Comment

Jul 28, 2012Marzek rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Art and life: here the two overlap. Like all accounts of obsessive love, the interest is primarily in the eyes of the obsessor... to a point. I hit a point 1/3 of the way in or so when I just wanted to shake the protagonist: Snap out of it!! But that would obviate the premise of the book. After some admittedly slow going in the middle, toward the end it opens up and turns into something surprising, quite beautiful, and moving - as if Pamuk need those hundreds of pages of set-up. Closing the book, I was devastated. That's not too strong a word: for the next two days I didn't feel like reading anything else; the book had worked its magic. Now, only to go to Istanbul and see the actual Museum!