My Name Is Red

There is a school of thought which says that if a book doesn't grab you after 50 pages, stop reading and get another book. "My Name is Red" grabbed me from page one. Unfortunately, it let go. Ah, but then it picked me up...only to drag and tease and drone on and on by which point I was committed to all 388 pages. I made it close to the end whereupon a hit a clever spot only to be diappointed once...more

There is a school of thought which says that if a book doesn't grab you after 50 pages, stop reading and get another book. "My Name is Red" grabbed me from page one. Unfortunately, it let go. Ah, but then it picked me up...only to drag and tease and drone on and on by which point I was committed to all 388 pages. I made it close to the end whereupon a hit a clever spot only to be diappointed once again. After a valiant slog, I scanned words, skipped lines,and hit the final period of the thing. Done. Over. What could have been a smart, well-written layered mystery failed to deliver. Too bad for Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk for I won't likely read any of his books again. Life's too short.   hide

I was drawn into this story woven around the conflict between western art and islamic art--i learned so much about the miniaturist tradition in 16th Century Istanbul. I loved the detailed descriptions of everything and the way each chapter was written from the perspective of a different character. The homosexual relationships between the men in the book was quite fascinating, especially the...more

I was drawn into this story woven around the conflict between western art and islamic art--i learned so much about the miniaturist tradition in 16th Century Istanbul. I loved the detailed descriptions of everything and the way each chapter was written from the perspective of a different character. The homosexual relationships between the men in the book was quite fascinating, especially the sins of the coffee house and storytellers. I loved the psychological thriller element of the book, and I really had no idea who the murderer was until the end of the book. All-around riveting reading if Istanbul and Persian art history catch your fancy.   hide

This book has all of the genre elements I love...mystery, history, art, multiple-person narrative...so I am biased. I couldn't put it down once I got to the last 100 pages. Pamuk's characters and plot are captivating. It reminded me of the magic realism of Chronicle of the Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, mixed with a little sleuthing. While there isn't a dominant...more

This book has all of the genre elements I love...mystery, history, art, multiple-person narrative...so I am biased. I couldn't put it down once I got to the last 100 pages. Pamuk's characters and plot are captivating. It reminded me of the magic realism of Chronicle of the Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, mixed with a little sleuthing. While there isn't a dominant character (like Spade or Marlowe), it's a fascinating puzzle to read through. I can imagine the book was very difficult to translate, but Goknar does a very good job of making it readable. I think that some may find the word order a little off-putting, but I didn't really mind.   hide

It's a great book, no doubt, for its use of arabic illuminators as a metaphor for all artists, their roles, and the role and function of art, particularly the written word. However, it's a difficult read because of all the stuff that's unfamiliar to a Western reader, as well as the names that are difficult to hold in memory, multiple names for the same person like in the Russian novels. Again,...more

It's a great book, no doubt, for its use of arabic illuminators as a metaphor for all artists, their roles, and the role and function of art, particularly the written word. However, it's a difficult read because of all the stuff that's unfamiliar to a Western reader, as well as the names that are difficult to hold in memory, multiple names for the same person like in the Russian novels. Again, much that is great, but this book is a mystery and as such I never had a chance, given the difficulties. In short, book, "It's not you, it's me."   hide

I just finished reading this "little" gem - and I must say that while from a strictly literary viewpoint this book is exceptionally good, its value as a source of entertainment is questionable. In other words, this book reads very slowly, largely because of the vast amounts of very specific imagery (related to the art of miniature-drawing in 16th century Istanbul)....more

I just finished reading this "little" gem - and I must say that while from a strictly literary viewpoint this book is exceptionally good, its value as a source of entertainment is questionable. In other words, this book reads very slowly, largely because of the vast amounts of very specific imagery (related to the art of miniature-drawing in 16th century Istanbul). However, as the story picks up and the narratives converge - and I should point out that each chapter is written from a 1st person perspective, where the 1st person is an animate or inanimate character in the book, the artistic aspect of the novel - i.e. the art of the miniature-making and the problems related to it, also start to converge in a way that seems to overcome initial disinterest. I am happy to have read this notable work - despite yawning and taking unusually long to dig through less than 500 pages, I still remember a number of details quite vividly - and the overall spirit of the novel seems to linger, making me think of colours, dogs, Islam, and the whole East-West issue a bit differently.   hide

Urgh! It's my first Pamuk book, and I've been at it for several months now, having read a couple of other books between... I love his prose, even in translation, but I find the style and the cultural context really tough and find myself recoiling pretty strongly from much of that. And speaking of cultural context, I feel lost (due to my ignorance of the culture) and have a really hard...more

Urgh! It's my first Pamuk book, and I've been at it for several months now, having read a couple of other books between... I love his prose, even in translation, but I find the style and the cultural context really tough and find myself recoiling pretty strongly from much of that. And speaking of cultural context, I feel lost (due to my ignorance of the culture) and have a really hard time "getting a fix" on Pamuk. I'm often frustrated at not being able to discern whether he's serious or willfully exaggerating or... Well, eventually, perhaps...friggin' miniaturists! I mean, come on! how disgusting a subject to delve into...Allah take them, these miniaturists guys! yuck!   hide

The subtext of this book is a philosophical discussion of the nature of art, artistic vision, and artistic discussion. The author uses a couple of murders to drive the momentum of the book. The motive of the murders is based on the sacrilegious use of images (miniatures) depicting the prophet and text of the Holy Quran--sacrilegious because Islam views the Holy Quran as the direct literal word...more

The subtext of this book is a philosophical discussion of the nature of art, artistic vision, and artistic discussion. The author uses a couple of murders to drive the momentum of the book. The motive of the murders is based on the sacrilegious use of images (miniatures) depicting the prophet and text of the Holy Quran--sacrilegious because Islam views the Holy Quran as the direct literal word of God.Most refreshing is Orhan Pamuk's use of the perspective of the main characters of the book to lay out his narrative giving the book a rounded view and playing with the nature of interpretation of murder mystery that ironically parallels inevitable diverse interpretive views of the words of the Quran. On the other hand, you may view the ideal of an absolute truth interpretation of the Holy Quran as a quiet respite from the shortcomings of us mere mortals to have ambiguous, approximate, and conflicting perspectives of the truth.The point is art does not care about truth. It merely opens us up to new perspectives--necessarily welcomed in a conservative world that puts a high value on tradition and see a threat, not an opportunity, with change.   hide

Waktu liat cover dan review buku ini jadi tertarik membeli. Ceritanya tentang misteri pembunuhan seorang pelukis di Istambul, Turki, abad enambelas. Kalau kata halaman belakang novelnya "menguak jejak benturan peradaban Timur dan Barat - dua cara pandang dunia yang berbeda, berkaitan dengan kebudayaan, sejarah, dan identitas yang memicu konflik tak berkesudahan". Kalo kata gue...more

Waktu liat cover dan review buku ini jadi tertarik membeli. Ceritanya tentang misteri pembunuhan seorang pelukis di Istambul, Turki, abad enambelas. Kalau kata halaman belakang novelnya "menguak jejak benturan peradaban Timur dan Barat - dua cara pandang dunia yang berbeda, berkaitan dengan kebudayaan, sejarah, dan identitas yang memicu konflik tak berkesudahan". Kalo kata gue "Membosankan" hahahaha.... Butuh sebulan lebih buat gw membaca novel ini karena ceritanya seperti dipanjang-panjangin. Yah, tapi kan selera orang beda-beda. Katanya novel ini udah banyak dapat penghargaan internasional. Jadi kalau tertarik, silahkan cari novelnya di toko buku kesayangan Anda, kyaa...   hide

"I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well. Thought I drew my last breath long ago and my heart has stopped beating, no one apart from that vile murderer, knows what's happened to me. As for that wretch, he felt for my pulse and listended for my breath to be sure I was dead, then kicked me in the midriff, carried me to the edge of the well, raised me up and dropped me...more

"I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well. Thought I drew my last breath long ago and my heart has stopped beating, no one apart from that vile murderer, knows what's happened to me. As for that wretch, he felt for my pulse and listended for my breath to be sure I was dead, then kicked me in the midriff, carried me to the edge of the well, raised me up and dropped me belfow. As I fell, my head, which he smashed with a stone, broke apart; my face my forehead and cheeks were crushed; my bones shattered and my mouth filled wtih blood." - from My Name is Red. This is a great read. It has magical elements that I enjoy and the mystery aspect is well thought out and kept me guessing.   hide