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Three Daughters of Eve
Peri, a married, wealthy, beautiful Turkish woman, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground--an old Polaroid of three young women and their university professor. A relic from a past--and a love--Peri had tried desperately to forget.
Three Daughters of Eve is set over an evening in contemporary Istanbul, as Peri arrives at the party and navigates the tensions that simmer in this crossroads country between East and West, religious and secular, rich and poor. Over the course of the dinner, and amidst an opulence that is surely ill begotten, terrorist attacks occur across the city. Competing in Peri's mind, however, are the memories invoked by her almost-lost Polaroid, of the time years earlier when she was sent abroad for the first time, to attend Oxford University. As a young woman there, she had become friends with the charming, adventurous Shirin, a fully assimilated Iranian girl, and Mona, a devout Egyptian American. Their arguments about Islam and feminism find focus in the charismatic but controversial Professor Azur, who teaches divinity, but in unorthodox ways. As the terrorist attacks come ever closer, Peri is moved to recall the scandal that tore them all apart.
Three Daughters of Eve is set over an evening in contemporary Istanbul, as Peri arrives at the party and navigates the tensions that simmer in this crossroads country between East and West, religious and secular, rich and poor. Over the course of the dinner, and amidst an opulence that is surely ill begotten, terrorist attacks occur across the city. Competing in Peri's mind, however, are the memories invoked by her almost-lost Polaroid, of the time years earlier when she was sent abroad for the first time, to attend Oxford University. As a young woman there, she had become friends with the charming, adventurous Shirin, a fully assimilated Iranian girl, and Mona, a devout Egyptian American. Their arguments about Islam and feminism find focus in the charismatic but controversial Professor Azur, who teaches divinity, but in unorthodox ways. As the terrorist attacks come ever closer, Peri is moved to recall the scandal that tore them all apart.
369 pages, Hardcover
First published June 28, 2016
About the author
Elif Shafak
62 books29.3k followersElif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and the most widely read female author in Turkey. She writes in both Turkish and English, and has published seventeen books, eleven of which are novels. Her work has been translated into fifty languages. Shafak holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She is a member of Weforum Global Agenda Council on Creative Economy and a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations). An advocate for women's rights, LGBT rights and freedom of speech, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice a TED Global speaker, each time receiving a standing ovation. Shafak contributes to major publications around the world and she has been awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2017 she was chosen by Politico as one of the twelve people who would make the world better. She has judged numerous literary prizes and is chairing the Wellcome Prize 2019. www.elifshafak.com
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February 19, 2018
قبل سنوات تعرفت، من خلال إحدى المشاريع التي كنت مشرفًا عليها، على فتاة غريبة الأطوار، وحدث أننا اجتمعنا في أحد المقاهي للاتفاق على خطة سير العمل، وكانت أمامنا كؤوسًا فارغة فوق المائدة، فقامت بقلبها مبررة ذلك بأنها تخشى أن يدخلها الغبار!
ومن باب إسقاط الكلفة، قلت لها ممازحًا، عليك ألا تتحدثي إذن حتى لا يدخل في فمك الغبار أيضًا! توقعت أن يضحك الجميع على دعابتي السخيفة، ولكن عوضًا عن ذلك تلقيت ركلة قوية على ساقي من تحت الطاولة وجهها لي صديقي محاولاً إسكاتي. لاحقًا أخبرني هذا الصديق بأن الفتاة تقطن لوحدها في بيت لا يشاركها فيه إلا زوجها، ورغم ذلك تقوم بتنظيفه باستمرار بطريقة جنونية، حتى أن الأثاث يهترئ بسرعة بفعل المياه التي تسكبها أرضاً و كأنها في شارع، و كل هذا الهوس تفسره على أنه حب للنظافة مع أنه لم يكن سوى أعراضًا لما سمى "اضطراب الوسواس القهري". كان جميع من على الطاولة يعلمون أن هذه الأفعال نتيجة لوساوس قهرية سواي .. أنا.
بعدها بسنوات اكتشفت بأنني مصاب بهذا الاضطراب ولكن بشكل آخر. فقد كانت، كلما اكتشفت خطأ إملائيًا أو لغويًا في كتابٍ ما، تنتابني نوبة غضب، إلى درجة أنني أتوقف في بعض الأحيان عن قراءة أي كتاب أعثر فيه على مثل هذه الأخطاء. ثم تطور الأمر بعد ذلك وأصبحت نوبات الغضب تنتابني كلما قرأت عملا أدبيًا رائعًا ولكنه مليئ بالثقوب والعيوب الفنية، وآخر هذه النوبات كانت بعد قراءة رواية "قطط انسغرام" للكويتية باسمة العنزي، حيث تمنيت وأنا أقرأ الرواية لو أرسلت المؤلفة عملها لي لأقوم بتقويم اعوجاجه قبل أن ترسله للمطبعة. كم تمنيت حينها لو كان بمقدوري تغيير ما كان يغضبني بنفس السهولة التي كانت تقلب فيه تلك الفتاة الكؤوس حتى لا يدخلها الغبار. وأمام هذه الحقيقة، حقيقة أنني لا أستطيع تصحيح ما كنت أعتقد بأنه نغمة ناشزة، حاولت التصالح مع وساوسي القهرية عن طريق البحث عن تبريرات منطقية للخلل فيما أقرأه.
كان عمل أليف شفق هذا كفيلاً بإثارة غضبي لأبعد الحدود، فأينما نظرت لا بد أن تكتشف كمية لا بأس بها من العيوب، ولذلك قد يبدو تبريري لها محاولة بائسة للتحكم في أعرا�� الوساوس القهرية التي كانت تناتبني وأنا أقرأ الرواية. الكثيرون ممن علقوا على الرواية وجدوا أنها تتحدث عن ابنة حواء واحدة، بيري الشخصية المشوّشة والمركزية في الرواية، بينما الابنتين الأخريين، شيرين الملحدة ومنى المؤمنة، فلا تحضران بنفس حضور بيري الطاغي، ولكنني، على عكس هؤلاء، أعتقد بأن أليف وفقت في ذلك، بل وتعمدت ذلك، لأنها تقول لنا بشكل ضمني بأن المتشددين من المؤمنين والملحدين يستولون على كافة المنابر، دون أن يتركوا للمشوشين، الذين تمثلهم بيري في الرواية، والذين يقفون في المنطقة الوسطى، الحق في الكلام، أليف شفق تحاول كما أعتقد أن تمنح صوتًا لهؤلاء الذين ينتمي لهم قطاع كبير من البشر ممن يعانون من مأزق الهوية الدينية.
كما يبدو للوهلة الأولى بأن الرواية تعاني من التشويش على كافة المستويات، فجميع الشخصيات، عدا بيري، يشوبها الغموض ولم تتمكن أليف، وربما لم تحاول، أن تبنيها بشكل واضح، وكذلك بعض الأحداث التي لمحت لها بشكل عرضي دون توضيحها مثل زواج والديها، ووفاة والدها، ومصير أخيها الماركسي، ومحاولة انتحارها، وكيف عادت إلى إسطنبول، وقصة زواجها، بل حتى نهاية الرواية تترك القارئ مشوشًا أمام باب مفتوح من الإحتمالات، ويبدو لي الآن أن شفق كانت تحتفي بالتشويش وتقول للقارئ إن اللايقين وعدم الوضوح في الحياة ضروري كضرورته في الدين.
أما أنا، المنتمي لهؤلاء المشوشين، فأقول بأنه في (قلبِ) كلّ مؤمنٍ ملحدٌ يسخر من يقينه، وفي (عقلِ) كلّ ملحدٍ مؤمنٌ يسخر من شكوكه.
ومن باب إسقاط الكلفة، قلت لها ممازحًا، عليك ألا تتحدثي إذن حتى لا يدخل في فمك الغبار أيضًا! توقعت أن يضحك الجميع على دعابتي السخيفة، ولكن عوضًا عن ذلك تلقيت ركلة قوية على ساقي من تحت الطاولة وجهها لي صديقي محاولاً إسكاتي. لاحقًا أخبرني هذا الصديق بأن الفتاة تقطن لوحدها في بيت لا يشاركها فيه إلا زوجها، ورغم ذلك تقوم بتنظيفه باستمرار بطريقة جنونية، حتى أن الأثاث يهترئ بسرعة بفعل المياه التي تسكبها أرضاً و كأنها في شارع، و كل هذا الهوس تفسره على أنه حب للنظافة مع أنه لم يكن سوى أعراضًا لما سمى "اضطراب الوسواس القهري". كان جميع من على الطاولة يعلمون أن هذه الأفعال نتيجة لوساوس قهرية سواي .. أنا.
بعدها بسنوات اكتشفت بأنني مصاب بهذا الاضطراب ولكن بشكل آخر. فقد كانت، كلما اكتشفت خطأ إملائيًا أو لغويًا في كتابٍ ما، تنتابني نوبة غضب، إلى درجة أنني أتوقف في بعض الأحيان عن قراءة أي كتاب أعثر فيه على مثل هذه الأخطاء. ثم تطور الأمر بعد ذلك وأصبحت نوبات الغضب تنتابني كلما قرأت عملا أدبيًا رائعًا ولكنه مليئ بالثقوب والعيوب الفنية، وآخر هذه النوبات كانت بعد قراءة رواية "قطط انسغرام" للكويتية باسمة العنزي، حيث تمنيت وأنا أقرأ الرواية لو أرسلت المؤلفة عملها لي لأقوم بتقويم اعوجاجه قبل أن ترسله للمطبعة. كم تمنيت حينها لو كان بمقدوري تغيير ما كان يغضبني بنفس السهولة التي كانت تقلب فيه تلك الفتاة الكؤوس حتى لا يدخلها الغبار. وأمام هذه الحقيقة، حقيقة أنني لا أستطيع تصحيح ما كنت أعتقد بأنه نغمة ناشزة، حاولت التصالح مع وساوسي القهرية عن طريق البحث عن تبريرات منطقية للخلل فيما أقرأه.
كان عمل أليف شفق هذا كفيلاً بإثارة غضبي لأبعد الحدود، فأينما نظرت لا بد أن تكتشف كمية لا بأس بها من العيوب، ولذلك قد يبدو تبريري لها محاولة بائسة للتحكم في أعرا�� الوساوس القهرية التي كانت تناتبني وأنا أقرأ الرواية. الكثيرون ممن علقوا على الرواية وجدوا أنها تتحدث عن ابنة حواء واحدة، بيري الشخصية المشوّشة والمركزية في الرواية، بينما الابنتين الأخريين، شيرين الملحدة ومنى المؤمنة، فلا تحضران بنفس حضور بيري الطاغي، ولكنني، على عكس هؤلاء، أعتقد بأن أليف وفقت في ذلك، بل وتعمدت ذلك، لأنها تقول لنا بشكل ضمني بأن المتشددين من المؤمنين والملحدين يستولون على كافة المنابر، دون أن يتركوا للمشوشين، الذين تمثلهم بيري في الرواية، والذين يقفون في المنطقة الوسطى، الحق في الكلام، أليف شفق تحاول كما أعتقد أن تمنح صوتًا لهؤلاء الذين ينتمي لهم قطاع كبير من البشر ممن يعانون من مأزق الهوية الدينية.
كما يبدو للوهلة الأولى بأن الرواية تعاني من التشويش على كافة المستويات، فجميع الشخصيات، عدا بيري، يشوبها الغموض ولم تتمكن أليف، وربما لم تحاول، أن تبنيها بشكل واضح، وكذلك بعض الأحداث التي لمحت لها بشكل عرضي دون توضيحها مثل زواج والديها، ووفاة والدها، ومصير أخيها الماركسي، ومحاولة انتحارها، وكيف عادت إلى إسطنبول، وقصة زواجها، بل حتى نهاية الرواية تترك القارئ مشوشًا أمام باب مفتوح من الإحتمالات، ويبدو لي الآن أن شفق كانت تحتفي بالتشويش وتقول للقارئ إن اللايقين وعدم الوضوح في الحياة ضروري كضرورته في الدين.
أما أنا، المنتمي لهؤلاء المشوشين، فأقول بأنه في (قلبِ) كلّ مؤمنٍ ملحدٌ يسخر من يقينه، وفي (عقلِ) كلّ ملحدٍ مؤمنٌ يسخر من شكوكه.
November 25, 2017
ZERO SPOILERS.....
Am I just allowed to SCREAM to the world how TOTALLY ENJOYABLE THIS BOOK WAS TO READ? It’s soooooooooo GOOOD!!!!!! It’s incredibly- I mean INCREDIBLY ENGAGING and THOUGHT-PROVOKING!!!
It’s just SOSOSOSOSO GOOD.... I’m dying to move right into ‘discussion’.
Grab a ‘buddy’ - friend - group - and read this book ‘with them so that you will have the pleasure to discuss it. My poor husband! I’m chewing his ears off.
JUST READ THIS BOOK - don’t miss it! But, you want to know a few things, right?
For starters - There is no ‘EVE’ as a character in this story. There are no THREE DAUGHTERS.....not in the way the title might have you assume.
So - why is this book called “The Three Daughter’s of Eve”? Well...AFTER, you read it - we can discuss it!
The woman we ‘do’ follow in this story is named Peri.....from childhood in Istanbul to Oxford University. As a small child Peri listened to her parents fight often. Her mother, Selma, a Muslim, was religious and valued the Middle East culture and traditions. Selma felt her husband, Mensur, was righteous, arrogant, pompous, and pretentious. She hated that he looked down on centuries- old traditions.
Peri was a very bright observant child. She knew that what her parents lacked in love, they made up in resentment.
Along with her parents influence- and her brothers - Peri was formulating her own thoughts about life, relationships, religion, and identity. The points of view were extreme in her family — creating confusion for Peri. That confusion traveled with her to Oxford University.
Peri’s was constantly uncertain when she arrived at Oxford. It’s a very interesting ‘center so-to-speak’ from which one lives life from. I can’t remember the last time I spent so much time thinking about “uncertainty”. I thought back to my own Freshman year in College —I, too, had an unconventional class that I’ll never forget — but not like Pari had with Professor Azur, who held a seminar on the question of God. Students in the class from various backgrounds with contradictory views.
A ‘thought’ that Peri has early in the book at home with her family , was more of the same way of thinking she had when she first arrived at Oxford University.
“There was something about a family row that resembled an impending avalanche: one wrong word and it threatened to turn into something so huge it brought down everyone”. I often thought back to this sentence — it’s so frightening to a child to watch parents fight - especially when you love them both - and think ‘both’ of their points of view have validity.
Throughout this book — the way the story is told: from Istanbul 2016, present day: a ‘ha’ ...crazy adventure on the way to a party you won’t forget - and the party itself......... to ‘looking back’ on her years growing up —-and her college years with two other specific friends and a professor .....we see flaws - tragedies- haunted memories - and ongoing confusion from Peri.
AND.....I THINK SHE IS A FASCINATING CHARACTER TO DISCUSS.....as a human being ——-and capturing an eye view of THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!
Themes...identity-beliefs, religions, Muslim/Turkish society/ Politics, friendships,family, East-Western conflict, morality, integrity, humanity .....
ENJOYABLE- GREAT STORYTELLING- REFLECTIVE! -note....the last 30 or so pages might have your mind spinning with thoughts! Up to the last page ....you’ll be thinking about the ending long after.
I want to Thank Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this book.... PERFECT BOOK ....sooo satisfying...It was great to read over the Thanksgiving weekend before having surgery this coming week.
A great thanks to Elif Shakak ....WOW! An author who can write! Such a treat!
Am I just allowed to SCREAM to the world how TOTALLY ENJOYABLE THIS BOOK WAS TO READ? It’s soooooooooo GOOOD!!!!!! It’s incredibly- I mean INCREDIBLY ENGAGING and THOUGHT-PROVOKING!!!
It’s just SOSOSOSOSO GOOD.... I’m dying to move right into ‘discussion’.
Grab a ‘buddy’ - friend - group - and read this book ‘with them so that you will have the pleasure to discuss it. My poor husband! I’m chewing his ears off.
JUST READ THIS BOOK - don’t miss it! But, you want to know a few things, right?
For starters - There is no ‘EVE’ as a character in this story. There are no THREE DAUGHTERS.....not in the way the title might have you assume.
So - why is this book called “The Three Daughter’s of Eve”? Well...AFTER, you read it - we can discuss it!
The woman we ‘do’ follow in this story is named Peri.....from childhood in Istanbul to Oxford University. As a small child Peri listened to her parents fight often. Her mother, Selma, a Muslim, was religious and valued the Middle East culture and traditions. Selma felt her husband, Mensur, was righteous, arrogant, pompous, and pretentious. She hated that he looked down on centuries- old traditions.
Peri was a very bright observant child. She knew that what her parents lacked in love, they made up in resentment.
Along with her parents influence- and her brothers - Peri was formulating her own thoughts about life, relationships, religion, and identity. The points of view were extreme in her family — creating confusion for Peri. That confusion traveled with her to Oxford University.
Peri’s was constantly uncertain when she arrived at Oxford. It’s a very interesting ‘center so-to-speak’ from which one lives life from. I can’t remember the last time I spent so much time thinking about “uncertainty”. I thought back to my own Freshman year in College —I, too, had an unconventional class that I’ll never forget — but not like Pari had with Professor Azur, who held a seminar on the question of God. Students in the class from various backgrounds with contradictory views.
A ‘thought’ that Peri has early in the book at home with her family , was more of the same way of thinking she had when she first arrived at Oxford University.
“There was something about a family row that resembled an impending avalanche: one wrong word and it threatened to turn into something so huge it brought down everyone”. I often thought back to this sentence — it’s so frightening to a child to watch parents fight - especially when you love them both - and think ‘both’ of their points of view have validity.
Throughout this book — the way the story is told: from Istanbul 2016, present day: a ‘ha’ ...crazy adventure on the way to a party you won’t forget - and the party itself......... to ‘looking back’ on her years growing up —-and her college years with two other specific friends and a professor .....we see flaws - tragedies- haunted memories - and ongoing confusion from Peri.
AND.....I THINK SHE IS A FASCINATING CHARACTER TO DISCUSS.....as a human being ——-and capturing an eye view of THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!
Themes...identity-beliefs, religions, Muslim/Turkish society/ Politics, friendships,family, East-Western conflict, morality, integrity, humanity .....
ENJOYABLE- GREAT STORYTELLING- REFLECTIVE! -note....the last 30 or so pages might have your mind spinning with thoughts! Up to the last page ....you’ll be thinking about the ending long after.
I want to Thank Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this book.... PERFECT BOOK ....sooo satisfying...It was great to read over the Thanksgiving weekend before having surgery this coming week.
A great thanks to Elif Shakak ....WOW! An author who can write! Such a treat!
January 11, 2018
رواية مُفككة، شتتت أهدافها حتى ضلت الطريق، بلا أحداث تُذكر وتستحق أن نحكي لمحة عنها، بلا فكرة واضحة في ما قرأته من ثلثيها الأولين حتى فاض بي الملل، بلا شخصيات مرسومة بإتقان، بلا أي طعم ولا فائدة، فقط أسلوب سرد جيد، ولكنه وحده لا يبني رواية، ولن يكفيني لتحمل عناء ستمائة صفحة، حتى الأسلوب نالت منه الترجمة المتواضعة لمحمد درويش في مناطق عديدة. كل مكونات الرواية الجيدة إما ناقصة أو غائبة هنا تمامًا، فقط ثرثرة لا طائل منها، ومحاولات إليف شافاق لإضفاء بُعد فلسفي ديني عليها ��انت بائسة تمامًا وغير مقنعة.
هي تجربة أولى للنسيان.
تمت
January 2, 2018
Now and then when you finish a book, you get that warm feeling inside, that feeling of love and gratitude for an author who has been able to draw you into the life of another person, to explore the background and thoughts of someone from a totally different culture and upbringing, in a way that can help explain and explore some of your own deep thoughts and idiosyncrasies regarding God, religion, deep cultural beliefs, the immature jealousies of our youth, uncontrollable young love and attraction, the reasons you perhaps sometimes failed, ran, did things based on your parent's expectations, and then the effects these sometimes poor decisions have on your life going forward.
I would compare certain elements of this book with some of may favorites over the years: "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse, "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini, "My Brilliant Friend" series by Elena Ferrante , and even "Sea of Poppies" by Amitov Ghosh.
In each of these similar and well written coming of age stories, we see the effects of the culture, the upbringing, the interaction with schoolmates and close friends, the prevailing philosophies and different school teachers, mentors and religious beliefs. Over time, each character reacts and grows into the adult person with all of their strengths and weaknesses.
Elif has accomplished this in such a compelling and great way. We end up having great respect and love for each of the three directions that the three muslim friends take, the theist, the atheist and the agnostic. I think I loved this about the book the most.
If you had a great time in college, wish now that you'd've been even more diligent, had a few professors who challenged some of your core beliefs, and hopefully helped you out of your protected little world and open to brilliant ideas from multiple sources, I think you'll enjoy this book even more.
I'm glad I found this author. I've heard of a few of her other books and now I'll read some of them. She is brilliant, her writing is crystal clear, well organized, her insight into human relationships and how real life operates is amazing. This was a five plus Goodread for me. Thanks to Elyse and Michael for their glowing five star reviews.
I would compare certain elements of this book with some of may favorites over the years: "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse, "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini, "My Brilliant Friend" series by Elena Ferrante , and even "Sea of Poppies" by Amitov Ghosh.
In each of these similar and well written coming of age stories, we see the effects of the culture, the upbringing, the interaction with schoolmates and close friends, the prevailing philosophies and different school teachers, mentors and religious beliefs. Over time, each character reacts and grows into the adult person with all of their strengths and weaknesses.
Elif has accomplished this in such a compelling and great way. We end up having great respect and love for each of the three directions that the three muslim friends take, the theist, the atheist and the agnostic. I think I loved this about the book the most.
If you had a great time in college, wish now that you'd've been even more diligent, had a few professors who challenged some of your core beliefs, and hopefully helped you out of your protected little world and open to brilliant ideas from multiple sources, I think you'll enjoy this book even more.
I'm glad I found this author. I've heard of a few of her other books and now I'll read some of them. She is brilliant, her writing is crystal clear, well organized, her insight into human relationships and how real life operates is amazing. This was a five plus Goodread for me. Thanks to Elyse and Michael for their glowing five star reviews.
December 31, 2018
إليف التي لا تخيب ظني في تقديم رواية ممتعة لا تستطيع تركها من يدك
December 9, 2017
بادئ ذي بدء الأربعة نجوم هذه ليست تقييم حيادي بالمرة بل تقييم بناءًا على أسباب وظروف شخصية بحتة؛ فهذه ليست رواية استثنائية ولا هي رواية دسمة على الرغم من عدد صفحاتها الطويل للغاية بل هي رواية قليلة الأحداث تعتمد على الوصف والتحليل أكثر من أي شيء آخر تمامًا كما روايات دوستويفسكي لكن الفارق هنا أن تلك التحليلات ليست بذات العظمة فهي لا تعدو كونها خواطر تشعر أحيانًا أنها خواطر شافاك نفسها ووجهات نظرها.
لذا فإذا أخذنا التقييم بشكل موضوعي فهي لا تستحق أكثر من نجمتين لكنني وللمرة الأولى أجد نفسي لا أستطيع إلا أن أقيم هذا العمل بشكل شخصي فالسبب الأول ��و أن الأعمال التي ترافقني في فترات مرضي أو نوبات اكتئابي أشعر أنها وبطريقة ما تنقذني وعلى الرغم من أن هذا هو التعارف الأول بيني وبين أليف شافاك إلا أنها كانت رفيقتي هذه المرة وكان الحديث –أو بالأحرى عدد الصفحات- طويل بما يكفي كي لا ينتهي وأنا لازلت بحاجة لمزيد من الصحبة.
السبب الآخر هو أن بيري تشبهني إلى حد مفزع، فيمكنني الآن أنا أفهم لما قال أحمد خالد توفيق إن أشنع مسخ يمكن للمرء أن يلقاه هو نفسه.
بيري تشبهني إلى ذلك الحد الذي كان يجعلني أنسى في بعض الأحيان أثناء قراءتي أنني اقرأ قصة فتاة أخرى من بلد آخر وأعتقد أنني اقرأ عني أو اقرأ أحدى نصوصي فقد كنت أقوم بتخطيط العديد من الاقتباسات حتى بدا ليّ أنني سأقوم بتخطيط الرواية بأكملها لذا فحين طلب صديقي استعارة نسختي من الرواية شعرت بالفزع فقراءة أحدهم لاقتباساتك تلك التي تختار أنت أن تُقرأ بنشرها على أي من حساباتك الشخصية يختلف تمامًا عن قراءة "كافة" اقتباساتك من عمل ما لا سيما حين تكون تلك الاقتباسات تعبّر عنك بشكل كبير يجعلني هذا أشعر وكأن غريب يتسكع في رأسي.
بيري المسكينة، المضطربة على الدوام، الحائرة والصموت تلك التي لا تعرف الرب إلا من أعين من حولها وكلما زادت آراء هؤلاء التي دومًا ما تكون متطرفة ومتناقضة بشكل صارخ مع بعضها البعض كلما زاد تشتتها لذا تسعى جاهدة إلى أن تعرفه هي وتفهمه من خلالها وليس من خلال أقوال وأفعال الآخرين.
الرواية بأكملها تصلح مثالاً صارخًا يعبر عن صراعات العالم الإسلامي بينه وبين نفسه من ناحية وبينه وبين العالم الخارجي من ناحية أخرى، وعلاقة أبناء هذا العالم بذلك الدين الذي يحدد هويتهم أما عن علاقة "بناته" فهنا يصبح الصراع أكثر حدة واضطرابًا وتبدو العلاقة بين بنات حواء مهما اختلفت درجة إيمانهن ( المؤمنة والملحدة والحائرة) وبين الرب -بالنسبة ليّ- علاقة مليئة بالحزن والعتاب.
تمتّ
لذا فإذا أخذنا التقييم بشكل موضوعي فهي لا تستحق أكثر من نجمتين لكنني وللمرة الأولى أجد نفسي لا أستطيع إلا أن أقيم هذا العمل بشكل شخصي فالسبب الأول ��و أن الأعمال التي ترافقني في فترات مرضي أو نوبات اكتئابي أشعر أنها وبطريقة ما تنقذني وعلى الرغم من أن هذا هو التعارف الأول بيني وبين أليف شافاك إلا أنها كانت رفيقتي هذه المرة وكان الحديث –أو بالأحرى عدد الصفحات- طويل بما يكفي كي لا ينتهي وأنا لازلت بحاجة لمزيد من الصحبة.
السبب الآخر هو أن بيري تشبهني إلى حد مفزع، فيمكنني الآن أنا أفهم لما قال أحمد خالد توفيق إن أشنع مسخ يمكن للمرء أن يلقاه هو نفسه.
بيري تشبهني إلى ذلك الحد الذي كان يجعلني أنسى في بعض الأحيان أثناء قراءتي أنني اقرأ قصة فتاة أخرى من بلد آخر وأعتقد أنني اقرأ عني أو اقرأ أحدى نصوصي فقد كنت أقوم بتخطيط العديد من الاقتباسات حتى بدا ليّ أنني سأقوم بتخطيط الرواية بأكملها لذا فحين طلب صديقي استعارة نسختي من الرواية شعرت بالفزع فقراءة أحدهم لاقتباساتك تلك التي تختار أنت أن تُقرأ بنشرها على أي من حساباتك الشخصية يختلف تمامًا عن قراءة "كافة" اقتباساتك من عمل ما لا سيما حين تكون تلك الاقتباسات تعبّر عنك بشكل كبير يجعلني هذا أشعر وكأن غريب يتسكع في رأسي.
بيري المسكينة، المضطربة على الدوام، الحائرة والصموت تلك التي لا تعرف الرب إلا من أعين من حولها وكلما زادت آراء هؤلاء التي دومًا ما تكون متطرفة ومتناقضة بشكل صارخ مع بعضها البعض كلما زاد تشتتها لذا تسعى جاهدة إلى أن تعرفه هي وتفهمه من خلالها وليس من خلال أقوال وأفعال الآخرين.
الرواية بأكملها تصلح مثالاً صارخًا يعبر عن صراعات العالم الإسلامي بينه وبين نفسه من ناحية وبينه وبين العالم الخارجي من ناحية أخرى، وعلاقة أبناء هذا العالم بذلك الدين الذي يحدد هويتهم أما عن علاقة "بناته" فهنا يصبح الصراع أكثر حدة واضطرابًا وتبدو العلاقة بين بنات حواء مهما اختلفت درجة إيمانهن ( المؤمنة والملحدة والحائرة) وبين الرب -بالنسبة ليّ- علاقة مليئة بالحزن والعتاب.
تمتّ
December 2, 2017
من أجمل أعمال شافاك, رواية عن المغتربين و المذبذبين و كل من هم في منزلة الـ بين-بين.
March 6, 2017
I really wanted to love this book: the language and opulence of the first chapter completely seduced me. However, as I progressed through the book, more things started to grate on me.
I loved the language: rich, seductive, intelligent and atmospheric. I loved all description of Istanbul, shaping it into yet another inadvertent protagonist in the book. I liked the story of self-discovery and adolescence; even Oxford setting looked realistic and mysticism did not bother me.
My main problem was with the number of concepts meshed up in this book. We get to grapple with religion in all its forms (primarily the antagonistic relationship between the secular western influence vs. Islamic East), rape and abuse, role of women in modern Turkey, 9/11, corruption, mafia wars, 1980s political repression in Turkey, professor-student relationship, female comradery, guilt, suicide, loss. Do we need to have all of them in one book? Why not just focus on some issues and explore them?
My second problem was the patronising narration in Oxford parts. There is absolutely no need to treat you reader as a student; I can form my own opinions and come to my own conclusions.
Lastly, Professor Azur… oh where do I begin with this one? For the first two parts, we are primed to expect some over-worldly greatness only to be disappointed by the banality of his seminars. Azur comes across as a megalomaniac, self-obsessed lecturer who cannot use questioning techniques to help his students. In some parts his actions come across as grooming. I did not find him convincing, more like irritating and irrelevant. I found that story line utterly predictable.
And then there is a random and an unnecessary ending to this book to leave the final impression.
I liked it enough for the things mentioned in the beginning to pick up another book by the author, maybe it will be more realised.
I loved the language: rich, seductive, intelligent and atmospheric. I loved all description of Istanbul, shaping it into yet another inadvertent protagonist in the book. I liked the story of self-discovery and adolescence; even Oxford setting looked realistic and mysticism did not bother me.
My main problem was with the number of concepts meshed up in this book. We get to grapple with religion in all its forms (primarily the antagonistic relationship between the secular western influence vs. Islamic East), rape and abuse, role of women in modern Turkey, 9/11, corruption, mafia wars, 1980s political repression in Turkey, professor-student relationship, female comradery, guilt, suicide, loss. Do we need to have all of them in one book? Why not just focus on some issues and explore them?
My second problem was the patronising narration in Oxford parts. There is absolutely no need to treat you reader as a student; I can form my own opinions and come to my own conclusions.
Lastly, Professor Azur… oh where do I begin with this one? For the first two parts, we are primed to expect some over-worldly greatness only to be disappointed by the banality of his seminars. Azur comes across as a megalomaniac, self-obsessed lecturer who cannot use questioning techniques to help his students. In some parts his actions come across as grooming. I did not find him convincing, more like irritating and irrelevant. I found that story line utterly predictable.
And then there is a random and an unnecessary ending to this book to leave the final impression.
I liked it enough for the things mentioned in the beginning to pick up another book by the author, maybe it will be more realised.
July 30, 2019
Gerek konusu gerek hakkındaki olumlu eleştiriler sebebiyle Havva'nın Üç Kızı'na heyecanla başladım. Sıkı bir Elif Şafak okuyucusu değilim, her kitabını okumadım henüz; ama rahat bir şekilde bu kitabın okuduğum Şafaklar içinde en iyisi olduğunu söylememin imkânı yok. Hatta belki en az tat aldığım kitabı bu oldu bile diyebilirim. Evet, kitap bir hayli sürükleyici, merakla okuyorsunuz; ama kitabı bitirdiğinizde pek çok şeyin eksik kaldığını hissediyorsunuz. Elif Şafak çok şey anlatayım istemiş, toplumun kanayan yaralarının çoğundan bahsedeyim demiş; ama hiçbirini tam olarak anlatamamış. Ayrıca her kesimden insanı katayım romana derken bazı tipler biraz karikatürize edilmiş bana göre.
Kitabı bitirdikten sonra şu sorularla boğuştuğumu söyleyebilirim:
- Kitabın ismi, Havva'nın Üç Kızı; fakat biz kitap boyunca tek bir kadını okuyoruz, onu da tam olarak okuyamıyoruz diyebilirim. Nerede bu Havva'nın diğer iki kızı?
- Şirin kim tam olarak?
- Peki ya Mona?
- Kitabın arka konusuna bakınca Tanrı'ya dair tartışmaların kitabın bütününe yayıldığı izlenimini ediniyorsunuz; fakat bu adeta bir sos niyetine sunulmuş. Neden?
- Kitabın ortalarında Peri, Şirin ve Mona üçlüsünü bir arada görüyoruz; fakat aralarında tam anlamıyla bir dostluk okumamız mümkün değil. Ne zaman bu kadar sıkı fıkı oldu bu birbirinden farklı üç kadın?
- İdealist Peri neden bu kadar çabuk pes edip eğitimi yarıda bırakıp geri döndü?
- Kitabın başında Peri ve kızıyla ilgili güzel bir başlangıç yapmıştık, neden yarım kaldı?
- Umut? Ona ne oldu? Peki ya ailenin diğer fertlerine?
Baba ve Piç'te okuyucusuna -bence- lezzetli bir aşure sunuyordu Elif Şafak. Havva'nın Üç Kızı ise tam olarak bir çorba tadı uyandırdı bende; ancak Elif Şafak bu çorbaya tuz atmayı unutmuş, tatsız tuzsuz, eksik bir şey çıkmış ortaya ne yazık ki. Ben en iyisi okumadığım kitaplarıyla yoluma devam edeyim...
Kitabı bitirdikten sonra şu sorularla boğuştuğumu söyleyebilirim:
- Kitabın ismi, Havva'nın Üç Kızı; fakat biz kitap boyunca tek bir kadını okuyoruz, onu da tam olarak okuyamıyoruz diyebilirim. Nerede bu Havva'nın diğer iki kızı?
- Şirin kim tam olarak?
- Peki ya Mona?
- Kitabın arka konusuna bakınca Tanrı'ya dair tartışmaların kitabın bütününe yayıldığı izlenimini ediniyorsunuz; fakat bu adeta bir sos niyetine sunulmuş. Neden?
- Kitabın ortalarında Peri, Şirin ve Mona üçlüsünü bir arada görüyoruz; fakat aralarında tam anlamıyla bir dostluk okumamız mümkün değil. Ne zaman bu kadar sıkı fıkı oldu bu birbirinden farklı üç kadın?
- İdealist Peri neden bu kadar çabuk pes edip eğitimi yarıda bırakıp geri döndü?
- Kitabın başında Peri ve kızıyla ilgili güzel bir başlangıç yapmıştık, neden yarım kaldı?
- Umut? Ona ne oldu? Peki ya ailenin diğer fertlerine?
Baba ve Piç'te okuyucusuna -bence- lezzetli bir aşure sunuyordu Elif Şafak. Havva'nın Üç Kızı ise tam olarak bir çorba tadı uyandırdı bende; ancak Elif Şafak bu çorbaya tuz atmayı unutmuş, tatsız tuzsuz, eksik bir şey çıkmış ortaya ne yazık ki. Ben en iyisi okumadığım kitaplarıyla yoluma devam edeyim...
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October 31, 2017أنا أحب إليف كثيراً ، واعجابي بها ليس أدبياً فقط وأنما لأن رواياتها ترتبط بذكريات جميلة بالنسبة لي ، لهذا ربما اكون غالباً منحازة لها ، لكن الحق يُقال هذه الرواية ليست بالمستوى المتوقع ، ولم تتمكن إليف من تقديم شيء جديد .
عندما تقرأ ما كُتب على الغلاف الخلفي وبالاضافة لعنوان الرواية ورسمة الغلاف حتماً سيتبادر لذهنك أن هناك ثلاث شخصيات رئيسية مختلفة التوجهات الدينية تتقاطع مصائرها معاً ، لكن عندما تقرأ الرواية لن تجد هذا فمثلاً شخصية منى المسلمة التي يُفترض أنها شخصية اساسية في الرواية لو سحبتها تماماً لما فقدت الرواية شيء ولما تأثرت القصة !
اعترف حقاً انها لم تترك فرصة للملل من التسلل لروايتها رغم انها جاءت في 600 صفحة وكمية الحوارات البليغة والعميقة كانت رائعة جداً اقتبست الكثير منها اما اختلاف ميول الشخصيات وآرائها فاضاف تنوعاً جميلاً للرواية وطبعاً كعادتها فقد دست إليف كمية كبيرة من الاسماء المميزة في الادب والفن والتاريخ وعناوين للكتب ، ولكن رغم هذا شعرت أن الرواية ينقصها الكثير ، قصتها ضعيفة وكان هناك الكثير من التفاصيل والشخصيات التي لم اشعر أن هناك داعٍ لوجودها وكأنها ارادت فقط أن تحشو الرواية او تضاعف حجمها .
اضافة الى أن هناك العديد من الاحداث المبهمة او المبتورة والتي لم تبدو منطقية او على الاقل يمكننا القول أنها ضعيفة الحجة .
من الجميل أن يمتلك الكاتب لونه الخاص لكن بشرط أن يكون متجدداً فيه حتى لا يكرر ذاته ، واخشى أن إليف في هذه الرواية قد كررت ذاتها ، المسائل الروحانية ، الحب الآلهي والنظرة المحايدة للاديان لم تكن جديدة بالنسبة لها ولم التمس ذلك التطور الكبير في هذه الافكار .
"لكل جوادٍ كبوة" ولعل هذه كبوتها ، ولو كانت الرواية تحمل اسم كاتب آخر لربما ما كنت سأكملها.
اتركها بلا نجوم ليس لأنني أحب إليف ولهذا لا ارغب في ادراج تقييم منخفض لاحدى رواياتها بل لأن القيمة العاطفية التي ارتبطت بهذه الرواية تجبرني على أن اتركها كذكرى جميلة استمتعت بها جداً ، فهي بالنسبة لي ليست رواية بقدر ما هي مجموعة من المشاعر , وهذا امر لا يمكنني تقييمه أبداً .
عندما تقرأ ما كُتب على الغلاف الخلفي وبالاضافة لعنوان الرواية ورسمة الغلاف حتماً سيتبادر لذهنك أن هناك ثلاث شخصيات رئيسية مختلفة التوجهات الدينية تتقاطع مصائرها معاً ، لكن عندما تقرأ الرواية لن تجد هذا فمثلاً شخصية منى المسلمة التي يُفترض أنها شخصية اساسية في الرواية لو سحبتها تماماً لما فقدت الرواية شيء ولما تأثرت القصة !
اعترف حقاً انها لم تترك فرصة للملل من التسلل لروايتها رغم انها جاءت في 600 صفحة وكمية الحوارات البليغة والعميقة كانت رائعة جداً اقتبست الكثير منها اما اختلاف ميول الشخصيات وآرائها فاضاف تنوعاً جميلاً للرواية وطبعاً كعادتها فقد دست إليف كمية كبيرة من الاسماء المميزة في الادب والفن والتاريخ وعناوين للكتب ، ولكن رغم هذا شعرت أن الرواية ينقصها الكثير ، قصتها ضعيفة وكان هناك الكثير من التفاصيل والشخصيات التي لم اشعر أن هناك داعٍ لوجودها وكأنها ارادت فقط أن تحشو الرواية او تضاعف حجمها .
اضافة الى أن هناك العديد من الاحداث المبهمة او المبتورة والتي لم تبدو منطقية او على الاقل يمكننا القول أنها ضعيفة الحجة .
من الجميل أن يمتلك الكاتب لونه الخاص لكن بشرط أن يكون متجدداً فيه حتى لا يكرر ذاته ، واخشى أن إليف في هذه الرواية قد كررت ذاتها ، المسائل الروحانية ، الحب الآلهي والنظرة المحايدة للاديان لم تكن جديدة بالنسبة لها ولم التمس ذلك التطور الكبير في هذه الافكار .
"لكل جوادٍ كبوة" ولعل هذه كبوتها ، ولو كانت الرواية تحمل اسم كاتب آخر لربما ما كنت سأكملها.
اتركها بلا نجوم ليس لأنني أحب إليف ولهذا لا ارغب في ادراج تقييم منخفض لاحدى رواياتها بل لأن القيمة العاطفية التي ارتبطت بهذه الرواية تجبرني على أن اتركها كذكرى جميلة استمتعت بها جداً ، فهي بالنسبة لي ليست رواية بقدر ما هي مجموعة من المشاعر , وهذا امر لا يمكنني تقييمه أبداً .
November 24, 2017
This is a compelling tale of a woman, Peri (Nazperi), who gets shaken out of her stable, well-adjusted mode of upper-class living in contemporary Istanbul by a random mugging event and by the responses she surprises herself by making. Here’s the effective hook in the first sentence of the book:
It was an ordinary spring day in Istanbul, a long and leaden afternoon like so many others, when she discovered, with a hollowness in her stomach, that she was capable of killing someone.
She gets a lot of fulfillment as a mother, as a gracious partner to her affluent husband (a real estate developer), and as an all around do-gooder from charity work to routinely carrying treats for homeless cats:
A fine wife, a fine mother, a fine housewife, a fine citizen, a fine modern Muslim she was.
… Time, like a skillful tailor, had seamlessly stitched together the two fabrics that sheathed Peri’s life: what people thought of her and what she thought of herself. ..she could no longer tell how much of each day was defined by what was wished upon her and how much of it was what she really wanted.
Still in the first paragraphs, we are pitched a second curve ball in this additional foreshadowing:
It would therefore come as a surprise when, on a middling day, at the age of thirty-five, established and respected, she found herself staring at the void in her soul.
What Peri does that that day is hard to justify to her daughter, so she keeps it under wraps. In her soul’s ferment we can detect a liberating experience in becoming more of an active agent in her life. But the downside is that it opens some emotional doors to painful things in her past that she has banished from revisiting. These include family traumas from her childhood and from a bad outcome from when she was a college student at Oxford. I am a big fan of character development and development in general (aligning with a past career in biology), and I find a lot of insight here in how both the strengths and weaknesses set into one’s character in early challenges hold the key to adaptive change in the face of ongoing threats and hurdles in our present life.
In her childhood Peri took a hybrid path between the atheism of her academic father and the Muslim devotion of her mother, adopting a mode of respectful uncertainty about God’s nature and role in her life. When it came to terrible injustices in this world, such as the terrible fate of one of her brothers whose political activities ran afoul of a repressive regime in the 80s, she can’t understand how God can let undeserved suffering happen without intervening:
If He could not, He was not all-powerful. If He could, and still did nothing to help those in need, He was not merciful. …He was in imposter.
Instead of following paths of the extreme left and right of her brothers, she seeks the mental liberation and pathway to accomplishment in literature and languages. Under her liberal father’s encouragement, she succeeds in getting into Oxford, where she is both exhilarated and challenged. It was lovely to experience her success in getting past the culture shock and bonding with her two roommates. Together they make up the “Three Daughters of Eves”: Shirin the rebellious “Sinner” whose family escaped the repression of Iran, Mona the devout Egyptian-American, Muslin “Believer” who is also a feminist, and Peri, the timid and studious Turk who acknowledges her status as “Confused” with regard to religion and thus once again the hybrid. All three are shaken up by a seminar that explores in radical ways different conceptions on God and his possible existence which is run by the charismatic Professor Azur. We experience Peri’s mind soaring with the fascinating content of the studies and debate of this course, and but something happens that melts her wings and leads her to drop out and return home as the epitome of “going with the flow” and settle into mundane existence as a mother and housewife.
In the scenes of her life in the contemporary world, the need for accountability comes to roost in many forms. All day since the incident I referred to, Peri feels compromised as a model for the moral development of her daughter, who never knew she was once an ambitious scholar at Oxford. Her mind’s flights during a dinner party with her husband’s circle of affluent business leaders and professionals has her in a struggle I would call a crisis of conscience. She has done something cruel and damaging to another in her youth, and she needs to find a path to self-respect. The talk is of the perils of terrorism, problems over the vast influx of refugees Turkey was taking in, the helpless feeling of fighting rising Islamophobia, and growing sympathies in the direction of a conservative nationalist agenda. In response to the sad results of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, one of her husband’s colleagues suggests that democracy was a luxury not worth pursuing. The sense of accepting the bad cards dealt one like inevitable fate is no longer the philosophy she can accept in this dangerous world.
I loved this late blooming of a woman trapped and suckered into a submissive position in an ostensibly modern and secular society. Much food for thought in a well-told tale. Personally, it represented a nice complement to a recent read of Bettany's history of Istanbul through the epochs of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires (Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities. I look forward to finding more works of Safak in translation, which includes 9 novels and 4 works of non-fiction. The book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.
It was an ordinary spring day in Istanbul, a long and leaden afternoon like so many others, when she discovered, with a hollowness in her stomach, that she was capable of killing someone.
She gets a lot of fulfillment as a mother, as a gracious partner to her affluent husband (a real estate developer), and as an all around do-gooder from charity work to routinely carrying treats for homeless cats:
A fine wife, a fine mother, a fine housewife, a fine citizen, a fine modern Muslim she was.
… Time, like a skillful tailor, had seamlessly stitched together the two fabrics that sheathed Peri’s life: what people thought of her and what she thought of herself. ..she could no longer tell how much of each day was defined by what was wished upon her and how much of it was what she really wanted.
Still in the first paragraphs, we are pitched a second curve ball in this additional foreshadowing:
It would therefore come as a surprise when, on a middling day, at the age of thirty-five, established and respected, she found herself staring at the void in her soul.
What Peri does that that day is hard to justify to her daughter, so she keeps it under wraps. In her soul’s ferment we can detect a liberating experience in becoming more of an active agent in her life. But the downside is that it opens some emotional doors to painful things in her past that she has banished from revisiting. These include family traumas from her childhood and from a bad outcome from when she was a college student at Oxford. I am a big fan of character development and development in general (aligning with a past career in biology), and I find a lot of insight here in how both the strengths and weaknesses set into one’s character in early challenges hold the key to adaptive change in the face of ongoing threats and hurdles in our present life.
In her childhood Peri took a hybrid path between the atheism of her academic father and the Muslim devotion of her mother, adopting a mode of respectful uncertainty about God’s nature and role in her life. When it came to terrible injustices in this world, such as the terrible fate of one of her brothers whose political activities ran afoul of a repressive regime in the 80s, she can’t understand how God can let undeserved suffering happen without intervening:
If He could not, He was not all-powerful. If He could, and still did nothing to help those in need, He was not merciful. …He was in imposter.
Instead of following paths of the extreme left and right of her brothers, she seeks the mental liberation and pathway to accomplishment in literature and languages. Under her liberal father’s encouragement, she succeeds in getting into Oxford, where she is both exhilarated and challenged. It was lovely to experience her success in getting past the culture shock and bonding with her two roommates. Together they make up the “Three Daughters of Eves”: Shirin the rebellious “Sinner” whose family escaped the repression of Iran, Mona the devout Egyptian-American, Muslin “Believer” who is also a feminist, and Peri, the timid and studious Turk who acknowledges her status as “Confused” with regard to religion and thus once again the hybrid. All three are shaken up by a seminar that explores in radical ways different conceptions on God and his possible existence which is run by the charismatic Professor Azur. We experience Peri’s mind soaring with the fascinating content of the studies and debate of this course, and but something happens that melts her wings and leads her to drop out and return home as the epitome of “going with the flow” and settle into mundane existence as a mother and housewife.
In the scenes of her life in the contemporary world, the need for accountability comes to roost in many forms. All day since the incident I referred to, Peri feels compromised as a model for the moral development of her daughter, who never knew she was once an ambitious scholar at Oxford. Her mind’s flights during a dinner party with her husband’s circle of affluent business leaders and professionals has her in a struggle I would call a crisis of conscience. She has done something cruel and damaging to another in her youth, and she needs to find a path to self-respect. The talk is of the perils of terrorism, problems over the vast influx of refugees Turkey was taking in, the helpless feeling of fighting rising Islamophobia, and growing sympathies in the direction of a conservative nationalist agenda. In response to the sad results of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, one of her husband’s colleagues suggests that democracy was a luxury not worth pursuing. The sense of accepting the bad cards dealt one like inevitable fate is no longer the philosophy she can accept in this dangerous world.
I loved this late blooming of a woman trapped and suckered into a submissive position in an ostensibly modern and secular society. Much food for thought in a well-told tale. Personally, it represented a nice complement to a recent read of Bettany's history of Istanbul through the epochs of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires (Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities. I look forward to finding more works of Safak in translation, which includes 9 novels and 4 works of non-fiction. The book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.
February 14, 2017
I received a copy of this book on Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
"I was always in that limbo between yes and no. No stranger to faith, no stranger to doubt..."
4.5*
I was really happy to receive Three Daughters of Eve on Netgalley, as I'd recently read an interview with the author and thought the book sounded fascinating.
It certainly lived up to expectations. The book is set both in the past and the present, focusing on Peri as a student in Oxford, and as a wealthy wife (14 years later) in Istanbul. It starts with something of a red herring, focusing on Peri's attack (and almost rape) by a beggar, then develops into an exploration of her past, as a Turkish Muslim at Oxford University.
She's flanked by Shirin, a non-believer, and Mona, a devout Muslim - making them 'the sinner, the believer and the confused'. They're united by a man called Professor Azur, who has a major influence in their lives, both positive and negative.
The book is an intriguing exploration into religion, belief and culture-clash - and in particular, the scenes detailing Peri's past, with a non-believing father and a devout mother, worked particularly well. A few moments jarred slightly - for example, the sudden revelation about the twin brother towards the end, and the abrupt shift in perspective from Peri to Professor Azur (again, towards the end), but for the most part, this book was masterfully executed and beautifully sustained throughout.
I think Shafak has a strong, resonant style, combined with a philosophical approach - which works really well. I'd definitely like to read more of her books.
"I was always in that limbo between yes and no. No stranger to faith, no stranger to doubt..."
4.5*
I was really happy to receive Three Daughters of Eve on Netgalley, as I'd recently read an interview with the author and thought the book sounded fascinating.
It certainly lived up to expectations. The book is set both in the past and the present, focusing on Peri as a student in Oxford, and as a wealthy wife (14 years later) in Istanbul. It starts with something of a red herring, focusing on Peri's attack (and almost rape) by a beggar, then develops into an exploration of her past, as a Turkish Muslim at Oxford University.
She's flanked by Shirin, a non-believer, and Mona, a devout Muslim - making them 'the sinner, the believer and the confused'. They're united by a man called Professor Azur, who has a major influence in their lives, both positive and negative.
The book is an intriguing exploration into religion, belief and culture-clash - and in particular, the scenes detailing Peri's past, with a non-believing father and a devout mother, worked particularly well. A few moments jarred slightly - for example, the sudden revelation about the twin brother towards the end, and the abrupt shift in perspective from Peri to Professor Azur (again, towards the end), but for the most part, this book was masterfully executed and beautifully sustained throughout.
I think Shafak has a strong, resonant style, combined with a philosophical approach - which works really well. I'd definitely like to read more of her books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2018
1st of February, 2018. MY REVIEW
(my previous message yesterday) I finished this book late last night and had to drive 800 km today, so did not have time to review it. Review will follow. This is a though-provoking, intense book. Loved the experience.
Istantbul. The city that encompassed seven hills, two continents, three seas, and fifteen millions mouths.
The book opened with wealthy 35-year-old Peri (Nazperi) who discovered that she is able to kill someone during a mugging. It is the most important metaphorical event in the book, since not only does it unleash her memories, but also her sense of liberation from herself and her family situation. She is a caring mother, an all-rounder for charity and social uplifting, yet once experienced the freedom of being a student at Oxford, England. She had two girlfriends, who suddenly resurfaced in her mind when an old Polaroid snapshot fell from her expensive handbag during the mugging. It would change her life.
But to get to the point where she finally turned towards a new destiny, she had to remember...the baby in the cloud of mist, her mother's new devotion to Allah, her brother's discovery of Marxism, her father's blasphemous devotion to science, while bombs exploded all around them in the city.
As a young girl, the thought that she had to make a choice, once and for all, between her mother’s defiant religiosity and her father’s defiant materialism almost paralysed her. She learnt early on in life that there was no fight more hurtful than a family fight, and no family more hurtful than one over God.
It was the discovery of her brother Umut's books, by the police, that brought the first junction of despair, where her mental paralysis prevented her from choosing between 'right' and 'wrong'. Hakan, her second brother, was not much of a reader. The police had only one young man to arrest for being in possession of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, The Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich Engels, The Permanent Revolution by Leon Trotsky, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Utopia by Thomas More, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell and Kiss of the Spider Woman by Leonard Schrader.
Eight years of jail awaited Umut. It would be the final step to turn her parents into two very different directions, and her brother Hakan surpassing his mother in religious devotion.
God was like a Lego set. You could build an angry God, all-punishing; a peaceful God, all-loving; or maybe built nothing.
Mensure was all about science. Civilization was built on it and reason and technology, not on unfounded believes. Mensure believed that he and Peri belonged in his world.
It is Peri's paralysis that lead up to her relationships with her professor and two friends at Oxford. Four people stood together in the Polaroid. Shirin from Iran, Mona, the Egyptian-American, the feminist, Peri, the timid Turk. The three daughters of Eve, three young Muslim women: the Sinner, the Believer and the Confused, with their professor Azur.
Peri, the good person, befriended people she could relate to, like anybody else. Takes one to know one.
With her memories whirling in her mind and the machine guns raging in her nearby vicinity that night of the mugging, Peri finally came to a conclusion...
A last comment: the prose was so rich in textures and color, I just wanted you to experience some of it, without giving away too much of Peri's philosophical journey to find her own place in this world.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
PS. I did not understand the ending so well. Hence the four star rating.
(my previous message yesterday) I finished this book late last night and had to drive 800 km today, so did not have time to review it. Review will follow. This is a though-provoking, intense book. Loved the experience.
Istantbul. The city that encompassed seven hills, two continents, three seas, and fifteen millions mouths.
The book opened with wealthy 35-year-old Peri (Nazperi) who discovered that she is able to kill someone during a mugging. It is the most important metaphorical event in the book, since not only does it unleash her memories, but also her sense of liberation from herself and her family situation. She is a caring mother, an all-rounder for charity and social uplifting, yet once experienced the freedom of being a student at Oxford, England. She had two girlfriends, who suddenly resurfaced in her mind when an old Polaroid snapshot fell from her expensive handbag during the mugging. It would change her life.
But to get to the point where she finally turned towards a new destiny, she had to remember...the baby in the cloud of mist, her mother's new devotion to Allah, her brother's discovery of Marxism, her father's blasphemous devotion to science, while bombs exploded all around them in the city.
She had always suspected that if chewing-gum flavours were political regimes, peppermint would be Fascism – totalitarian, sterile, stern.Her parents, Mensure and Selma Nalbantoğlu were like two different poles to their own planet. Divided into two zones, Selma was Dar al-Islam and Mensure Dar al-harp – the realm of submission and the realm of war.
As a young girl, the thought that she had to make a choice, once and for all, between her mother’s defiant religiosity and her father’s defiant materialism almost paralysed her. She learnt early on in life that there was no fight more hurtful than a family fight, and no family more hurtful than one over God.
It was the discovery of her brother Umut's books, by the police, that brought the first junction of despair, where her mental paralysis prevented her from choosing between 'right' and 'wrong'. Hakan, her second brother, was not much of a reader. The police had only one young man to arrest for being in possession of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, The Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich Engels, The Permanent Revolution by Leon Trotsky, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Utopia by Thomas More, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell and Kiss of the Spider Woman by Leonard Schrader.
Eight years of jail awaited Umut. It would be the final step to turn her parents into two very different directions, and her brother Hakan surpassing his mother in religious devotion.
Over the years, Mensur and Selma’s marriage had hardened into a hollow husk. Now the shell cracked wide open and they found themselves on separate sides of the rift. The air inside the house turned stifling, heavy, as if it had absorbed the sadness of its inhabitants. It seemed to young Peri that no sooner had the bees and the moths entered through the open windows, than they rushed in panic to fly out. Even those insatiable mosquitoes no longer sucked the Nalbantoğlus’ blood, for fear of ingesting their unhappiness.Selma promised Peri that Hell was so deep, it took seventy years for a pebble to reach Hell underground. Selma said it was Mensure's destiny. Mensure made Peri promise to include a pickaxe in his grave one day so that he could dig a tunnel out of wherever he ended up.
Well, I’m not really heaven material, no? There are two possibilities: if God has no sense of humour, I’m doomed. Express train to hell. If He has one, there’s hope, I might join you in paradise. They say they have rivers flowing with the best wine!’He was still fond of God though. Because He is lonely, Pericim, like me... like you. Besides, what was piousness other than selfishness in disguise. All prayers were always about 'me'. Protect me; give me money, give me a Ferrari, do this do that...!
God was like a Lego set. You could build an angry God, all-punishing; a peaceful God, all-loving; or maybe built nothing.
Mensure was all about science. Civilization was built on it and reason and technology, not on unfounded believes. Mensure believed that he and Peri belonged in his world.
God was a maze without a map, a circle without a centre; the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that never seemed to fit together. If only she could solve this mystery, she could bring meaning to senselessness, reason to madness, order to chaos, and perhaps, too, she could learn to be happy.The photo confronted a secret from long ago...
It is Peri's paralysis that lead up to her relationships with her professor and two friends at Oxford. Four people stood together in the Polaroid. Shirin from Iran, Mona, the Egyptian-American, the feminist, Peri, the timid Turk. The three daughters of Eve, three young Muslim women: the Sinner, the Believer and the Confused, with their professor Azur.
Peri, the good person, befriended people she could relate to, like anybody else. Takes one to know one.
Whether men or women, it was always people with rough journeys in their pasts, uncertainty in their eyes and invisible wounds in their souls that intrigued her. Generous with her time and loyal to the bone, she befriended these select few with an unflagging commitment and loveThat fateful night after the mugging, a psychic draw three figures on a napkin for Peri. Under the first one was written: ‘She Saw Evil.’ Under the second: ‘She Heard Evil.’ And under the third were these words: ‘She Did Evil.’
With her memories whirling in her mind and the machine guns raging in her nearby vicinity that night of the mugging, Peri finally came to a conclusion...
A last comment: the prose was so rich in textures and color, I just wanted you to experience some of it, without giving away too much of Peri's philosophical journey to find her own place in this world.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
PS. I did not understand the ending so well. Hence the four star rating.
September 1, 2017
The novel opens with a confession; told in a rather offhand manner, the character suggests to us that it could have happened to anyone if the circumstances were right. Even those who had lived a 'good life' beforehand, even us. Yet the tantalising nature of this beginning is quickly undermined by the dullness of the dinner party through which the story is told. It all feels so constructed, the author is TELLING ME SOMETHING IMPORTANT. I like Elif Shafak, I think she's an important voice in modern political commentary, but her agenda is too much here and the story suffers.
ARC via Netgalley
ARC via Netgalley
October 17, 2017
عندما توسع الرقعة في محيطك الخالي تصبح الأوض جرداء قاحلة فمهماحاولت ملئها من أدواتك الفقيرة سوف تكون النتيجة سلبية باهتة ، مرة أخرى تسقط أليف في فخ النمطية والتمطيط الممل ومرة أخرى تذهب ساعاتي الغالية سدىً توقاً لأدب خلاق مختلف
عرض يسيطر عليه الرتابة تجده في المسلسلات التركية المطولة لحال إسطنبول الحالي ومجتمعاته البرجوازية الهشة السطحية ومحاولة زج فكرة الاله والوجودية وفلسفتها مع فكرة التدين بشكل لا إبداع فيه
بدأتها أليف من خلال الشخصية الأولى(الإبنة) التركية في نسيجها العائلي في إسطنبول ضمن فكرة الإختلاف الفكري العقائدي بين الأب والأم ومن ثم الإنتقال إلى بيئة أخرى تختلط بها مع منظر لاهوتي وشابة مصرية عقائدية وإيرانية ملحدة لتختلط الأفكار بين اللاأدريا وبينهما كل هذا
ضمن سرد نمطي أقرب ما يكون إلى البلادة حتى في عملية التنقلات السردية التي تتطلب رشاقة ودقة
عمل روائي عادي لا جديد فيه
عرض يسيطر عليه الرتابة تجده في المسلسلات التركية المطولة لحال إسطنبول الحالي ومجتمعاته البرجوازية الهشة السطحية ومحاولة زج فكرة الاله والوجودية وفلسفتها مع فكرة التدين بشكل لا إبداع فيه
بدأتها أليف من خلال الشخصية الأولى(الإبنة) التركية في نسيجها العائلي في إسطنبول ضمن فكرة الإختلاف الفكري العقائدي بين الأب والأم ومن ثم الإنتقال إلى بيئة أخرى تختلط بها مع منظر لاهوتي وشابة مصرية عقائدية وإيرانية ملحدة لتختلط الأفكار بين اللاأدريا وبينهما كل هذا
ضمن سرد نمطي أقرب ما يكون إلى البلادة حتى في عملية التنقلات السردية التي تتطلب رشاقة ودقة
عمل روائي عادي لا جديد فيه
April 17, 2024
يخبرنا الملخص عن الرواية بانها رواية عن صداقة مابين منى وشيرين وبيرى
او كما قالت شيرين " ثلاث شابات مسلمات في مدينة اوكسفورد الآثمة والمؤمنة والمشوشة !"
فتقص علينا قصة بيرى التى تنشأ مابين ام مؤمنة بالرب وتؤدى الصلوات وذهبت للحج وأب يعاقر الخمر و كلما اجتمعا يتشاجران وكأن احدهما البنزين والاخر النار
فتاخذنا اليف مابين الحاضر احيانا من سرقة حقيبة يدها الى ذهابها لحفل العشاء والنقاشات التى حدثت به ومابين الماضى عودة الى طفولة بيرى وشجارات والديها واختلاف اخويها و تشوشها ما بين العالمين، حتى تذهب الى الجامعة فتلتقى بشيرين الايرانية الاصل والمتمردة و منى الامريكية والمصرية الاصل و الملتزمة بحجابها ودينها ثم نلتقى بالاستاذ آزور الذى اعجبت به شيرين وحضرت محاضراته لتشجع كلا من بيرى ومنى للالتحاق بها هو الذى يعطى محاضرات عن فكرة وجود الرب ويختار طلابه باختلاف افكارهم مابين متزمت وملحد وبين بين ليتناقشوا بينهم ولن اتحدث كثيرا عن هذا الجزء لانه كان ثقيل بالنسبة لى
هى رواية عن العديد من الاشياء : الشجار والاختلاف العائلى واثره على الابناء وشخصياتهم ، التزمت الشديد للدين او الاتجاه للنقيض تماما والإلحاد او الوقوع فى المنتصف والحيرة مابين الايمان والالتزام وعدمه ، عن الرب والايمان ، رواية عن الصداقة مابين شخصيات مختلفة تحمل اراء مختلفة ، رواية عن الحب ، والحب من طرف واحد ، عن استغلال الحب ، عن الحيرة بين المواجهة والصمت ، بين الغفران والانتقام ، بين تأثير قرارتنا وخيارتنا وذكرياتنا على حياتنا
مميزات الرواية :
الاسلوب الجيد فى السرد الذى لايشعرك بالملل ، وتسلسل الاحداث مابين الماضى والحاضر ، اثارة انتظار معرفة ماذا حدث وما اسباب الخلاف ؟!
عيوب الرواية :
الاطالة فى الكثير من الاحيان ، التركيز على بيرى وافكارها وشخصيتها دون باقى الشخصيات وخاصة انى كنت اتوقع تواجد اكثر لباقى الشخصيات من التقديم عن الرواية ، أسباب الخلاف شعرت ان هناك شئ ناقص ، زوجها مثلا لم تقل لنا كيف عرف بما حدث مع بيرى فى الجامعة
لكن اجمالا استمتعت بالرواية وبأسلوب أليف شافاك
١٢ /٤ /٢٠٢٠
او كما قالت شيرين " ثلاث شابات مسلمات في مدينة اوكسفورد الآثمة والمؤمنة والمشوشة !"
فتقص علينا قصة بيرى التى تنشأ مابين ام مؤمنة بالرب وتؤدى الصلوات وذهبت للحج وأب يعاقر الخمر و كلما اجتمعا يتشاجران وكأن احدهما البنزين والاخر النار
فتاخذنا اليف مابين الحاضر احيانا من سرقة حقيبة يدها الى ذهابها لحفل العشاء والنقاشات التى حدثت به ومابين الماضى عودة الى طفولة بيرى وشجارات والديها واختلاف اخويها و تشوشها ما بين العالمين، حتى تذهب الى الجامعة فتلتقى بشيرين الايرانية الاصل والمتمردة و منى الامريكية والمصرية الاصل و الملتزمة بحجابها ودينها ثم نلتقى بالاستاذ آزور الذى اعجبت به شيرين وحضرت محاضراته لتشجع كلا من بيرى ومنى للالتحاق بها هو الذى يعطى محاضرات عن فكرة وجود الرب ويختار طلابه باختلاف افكارهم مابين متزمت وملحد وبين بين ليتناقشوا بينهم ولن اتحدث كثيرا عن هذا الجزء لانه كان ثقيل بالنسبة لى
هى رواية عن العديد من الاشياء : الشجار والاختلاف العائلى واثره على الابناء وشخصياتهم ، التزمت الشديد للدين او الاتجاه للنقيض تماما والإلحاد او الوقوع فى المنتصف والحيرة مابين الايمان والالتزام وعدمه ، عن الرب والايمان ، رواية عن الصداقة مابين شخصيات مختلفة تحمل اراء مختلفة ، رواية عن الحب ، والحب من طرف واحد ، عن استغلال الحب ، عن الحيرة بين المواجهة والصمت ، بين الغفران والانتقام ، بين تأثير قرارتنا وخيارتنا وذكرياتنا على حياتنا
مميزات الرواية :
الاسلوب الجيد فى السرد الذى لايشعرك بالملل ، وتسلسل الاحداث مابين الماضى والحاضر ، اثارة انتظار معرفة ماذا حدث وما اسباب الخلاف ؟!
عيوب الرواية :
الاطالة فى الكثير من الاحيان ، التركيز على بيرى وافكارها وشخصيتها دون باقى الشخصيات وخاصة انى كنت اتوقع تواجد اكثر لباقى الشخصيات من التقديم عن الرواية ، أسباب الخلاف شعرت ان هناك شئ ناقص ، زوجها مثلا لم تقل لنا كيف عرف بما حدث مع بيرى فى الجامعة
لكن اجمالا استمتعت بالرواية وبأسلوب أليف شافاك
١٢ /٤ /٢٠٢٠
December 12, 2017
Elif Shafak’s new novel reveals such a timely confluence of today’s issues that it seems almost clairvoyant. Sexual harassment, Islamist terrorism, the rising tension between the faithful and the secular, and the gaping chasm between the rich and the poor — all play out in the pages of “Three Daughters of Eve.” That hyper-relevance is one of the reasons Shafak is so popular in her native Turkey and around the world. The author, who now lives in London, speaks in a multivalent voice that captures the roiling tides of diverse cultures. And, of course, as readers know from her previous novels “The Architect’s Apprentice” and “The Bastard of Istanbul,” it helps that she’s a terrifically engaging storyteller.
“Three Daughters of Eve” is an ingenious act of compression that works several decades into a single evening. It takes place in 2016 on a spring day in Istanbul. A wife and mother named Peri is stuck in. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
“Three Daughters of Eve” is an ingenious act of compression that works several decades into a single evening. It takes place in 2016 on a spring day in Istanbul. A wife and mother named Peri is stuck in. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
September 11, 2021
هل يمكن اختصار الحكاية في عدد صفحات اقل ده اكيد اه، بس مين قال أن الرواية عبارة عن الحكاية فقط الرواية حياة كاملة و أنت بس بتلمح جزء منها فهل يمكن اختصار الحياة في الرواية ديه أكيد لا..
" ...نحن نقرأ الأدب القصصي (من أجل العاطفة ،لا المعلومة)....
...يخلط البعض بين الحكاية و الرواية، ناسين ان الحكاية هي مكون من الرواية ، و لكنها لا تترادف معها.إن اللرواية هي حكاية و خطاب، إنها الحكاية و طريقة الحكي معا، و لا يمكن بأي شكل،اختزال الرواية في الحكاية التي ترويها....
....ليس ثمة أمر مثير للاهتمام في حكاية الشاب الذي قرر أن يقتل عجوزا مرابية ليقلل منسوب الشر في العالم.لقد اختزلت لتوي رواية من 800 صفحة في سطر و نصف. و لكنك لا تستطيع أن تقرأ(الجريمة والعقاب)دون أن تشتعل بالحمى مع راسكولنكوف،متسائلا طوال الوقت:ما هو الشر؟... "
-من كتاب الحقيقة و الكتابة لبثينة العيسى.
القصة بسيطة جدا قصة فتاة و حياتها بما فيها من تقلبات و مشاكل و أفكار.
الروايه ديه مش رواية قصة تمامًا أن كنت تنشد حكاية مش هي ديه الرواية ، و أن كنت تنشد منظور مختلف حالة مريت أو هتمر بيها حابب تعشها فهي ديه الرواية المطلوبة.
الأسلوب سهل مفيش كلام صعب الترجمة كويسة جدا،و تشابه الاشخاص و الاماكن و العادات مخلي النص كأنه عربي مش معرب (إسطنبول شبه القاهرة بشكل مري)
تأخر الكلام في الموضوع بشكل مباشر او شبه غيابه كشيء مباشر في الكلام بس هو دائما حاضر بشكل غير مباشر، اظن كان مقصود موضوع زي ده محتاج وعي و إدراك كبير كلنا من واحنا صغيرين لينا سؤال هنا أو هناك و ابسط إجابة كانت في معظم الاحيان بتكفي بس مع الإدراك و الوعي الموضوع بيكبر و يكون مؤرق و التفكير فيه بيأخد وقت أطول وعلى الرغم من ذلك الموضوع بيكون مرحلة في الحياة مش أكتر فترة يحدث فيها التقلب و التفكير و بعد كده اليقين لأغلب الناس .. بس هل اليقين شيء جيد...
"المبدأ التاسع:انعدام اليقين هو ما يجعل الحياة محتملة.
اليقين ينتج العنف ذلك لان العنف الإيديولوجي ليس سوى عنف باسم يقين مطلق...فحينما أنني على الحق و انني الصواب يصبح كل الذين يخالفونني جهلة أو أغبياء فأقوم بإقصائهم.
إن انعدام اليقين هو بالذات ما يجعل الواقع مفتوحا أمامي."
-من كتاب التداوي بالفلسفة لسعيد ناشيد.
مع ان المبدأ ممكن يبان عكس الواقع و مع اليقين بتجي الراحة بس هل الراحة هو ما ننشده ولا الحقيقة ولا البحث و التفكير هو الهدف و ،اليقين خط نهاية موجود في نص الطريق.
الرواية يمكن تأوليها في كثير من المواضع على تصور بيري لنفسها و أفكارها و تذبذبها في شكل أشخاص كلهم بيري و بيري هي كلهم ممكن ماعاد آزور الي بيمثل فكرة مختلفة الكاتبة وضحتها في أخر الرواية مع ظني أن مكنش ليها لازمة لانها واضحة في السياق..
"لست أنتَ ،بل هو آزور الذي خلقته لنفسي. آزور الذي احتجت إليه لأفهم ماضي المتشظي؛ هذا هو الأستاذ الذي سحرني،آزور الساكن في عقلي."
" ...نحن نقرأ الأدب القصصي (من أجل العاطفة ،لا المعلومة)....
...يخلط البعض بين الحكاية و الرواية، ناسين ان الحكاية هي مكون من الرواية ، و لكنها لا تترادف معها.إن اللرواية هي حكاية و خطاب، إنها الحكاية و طريقة الحكي معا، و لا يمكن بأي شكل،اختزال الرواية في الحكاية التي ترويها....
....ليس ثمة أمر مثير للاهتمام في حكاية الشاب الذي قرر أن يقتل عجوزا مرابية ليقلل منسوب الشر في العالم.لقد اختزلت لتوي رواية من 800 صفحة في سطر و نصف. و لكنك لا تستطيع أن تقرأ(الجريمة والعقاب)دون أن تشتعل بالحمى مع راسكولنكوف،متسائلا طوال الوقت:ما هو الشر؟... "
-من كتاب الحقيقة و الكتابة لبثينة العيسى.
القصة بسيطة جدا قصة فتاة و حياتها بما فيها من تقلبات و مشاكل و أفكار.
الروايه ديه مش رواية قصة تمامًا أن كنت تنشد حكاية مش هي ديه الرواية ، و أن كنت تنشد منظور مختلف حالة مريت أو هتمر بيها حابب تعشها فهي ديه الرواية المطلوبة.
الأسلوب سهل مفيش كلام صعب الترجمة كويسة جدا،و تشابه الاشخاص و الاماكن و العادات مخلي النص كأنه عربي مش معرب (إسطنبول شبه القاهرة بشكل مري)
تأخر الكلام في الموضوع بشكل مباشر او شبه غيابه كشيء مباشر في الكلام بس هو دائما حاضر بشكل غير مباشر، اظن كان مقصود موضوع زي ده محتاج وعي و إدراك كبير كلنا من واحنا صغيرين لينا سؤال هنا أو هناك و ابسط إجابة كانت في معظم الاحيان بتكفي بس مع الإدراك و الوعي الموضوع بيكبر و يكون مؤرق و التفكير فيه بيأخد وقت أطول وعلى الرغم من ذلك الموضوع بيكون مرحلة في الحياة مش أكتر فترة يحدث فيها التقلب و التفكير و بعد كده اليقين لأغلب الناس .. بس هل اليقين شيء جيد...
"المبدأ التاسع:انعدام اليقين هو ما يجعل الحياة محتملة.
اليقين ينتج العنف ذلك لان العنف الإيديولوجي ليس سوى عنف باسم يقين مطلق...فحينما أنني على الحق و انني الصواب يصبح كل الذين يخالفونني جهلة أو أغبياء فأقوم بإقصائهم.
إن انعدام اليقين هو بالذات ما يجعل الواقع مفتوحا أمامي."
-من كتاب التداوي بالفلسفة لسعيد ناشيد.
مع ان المبدأ ممكن يبان عكس الواقع و مع اليقين بتجي الراحة بس هل الراحة هو ما ننشده ولا الحقيقة ولا البحث و التفكير هو الهدف و ،اليقين خط نهاية موجود في نص الطريق.
الرواية يمكن تأوليها في كثير من المواضع على تصور بيري لنفسها و أفكارها و تذبذبها في شكل أشخاص كلهم بيري و بيري هي كلهم ممكن ماعاد آزور الي بيمثل فكرة مختلفة الكاتبة وضحتها في أخر الرواية مع ظني أن مكنش ليها لازمة لانها واضحة في السياق..
"لست أنتَ ،بل هو آزور الذي خلقته لنفسي. آزور الذي احتجت إليه لأفهم ماضي المتشظي؛ هذا هو الأستاذ الذي سحرني،آزور الساكن في عقلي."
October 1, 2019
این جور کتابها حکم عذاب الهی رو دارن، یه جوری داستان رو کِش میدن که نه میتونی نخونی و نه میتونی زمین بذاری کتاب رو.
از طرفی ترجمۀ بد هم باعث میشه به خودت شک کنی که آیا من داستان رو نمی فهمم یا واقعا ترجمه فاجعه است.
یه نتیجه اخلاقی:
هرگز به اصرار چند بارۀ فروشنده برای خرید یک کتاب توجه نکنید، خودت کتاب رو بخر که اگر هم بد بود فقط خودت رو مقصر بدونی نه هم خودت و هم شخص دیگه رو.
از طرفی ترجمۀ بد هم باعث میشه به خودت شک کنی که آیا من داستان رو نمی فهمم یا واقعا ترجمه فاجعه است.
یه نتیجه اخلاقی:
هرگز به اصرار چند بارۀ فروشنده برای خرید یک کتاب توجه نکنید، خودت کتاب رو بخر که اگر هم بد بود فقط خودت رو مقصر بدونی نه هم خودت و هم شخص دیگه رو.
February 17, 2017
Sadly, I didnt enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.
May 17, 2019
دربارهی این کتاب نوشتن سخته چرا که الیف شافاک دست روی موضوع بزرگی گذاشته .
شافاک رسالت بزرگی برای خودش انتخاب کرده و در این کتاب از خدا حرف میزند.
چند بار خواستم این کتاب رو به دوستام معرفی کنم اما جلوی خودم رو گرفتم، چرا که این کتاب همونقدر که میتونه کمک کننده باشد تباه کننده است. به نظرم کسی باید سراغ این کتاب بره که به این کتاب کفایت نکنه و هیچ نتیجهی قطعیای نگیره بلکه تو این زمینه مطالعهی زیادی داشته باشه.
پنج ستاره دادم چون از تک تک صفحات لذت بردم. شخصیتها رو باورپذیر دیدم و موضوعات مطرح شده رو مهم.
باورم نمیشه ولی همین الان که مینویسم هزارتا ایراد از کتاب و هزارتا نقطههی قوت میبینم که میتونم دربارش بنویسم.
یک چیزی که خیلی برام جالب بود توصیفات کتاب دربارهی ترکیه بود. هر لحظه تعجب میکردم که چقدر فرهنگ این کشور به ما شبیهه و چقدر بد که با این همه شباهت انقدر از هم دوریم.
ما حتی تو خودکم بینی ملی هم مثل همیم. به خودمون بدترین انتقادها رو میکنیم و هیچ وقت نقاط قوت فرهنگ و کشور و دینمون رو نمیبینیم.
این کتاب تو این زمینه بهم نشون داد که احساس نارضایتی ما از کشورمون به خاطر مشکلاتمون نیست. همهی کشورها مشکلات بیپایان خودشون رو دارن. بلکه این داستان ریشه تو چیز دیگهای داره که هنوز دقیقا نمیدونم چیه اما مطمئنم رسانه یکی از مهمترین عاملهاشه.
شافاک رسالت بزرگی برای خودش انتخاب کرده و در این کتاب از خدا حرف میزند.
چند بار خواستم این کتاب رو به دوستام معرفی کنم اما جلوی خودم رو گرفتم، چرا که این کتاب همونقدر که میتونه کمک کننده باشد تباه کننده است. به نظرم کسی باید سراغ این کتاب بره که به این کتاب کفایت نکنه و هیچ نتیجهی قطعیای نگیره بلکه تو این زمینه مطالعهی زیادی داشته باشه.
پنج ستاره دادم چون از تک تک صفحات لذت بردم. شخصیتها رو باورپذیر دیدم و موضوعات مطرح شده رو مهم.
باورم نمیشه ولی همین الان که مینویسم هزارتا ایراد از کتاب و هزارتا نقطههی قوت میبینم که میتونم دربارش بنویسم.
یک چیزی که خیلی برام جالب بود توصیفات کتاب دربارهی ترکیه بود. هر لحظه تعجب میکردم که چقدر فرهنگ این کشور به ما شبیهه و چقدر بد که با این همه شباهت انقدر از هم دوریم.
ما حتی تو خودکم بینی ملی هم مثل همیم. به خودمون بدترین انتقادها رو میکنیم و هیچ وقت نقاط قوت فرهنگ و کشور و دینمون رو نمیبینیم.
این کتاب تو این زمینه بهم نشون داد که احساس نارضایتی ما از کشورمون به خاطر مشکلاتمون نیست. همهی کشورها مشکلات بیپایان خودشون رو دارن. بلکه این داستان ریشه تو چیز دیگهای داره که هنوز دقیقا نمیدونم چیه اما مطمئنم رسانه یکی از مهمترین عاملهاشه.
October 23, 2019
A militant atheist and a feminist muslima move in together – how’s that going to work out? At the end of the book, we don’t really know. These two of the three Daughters of Eve from the title didn’t get enough screen time to really flesh them out as characters. I wanted them to really have a go at each other, to put it all out there, to learn more about their history, motivations and opinions, because a novel is a perfect place to create an unrealistic setting to force characters to have a debate which is easily avoided in real life. It’s only in 2 or 3 rather short scenes that they confront each other directly, without going very deep into the content matter. To be fair though, the author was probably going for something different, as the book is completely focused on the other one of Eve’s daughters.
The sweetest scenes in this novel:
- A child decorates an “Islamic Christmas tree”, in an attempt to reach a compromise between her atheist father and muslim mother.
- The same child stages a private funeral ceremony for a dead hedgehog after being told that animals don’t go to heaven.
Such sweet and earnest gestures, the not unrealistically simple yet creative thinking a child’s mind can come up with, when you just want everybody to get along – if only the world were this simple.
The child in question is the novel’s protagonist, Peri, a Turkish girl who is the personification of a moderate, of someone who is “in between”, caught in the middle. The central topics running through the book are theocracy vs secularism, religion vs atheism, the question of God and the concrete example of how these issues play themselves out on a larger scale in the case of Turkey.
Peri struggles with her faith, she grows up in the middle between two strong-minded parents, an atheist father and a deeply religious mother. The situation is then replicated when Peri later finds her two best friends at university to be the above-mentioned militant atheist and feminist muslima (together they form the 3 daughters of Eve from the title). Many times this ever-present tension that runs through Peri’s family and circle of friends is shown as mirroring the larger scale tensions that run through Turkish society, and as well to a lesser degree through British society.
The book touches on some of the big questions of life (is there a god?) and the current challenges of our time – how does it work when religious people move in with secular atheists? How can world views that are polar opposites of each other coexist in close proximity? Rather than giving definite answers, the author trusts the reader to be able to handle all kinds of different points of view and paints a complex picture, thus ultimately making the book a pleasantly thoughtful and moderate/balanced read – even though a lot of dramatic things do happen. And I'm not sure what to make of the ending, as was certainly intended by the author.
The sweetest scenes in this novel:
- A child decorates an “Islamic Christmas tree”, in an attempt to reach a compromise between her atheist father and muslim mother.
- The same child stages a private funeral ceremony for a dead hedgehog after being told that animals don’t go to heaven.
Such sweet and earnest gestures, the not unrealistically simple yet creative thinking a child’s mind can come up with, when you just want everybody to get along – if only the world were this simple.
The child in question is the novel’s protagonist, Peri, a Turkish girl who is the personification of a moderate, of someone who is “in between”, caught in the middle. The central topics running through the book are theocracy vs secularism, religion vs atheism, the question of God and the concrete example of how these issues play themselves out on a larger scale in the case of Turkey.
Peri struggles with her faith, she grows up in the middle between two strong-minded parents, an atheist father and a deeply religious mother. The situation is then replicated when Peri later finds her two best friends at university to be the above-mentioned militant atheist and feminist muslima (together they form the 3 daughters of Eve from the title). Many times this ever-present tension that runs through Peri’s family and circle of friends is shown as mirroring the larger scale tensions that run through Turkish society, and as well to a lesser degree through British society.
The book touches on some of the big questions of life (is there a god?) and the current challenges of our time – how does it work when religious people move in with secular atheists? How can world views that are polar opposites of each other coexist in close proximity? Rather than giving definite answers, the author trusts the reader to be able to handle all kinds of different points of view and paints a complex picture, thus ultimately making the book a pleasantly thoughtful and moderate/balanced read – even though a lot of dramatic things do happen. And I'm not sure what to make of the ending, as was certainly intended by the author.
August 8, 2017
Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this book as I thought I would.
The opening lines were encouraging, but then the flow of events became lame and boring. I thought there would be something unique at the end of the book but eventually I didn’t find anything special!
I liked Elif Safak in Forty Rules of Love, but here I didn’t like her at all.
Sadly, I don’t recommend this book!
Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this book as I thought I would.
The opening lines were encouraging, but then the flow of events became lame and boring. I thought there would be something unique at the end of the book but eventually I didn’t find anything special!
I liked Elif Safak in Forty Rules of Love, but here I didn’t like her at all.
Sadly, I don’t recommend this book!
November 6, 2020
سلام.
به خدا فقط میخواستم ببینم این همه از الیف شافاک تعریف میکنن ، دقیقا از چیش تعریف میکنن. که خب فک کنم متوجه شدم.
واقعا این چی بود من خوندم بااین ترجمه ی افتضاحش:|
نه ایده ی داستان خوب بود نه پایان داستان نه آخر داستان!
متاسفانه فقط یه خلاصه ی نسبتا گول زنن��ه ای هم گذاشتن پشت کتاب، که ادم میبینه میگه وای :) چه چیزیه.
ماجرا درباره ی یه دختر ترک هست که پدر و مادرش به دلیل اتفاقات ناگواری که توی زندگی شون داشتند هرکدومشون به یه چیزی پناه اوردن و همین کار باعث تاثیر گذاشتن بدی روی پری (دختر ترک) شد. که بعدش این دانشگاه قبول میشه و این حرفا
مشکل اصلی من بااین داستان این بود که نویسنده کلا داستان رو پر کرده بود از اتفاقات عجیب و غریب. اوایل داستان خیلی کند جلو میره ولی وقتی کتاب نصف میشه، یک حجم زیادی از اتفاقت عجیب و غریبی پیش میاد که هضمشون سخته و این اتفاقات هم خیلی خلاصه وار توضیح داده شدن و 400 صفحه واسشون خیلی کمه واینکه تمام این اتفاقات عجیب غریبی که توی داستان رخ داد باعث میشد از موضوع اصلی خیلی دور بشه. کاش نویسنده به همون موضوع اصلی کفایت میکرد و اخر داستان هم اصغر فرهادی بازی درنمیاورد تا اینجوری کتاب قابل هضم میشد :)
خدافظ.
به خدا فقط میخواستم ببینم این همه از الیف شافاک تعریف میکنن ، دقیقا از چیش تعریف میکنن. که خب فک کنم متوجه شدم.
واقعا این چی بود من خوندم بااین ترجمه ی افتضاحش:|
نه ایده ی داستان خوب بود نه پایان داستان نه آخر داستان!
متاسفانه فقط یه خلاصه ی نسبتا گول زنن��ه ای هم گذاشتن پشت کتاب، که ادم میبینه میگه وای :) چه چیزیه.
ماجرا درباره ی یه دختر ترک هست که پدر و مادرش به دلیل اتفاقات ناگواری که توی زندگی شون داشتند هرکدومشون به یه چیزی پناه اوردن و همین کار باعث تاثیر گذاشتن بدی روی پری (دختر ترک) شد. که بعدش این دانشگاه قبول میشه و این حرفا
مشکل اصلی من بااین داستان این بود که نویسنده کلا داستان رو پر کرده بود از اتفاقات عجیب و غریب. اوایل داستان خیلی کند جلو میره ولی وقتی کتاب نصف میشه، یک حجم زیادی از اتفاقت عجیب و غریبی پیش میاد که هضمشون سخته و این اتفاقات هم خیلی خلاصه وار توضیح داده شدن و 400 صفحه واسشون خیلی کمه واینکه تمام این اتفاقات عجیب غریبی که توی داستان رخ داد باعث میشد از موضوع اصلی خیلی دور بشه. کاش نویسنده به همون موضوع اصلی کفایت میکرد و اخر داستان هم اصغر فرهادی بازی درنمیاورد تا اینجوری کتاب قابل هضم میشد :)
خدافظ.
July 1, 2020
I'm so glad I finally got to this book. It was a real pleasure to buddy read it with a friend. The first two parts of this book were my favorites. I learned a lot about Turkey. Loved her intelligent writing and the little bit of mystery she conjures up through the story. Shafak is proving to be a writer I'll continue to look to read. I highly recommend Three Daughters of Eve.
June 7, 2022
“She and Mona and I. The three of us: the Sinner, the Believer, the Confused.”
Since I fell in love with Shafak's The Forty Rules of Love back in 2016, I have made my way through her oeuvre, even her more 'obscure' titles such as the overlooked gem that is The Saint of Incipient Insanities. Three Daughters of Eve marks the sixth novel that I've read of hers and while it certainly showcases many of her wonderful trademarks—there is a touch of magical realism, a non-linear narrative, tension between past and present, East and West, Turkish politics, a nuanced exploration of faith and modern Muslim identity—it lacked that certain je ne sais quoi that made her other books such compelling reads.
The novel opens in Istanbul where Peri, a married and wealthy woman in her late thirties, is mugged while on the way to a fancy dinner party. Following an altercation with the robber, Peri finds herself thinking back to her time at Oxford University and the part that she played in a 'scandal' there.
Chapters detailing Peri's time at this party are interested with ones delving into her childhood and teenage years in the 1980s and 1990s to her time at Oxford. Once at Oxford Peri meets and becomes close to two other girls: Shirin, a free-spirited British-Iranian girl who is bisexual and kind of counterculture, and Mona, who is a Muslim Egyptian American feminist. Peri grows increasingly intrigued by Professor Azur, who teaches divinity and is idolised by many students because and in spite of his 'allegedly' unconventional teaching methods.
One of the novel's main preoccupation is that of reconciliation: Peri grew up in a divided household. While her mother was a staunch believer, her father was more of a sceptic. Peri felt torn between their different temperaments and beliefs. At Oxford Peri is still uncertain about her own relationship to her faith, so her fascination with Professor Azur is somewhat understandable. While I liked those early sections focusing on Peri's childhood I do wish that the narrative could have reached her time at Oxford more quickly. By the time we get to her first interaction with Professor Azur we are about 60% into the novel. And this drawn-out build-up to his character does him no favours. When 'we' meet him I was underwhelmed. He was not particularly charming or controversial, and the few scenes he was in gave me a rather limited glimpse of his character. To be honest, I found most of the novel's central characters to be somewhat clichéd. Peri was not particularly sympathetic, her main characteristic is that of being in a perpetual state of confusion, Shirin was the classical rebel, her bisexuality another sign of her subversive nature, while Mona is the classic studious and kind girl. In the scenes set in the present, during the dinner party, Shafak lampoons the Turkish upper-class, emphasizing their shallowness and pettiness. We don't learn much about Peri's husband nor of Peri's life. Her daughter is the typical annoying angsty teenager who is all the rage in 'adult' novels.
Still, while I never warmed to Peri or her story, I still found Shafak's prose to be lovely and I always appreciate her dynamic portrayal of Istanbul. While I did find the novel's forays into theological debates relatively interesting these did not quite make up for the two-dimensional characters. I think sticking to the one perspective limited the story and I for one would have much preferred it if the story could have also followed Shirin and Mona, rather than solely focusing on Peri. I also felt somewhat cheated by the supposed friendship between Shirin, Mona, and Peri...as Shafak barely scratches the surface of their relationship. Lastly, the whole 'scandal' was painfully obvious (I mean, I had an idea of what it would be from reading the summary but I hoped Shafak would not be so predictable).
To be honest, I think that The Saint of Incipient Insanities was a lot more successful in its portrayal of the highs and lows of a disparate group of multicultural university students.
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October 1, 2017غالبًا ما تنتهي قراءاتي لإليف بدهشة، وتفاوت كبير في المشاعر، ولكن في “Three daughters of eve” تنتهي بحيرة وتشتت.
هل مررت بالشعور الذي لا تستطيع تحديد هل وقعت في حب كتاب أم كرهته؟ هذا هو بالضبط ما أواجهه الآن.
القصة استطيع القول أنها عبقرية، تستطيع ان تُسقطها على نفسك في مكان ما، تُناقش حياة فتاة اسطنبولية منذ الثمانينات من القرن الماضي، وحتى ال2016.
الفتاة التي تعيش تفاوت وشجار دائم بين والدها العلماني القريب للإلحاد، وأمها الإسلامية بشدة، فتضيع الفتاة بين العالمين، تتسائل منذ طفولتها عن “الله”، وتظل الحيرة والتشتت يتبعها حتى حياتها الجامعية في اكسفورد حيث تتعرف على آزر.
اليف كالعادة تدمج الدين واللغة والشعر والفلسفة مع المشاكل الحالية من ارهاب ونحوها في هذا الكتاب، لتجد نفسك تندمج مع الحوارات الفلسفية في الحكاية.
بيري “Peri” والذي يعني “Fairy” أو جنية، بطلة الحكاية التي تغرق في الحيرة، والتي تبدأ حكايتها بشعورها بأنها قادرة على أن تقتل أحدهم، وتنتهي بنهاية مفتوحة.
الكاتبة كانت تقصد أن توقعنا في هذهِ الحيرة!
الفتاة المعتمدة على ذاتها، النسوية، الواثقة، كل هذا نتيجة لحياتها في بدايات عمرها كفتاة بريئة، وغارقة في الوحدة.
آزر المُعلم، المُستفز، ودخوله لحياة بيري وقلبها رأساً على عقب، هُنا نتمنى لو أن هناك آزر في حياتنا كلنا.
الكتاب عبارة عن رحلة حياة.
احد انتقاداتي على هذهِ القصة، أن العنوان يتحدث عن ٣ فتيات، بيري، شيرين، ومنى، ولكن الكاتبة لم تتحدث بما فيه الكفاية عن الفتاتين الأخيرتين.
القصة تحاكي العقل جداً، قد تكون الكاتبة جزءاً منها، أو قد تكون أنت
فمع أليف لا تستطيع التنبوء.
هل مررت بالشعور الذي لا تستطيع تحديد هل وقعت في حب كتاب أم كرهته؟ هذا هو بالضبط ما أواجهه الآن.
القصة استطيع القول أنها عبقرية، تستطيع ان تُسقطها على نفسك في مكان ما، تُناقش حياة فتاة اسطنبولية منذ الثمانينات من القرن الماضي، وحتى ال2016.
الفتاة التي تعيش تفاوت وشجار دائم بين والدها العلماني القريب للإلحاد، وأمها الإسلامية بشدة، فتضيع الفتاة بين العالمين، تتسائل منذ طفولتها عن “الله”، وتظل الحيرة والتشتت يتبعها حتى حياتها الجامعية في اكسفورد حيث تتعرف على آزر.
اليف كالعادة تدمج الدين واللغة والشعر والفلسفة مع المشاكل الحالية من ارهاب ونحوها في هذا الكتاب، لتجد نفسك تندمج مع الحوارات الفلسفية في الحكاية.
بيري “Peri” والذي يعني “Fairy” أو جنية، بطلة الحكاية التي تغرق في الحيرة، والتي تبدأ حكايتها بشعورها بأنها قادرة على أن تقتل أحدهم، وتنتهي بنهاية مفتوحة.
الكاتبة كانت تقصد أن توقعنا في هذهِ الحيرة!
الفتاة المعتمدة على ذاتها، النسوية، الواثقة، كل هذا نتيجة لحياتها في بدايات عمرها كفتاة بريئة، وغارقة في الوحدة.
آزر المُعلم، المُستفز، ودخوله لحياة بيري وقلبها رأساً على عقب، هُنا نتمنى لو أن هناك آزر في حياتنا كلنا.
الكتاب عبارة عن رحلة حياة.
احد انتقاداتي على هذهِ القصة، أن العنوان يتحدث عن ٣ فتيات، بيري، شيرين، ومنى، ولكن الكاتبة لم تتحدث بما فيه الكفاية عن الفتاتين الأخيرتين.
القصة تحاكي العقل جداً، قد تكون الكاتبة جزءاً منها، أو قد تكون أنت
فمع أليف لا تستطيع التنبوء.
January 13, 2019
3.5 - 4 stars
Three Daughters of Eve was my first taste of Elif Shafak's writing and hopefully, it won't be the last.
This is the story of Peri, a Turkish woman, born and raised in Istanbul and her life story from an early age to when she's thirty-five and a stay-at-home mother of three, living an affluent life in the busy citadel of Istanbul. The blurb says plenty so I won't go into the plot.
Shafak explores issues of faith and religion, doubt, finding one's way, family relationships, sexism, infatuation and love. It was an engaging read, although, Shafak's presence was too obvious at times, there was a bit too much telling instead of showing.
Nevertheless, I found it a compelling read, in spite of its imperfections.
Three Daughters of Eve was my first taste of Elif Shafak's writing and hopefully, it won't be the last.
This is the story of Peri, a Turkish woman, born and raised in Istanbul and her life story from an early age to when she's thirty-five and a stay-at-home mother of three, living an affluent life in the busy citadel of Istanbul. The blurb says plenty so I won't go into the plot.
Shafak explores issues of faith and religion, doubt, finding one's way, family relationships, sexism, infatuation and love. It was an engaging read, although, Shafak's presence was too obvious at times, there was a bit too much telling instead of showing.
Nevertheless, I found it a compelling read, in spite of its imperfections.
April 27, 2019
Wavering between a 3.5 and 4 star book (so 3.75 I guess)
November 24, 2018
The Three Daughters of Eve is a slow-building novel which moves back and forth between Peri's childhood in Istanbul in the 1980s and 90s, Oxford in 2001 where she is a struggling, timid student and 2016 Istanbul where she is a wealthy housewife and mother. After a childhood in a home divided by religion, Peri lives her life in the middle, perpetually confused and so desperate to be normal that she ends up numb and afraid.
Although the structure is a bit contrived and the novel more philosophical than plot driven, Shafak's superb storytelling kept me reading. The parallels between Peri's own constant conflict - to choose between faith and doubt, and that of Turkey's current political situation is very well done. I look forward to reading more of Shafak's many novels!
Although the structure is a bit contrived and the novel more philosophical than plot driven, Shafak's superb storytelling kept me reading. The parallels between Peri's own constant conflict - to choose between faith and doubt, and that of Turkey's current political situation is very well done. I look forward to reading more of Shafak's many novels!
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