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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.
sharonb's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
What a brilliant book! I have read Captain Correllis mandolin by the same author before and enjoyed it, but this is so much better. Early 20th century Anatolia, in a small town called eskibahce (based on a real deserted village of Karakoy), Turks, Greeks, Armenians, muslims, christians, jews all live together amicably and their common language is Turkish. They are all Ottomans. They intermarry and even hedge their bets with God by asking their neighbours of the other religions to say a prayer to their Gods for them.
But then we have a rise in religious fervour, nationalism, ideas of superiority and nation building and intolerance of others which starts to drive divisions. It shows the demise of the ottoman empire and birth of the modern day Turkey through the Balkan wars, WW1 and the war between Greeks and Turks. Countries nowhere near the area such as Britain, France, Germany etc all getting involved and making the rules. It clearly shows how the wishes and views of the few adversely affects the average person who is only trying to get on with their lives but have no self determination as other powers will always dictate history. With reference to the proposition by Venizelos to have an exchange of Turkish and Greek populations - "the idea seems terribly sensible, as if it is a perfectly acceptable idea that the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent individuals should be arbitrarily disrupted in the interests of nation building"
On one occasion Iskander says "the thing about stories is that they are all like bindweeds that have to wind round and round and creep all over the place before they get to the top of the pole". This is so true and this story does go round and round. It is non linear and is told by several different characters which is great because you get the different pov's. The 3rd person chapters on mustafa kemal were highly informative on what was going on politically.
I loved the writing and the characters will stay with me for a long time. Some I really loved include karatavuk, mehmetchik, polyxeni, Drosoula, Ayse, abdulhamid hodja and Iskander the Potter.
There were a lot of bird references, I believe to highlight the theme of freedom. Early on Iskander the Potter (who liked to talk in proverbs) says "Man is a bird without wings and a bird is a man without sorrows" which is the main crux of the story but to end with the words of one of my favourite characters (karatavuk, muslim) in his letter to his childhood friend (mehmetchik, Christian)
"you and I fancied ourselves as birds and we were very happy when we flapped our wings and fell down and bruised ourselves, but the truth is we were birds without wings. For birds with wings nothing changes; they fly where they will, they know nothing of boundaries and their quarrels are very small"
It's very said though to think that although all this happened over a hundred years ago old bad feelings and distrust may never be healed as is pointed out in the post script that these days, in Fethiya and surrounding Lycia, you will find people of all religions from all over the world "the truly anomolous and remarkable thing...is there are no Greeks"
But then we have a rise in religious fervour, nationalism, ideas of superiority and nation building and intolerance of others which starts to drive divisions. It shows the demise of the ottoman empire and birth of the modern day Turkey through the Balkan wars, WW1 and the war between Greeks and Turks. Countries nowhere near the area such as Britain, France, Germany etc all getting involved and making the rules. It clearly shows how the wishes and views of the few adversely affects the average person who is only trying to get on with their lives but have no self determination as other powers will always dictate history. With reference to the proposition by Venizelos to have an exchange of Turkish and Greek populations - "the idea seems terribly sensible, as if it is a perfectly acceptable idea that the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent individuals should be arbitrarily disrupted in the interests of nation building"
On one occasion Iskander says "the thing about stories is that they are all like bindweeds that have to wind round and round and creep all over the place before they get to the top of the pole". This is so true and this story does go round and round. It is non linear and is told by several different characters which is great because you get the different pov's. The 3rd person chapters on mustafa kemal were highly informative on what was going on politically.
I loved the writing and the characters will stay with me for a long time. Some I really loved include karatavuk, mehmetchik, polyxeni, Drosoula, Ayse, abdulhamid hodja and Iskander the Potter.
There were a lot of bird references, I believe to highlight the theme of freedom. Early on Iskander the Potter (who liked to talk in proverbs) says "Man is a bird without wings and a bird is a man without sorrows" which is the main crux of the story but to end with the words of one of my favourite characters (karatavuk, muslim) in his letter to his childhood friend (mehmetchik, Christian)
"you and I fancied ourselves as birds and we were very happy when we flapped our wings and fell down and bruised ourselves, but the truth is we were birds without wings. For birds with wings nothing changes; they fly where they will, they know nothing of boundaries and their quarrels are very small"
It's very said though to think that although all this happened over a hundred years ago old bad feelings and distrust may never be healed as is pointed out in the post script that these days, in Fethiya and surrounding Lycia, you will find people of all religions from all over the world "the truly anomolous and remarkable thing...is there are no Greeks"
claudiabrekker's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
doctorjessie's review
challenging
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? Yes
4.0
danodog's review
5.0
In the pantheon of my favourite books. Reading this while in Turkey helps but this was a masterpiece of storytelling. The inspiration for the book is based on Karakoy, the village had been a thriving community until the 1923 ‘population exchange’ - a result of the peace treaty of Lausanne at the end of the Turkish/Greek war. The Greek Orthodox population of Turkey were resettled in Greece and the Muslim population of Greece was resettled in Turkey. The story covers the 20-30 years prior to the exchange and goes from first person narrative of about 20 different characters and then to 3rd person narrative describing the life story of Mustafa Kemal who created the modern country of Turkey in 1923 (including changing the alaphabet to roman overnight!! can you imagine?) . de Bernieres is a master story teller using the town of Karakoy as a microcosm for Turkey to show the inhumanity of these government actions on people like ourselves who simply want to care for our family and community. It's a long read but worth the investment.
munchin's review
5.0
An astounding, emotional epic with a slew of fascinating characters (and a couple annoying ones, but nobody's perfect).
wretchedtheo's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jacobinreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Birds Without Wings is a beautiful book. A reminder of the tragedies of the twentieth century, of nationalism, wars, and love and loss. When I started this book, I felt it begged comparison to A Hundred Years of Solitude in its paradisical descriptions of its characters and setting (though obviously far more on the realism side than the magical). However, by the end, it felt more of a tragic Dante, taking us from to paradise to hell, and dumping the reader in a bitter purgatory. More than once, I wanted to turn back, to freeze the progress of the story for the sake of the characters, but this book, like the events it chronicles, insists on its tragic conclusions.
Splendid. Painful. A definite recommendation.
Splendid. Painful. A definite recommendation.
bookbuyingaddict's review
5.0
Stunning book, hard going in the chapters explaining the wars between the Greeks & the Ottomen who became Turks, Very interesting reading the fictional account of Gallipoli , which I knew v little about. Without doubt the best part of the 555 pages for me were the characters and their storylines living in the village of Eskibache and following what becomes of them all, which of course is heart breaking in parts. As is reading the atrocities people afflict on their fellow man because they are from a different land or a different religion. If you are interested to know why Greeks and Turks hate each other so much this book goes some way to explain the history of that mistrust and hatred. All very sad & at the beginning Christians and Muslims Greeks, Turks & Armenians are happily living side by side. It's also enjoyable reading this book on an ereader just to see the many highlighted paragraphs, so many wonderful quotes such as "since those times of whirlwind the world has learned over and over again that the wounds of the ancestors make the children bleed ".
It's also a very poignant read due to our current world crisis of mass migration of people due to war and religious intolerance. We never seem to learn from our history . Not an easy read and very graphic and upsetting in places but in my opinion an absolute must ! I'm now going on to Re read the wonderful Captain Correllies Mandolin. 10/10
It's also a very poignant read due to our current world crisis of mass migration of people due to war and religious intolerance. We never seem to learn from our history . Not an easy read and very graphic and upsetting in places but in my opinion an absolute must ! I'm now going on to Re read the wonderful Captain Correllies Mandolin. 10/10