Sophia C. reviewed on 12/28/2011 + 289 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red immerses the reader into the art world of sixteenth-century Istanbul. A member of the Ottoman Sultan's workshop of artists responsible for illuminating great books has been murdered; there are rumors the mysterious death is related to a secret book being prepared for the Sultan in the European style. Accompanying this central mystery is a long meditation about the philosophy of art, since European-style figurative art might be heretical in Islam, and a love story involving the book producer's daughter. The juxtaposition of serious religious and philosophical discourse and a low-tech detective story reminds me of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose; both fully transport the reader to the historical period. Sixteenth-century Istanbul stars as a melting pot of many Eastern cultures and ideas. Using a round-robin set of first-person narrators, it's important to pay attention to the chapter titles to orient oneself. Although I had high hopes for its intriguing premise and enjoyed much of this in-depth story, I found the mystery to drag on a bit towards the end and it became a chore to finish.

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