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karenluvstoread's review against another edition
4.0
This novel feels quite hard to review. It had so many different elements to it - from mystery to a cultural clash to interpersonal relationships to religious factions. There was also quite a bit of philosophy in this book, but in such a way that it didn’t feel confusing but instead, understandable. I really appreciated that because sometimes highly philosophical discussions can get a bit abstract for me. 🙃
The story very much had the feel and tone of some of the Russian classic literature novels I’ve read…that melancholy tone that seems to pervade the pages of a Dostoevsky novel for example.
The writing itself was beautiful. Very poetic. The writing sometimes had a cadence to it, especially when talking about the snow. Here’s a sample:
"Much later, when he thought about how he'd written this poem, he had a vision of a snowflake; this snowflake, he decided, was his life writ small; the poem that had unlocked the meaning of his life, he now saw sitting at its center." (p. 94)
This book pulled me in but then I admit, I was very glad to finish it. The last few chapters felt like it took forever to read. In spite of that though, I really liked the storytelling, the writing, and the depth of the novel. Deeply written, probing, and very thought-provoking, this book was a solid 4 star read.
The story very much had the feel and tone of some of the Russian classic literature novels I’ve read…that melancholy tone that seems to pervade the pages of a Dostoevsky novel for example.
The writing itself was beautiful. Very poetic. The writing sometimes had a cadence to it, especially when talking about the snow. Here’s a sample:
"Much later, when he thought about how he'd written this poem, he had a vision of a snowflake; this snowflake, he decided, was his life writ small; the poem that had unlocked the meaning of his life, he now saw sitting at its center." (p. 94)
This book pulled me in but then I admit, I was very glad to finish it. The last few chapters felt like it took forever to read. In spite of that though, I really liked the storytelling, the writing, and the depth of the novel. Deeply written, probing, and very thought-provoking, this book was a solid 4 star read.
helenope's review against another edition
Sorry I cannot get through 300 pages of a 40 year old man who is a POET. I am a enjoyer of prose. But this prose, be boring. I can imagine the author talks about interesting topics but I've evolved and I won't suffer getting through a book that isn't flowing. I'm not made for slow paced books.
walshdj's review against another edition
3.0
I want to like Orhan Pamuk’s books. At least this one I was able to finish, but I still found it just OK. His characters are very difficult to like, but there are many lines in the book that are profound and thought-provoking. It offers helpful insight on Turkish life and is worth reading.
lynguy1's review against another edition
3.0
Snow by Orhan Pamuk is literary fiction that brings some tough themes to the reader. Political intrigue, philosophy, romance, secularism, religious fanaticism, East-West relations, radicalism, Western ideals, suicide, murder, and torture are all explored in this novel.
Ka is a Turkish poet who has recently returned to Turkey from Germany after 12 years as a political exile. While he comes back for his mother’s funeral, he also heard that a girlfriend has recently divorced her husband and heads to Kars, their home town. He arrives during a blizzard and the roads and trains are closed. Ka tells people that he is in town as a journalist to do stories on the municipal elections and on the young women who have been committing suicide in Kars. What happens next is somewhat eventful, but also very introspective.
Unfortunately, Ka is an annoying character and very immature for his age. The star character is the city itself. Kars is an actual city in northeast Turkey. Through the novel, we learn something of its history. Due to its location, the city has had a turbulent past and is something of a fusion of nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities. The world-building was fantastic and I was able to clearly picture the snowbound city. The story line had great potential and does reflect on some contemporary issues, but felt more like vignettes than a cohesive novel.
While this book is much more about telling than showing during a large part of it, readers do get glimpses of poverty, hopelessness, anger, regrets, freedom of thought, the loss of innocence, and loneliness, and the search for happiness along with the other themes mentioned above. It is researched well and reasonably well-written, but somewhat slow.
If you enjoy politics, learning about other countries and cultures, and/or slice of life novels, then this may be one you wish to consider. This book is very relevant to today.
Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and are not biased in any way.
Ka is a Turkish poet who has recently returned to Turkey from Germany after 12 years as a political exile. While he comes back for his mother’s funeral, he also heard that a girlfriend has recently divorced her husband and heads to Kars, their home town. He arrives during a blizzard and the roads and trains are closed. Ka tells people that he is in town as a journalist to do stories on the municipal elections and on the young women who have been committing suicide in Kars. What happens next is somewhat eventful, but also very introspective.
Unfortunately, Ka is an annoying character and very immature for his age. The star character is the city itself. Kars is an actual city in northeast Turkey. Through the novel, we learn something of its history. Due to its location, the city has had a turbulent past and is something of a fusion of nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities. The world-building was fantastic and I was able to clearly picture the snowbound city. The story line had great potential and does reflect on some contemporary issues, but felt more like vignettes than a cohesive novel.
While this book is much more about telling than showing during a large part of it, readers do get glimpses of poverty, hopelessness, anger, regrets, freedom of thought, the loss of innocence, and loneliness, and the search for happiness along with the other themes mentioned above. It is researched well and reasonably well-written, but somewhat slow.
Spoiler
However, the author does a self-insertion into the story which I did not like.If you enjoy politics, learning about other countries and cultures, and/or slice of life novels, then this may be one you wish to consider. This book is very relevant to today.
Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and are not biased in any way.
jesslolsen's review against another edition
3.0
DNF: I made it 50% of the way in before I decided to close it for good.
I started reading this book as it was on my world reading list challenge, and this was the nominated book for Turkey. I understand why it was on the list, but it was so slow moving and while I found the lifestyle and landscape very eye opening, I just don’t care to read about men arguing the existence of god.
I started reading this book as it was on my world reading list challenge, and this was the nominated book for Turkey. I understand why it was on the list, but it was so slow moving and while I found the lifestyle and landscape very eye opening, I just don’t care to read about men arguing the existence of god.
jimins's review against another edition
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
read for class
rainbowesque's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I honestly don't have words to describe this book. It's so sad yet you cannot ignore it. It took exactly 2 months to finish it. At times I didn't read the book for 2 weeks, but the book always tugged me a little. I didn't forget the development of the story when I went back to reading it. Maybe this is why orhan pamuk is so brilliant. I didn't like Ka but his questions and observations would definitely make you think and feel. The way Pamuk depicted the rise and turmoil of Islam in the political context, the contrast between faith and atheism, the propaganda-everything points out that nothing much has changed in today's South-East Asia. The last 5 pages are so poignant that I also wanted to cry with our narrator. It felt like suddenly life was at the end and I hadn't fulfilled any of my wishes; I was crushing under that burden of unfulfilled wishes.
lizawall's review against another edition
2.0
I read this book on a plane leaving people I loved in a city I had once thought would be my own. I was basically ready to be moved by anything, and this book still didn't do it. The last flight I was on the person next to me was also reading it, so it seems to be a plane book. Snow, snow, snow, snow. Yes, it can symbolize a lot of things. But where are you going with it, after all? And usually I like to think I can tell, but in this case I wasn't sure whether the failing was mine or the book's. Or translator's? Anyway, I found all this snow talk pretty tedious and twee. And then, well, where to even start. So there is this novel, where we are being told that the central character is writing these absolutely sublime poems, but we don't get the poems themselves, except for lines here and there that don't sound very good at all. Are we supposed to believe it? I didn't. And there are lots of things that I find interesting, like framing and fragments, that this book seems to play with, but the play is not quite playful enough and nor does it seem (to me) profound. And there was a lot of doubling, tripling, a lot of things you could bring up in a book club discussion or something, but why? Ka as a main character seems, with a few exceptions, neither like a plausible person or a meaningful conceit. There were some moments when Snow seemed to point somewhere more intriguing, but so much of it read to me like a performance that was phoned in, like markers that said I meant to put something better here, but didn't. (Still, I feel like I could go on and on about it, which is weird for a book I didn't like very much.) Basically, I don't recommend it unless you can't find anything else in the airport bookstore.
colleengeedrumm's review against another edition
2.0
Each snowflake has six corners.
Ka knew very well that life was a meaningless string of random incidents.
Had he acted a bit more intelligently, his entire life might have been much happier.
Ka knew very well that life was a meaningless string of random incidents.
Had he acted a bit more intelligently, his entire life might have been much happier.