Living in Berlin, a city that is now covered in snow it only felt even more appropraite to choose a book this week whose title refelects the state of weather that is present in many areas around the world today.
Moving away from the form of precipitation that manages to be the title it felt only natural for me to remind or introduce people to thsi amazing, well written, and deep novel. Snow takes place in Turkey and deals with the many internal problems that nations face. The book is written by Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel Prize Literature winner. The book is written in a superb style and excellent language which trabslates into a gripping and engaging novel, but a difficult one to read nonetheless. Snow is certainly not the type of book that one should read on the beach while relaxing or that could be easily read in a day or two. The content that it deals with is intense and sometimes heartbreaking.
Snow tells the story of a Turkish man who returns to Turkey after being in exile in Germany for 12 years. He is intrigued and perplexed by the recent suicides of youn woman in Turkey, especially in one given town. These suicides are rather odd, espeically when taking into consideration that suicide is forbidden in teh Koran. I will not divulge into the many smaller story lines that take place but the book lifts the cover on the secret life of many people who seem more than ordinary.
It reminded me that first of all nothing is ever as it seems. Moreover, it shows that human nature is so complex and intertwined it is sometimes but than impossible to decipher it, let alone try to understand it. The book also sheds a light that true news are hard to come by, because people do not like to unravel the truth. It is easier to show people flashy slogans or short stories which do not even scratch teh surface of certain issues. Pamuk dives deep down into culture and the relations between men and women, government and its people, and how much power (good or bad) religion truly has over its believers.
Upon finishing this book I remember not really feeling anything. It’s this weird and awry sense of emptiness because you have been reminded of things that have and are taking place in the world behind closed doors. It shows that there isn’t always a happy ending. But the book also gives you hope.
Sometimes you need many not happy endings to get one happy one.
Snow Cover
