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binstonbirchill's review against another edition
4.0
Snow takes place in the city of Kars in eastern Turkey near the Armenian border. That Kars has a lengthy history is evident but not explicitly discussed in the book. In the novel, politically, a modern secular government is in control of the country and it’s pitted against the local Islamist democratically elected government in Kars. This tension remains a focal point throughout, with head scarves providing the divisive tension point. A rash of suicides in Kars has drawn in our main character, Ka, who is there to report on the suicides, the politics, and to try and woo a beautiful, and newly single, woman.
Ka is all sorts of “in love” with this woman’s looks. She is super super beautiful. Everything he every wanted. So beautiful.
Thankfully there is more story to explore. The theatre is the focal point for the politics tension, the snow locks everything down, and inside this insular setting, things go spectacularly awry.
I wish there was more depth to Kay’s love. I really enjoyed learning about some of the different sides of the politics in modern turkey. The end was perhaps a bit drawn out but overall I think this was a very interesting book which surely would provide lots of talking points for a book club.
Ka is all sorts of “in love” with this woman’s looks. She is super super beautiful. Everything he every wanted. So beautiful.
Thankfully there is more story to explore. The theatre is the focal point for the politics tension, the snow locks everything down, and inside this insular setting, things go spectacularly awry.
I wish there was more depth to Kay’s love. I really enjoyed learning about some of the different sides of the politics in modern turkey. The end was perhaps a bit drawn out but overall I think this was a very interesting book which surely would provide lots of talking points for a book club.
n_reading's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
natswidqw's review
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lesgles's review against another edition
4.0
Having heard a little about the prosecution of Pamuk in Turkey, I expected a book that was more polemical, but was glad to discover one that was political only in the sense that it presented a variety of opinions and refused to come down definitely on one side or the other. The strength of the book is in its interplay between these characters who are attempting to define their own version of "Turkishness" from their starkly different religious and political beliefs, and the ways in which violence and oppression are committed and justified by both secularists and Islamists. Several elements of the story, however, such as the main character's superficial love affair, were not very compelling to me. On its literary merits alone, I might have given it three stars; I added the fourth because it is set a region of the world that interests me (northeastern Turkey, formerly part of Armenia and the Russian Empire).
4toude's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Very contemplative book. More interesting if you have been in Turkey, to understand the political plot
fishface's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Constantly baited with the 18 poems... sad we never got to read them...
bibliosol's review against another edition
3.0
“Once a six-pronged snowflake crystallizes, it takes between eight and ten minutes for it to fall through the sky, lose its original shape, and vanish; when, with further inquiry, he discovered that the form of each snowflake is determined by the temperature, the direction and strength of the wind, the altitude of the cloud, and any number of other mysterious forces, Ka decided that snowflakes have much in common with people” (406).
Per this book’s title, snow drifts across the pages of this book. We all know about how snowflakes are like people—every one of us is an individual—but this book is less about that and more about how short, sharp, and excruciatingly crystallized life is. Millions of us are falling together, all at once. Ka’s snowflake crystallizes during his homecoming trip to Kars: his pre-return life reads like indistinguishable mush, but every detail of his time in Kars is minutely detailed in his green notebooks. He has emerged from political exile in Germany to investigate the “suicide girls” of Kars (girls supposedly committing suicide over their loss of the right to cover their heads in scarves). In addition to this, he finds himself behind-over-teakettle in love with a past crush by the name of Ipek and unwillingly ensnared in local political hide-and-seek. His obstacles to happiness involve the connection (or lack thereof) between personal, political, religious, and secular/state matters. What relationships do these everyday components have? SHOULD they have any correlations between them? How much sway should these components have on each other, if there is to be a connection? And even then...will it matter in the end? All of our snowflakes are destined to melt into the ground anyway. Against a backdrop of high-stakes social and governmental oppression, this book dwells on these concerns and how they affect the outcome of individual lives.
Despite the fascinating level of detail in this novel, I did find it difficult to push through the second half. I had hoped to see more of the investigation of the suicide girls, though I understand now why that could not be. I found that I was impatient with the several side stories and missions Ka makes during the novel. Additionally, his response to trauma is confusing to me...though, I’m sure that is the whole point. I cannot even pretend to have experienced what people in politically and religiously insecure countries have experienced.
Bottom line: although I can wholeheartedly say that I respect what this novel has done, I cannot say that I loved it.
Per this book’s title, snow drifts across the pages of this book. We all know about how snowflakes are like people—every one of us is an individual—but this book is less about that and more about how short, sharp, and excruciatingly crystallized life is. Millions of us are falling together, all at once. Ka’s snowflake crystallizes during his homecoming trip to Kars: his pre-return life reads like indistinguishable mush, but every detail of his time in Kars is minutely detailed in his green notebooks. He has emerged from political exile in Germany to investigate the “suicide girls” of Kars (girls supposedly committing suicide over their loss of the right to cover their heads in scarves). In addition to this, he finds himself behind-over-teakettle in love with a past crush by the name of Ipek and unwillingly ensnared in local political hide-and-seek. His obstacles to happiness involve the connection (or lack thereof) between personal, political, religious, and secular/state matters. What relationships do these everyday components have? SHOULD they have any correlations between them? How much sway should these components have on each other, if there is to be a connection? And even then...will it matter in the end? All of our snowflakes are destined to melt into the ground anyway. Against a backdrop of high-stakes social and governmental oppression, this book dwells on these concerns and how they affect the outcome of individual lives.
Despite the fascinating level of detail in this novel, I did find it difficult to push through the second half. I had hoped to see more of the investigation of the suicide girls, though I understand now why that could not be. I found that I was impatient with the several side stories and missions Ka makes during the novel. Additionally, his response to trauma is confusing to me...though, I’m sure that is the whole point. I cannot even pretend to have experienced what people in politically and religiously insecure countries have experienced.
Bottom line: although I can wholeheartedly say that I respect what this novel has done, I cannot say that I loved it.