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A review by jdintr
Музей невинности by Orhan Pamuk, Орхан Памук
5.0
Pamuk is a Nobel laureate who is at the top of his game in this novel. The way he tells a story is much the way a person might sew a shirt. With every new "stitch" of the novel, he pulls the thread long and clear, returning the needle very close to the original place.
This is why the chapters seem to loop out and return back to one another without progressing in a routine, chronological way. It can be confusing to a reader who is merely trying to get from Point A to Point B, but it is a luxurious way of writing--and for the attuned reader, it is exhilarating. This is how he can spend a chapter describing the way Fusun puts out her cigarettes, and another starting every sentence with the word, "sometimes," and yet another describing the odd habit of having a porcelain dog on top of the television.
The character of Kemal was truly offensive to me at the start. I found his actions to be selfish and repulsive. The beauty of The Museum of Innocence is the way the story begins with a loss of innocence, then slowly grows through an eight-year process of redemption, only to... well, I won't give the end away after all.
I find it ironic, though, that Kemal--in order to restore Fusun's sexual purity--resorts to another vice to tide him through the years: stealing. It is a wonderful literary touch, if one that is utterly lacking in verisimilitude.
This was my first book of summer break from school. It was a great way to kick off the break and it bodes well for more great reading to come.
This is why the chapters seem to loop out and return back to one another without progressing in a routine, chronological way. It can be confusing to a reader who is merely trying to get from Point A to Point B, but it is a luxurious way of writing--and for the attuned reader, it is exhilarating. This is how he can spend a chapter describing the way Fusun puts out her cigarettes, and another starting every sentence with the word, "sometimes," and yet another describing the odd habit of having a porcelain dog on top of the television.
The character of Kemal was truly offensive to me at the start. I found his actions to be selfish and repulsive. The beauty of The Museum of Innocence is the way the story begins with a loss of innocence, then slowly grows through an eight-year process of redemption, only to... well, I won't give the end away after all.
I find it ironic, though, that Kemal--in order to restore Fusun's sexual purity--resorts to another vice to tide him through the years: stealing. It is a wonderful literary touch, if one that is utterly lacking in verisimilitude.
This was my first book of summer break from school. It was a great way to kick off the break and it bodes well for more great reading to come.