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A review by crankylibrarian
Bliss by O.Z. Livaneli
3.0
Less well known than Orhan Pamuk, Livanelli is another literary exponent of the contradictions of modern day Turkish life. 15 year old Meryem realized early on that God hates her: why else would he make her a sinful woman? Why would he kill her mother at her birth? And more significantly, why would he let her be raped by her fearsome uncle, an ultraconservative Muslim sheikh who dominates her small village? With the family honor now stained, Meryem's cousin Cemal is given an assignment: take the fallen girl to Istanbul and kill her. Cemal and Meryem embark on a journey through a swath of Turkish society: intellectuals, moguls, soldiers, revolutionaries, Islamists. Their eventual encounter with a disillusioned academic will have life changing consequences for all three.
There are weaknesses in this translation, and some of the characters seem to be included merely as types rather than fully developed personalities. Still, an intriguing, lyrical picture of a country's discomfort with starkly disparate cultures and values.
There are weaknesses in this translation, and some of the characters seem to be included merely as types rather than fully developed personalities. Still, an intriguing, lyrical picture of a country's discomfort with starkly disparate cultures and values.