year.
Helpful Score: 3
I found this book fascinating. It gives an interesting view of modern-day Turkey and the conflict between religion and nationalism. Beautifully written.
Helpful Score: 3
This was a difficult but important read. The book exposed me to Turkish life and culture--not something we read a lot about here in the U.S.
Helpful Score: 2
I wasn't able to finish this book as I picked it up at an airport bookstore and thought I would read it while on vacation but while the writing was well done, the whole tone was too dreary.
I really enjoyed this book. Not only is it lyrical and allegorical, it is a great glimpse into Turkish culture. Also a glimpse into the heart of a terrorist and religious fanatic. How do people cope in a totalitarian society? "The silence of snow" which covers everything and makes even the most horrible things disappear. How do people love and go on in the face of horrible oppression? Who is truly corrupted? How do human frailties get forgiven by themselves and by others? Raises many questions and looks at them through a non-Western lens.
Helpful Score: 2
After reading about Orhan Pamuk and his outspoken criticism of the Armenian massacre in Turkey, I was interested to read his work. This novel is an intriguing (and semi-autographical) story about the issues faced by contemporary Turks.
Helpful Score: 1
I really felt like this book must have lost something in translation. I found it dreadfully boring and was barely able to finish it. For a character who was supposedly a poet, he seemed to be in desperate need for a thesaurus as it seemed like the same words were used over and over to describe his loneliness and love for Ipek. So I've got to hope the book was better in the original language.
I've never NOT finished a book and that's the only thing that kept me from literally tossing it into a recycle bin before finishing. I wasn't part of the PBS site when I finished this book and haven't been able to locate it since I read it. I thought I only dreamt of throwing it into the trash upon completion, but apparently, it wasn't only a dream as the book is mysteriously missing from my shelves.
I'm glad others found it more palatable, but for me, it was about as enjoyable as a root canal.
I've never NOT finished a book and that's the only thing that kept me from literally tossing it into a recycle bin before finishing. I wasn't part of the PBS site when I finished this book and haven't been able to locate it since I read it. I thought I only dreamt of throwing it into the trash upon completion, but apparently, it wasn't only a dream as the book is mysteriously missing from my shelves.
I'm glad others found it more palatable, but for me, it was about as enjoyable as a root canal.
Helpful Score: 1
Snow centers around a flurry of activity during a three-day visit to one's homeland. Ka, an exiled poet, has returned to Turkey from Germany to report on a wave of girls committing suicide and meet up with a beautiful and recently divorced former classmate, Ipek, in the northeast border city of Kars. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has penned a very poignant, allegorical, and multifaceted story about love, religion, and politics in Turkey; as the snow closes the roads to this once prosperous city controlled by various empires, it becomes the site of political violence. One gets a sense of the range of opinions among the secularists, Islamists, Kurdish nationalists, communists, and feminists (who want to wear headscarves as an assertion of political Islam) and ambivalent attitudes towards Europe. On another level, it is a story about Ka, a lonely man, seeing meaning through love or God who suddenly feels inspired to write poetry again. However, there seems to be lots of walking around in the snow, rapid mood changes in Ka, and unrealistic dramatics in general, which along with the small font size of my copy, made for slow reading. Sometimes I felt I could understand the characters, but at other points they seem very foreign. Nonetheless, I was glad that Orhan Pamuk brought Turkey to Western readers in this book on the list of 1001 books you must read before you die.
Helpful Score: 1
It is about a poet who returns to his homeland - an area subject to invasion from all sorts of neighboring governments and regimes - to try to marry his childhood sweetheart. Only to become entangled in military takeover, made possible for the snowstorm.
Plus:
Now I did enjoy the scarf wearing issues, they were very well expressed.
The choice between marriage and and care of her aging father.
The argument the guy presented was somewhat sentimental but well put.
Cons: The military coo had a dream like quality and though very realistic at times (with attention to details), it is was not posable. Some basic knowledge of the country will hint that it is military vs. islam state. Which means LOTS of military bases... everywhere. A coo would be impossible to stage, even in the most remote areas holding opposition rebels.
Also the poet, for someone living in western culture for so many years, he felt immature. There was not the aura of a worldly man, around him. And his poems felt simplistic.
And lastly though the snow gives everything a dreamy feel, the story feels 'covered in smoke' and is at times hard to follow.
Over all, I'm not sorry I read this book, but I cant say I enjoyed it.
Plus:
Now I did enjoy the scarf wearing issues, they were very well expressed.
The choice between marriage and and care of her aging father.
The argument the guy presented was somewhat sentimental but well put.
Cons: The military coo had a dream like quality and though very realistic at times (with attention to details), it is was not posable. Some basic knowledge of the country will hint that it is military vs. islam state. Which means LOTS of military bases... everywhere. A coo would be impossible to stage, even in the most remote areas holding opposition rebels.
Also the poet, for someone living in western culture for so many years, he felt immature. There was not the aura of a worldly man, around him. And his poems felt simplistic.
And lastly though the snow gives everything a dreamy feel, the story feels 'covered in smoke' and is at times hard to follow.
Over all, I'm not sorry I read this book, but I cant say I enjoyed it.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a convoluted tale of love, politics and betrayal in Turkey. It was hard for me to read because I'm used to more action. But it did win the Nobel Prize for literature.
Snow is the story of a Turkish poet named Ka who returns to Turkey after living in Germany many years.Ka becomes interested in renewing a friendship with a woman who married another man and has now divorced him. The story also involves Ka's journalistic research of girls who are committing suicide allegedly because they are not permitted by Turkish secular law to wear the veil. It is almost the opposite of what is going on in other countries where women are required to wear the veil.
This is an excellent book and beautifully written. It gives you insight to the lives of women in Turkey . Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel prize for literature. There was some controversy over his selection. I have also read "MY NAME IS RED" and enjoyed it immensely. The writing styles are very different . I am currently reading Istanbul, the memoir of Orhan Pamuk.
This is an excellent book and beautifully written. It gives you insight to the lives of women in Turkey . Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel prize for literature. There was some controversy over his selection. I have also read "MY NAME IS RED" and enjoyed it immensely. The writing styles are very different . I am currently reading Istanbul, the memoir of Orhan Pamuk.
A very different perspective of the world. Intriguging, thoughtful read
This book is phenomenal. Had to read it for a literature course at Salve Regina University. It's about Turkish poverty and the struggles that one man searches for in order to find out his identity and go back to his roots.
A reporter returns to his hometown in Turkey, only to become entrenched in a variety of mysterious experiences which may be linked to his long lost love. Very cerebral and a bit esoteric.
Very interesting--a political novel that provides some insights into Turkey
Poorly written. :^(
This won a NY TIMES "best book of the year." Takes place in Turkey. Not for me--melacholic.
Absolutely beauitiful book - not a beach read but something more cerebral
Timely novel about finding love, religion, and oneself in modern day Turkey.
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Highly recommended by many sources.
Sad story about Turkey (the country, not the tasty bird)
Odd, this book has been on the best seller list for a while. Who picks this list anyway!
