My Name Is Red

Rating:
Summary: "My Name Is Red" is a modern masterpiece !
Review: It is tempting to compare "My Name Is Red (MNIR)" with Umberto Eco's "The Name Of The Rose" but that would be to deny Orhan Pamuk's masterpiece its own beauty and originality. Pamuk's technique of using a rotating cast of narrators not only adds to the intrigue of the murder mystery but facilitates the juxtaposition of the conflicting opinions that emerged in Turkish society at a time when foreign influences were slowly but surely creeping into the arts and craft of its traditional civilisation. While the whodunnit element remains undoubtedly the driving force behind the narrative, readers are likely to derive their biggest payoff from their appreciation of the Islamic philosophy towards the arts, the painting of still and natural life, and of how and why it is an abomination against God for any artist to develop his own style or paint a lifelike portrait of any human being. In depicting the duplicity of its characters, the novel also pierces the facade of a closed and repressive order.

MNIS is a monumental piece of work that has to be read to be believed. Written and translated into a prose that's accessible, vivid and rich with poetic imagery, I believe MNIR will one day sit alongside other modern masterpieces of the century. Highly, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: an artist of the floating world
Review: Of Miniatures and Murder
One of these days, Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk will be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. As is usually the case with this prize, it will be given for all the wrong reasons: a Muslim may be needed that year or the clash of East and West may demand a winner who is from both cultures. That said, it will be an honour long overdue and richly deserved. For 20 years, Pamuk has been spinning his postmodern yarns in Istanbul and getting better with every book. In Turkey, he is a publishing sensation (after his latest book his publisher successfully sued a newspaper which refused to believe the sales figures) and his books have been translated into 20 languages. His latest effort My Name is Red is a magnificent historical mystery, which manages to be a thrilling page-turner as well as a dense novel of ideas.
The book is set in Istanbul in 1591. The Ottoman Empire is a major superpower, perhaps the most powerful in the world, and the sultan has commissioned a new book of paintings. These are not just any paintings. They are to be rendered in the 'new' Venetian manner, a style that flies in the face of all the rules of Islamic miniature art. The book is so secret that even the miniaturists working on it are unaware of the whole picture. Only Enishte Effendi, the official supervising the book, knows how all the pieces will fit. But rumours of heresy and blasphemy swirl around the project and an extremist preacher, incensed at the new western influences, is preaching murder.
When one of the miniaturists working on the book is killed, anyone could be the killer. Was he killed because he was committing heresy? Or because he had discovered heresy and was about to unmask the heretic? Enishte and his lovesick nephew 'Black Effendi' are racing to find the killer when another murder is committed. Meanwhile, there are other complications: Black Effendi is in love with Enishte's widowed daughter Shekure, who is also being pursued by her brother-in-law. She is flirting with both through a Jewess who carries her messages through the streets of Istanbul. And always in the background is the conflict between the self-contained and insular Islamic civilisation and the brash and uncomfortably individualistic new challengers from Europe.
The book is written in the form of 59 short chapters, each a monologue by one of the characters. Most of the chapters are narrated by the central characters - Black Effendi, Enishte, Shekure, the miniaturists and so on - but several are unconventional. The opening chapter is narrated by a freshly killed corpse, while others are narrated by the picture of a dog, a horse and even the colour red, from which comes the title of the book. The multiple perspectives work very well as a murder mystery - the narration by the killer, for example, invites the reader to guess at his identity through his style - and help Pamuk to push his complex cultural debate much better than any single perspective could have managed.
The amazing thing is that the book works at every level. As a murder mystery, it is thrilling and loaded with suspense, while as an allegory on the clash of cultures, it is masterful and subtle. Pamuk is far from being didactic or one-dimensional. The Ottoman world is indeed depicted as a despotic and insular culture, increasingly constrained and hampered by rigid and oppressive orthodoxies. But the orthodoxies have their own internal justifications and rationalisations. In a world where "the center will not hold and mere anarchy is loosed upon the world", these certainties do have an appeal. Pamuk is too much of a postmodern intellectual to actually embrace these ideologies but he is not above suspecting that in all this 'progress' something has also been lost. Not all the illusions are on Don Quixote's side, some are also on the side of those who jeer at him.
In 1999, the Turkish government tried to give Pamuk the title of state artist, which he refused by saying: "For years I have been criticizing the state for putting authors in jail, for only trying to solve the Kurdish problem by force, and for its narrow-minded nationalism, I don't know why they tried to give me the prize." After September 11, he wrote: "The western world is scarcely aware of this overwhelming humiliation experienced by most of the world's population, which they have to overcome without losing their common sense and without being seduced by terrorists, extreme nationalists or fundamentalists. Neither the magical realistic novels that endow poverty and foolishness with charm, nor the exoticism of popular travel literature manage to fathom this cursed private sphere."
Near the end of the book, one of the miniaturists offers what could be Pamuk's own credo: "An artist should never succumb to hubris of any kind, he should simply paint the way he sees fit rather than troubling over East or West." Pamuk spent five years writing My Name is Red, one must spend a few days reading it. It will clearly not be a disappointing experience.

Rating:
Summary: MASTERPIECE
Review: Winter 1590: in Istanbul a violent murder has been perpetrated. It is the same victim, a miniaturist, who tells the story of his death, describing as well his deep sorrow for the loss of the pleasures of life and his puzzlement for his curious new state of unrest.
But this is not a police story.
In the following chapters a gold coin, a dog, two dervishes, a tree will tell new stories... new murders will happen ... until the violent end of the killer that "restore" the equilibrium.
If not a police story, what kind of novel is this?
Well, it has been likened to Eco's "Name of The Rose" and the writer has been likened to Borges for his visionary and metaphysical imagination, but I believe there's much more: a kind of melancholy for the passing of time and its irreparable loss, the fascination for books and painting, the clashing of two different worlds (not only the East and the west, but also inside the Islamic faith), and far above, below and inside, the sense of life, flowing of life, of passion, love and delicate all-pervasive compassion and humanity, painted with such a craftsmanship to leave you open-mouthed.
So, if I must liken this book to something, it his the famous painting "The Tempest" of Giorgione who first come to mind. Not the description in itself his important here, but the whole portrait, the "sense of life" that delicately comes out from the many layers of painting.
On a purely literary level, I was amazed at the ability of the writer in mastering story and style: there are parts in which the expert reader can identify a portrait in the style of Dostoevskij... but loo... only for few pages ... only a hint of colour, because the writer is now changing again and using irony, and he seems to softly challenge you.
This is one of those rare books (rare indeed) in which you deeply regret, the more you proceed in reading, that inevitably the novel will reach an end.
I'm a passionate reader. If you have suggestion for further readings, you don't agree with what I write, or just want to say hallo... feel free to write.

Rating:
Summary: Faith's Blindness
Review: There's surely something for everyone in Orhan Pamuk's
dense historical novel. For readers interested in religion, history, art, philosophy, Ottoman culture, politics, romance, sex, and murder, and how all these forces interact to form human experience, this book delivers. Set in Instanbul in the 16th century, a time when the tenets of early Islam were under assault from creeping Western culture, it resonates with all the tension that results when change threatens faith.

At its core, "My Name is Red" is a murder mystery. A gifted miniaturist, in the midst of a working on a book for the sultan glorifying his reign, is murdered and thrown down the well. His only offense is that he's discarded the ancient prohibition against figurative drawing, falling in line with modern European dicates about art and the human form.

From there the book branches out like the tree of life. Often the question of who murdered poor Elegant Effendi is lost in the oceans of debate, philosophy and speculation over God, art, love and honor. Dialoguess and monologues go on for pages and pages of dense, tortured argument. This is not an easy book to take to the beach and expect to be carried along by brisk and engrossing narrative. If your taste ranges more toward Kant, Hegel, St. Thomas Aquinas and Bernard Berenson and less toward Agatha Christie, you'll find this book a delight.

Of course, it's enlivened every hundred pages or so by the romance between Black and Shekure, the tortured cousins who've loved and lusted after each other for a dozen years, always in the shadow of his art and indecision. Their interaction provides just enough sexual tension and even steaminess to counteract the relentless thought discipline of the rest of the book. If you find yourself skipping pages to catch up with Black and Shekure's assignations, you'll miss everything the book strives for. But for most humans the temptation will be strong.

If you open your eyes to the book's points about color, blindness, and the power of sight, you'll glean much from the experience. But don't expect an easy time of it. Sadly, it seems most people can't really see what this noble work wants them to.

Rating:
Summary: A Thought-Provoking Mystery
Review: This is not a traditional murder mystery, but the mystery is good enough to hold the plot together while Pamuk brilliantly weaves his ideas on art, culture, religion and history into the narrative.

The mystery is centered around who killed a gifted minaturist and his patron who were engaged in preparing a special book for the Ottoman sultan. The special book may or may not be an affront to Islam and Pamuk deftly weaves thought-provoking ideas on the role of religion in art and everyday life. Set at a time when the Ottoman Empire was fading to the pressure of European (Western) powers and cultures, "My Name is Red" perfectly captures the details of this era.

While the book does unwind slowly and Pamuk's unusual narrative style of having all of the characters including inanimate objects tell parts of the story, it is ultimately an enjoyable read. There is even a satisfying love-story running throughout. A runaway best-seller in Turkey, "My Name is Red" is a fun mystery and also a timely read on the differences between East and West.

Rating:
Summary: Structure, ideas fascinating; characters and language flat
Review: This is a tough review to write. There's much to like about this book. There's much to dislike. Comparisons to Eco's "The Name of the Rose" are accurate; both books are period mysteries, both books explore the ideas of the time, both books aspire to larger stature than their genre. Neither book does, really. Literary fiction is all about character. Ultimately "My Name is Red" gives us intriguing and intricate philosophy and fascinating structure. But its characters are flat and its language tedious.

First, a quick note about the language. Does the translation stink? Or did Pamuk write convoluted, lifeless prose in the original? My guess the former. There are too many awkward sentences. The language is dull. I get the feeling the language is intended to represent a formal, fable-telling style. (More on this later.) But. It's too affected.

What really shines about "My Name is Red" is its fascinating story-within-a-story structure. The whole book is told as if by a coffee-house storyteller. Not only does the book unfold from multiple characters' points-of-view, but objects get voices, too - including a coin, Satan, and the color red.

Also the structure parallels the art form of book illustration that is at the heart of the novel. It's highly formal - all the narrators in the book speak with the same affected voice. It's traditional, in the spirit of "Arabian Nights," which uses parables and stories-within-stories. It owes much of its spirit to Islam, yet flirts with blasphemous rejection of religion. It's bending towards Western influences - in the case of the book, mystery novels. And so does illustration in the novel.

Yet for all the fascinating philosophical digressions and observations on Islam and art, what drives the modern novel is character. And it's there that "My Name is Red" is weakest. Perhaps because the language remains too formal throughout, we never get a chance to get intimate with the book's populace - their thoughts, the pattern of their speaking voices, the psychological impressions so vital to the 20th-century novel are missing here. There's also a weird obsession with sex running through the book - not in an interesting way, like in "Ulysses" - but in a middle-school, bodice-ripping way.

Still, the book is worth a read. It attempts to bring Middle East form and influence into a Western novel. The complexity of Pamuk's structure is awe-inspiring, certainly fascinating. Again, like "The Name of the Rose," it instructs as much as it entertains, even if it falls short of its artistic aspirations.

Rating:
Summary: Overly Artsy
Review: An interesting read, very artsy and explores the former world of Turkey. A bit too wordy at times and often too dry for my taste, but an overall decent read. I started off lovign it, and ended barely able to finish it.

Rating:
Summary: Red As Sin
Review: If for nothing else, this book deserves my highest rating
just for the wonderful and tormenting description
of death, spoken from the first perspective by one
of the victims.

Now back to the book.

Another great book by Orhan Pamuk!
If you have read all of his books so far,
you will find this book somehow different in style.
The most noticably, as previously mentioned, is the
angle of narration.
The story is told by all participants that have to do
something with the story - be they humans, animals, objects
like coins or materials like paint.

At first, it is hard to grasp the angles, and to catch up
with the development of the story.

Characters in this book are larger then life in their envy,
passion, talent, greed, and other natural gifts.

Yes, there is a murder mistery, but I am not really sure that it is the point in any way, except to amplify redness of the passions involved. Murder here comes more as a driver that keeps all the characters tunneled.
I almost feel like Pamuk threw the murder in the story to get more interests from the "historical mistery" audience.

Let me be honest with you - this is not
a "Da Vinci Code". This is a difficult, complex
master piece of the modern European and Turkish literature
that does not compromise with too many "historical"
elements. History here is invested rather then
described.
The book is actually a page turner, but with delayed ignition.
This is now it worked for me:
It took me several weeks to go through the first half of the book,
and then it took me 2 days to finish the second half of the book.

For the ones familiar with Orhan Pamuk's works - you will not
be disappointed. At first, it feels a bit different then his previous novels,
but soon you get his common themes intervoven (such as Turkey between East and West)
in the story.

Rating:
Summary: Artistic concoction of ideas, musings, and pieces of minds
Review: My Name is Red is both a historical and literary fiction. Set in 16th century Turkey, the tale takes place in the Ottoman Empire and encompasses the mysterious murder of a miniaturist named Elegant Effendi though it is not a murder mystery. The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. The miniaturist has been working on the illumination of this book in an European style. The figurative art of the illumination clashes with the inveterate religious belief in Turkey for art could be an affront to the Islam.

Attempting such a dangerous task, the ruling elites ascertain the complete confidentiality of the project. Panic erupts throughtout the Ottoman Empire as Elegant Effendi disappears. He is murdered and thrown down the well. It is an extremely dense and arduous reading experience as author Orhan Pamuk deftly uses eccentric and non-living narrators, namely a corpse, a tree, a dog and other animals to unveil the truth of the murder, who indeed involves a clandestine manuscript which Effendi worked on.

The book affords a cast of numerous characters and all of whom are etched and carefully portrayed. What makes the book not a mystery is the fact that murderer of the miniaturist narrates part of the story. Purged by his own conscience he fears of being caught. At the intersection of narratives from different characters and non-living objects one finds a very convoluted plot of the truth. Maybe such is the beauty of a tale of which the author does not spell out the answer to all of the questions in mind but leave the truth of my imagination.

My Name is Red is an artistic concoction of ideas, pieces of mind, apercu, and emotion. While the cast of characters and narrators unveil their perspectives of the murder, woven throughout the novel are relevant subplots that hint at and distantly contribute to the resolving of the murder. Dialogues, monologues and musings on the philosophy of God, death, purge, love, and punishment fill the prose that is comparable to Kant and Joyce. My Name is Red is an obscure reading experience, filled with more philosophical meditation than the actual events and happenings that precede the murder. It is meant to be savored and its pages not meant to be turned quickly.

2000 (20) © MY

Rating:
Summary: A promising story but a disastrous translation
Review: I tried very hard to complete this book but the American translation is frankly ridiculous. Turkish words are routinely translated into the most vulgar English equivalent. Not to mention the clumsy use of Americanisms like 'Quit it' and 'Jerk off' at least once per chapter.
If you can get over the poor translating it's probably a great story but I couldn't stomach it.