Scan barcode
malak_korayem's review
4.0
Would’ve been better if it was shorter, I had to skip a lot of unnecessary details that I felt didn’t add anything to the story. Overall though, it was a great book with memorable characters.
qofdnz's review
3.0
I'm not a big fan of war and a large chunk of this book was this exact topic. The interesting characters and complex relationships were what got me through the rest of it. It was clearly well researched and the atrocities of war were thoughtfully documented.
jedore's review
2.0
The writing is excellent. The topic interesting. The research admirable. It's emotion that's missing. Two-thirds of the way through I made myself stick to my deal with myself - no more suffering through books that just don't do it for me. My guess is that, in general, men would like this book. (This is possibly reverse chauvinism, but based on decades of life experience!)
cgill1710's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
djinnmartini's review
5.0
Man, I loved this book. If you are interested in the following, you will like it:
1) Lausanne, and the tragedies following (e.g. population exchange)
2) Turkish nationalism, Ataturk
3) The decline of the Ottoman Empire
4) Gallipolli Campaign
5) How everything about the inter-war period fucked everything up.
1) Lausanne, and the tragedies following (e.g. population exchange)
2) Turkish nationalism, Ataturk
3) The decline of the Ottoman Empire
4) Gallipolli Campaign
5) How everything about the inter-war period fucked everything up.
aishaayoosh's review
5.0
If I could give this ten stars I would. Definitely an ambitious piece of work that has captured both sides of the Greek Turkish / Christian Muslim divide beautifully and fairly.
It just shows you how regardless of religious beliefs, culture and traditions- people get along and then for some unbeknown reason to them there is upheaval and hatred all dictated by the people at the top.
Coming from a family of multiple faiths- faith has never mattered and been a reason for division... because ultimately what all faith teaches us is to be kind humans!! And you get to celebrate everything ha!
Back to the book...there is everything in this; friendship, love, family relations, neighbor relations, religion, traditions, language, conscientiousness ... everything.
This was my first book written by Louis de Bernieres and I'm mad at myself for not discovering such a wonderful author earlier!!
I would label this a classic. Having borrowed it from the library, I have just ordered my own copy so I can look at it on my shelf and feel nostalgic....
It just shows you how regardless of religious beliefs, culture and traditions- people get along and then for some unbeknown reason to them there is upheaval and hatred all dictated by the people at the top.
Coming from a family of multiple faiths- faith has never mattered and been a reason for division... because ultimately what all faith teaches us is to be kind humans!! And you get to celebrate everything ha!
Back to the book...there is everything in this; friendship, love, family relations, neighbor relations, religion, traditions, language, conscientiousness ... everything.
This was my first book written by Louis de Bernieres and I'm mad at myself for not discovering such a wonderful author earlier!!
I would label this a classic. Having borrowed it from the library, I have just ordered my own copy so I can look at it on my shelf and feel nostalgic....
papaya6's review
4.0
Since we decided to travel to Istanbul for Greg's fall break, I wanted to do it right this time--read up on the country and learn some of its history ahead of time. For that reason, this book was interesting to me. It follows a village during a critical time in its history as the country is split by ethnicity (Turkish, Greek, Armenian). And it also adds bits about Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal).
sonnetical's review
3.0
you know you look forward to reading a book so much that your expectations start touching the skies and then you finally read the book and you love it, you really do, but then everything starts to plateau out and you reach that stage where you're forcing yourself to love it, pushing yourself to keep reading it, trying to hold the good parts close to your heart and maybe just like that, you form an attachment and you're not quite sure if it'll last but it becomes routine, so eventually when you do finish reading it, you feel so utterly at loss about what to exactly feel? at least, you have some beautiful, heart-touching lines and a few characters you'll remember forever.
kiwi_fruit's review
4.0
4.5 stars
Fav. Quotes:
“Man is a bird without wings,” Iskander told them, “and a bird is a man without sorrows.”
“if a war can be holy, then God cannot. At best, a war can only be necessary.”
“My sons are there,” sighed Iskander, “at Gallipoli. War is easier to watch when soldiers are other people’s sons.”
Fav. Quotes:
“Man is a bird without wings,” Iskander told them, “and a bird is a man without sorrows.”
“if a war can be holy, then God cannot. At best, a war can only be necessary.”
“My sons are there,” sighed Iskander, “at Gallipoli. War is easier to watch when soldiers are other people’s sons.”
stephb413's review
4.0
Beautiful imagery and storytelling about friendship, love, and war during the final days of the Ottoman Empire. It is a heavy read at times for sure but definitely informative about the much less talked about eastern front of WWI, Greek and Turkish relations (or lack thereof), the Armenian Genocide, and the just the social structure and simple daily lives of Ottomans just trying to go their business. Unfortunately those in power do not always have the same simple goals, as is the case for the characters in this book. Definitely informative and worthwhile read! Loved it!