3.76k reviews for:

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

Elif Shafak

4.11 AVERAGE

sumaiahareb's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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 A hauntingly lyrical dive into memory, death, and found family.

We follow Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul, whose brain keeps flickering with vivid memories for 10 minutes and 38 seconds after her heart stops beating. What unfolds is not just a chronicle of her life, but of friendship, survival, and resilience in a city that both nurtures and devours.

💔 It’s raw. It’s political. It’s painfully human.

The first half broke me. The second half felt a bit disjointed—but still emotionally satisfying. The prose is lush, the characters unforgettable, and the themes cut deep.

🌊 Not a light read, but a meaningful one. Shafak paints Istanbul with both love and fury.

Would I recommend it? Yes, especially to those who love literary historical fiction that mixes the poetic with the tragic.

ufakbideneme's review against another edition

4.75

emotional 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

boekwous's review against another edition

4.0

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3,5⭐

a_bos's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

emmakmanning's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

readby_ryan's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

j_tracksbooks's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was a challenging, yet gripping read. Whenever I had to take time away from reading the book, I'd think about it non-stop. This being said, the first part of it was definitely better than the second one.

By the time we started following the five, I cared about them a lot, yet as soon as I heard from them directly, they seemed to be entirely different from how Leila saw them, and not in a good way. It's a powerful way of showing how we're more sympathetic towards our froiends, I guess... I also understand that the grave-robbing sequence is supposed to be another "fuck you" to the establishment that made these people suffer, but this arc still isn't enjoyable for me.

I struggle a bit with rating the prose in this. It was very yummy, so long as I was reading quickly but the longer I looked at sentences, the less I liked them.
It's still a good book, though, and it made me face some of my own biases, so I'd recommend it to people who want a bittersweet story, especially if they're interested in learning more about Turkey.

lucys_library's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging slow-paced

gmanjar's review against another edition

4.0

dark informative sad medium-paced

almica1's review against another edition

5.0

emotional 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