You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
madonna in a furcoat is a gut-wrenching love story between raif and maria puder who seems like the perfect wife. while the ending was a bit predictable and of course triste, i embraced and enjoyed it nonetheless.
raif and maria truly loved each other, they couldn’t resist their connection and the fact that somewhere in this (fictional) world, their daughter is strolling around, unknowing of her parents’ love story is so tragic!!
i liked the writing, the characters, the passion in every thought. i would read this book again and i’d suggest it to my loved ones.
raif and maria truly loved each other, they couldn’t resist their connection and the fact that somewhere in this (fictional) world, their daughter is strolling around, unknowing of her parents’ love story is so tragic!!
i liked the writing, the characters, the passion in every thought. i would read this book again and i’d suggest it to my loved ones.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
I am at a loss for words. I was crying while reading the last few pages. I was sobbing hard.
Funnily enough, all the clues to the ending were there, and it was easy to predict what would happen to Raif and Maria, but it was still devastating.
Raif is like a protagonist in a Dostoevsky story, only Raif is less horrible, filled with less self-loathing, less awful, less cynical; he is more submissive, more wistful, more sentimental, and probably even more romantic. He overthinks and he always second guesses himself. Maria and his parents tell him he's "like a woman."
This lack of a striking male ego is what draws Maria to him. But I find it funny that he falls in love with a self-portrait but fails to recognize the person in the painting even when she is sitting next to him. It says a lot about him.
The introduction in this Penguin Classics edition talks about the tragic life of Sabahattin Ali and how this book, Madonna in a Fur Coat, is his least political novel, and how Ali's poet mentor was disappointed in Raif being apolitical. But it makes so much sense. All the ingredients were there — a country just transitioning after war, a family that is apathetic and indifferent to Raif, socioeconomic conditions that lead him to become the family's cash cow, the abrupt loss of contact with the love of his life... of course, Raif would lose concern over anything else. He turned into a machine.
I mirrored myself in Raif many times. He is me, I am him. And it is terrifying to know that another person — a lover — could show you that life could be so much better only for things to not work out in the end the way you hoped them to. Thinking about living such an empty life fills me with horror.
One last thing before I end this review: I cannot let hope flee me the way it did Raif. I must cling to it, hold on to it for dear life. There must be something more for me out there. I need to believe in that... or else.
Funnily enough, all the clues to the ending were there, and it was easy to predict what would happen to Raif and Maria, but it was still devastating.
Raif is like a protagonist in a Dostoevsky story, only Raif is less horrible, filled with less self-loathing, less awful, less cynical; he is more submissive, more wistful, more sentimental, and probably even more romantic. He overthinks and he always second guesses himself. Maria and his parents tell him he's "like a woman."
This lack of a striking male ego is what draws Maria to him. But I find it funny that he falls in love with a self-portrait but fails to recognize the person in the painting even when she is sitting next to him. It says a lot about him.
The introduction in this Penguin Classics edition talks about the tragic life of Sabahattin Ali and how this book, Madonna in a Fur Coat, is his least political novel, and how Ali's poet mentor was disappointed in Raif being apolitical. But it makes so much sense. All the ingredients were there — a country just transitioning after war, a family that is apathetic and indifferent to Raif, socioeconomic conditions that lead him to become the family's cash cow, the abrupt loss of contact with the love of his life... of course, Raif would lose concern over anything else. He turned into a machine.
I mirrored myself in Raif many times. He is me, I am him. And it is terrifying to know that another person — a lover — could show you that life could be so much better only for things to not work out in the end the way you hoped them to. Thinking about living such an empty life fills me with horror.
One last thing before I end this review: I cannot let hope flee me the way it did Raif. I must cling to it, hold on to it for dear life. There must be something more for me out there. I need to believe in that... or else.
challenging
emotional
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
if yearning was a book. the prose is so so beautiful, and the writing brings out this melancholy that i’ve been dying to read for such a long time. its very much a discussion on the meaning of love and i think its executed perfectly. my only complaint is that sometimes maria puder reads a bit like a manic pixie dream girl but i did enjoy her monologues and her character overall, i do think i also fell a bit in love with her while reading.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
beautiful prose, like really truly some of the most beautifully introspective prose i've read in years. unfortunately, this still reads like an incel's 3am reddit post and i cannot get past raif efendi's listlessness, nor can i look past his very obvious hatred of women. he did not love maria puder, he just wanted to own her.