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dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition
5.0
This is the best book I've read in quite a while.
udai's review against another edition
5.0
Part one: You discover reading and become addicted.
What does it mean to belong? And what place do we call “Home”?
In this novel, Shafak explores the themes of being a foreigner both in your homeland and in other countries.
Moving to a different country poses several challenges: The language barrier, when words start to fail you and most of what you want to express is left unsaid. And the cultural barrier, when you have to adjust your behavior to the host’s culture and fight against people seeing you only as a stereotype of whatever culture you came from.
But moving away from home also gives advantages. You become anonymous, and in anonymity you become free from living up to the expectations your family and friends have put for you.
Part Two: You switch from addiction to obsession. Reading starts to consume you.
Being torn between two countries, two cultures will pose the question of where do you belong. In the host country where your whole life is currently happening, where your current self and personality are built but you still feel likea guest. Where you feel uneasy towards a society that accepts you only partially into a ghetto-esc sub-society within it. Or do you belong to a country that you have an ancient memory of, and that memory is an aching urge to flee?
And what if you are destined to live the life of a foreigner wherever your feet will land you because you haven’t found a homeland inside your own skin?
Part three: 6,667 books, your reality is now more fictional than the books you are reading.
The novel explores this topic and more, like mental illness, beliefs, love, etc. And what makes it pop out is that each one of these topics is tackled in a profound way.
The narrative style is engaging as usual for Elif is the queen storyteller.
The last chapter was named “the bridge in between”, and I found this novel as a bridge between Shafak’s old experimental, more style and innovative structure-oriented writing and her new more narrative, cohesive, topic-oriented writing style.
As usual, the power of Elif’s writing lies in the details, time was measured by songs, colors were named according to a wall paint catalog, and feelings were portrayed through food. It is these tiny details and elements of style that make Elif a unique voice that I will always cherish.
What does it mean to belong? And what place do we call “Home”?
In this novel, Shafak explores the themes of being a foreigner both in your homeland and in other countries.
Moving to a different country poses several challenges: The language barrier, when words start to fail you and most of what you want to express is left unsaid. And the cultural barrier, when you have to adjust your behavior to the host’s culture and fight against people seeing you only as a stereotype of whatever culture you came from.
But moving away from home also gives advantages. You become anonymous, and in anonymity you become free from living up to the expectations your family and friends have put for you.
Part Two: You switch from addiction to obsession. Reading starts to consume you.
Being torn between two countries, two cultures will pose the question of where do you belong. In the host country where your whole life is currently happening, where your current self and personality are built but you still feel likea guest. Where you feel uneasy towards a society that accepts you only partially into a ghetto-esc sub-society within it. Or do you belong to a country that you have an ancient memory of, and that memory is an aching urge to flee?
And what if you are destined to live the life of a foreigner wherever your feet will land you because you haven’t found a homeland inside your own skin?
Part three: 6,667 books, your reality is now more fictional than the books you are reading.
The novel explores this topic and more, like mental illness, beliefs, love, etc. And what makes it pop out is that each one of these topics is tackled in a profound way.
The narrative style is engaging as usual for Elif is the queen storyteller.
The last chapter was named “the bridge in between”, and I found this novel as a bridge between Shafak’s old experimental, more style and innovative structure-oriented writing and her new more narrative, cohesive, topic-oriented writing style.
As usual, the power of Elif’s writing lies in the details, time was measured by songs, colors were named according to a wall paint catalog, and feelings were portrayed through food. It is these tiny details and elements of style that make Elif a unique voice that I will always cherish.
kirstiecat's review against another edition
4.0
See, the thing is that for me, when a book's main character measures the time in his life by the amount of times he's listened to a song (esp. a good song), I tend to fall in love with him a little. It's sort of the same for me when a main character is a photographer. And when you fall in love with a main character, you end up thinking more highly of the book involved and also..you forget that it's a work of fiction because it seems so real. Then, you have to consider that if every work of fiction is somewhat autobiographical, the author has pretty good taste...so good, in fact, that you feel some emotional connection even though you are never likely to meet.
Such is the case for Elif Shafak's The Saint of Incipient Insanities. In many ways, it's just as much a book about the immigrant university experience as it is relationships and intimacy, psychosis, and various personalities being thrown in the mix of postmodern soup. (We are past the primordial stages, are we not and no one uses the term premodern because we are always trying to present ourselves as more progressive) Alas, I'm diverging from this topic. This book gets a 4 instead of a 5 because I wasn't too thrilled with the ending as much as I wanted to be. It seemed too lucid and made up whereas Omer (the main character) putting on his headphones to blast The Dead Kennedys or Nick Cave made a whole lot more sense to me.
Oh and totally off topic but from now on, I'm going to refer to myself as a premodern being. I don't think the apocalypse is happening tomorrow. I think the world is going to drift into an endless decay of depression, recession, and global warming. Modern is the time we listen to Nick Cave. Postmodern is the time we wander around clinging to the only wasteland we have left. Get out your T.S. Elliot, folks.
Such is the case for Elif Shafak's The Saint of Incipient Insanities. In many ways, it's just as much a book about the immigrant university experience as it is relationships and intimacy, psychosis, and various personalities being thrown in the mix of postmodern soup. (We are past the primordial stages, are we not and no one uses the term premodern because we are always trying to present ourselves as more progressive) Alas, I'm diverging from this topic. This book gets a 4 instead of a 5 because I wasn't too thrilled with the ending as much as I wanted to be. It seemed too lucid and made up whereas Omer (the main character) putting on his headphones to blast The Dead Kennedys or Nick Cave made a whole lot more sense to me.
Oh and totally off topic but from now on, I'm going to refer to myself as a premodern being. I don't think the apocalypse is happening tomorrow. I think the world is going to drift into an endless decay of depression, recession, and global warming. Modern is the time we listen to Nick Cave. Postmodern is the time we wander around clinging to the only wasteland we have left. Get out your T.S. Elliot, folks.
invisiblemonster's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-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
5.0
Read! This! Book! ASTOUNDING! It’s definitely near the top of Shafak’s body of work. She’s truly a master storyteller with the undeniable ability to grab the reader with a warm embrace and not let go.
agarje1's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, this was a delight to read. The story was surprisingly humorous, due largely in part to Shafak's clever writing style. She infuses philosophy, linguistic discussion, wordplay, and so much more into the narrative that really kept me wanting to read more. And of course, the characters were so vividly portrayed, and their relationships with each other were so well constructed. Being a story with little to no plot, the story focuses intensely on the characters' evolving relationships and their musings. My favorite discussions were those that focused on cultural differences and on language, but there was so much food for thought jam-packed into this novel. Even though this book was relatively dense, I always found myself compelled to keep going.
The only reason I docked a star was that, while I often enjoyed Shafak's cleverness, it sometimes came across as pretentious. She drops so many obscure, complicated words that the characters would never say, and I struggled to understand the purpose. Also, she seemed overly fond of certain literary devices, and their repetition diluted their effectiveness in my opinion.
Despite that issue, I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience and look forward to picking up more works by her in the future.
The only reason I docked a star was that, while I often enjoyed Shafak's cleverness, it sometimes came across as pretentious. She drops so many obscure, complicated words that the characters would never say, and I struggled to understand the purpose. Also, she seemed overly fond of certain literary devices, and their repetition diluted their effectiveness in my opinion.
Despite that issue, I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience and look forward to picking up more works by her in the future.
stygi_stajgar's review against another edition
3.0
The quite disturbing story, but after all easy to read. I've really enjoyed the songs mentioned in this book.
themaddiehatter's review against another edition
5.0
This is a beautifully written book, about a group of young foreigners from different corners of the world, finding themselves as they try to adapt to life in the USA.
I absolutely loved this book and the small philosophies and language analysis Elif Shafak goes into.
Here is my full video-review of this book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icoYbJTxa8g
I absolutely loved this book and the small philosophies and language analysis Elif Shafak goes into.
Here is my full video-review of this book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icoYbJTxa8g
frannyarose's review against another edition
3.0
Will make you feel melancholy and remember a time when you were young and lived in a home with a lot of other people and you were mostly happy but also sad. If this book was a colour it would be the blue lavender of twilight on a day you didn't want to end but you're also excited for the next day.
Personal note: Maybe one day I will become a boutique chocolate maker. How do I make fun moulds though?
Personal note: Maybe one day I will become a boutique chocolate maker. How do I make fun moulds though?