BookRack

>SNOW by ORHAN PAMUK

fiction

by  |  on October 21st, 2010  |  7 comments

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image from here.

Melancholic, political, thoughtful and poetic.

The book is about the life of Ka, a poet, his visits to Kars and what happens there. The book is narrated in third person, with the narrator talking directly in a couple of chapters.

You can feel a peace and a melancholy through out the book- what is about to happen is revealed to you- yet you read on, because you don’t want to feel sad without knowing why.

I love the way the author uses Snow to classify poems(albeit the protagonist being a poet, there are no poems in the book) and also the way ‘the coming’ of each poem is described. It shows us that petty things can influence and even be the tipping point for a poem to force itself on the world through the poet.

There is a lot of politics involved in the book, especially between the state and the Islamists. Kars is blocked from the outside world thanks to the snow. A renowned actor along with his friends decides to stage a revolution, quite literally.

The majority of the book, talks about Ka’s days in Kars, his love for Ipek and jealousy of  Blue(supposedly an extremist). The book’s pace is very slow- slow enough to make you feel trapped as well.

What I love about Orhan Pamuk, is the way he blends history, politics, love, art etc. His books always seem to be complete. They seem so real!

Read this if you don’t mind a slow paced book, with a bit of religion and lots of politics in it. I have become a fan of Pamuk.

rating:- 10/10

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE.
Vishesh Unni Raghunathan Vishesh Unni Raghunathan (37 Posts)


 
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Comments (7)

  1. sm Thursday - 21 / 10 / 2010 Reply
    >thanks for review
  2. Abhinav Thursday - 21 / 10 / 2010 Reply
    >Have heard a lot about this book , thanks for the review.
  3. pisku Thursday - 21 / 10 / 2010 Reply
    >wow 10/10 eh? sounds very interesting!
  4. Vibha Thursday - 21 / 10 / 2010 Reply
    >Really your 10/10 is a real big motivator to read this book. Have heard alot about this book from many different sources. Must give it a read.
  5. sweety Thursday - 21 / 10 / 2010 Reply
    >A wonderful book for a poet .. I am a poet myself and would love to read this.. SURE SHOT - To read list book :)
  6. vishesh Friday - 22 / 10 / 2010 Reply
    >@sm: welcome :)

    @abhinav enjoy the book :)

    @pisku: it is, it is :)

    @vibha do read it :)

    @sweety: I too am a poet, so... :D
  7. flowergirl Saturday - 23 / 10 / 2010 Reply
    >I have read My name is Red and loved it, but I have not read this one. I shall put it down in my reading list. Pamuk's writing does have a coating of the melancholy, I also feel.

    Thanks for the review.

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