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sorchabarry's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
firerosearien's review
5.0
Absolutely haunting and heartbreaking.
I was a bit wary at first, from the book's synopsis, that the entire thing would be a tragic love story, but the book is so, so much more. It's basically what happens when the Rest of the World catches up to your sleepy, timeless village and it just so happens to do so during WWI.
Not all of the characters are likable, but they are all human, and thus all real.
We pay a lot of attention to the Holocaust, and to the more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur, but what happened in Anatolia during the first world war and the aftermath should not go ignored, either.
I was a bit wary at first, from the book's synopsis, that the entire thing would be a tragic love story, but the book is so, so much more. It's basically what happens when the Rest of the World catches up to your sleepy, timeless village and it just so happens to do so during WWI.
Not all of the characters are likable, but they are all human, and thus all real.
We pay a lot of attention to the Holocaust, and to the more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur, but what happened in Anatolia during the first world war and the aftermath should not go ignored, either.
underthesea's review
4.0
Birds without wings tells the story of XXth century southwestern Anatolia by pairing Christians with Muslims: Philotei and Ibrahim, Rustem and Ioanna, Karatavuk and Mehmetçik, Polixeni and Nermin/Ayse. Only Ataturk stands in the lonely historicity of Great Men, in the measure in that it is an intrinsic quality. Each relays the narration, quite without order: Ataturk every 2 to 6 chapters, Philotei every 2 to 10, local color every 3 to 4. Small amalgames of chapters have bits of classic storytelling: 12-15, Polixeni finds her mother, 31 to 34, Rustem buys Ioanna, 56 to 69, Karatavuk goes to war…
All of it is is set in a structure of wikipedia chapters; and that’s how Bernières manages to go through the Armenian genocide without a single morally ambiguous character. The burden of cruelty stands on an external observer. This structure precludes building up tension, but he gets moments of emotion in stand alone, violent moments: Yusuf gets his daughter killed, Rustem gets his wife stoned, Levon’s daughters are almost raped, Ali gives Polixeni his donkey, Ioanna owns her identity. I loved that bit! Of course she was from Ithaca.
There is an effort to give each character the voice that naturally fits his function: in both extremes, Theodorou the Greek merchant, ampulous and long winded, and Philotei, brief and barely gramatical, interested only in the things of women. There are some tirades of particularly well rendered pastiche, like the peripathetic anti Italian Crusade of Kristoforos. They have a rough symbolism: Philotei is times gone by, beautiful, simple and killed; Mustafa Kemal is the future, and Rustem could have the future if he didn’t long quite so much for the past. Ibrahim is joyful and therefore unhappy and mad; Fikret is intelectual honesty, Abdulhamid is kindness, Leyla the whore with-a-heart-of-gold, Polixeni the daughter, Ayse the wife, Nermin the mother. There isn’t a single complex character, except perhaps Leonidas, who ideologically is a fascist, in character a Judas, cursed with intelligence and nonetheless by action appears only to help. Karatavuk is discovered in the middle of the book as a poet, and then immediately degraded by war, and irritatingly naïf (“let me tell you a secret… almost no soldier truly believes that he will be killed”).
Anyway. It was certainly not the kind of book that can catch me unaware, but it was a solid, comforting read.
All of it is is set in a structure of wikipedia chapters; and that’s how Bernières manages to go through the Armenian genocide without a single morally ambiguous character. The burden of cruelty stands on an external observer. This structure precludes building up tension, but he gets moments of emotion in stand alone, violent moments: Yusuf gets his daughter killed, Rustem gets his wife stoned, Levon’s daughters are almost raped, Ali gives Polixeni his donkey, Ioanna owns her identity. I loved that bit! Of course she was from Ithaca.
There is an effort to give each character the voice that naturally fits his function: in both extremes, Theodorou the Greek merchant, ampulous and long winded, and Philotei, brief and barely gramatical, interested only in the things of women. There are some tirades of particularly well rendered pastiche, like the peripathetic anti Italian Crusade of Kristoforos. They have a rough symbolism: Philotei is times gone by, beautiful, simple and killed; Mustafa Kemal is the future, and Rustem could have the future if he didn’t long quite so much for the past. Ibrahim is joyful and therefore unhappy and mad; Fikret is intelectual honesty, Abdulhamid is kindness, Leyla the whore with-a-heart-of-gold, Polixeni the daughter, Ayse the wife, Nermin the mother. There isn’t a single complex character, except perhaps Leonidas, who ideologically is a fascist, in character a Judas, cursed with intelligence and nonetheless by action appears only to help. Karatavuk is discovered in the middle of the book as a poet, and then immediately degraded by war, and irritatingly naïf (“let me tell you a secret… almost no soldier truly believes that he will be killed”).
Anyway. It was certainly not the kind of book that can catch me unaware, but it was a solid, comforting read.
kirstiecat's review
4.0
Although I think this book deserves 4 stars objectively because of all of the research done for it, I would on a personal level give it 3 stars...mainly because I didn't enjoy any of the overly long and tedious descriptions of war from the 1915 era of the Ottoman Empire. It is somewhat interesting that I've now read this book and The Bastard of Istanbul and they give completely different perspectives (I seem to recall Jeffrey Eugenides talking about Turks persecuting Greeks at around this time as well when the book opens.) Basically, here we hear about the Greek Christians persecuting the Turkish Muslims though for the most part it gets incredibly confusing about whose side anyone is on. What is pretty clear is how war is not benefitting anyone involved, least of all the women in various small towns that are being tortured to death in all manner of horrifying fashion.
I don't like reading about war and overall I thought the character development was rich and it told a powerful story but I would have liked more of that and less scenes of war. It's always pretty despicable to me to think of what tragedies against eachother humans are capable of committing....
I don't like reading about war and overall I thought the character development was rich and it told a powerful story but I would have liked more of that and less scenes of war. It's always pretty despicable to me to think of what tragedies against eachother humans are capable of committing....
bobbo49's review
4.0
Like Corelli's Mandolin, extremely well written, and a very thorough history of the end of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of modern Turkey, complete with the story of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. I would have given the story five stars, but it dig drag on a bit as the separate tales wove together. Nevertheless, an excellent work of historical fiction, giving great insight into the Armenian - Turk - Kurd - Greek antipathies.
lamusadelils's review
3.0
Se me hizo eterno, pero el tema me pareció interesante (es un poco descobocido en este lado del mundo) y aunque no siempre me agradaron los diferentes puntos de vista, aprecio que hay un balance cuidadoso entre la brutalidad de la guerra, las vidas cotidianas de la gente y el sentido del humor.
Aunque no hay muchos momentos realmente felices, creo que si deja esa sensación de incluso en los momentos más oscuros nuestra humanidad es lo más importante que tenemos.
Aunque no hay muchos momentos realmente felices, creo que si deja esa sensación de incluso en los momentos más oscuros nuestra humanidad es lo más importante que tenemos.
lydiaie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Brilliant story, but too long - the first 200 pages didn’t really engage me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Genocide, and Sexual assault
oceanelle's review
3.0
I loved the characters and the writing, but in the end I had to put it down because the story just did not progress for me. If it was half its length I would've liked it more, I think.
kathrynamonett's review
5.0
Honestly, one of the best books I've read in a long time. (Granted, for a long time I've been reading mostly textbooks, so perhaps this rings out as more beautiful simply by comparison.)
Beautifully told, the storylines of several people from this town (+ one Mustafa Kemal) wind together to give a full and satisfying story about this small Ottoman town, at a time it was slowly (and all too quickly) becoming a Turkish town, to the benefit of seemingly no one.
Beautifully told, the storylines of several people from this town (+ one Mustafa Kemal) wind together to give a full and satisfying story about this small Ottoman town, at a time it was slowly (and all too quickly) becoming a Turkish town, to the benefit of seemingly no one.