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A review by jlsyao
Bliss by O.Z. Livaneli
2.0
I got this as a present from someone dear, so I had placed it high on my reading list. I was intrigued because the only other author I know well from Turkey is Orhan Pamuk, so I was excited to see what someone else had to say about the entire headscarf issue in Turkey.
Reading it, I cringed so many times at the obvious plot devices and narrative style which was not done subtly enough. They were so blatant and in your face that it was painful to get through. This however was a translation, so I've no idea if the style in the original version was so coarse.
That aside, after finishing the book, I was actually disappointed.
Entering this book you could tell the atmosphere was that of an "awareness book", which most books not based in UK or US are, in an attempt to let the world know more about an issue, a country, etc. But, it felt one-sided.
The author wasn't trying to raise awareness with this book, he was trying to sell his ideal to the public. It was clear where his bias was, and issues were not presented with as many sides as possible. It was not a neutral book.
The main theme in this story is how a female overcomes the double-standards placed unto her by a wayward society.
First with the rape, we get that it's wrong and awful. It was interesting and eye-opening to see how possibly in rural villages they would have wanted her to die for her "sin". I thought it would have meant so much more if we could see the consequences of the rape from the perspective of the rapist. He is a religious man, and pre-marital sex of any sort should be considered a sin; I really wanted to see what drove him to the rape, what made him abandon his so-called religious beliefs, and if he believed them at all.
Then, the entire headscarf issue. I wanted to see the other perspective of a girl who wore the headscarf because she wasn't forced to, but simply because she wanted to. No one had anything nice to say about the headscarf at all. Meryem who wore it hated it, and Selahattin's sister supposedly wore it simply because she was misguided. In Japanese there's a saying called 十人十色 (Jyuu nin to iro) which means that there are many different opinions and ways to look at things. I was disappointed that the author chose to ignore these points in regards to the headscarf issue.
That being said, because I am disappointed of the ways some issues have been presented, it has made me suspicious of the rest of the things the book has touched on. It strikes me that the book is probably prejudiced in many ways and it upsets me that I was not given a more holistic view of Turkey.
Reading it, I cringed so many times at the obvious plot devices and narrative style which was not done subtly enough. They were so blatant and in your face that it was painful to get through. This however was a translation, so I've no idea if the style in the original version was so coarse.
That aside, after finishing the book, I was actually disappointed.
Entering this book you could tell the atmosphere was that of an "awareness book", which most books not based in UK or US are, in an attempt to let the world know more about an issue, a country, etc. But, it felt one-sided.
The author wasn't trying to raise awareness with this book, he was trying to sell his ideal to the public. It was clear where his bias was, and issues were not presented with as many sides as possible. It was not a neutral book.
The main theme in this story is how a female overcomes the double-standards placed unto her by a wayward society.
First with the rape, we get that it's wrong and awful. It was interesting and eye-opening to see how possibly in rural villages they would have wanted her to die for her "sin". I thought it would have meant so much more if we could see the consequences of the rape from the perspective of the rapist. He is a religious man, and pre-marital sex of any sort should be considered a sin; I really wanted to see what drove him to the rape, what made him abandon his so-called religious beliefs, and if he believed them at all.
Then, the entire headscarf issue. I wanted to see the other perspective of a girl who wore the headscarf because she wasn't forced to, but simply because she wanted to. No one had anything nice to say about the headscarf at all. Meryem who wore it hated it, and Selahattin's sister supposedly wore it simply because she was misguided. In Japanese there's a saying called 十人十色 (Jyuu nin to iro) which means that there are many different opinions and ways to look at things. I was disappointed that the author chose to ignore these points in regards to the headscarf issue.
That being said, because I am disappointed of the ways some issues have been presented, it has made me suspicious of the rest of the things the book has touched on. It strikes me that the book is probably prejudiced in many ways and it upsets me that I was not given a more holistic view of Turkey.