[My Name is Red] by Orhan Pamuk

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

Group Read set for April!!

Here's a link to websites if you want to read up on Pamuk.

https://www.orhanpamuk.net

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orhan_Pamuk

He's also written

Silent House
The White Castle
The Black Book
The New Life
Snow
The Museum of Innocence
A Strangeness in My Mind
The Red-Haired Woman

📚 Booked. Looking forward to read it. Thank you for putting up the thread!

*'d.

Trying to find a "nice" copy online. I was sure I had a copy, but it's not in any of the obvious places, so...

My German copy of the novel arrived - and I am glad it's not as thick as I expected. I thought I'd need to start earlier than April to finish it. But it's looking very manageable and moreover massively interesting!

>1 Berly: >7 PersephonesLibrary: Lovely covers.

Here is the cover of the edition I have:



Mine comes out at 660 pages.

Dropping off a star. I hope I remember.....

I've starred this thread simply because My Name is Red is my most favorite book of all time. I'll follow the posts and if I can get my hands on a copy, follow a long a bit in the reading of it.

>10 Carmenere: Wow, that is quite a recommendation. I don't have a copy so I'll see what the library has on offer to be available in early April.

Whoohoo! Glad to see you all here. : ) Got my copy, but holding off until April.

Oh, how funny! What a time (for me) to see a group read of a Pamuk book - I moved to Istanbul last August. I live a short walk from the Museum of Innocence, although with the pandemic I have not attempted to visit the inside.

I read Snow probably about ten years ago, Istanbul: Memories and the City 6 years ago, and The Museum of Innocence right after we moved here. I guess this is as good a time as any to tackle My Name Is Red.

Yay, it's April! I am looking very much forward to reading My Name is Red! I am not sure if I can already start this weekend, as I have to work on Saturday and there will be disturbances a.k.a. family visits because of Easter. Hope you are all doing well and enjoy the novel!

>14 PersephonesLibrary: Me too Kathy. I have a couple of books to finish in the coming week, but expect to start it after that.

I need to finish a few more chapters of a March book and then I'll be ready to dive into My Name is Red. It would be even more enjoyable if I could borrow Kathy's cubby >14 PersephonesLibrary: now and then ;0)

I'll plan to start it mid month, probably.

Owing to administrative incompetence (my own) my copy will only turn up next week, hope to join you all then.

I have it on the Kindle from the library ... starting imminently.

Like Carmonere, I will be lurking because I loved My Name is Red too. I look forward to seeing what you all think.

Okay, as usual - I make resolutions and do the complete opposite: I have started with the novel. My German edition has a timeline from 336 BC to 1617 AC plus a map on the final pages of the book. I thought that quite interesting and useful because I don't know much about that history.

I would have copied it here - but I am sure your editions got that as well. And I am simply too lazy to translate six pages. :)

Here is an English summery about the direct historical context - found on https://www.litcharts.com/lit/my-name-is-red :

Historical Context of My Name is Red
The book is set during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire, a Sunni Muslim empire that existed from 1300-1922 and extended through Southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Between 1370-1526, the Timurid Dynasty ruled Persia and Central Asia and fostered a vibrant revival of intellectual and creative activity, including miniature painting. At the time My Name is Red takes place in 1591, the leader of the Ottoman Empire was Sultan Murat III, who is a character in the novel. Murat was a particularly enthusiastic patron of miniature painting, and he commissioned several books to be painted by painters employed by the Ottoman court. When Murat died in 1595, he was succeeded by his son, Mehmed III.

I have also looked up Ottoman miniature paintings and they are impressive. This one will be relevant for the novel:

>21 PersephonesLibrary: That's beautiful.

>22 charl08: If you google them, you will find a lot of masterpieces!

- -

Great whistle whetter Kathy. Thanks.

>25 Carmenere: Thank you for sharing the article. It was very interesting

My copy has arrived!

I checked it out from the library. I have so many books lined up for this month that I'm not sure I'll get to it but it is definitely a book that I think will benefit from group discussion!

Nothing like starting a thread and then ghosting it!! LOL. Okay. RL is behaving once again (Easter and then our 30th wedding anniversary and my oldest bought a house and I had to help with the offer and the inspection), so hopefully I can get going on Red now!!

Thank you everyone for chiming in on your book copies and also love the extra informational posts and links. This group rocks!!

I am turning the first page....

I already love the writing!

Chapter One, Page One:

"Before my birth there was infinite time, and after my death, inexhaustible time. I never thought of it before: I'd been living luminously between two eternities of darkness."

I have a feeling there may be many memorable quotes. So if you want to share some, please put the chapter number and then put the quote between spoiler hiders. I didn't here because it's page one and it doesn't give anything away.

If you don't know how to do Spoilers, use the link below and follow direction in the very first post and just replace "B" in the Bold example with "Spoiler".

https://www.librarything.com/topic/177029#

: )

I don't know if you'll consider this relevant, but if not I'll delete it.

On page 17, he references someone who preaches at the Bayazid Mosque (built in 1505). I have no idea if it will figure further in the story, but the mosque is right next to the Grand Bazaar, and also to Istanbul University (founded 1453).

I'm guessing that the spelling variations in the name have something to do with language shifts but it's interesting to me that the name was given in the book as Bayazid, on Wikipedia as Bayezid, and in Turkish it's usually Beyazıt but also sometimes Bayezid (these have two different pronunciations in Turkish).

Anyway, in October I spent a little time sitting on the steps of Istanbul University and drawing the Beyazıt Camii:

>31 ursula: Love it Ursula.

>31 ursula: Adding Istanbul to the wishlist: love the photo. Thanks for posting.

>31 ursula: Awesome! Thanks for sharing that. I usually Google locations I'm unfamiliar with so that's one off my list.

>31 ursula: LOVE that picture! Thank you for sharing.

>30 Berly: OK, I give in. I'll start it tonight.

So far, I like it a lot and get a 1001-night-Sheherazade feeling when it comes to the the narrating style.
I got stuck at the chapters 12, 13, 14 about Butterfly, Stork and Olive - simply because I was tired. There is some interesting reflection about art and artists and I wanted to be able to read it in a more focused mood.

>24 Caroline_McElwee: I hope that's a good thing. :) (I haven't found whistle whetter in my dictionary)

>31 ursula: Thank you for sharing!

>37 PersephonesLibrary: It's an English saying Kathy, the meaning has changed over the years, but is now often used to suggest something that has inspired you to do something, or given you a flavour of something.

A whistle years ago was a word that suggested mouth or throat, hence to whet one's appetite (Chaucer).

You're welcome everyone, I'm glad that it was interesting/useful to everyone to post that. :)

>33 charl08: Yes, Istanbul is a wishlist city!

>37 PersephonesLibrary: I just finished Chapter 10, I Am a Tree, and I hadn't made the connection to 1001 Nights, but you are very right!

A couple of notes about names (forgive me if you know this already, I just realized it might not be obvious) -

We have Elegant Effendi and Enishte Effendi, and the man who was preaching at Bayazid Mosque is called Nusrat Hoja. These are not last names, these are honorifics.

Turkish still uses these, sort of - beyefendi means "gentleman" and hoca/hoja (in Turkish the c has a j sound) means "teacher". Beyefendi/hanımefendi are the male and female terms for sir and ma'am. When you are addressing someone named Kamil Öztürk, you don't call him Mr. Öztürk, you call him Kamil Bey. (Shortened from beyefendi - Kamil's wife named Zeynep would be Zeynep Hanım.) My husband is a professor, and they call him Morgan Hoca.

I did look up the specific spelling here of effendi with 2 f's and apparently it's the older version from the Ottoman Empire and seems to have been less general, more denoting a man with a high level of education.

Also, Enishte/enişte means "uncle." You refer to your relatives according to the side of the family they're on (a paternal uncle is amca, a maternal one dayı) - enişte is an uncle by marriage.

>40 ursula: This is fascinating.

I have only just started, but was thinking of other books I've read that have been narrated by the dead (or dying). I though of 10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world but feel sure there must be more?

>41 charl08: The Book Thief comes to mind

>41 charl08: The Lovely Bones, Lincoln in the Bardo ... I’ll think on it some more.

I'm finding all the different chapters narrated by different characters a bit of a whirlwind.

I did love the descriptions in Enishte's chapter about going to Venice and seeing the painting with all the possessions in the background. It made me think of paintings where people are shown with books on the table next to them, or a globe.

I'm not in the mood for this novel at the moment, and don't want to spoil it for a time when I am ready for it, so setting it aside at the moment.

One of the things I'm really enjoying about this book is learning of the different aspects of Eastern and Western Art. It's something I've never paid attention to before.

Finished! I loved this story a few years ago and I still love it today.

I'm still taking it slowly: ironically, one of the things that has slowed me down has been reading another Turkish novel (Snapping Point) for a book group.