A slow, peculiar, and oddly emotional book. Following a Turkish poet as he visits a regional town in eastern Anatolia nominally to do a newspaper article about girls committing suicide, the book takes the reader on a journey through Turkish secular politics, Islamist discontent and the emotional struggles of one atheist Turk rediscovering his conflicted desire to return to the Muslim faith. This is of interest to anyone curious about modern Turkey but, more broadly, to anyone who has felt the conflict between atheism and a longing to believe. Pamuk is a thoughtful, inventive, disconcerting and at times quite funny writer. He writes as if uninterested in human emotion and yet nails those emotions perfectly. ( )

Orhan Pamuk' s novel is set in the winter of 1992 in the city of Kars in the north-eastern part of Turkey. The story is narrated by Pamuk himself as he tells of the poet journalist Kerim Alakusoglu, known as Ka, who has traveled to this remote town to write about the events surrounding a group of young women who are committing suicide rather than give up their headscarves. This is a very contemporary story of the clash between devout Islamists and the secular state that controls Turkey. Isolating the action in the snowbound town of Kars we learn of the tensions through Ka's interviews with various citizens. Pamuk's narrative style presents a pastiche of events that blend together to form the story with both love and politics coming to the fore. The many surprises and shocks of the story kept me interested and I found new fascination for the contemporary history of Turkey. The translation by Maureen Freely, who has translated several of Pamuk's novels, is excellent. ( )

I found this book very challenging and it took me a long time to read it (and even longer to write about it) so this review may not do the novel justice. Snow is about an expatriate poet name Ka who returns to Turkey from Germany ostensibly to write about young Islamic women in the provincial city of Kars who are committing suicide in protest of the secular state's rules against wearing the veil. His ulterior motive is to reunite with Ipek, a beautiful woman he's longed for over many years who is recently divorced. In his time in Kars, the city is isolated by a snow storm and a military coup is staged to round up political Islamists. Ka finds himself in the midst of much political maneuvering and finds himself inspired to write a cycle of poems ending a long dry spell.

There are flashes of humor in the book such as a newspaper publisher who writes stories before they happen (and is often correct) and the the theatricality of political movements is satirized by having an acting company stage the coup during a theater performance. Much of this book though is fairly bleak, with a lot of emptiness, misunderstanding, intrigue, violence, and torture. The symbol of the snow is exploited to make the reader feel trapped as well in the claustrophobic microcosm of Turkish politics and religion. People in this book never really speak or act like people would in real life but instead are often symbolic representations of particular point of view, probably one of the factors the made this a book to read slowly.

Pamuk also kicks the reader in the gut. SPOILER ALERT: Midway through the book Ka finally realizes happiness by making love with Ipek. The very next chapter flashes forward four years to Ka - alone and miserable - being murdered in Frankfurt. Reading the rest of the book knowing that there's not a shred of hope for Ka is all the more challenging. END SPOILER

I found this book an interesting means of learning about the complex nature of modern Turkey. I appreciate Pamuk's literary style, but I can't say I "enjoyed" the book as much as I was unsettled by it.

Favorite Passages:

"The issue is the same for all real poets. If you've been happy too long, you become banal. By the same token, if you've been unhappy for a long time, you lose your poetic powers. . . . Happiness and poetry can only coexist for the briefest time. Afterward either happiness coarsens the poet or the poem is so true it destroys his happiness." - p. 127 ( )

I've been reading this over the last couple of days, a great book. On the surface it is about the author searching out his friend Ka and his lost poems. The author follows Ka from Germany to Kars, where the poet seems to find his muse.

The book also talks of the problems facing Turkey today, on the crossroads of Europe and Asia, not knowing which way to go. Nationalists, Islamists, Modernists, Separatists, Europhobes and Europhiles, an explosive combination together in one small town. ( )

This story is more of a vehicle to explore the different characters and issues of Turkey. Islamists, Atheists, terrorist, westerners, and those caught in between are all explored. In the end, the author's message is that we don't really understand any of them, that there's no way to do so. The main character, KA, drives the plot. He returns to Kars, Turkey, from Frankfurt Germany so that he can woo and marry the woman of his dreams who is recently divorced. The author builds up the story to root for Ka. However, three quarters of the way into this story, we know there isn't a happy ending for the protaganist. He doesn't get the girl, in fact, we find that he will be shot and killed four years after the main events of the story. Why do that to your reader? That seems a little mean to suddenly break into the story and write something like, "Oh by the way, I need to interrupt your story. You know the main character, it doesn't really work out for him. You're not really supposed to pay attention to him anyway. He is just a vehicle to say what I want to say about Turkey and the certain characteristics about its inhabitants." This isn't an actual quote, I'm just summing up my feelings. However, when I finished the book, and you find what Ka does in order to secure his own happiness, I think he deserved to be shot. The story is a good story because you have all these characters that have misconceptions about everybody else. No one really understands anyone. They all have these built up and romanticized stories or to villainize Islamists, Atheists, Westerners, and others. There is no middle ground, just ridiculous notions. The author himself even says his own story is one of them and not to believe any of it. You can pull that content from the passages below.Passages"We're not stupid we're just poor and we have a right to want to insist on this distinction...Mankind's greatest error, the biggest deception of the past 1000 years is this, to confuse poverty with stupidity. Throughout history, religious leaders and other honorable me of conscience have always warned against this shaming confusion. They remind us that the poor have hearts, minds, humanity, and wisdom, just like everyone else. When hans hanson sees a poor man he feels sorry for him. He would not necessarily assume that the man's a fool who's blown his chances or a drunk whose lost his will. I can't speak for hans hanson, but that's what everyone thinks when they see a poor man. People might feel sorry for a man who has fallen on hard times, but when an entire nation is poor the rest of the world assumes that allits people must be brainless, lazy, dirty, clumsy, fools. Instead of pity, the people provoke laughter. It's all a joke. Their culture, their customs, their practices. In time the rest of the world may some begin to feel ashamed for having thought this way, and when they look around and see the immigrants from that poor country mopping their floors and doing all the other lowest paying jobs, naturally, they worry about what might happen if these workers one day rose up against them. So, to keep things sweet they start taking an interest in immigrant's culture and sometimes even pretend they thinkof them as equals...When a westerner meets a foreigner from a poor country, he feels contempt. He assumes that the poor man's head must be full of all the nonsense that plunged his country into poverty and despair." p. 300p. 400I turned backed to Fazil and asked him what he would say to my readers if ever I was to write a book set in Kars. "Nothing", his voice was determined. When he saw my face fall, he relented. "I did think of something, but you may not like it." he said. "If you write a book set in kaas, and put me in it, I'd like to tell your readers not to believe anything you say about us, anything you say about any of us, no one could understand us from so far away.""But no one believes in that way what he reads in a novel." I said"Oh YES they do" he cried, "If only to see themselves as wise and superior and humanistic. They need to think of us as sweet and funny and convince themselves that they sympathize with the way we are and even love us. But if you had put in what I just said at least your readers will put a little room for doubt in their minds." ( )

A Turksih poet who's been in exile comes back to his home land; goes to Kars, a city on the Eastern Turkey which has been always carrying a political social conflict in Turkey. A heavy snow shut off the city from the rest of the Turkey upon arrival of our poet Ka to Kars. Then a Coup happens with the leadership of a theatrical figure who has been acting left-wing on the scenes defending Ataturk and his secularism. Narrator of the book is Orhan,a friend of Ka who is putting Ka's life into words a few years after Ka's death.

Poetic realism...beautiful writing. This is definitely a book to spend some time with, not race through. This is the first book that I've read by Orhan Pamuk and found it to be a beautiful work, even though the topic wasn't one of natural interest for me. I feel I've grown for having read it. ( )

I struggled with this book, which is a pity as it was one I was convinced I was going to enjoy. Orhan Pamuk spins a story of small-town Turkey and poet-cum-journalist Ka, who returns from European exile to investigate a spate of suicides among young Muslim girls. The themes of East meets West and religious fundamentalism v godlessness/secularism are intriguing, as is the sense of claustrophobia as a snowstorm cuts off the town of Kars trapping the (by now lovestruck) Ka in the middle of a military coup. Some days after finishing it however, I'm still not sure what to make of Snow. Was the sense of unreality I experienced intended by the author or was it a consequence of my Eurocentric ignorance of all things Islamic? In the words of one of Pamuk's own characters, 'no one could understand us from so far away'. After reading this book this is a sentiment I'm inclined to go along with. I know Snow would benefit from a second reading, but sadly I don't think it captured my attention enough to give it a second chance. ( )

Okudum begendim

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2007/03... ( )

I love Pamuk, but of his works, I would have to say that I enjoyed this one the least. This isn't to say that it's not an extraordinary work, but the situation it describes in provincial Turkey in the 1980's is perhaps too - I don't know, realistic? - for my taste, especially when compared to the more fantastic elements of the author's other works. The story revolves around a formerly exiled poet, Ka, who is visiting a provincial town where the Muslim girls are committing suicide as a result of a secular ban on the wearing of traditional headscarves. The visit is also a confrontation with Ka's past, as he comes into renewed contact with Ipek, a woman with whom he had a relationship with in the past. The situation comes to a head as a minor military crackdown is imposed. Ka's story is told in retrospect by a friend named Orhan who himself in turn has come to find clues regarding Ka's own suicide.

I'll spare any more plot description, as there are plenty of reviews of this novel already. The plot and structure of the novel are fairly complex, as is typical for Pamuk, but the premise failed to excite me as much as his other novels of contemporary Turkish life, The Black Book and The New Life. 9/05

This story is about the snow. A boy with a dog sees a snowflake fall and believes it is going to snow. As he passes grown ups on the street he tries to inform them that it is going to snow, but they do not believe him. Even the radio and the television tell him that it is not going to snow. But, the boy does not believe them. Snowflake after snowflake fall and still the radio, the television, and the adults do not believe the boy. And, finally it snows until the whole town is covered in snow.
This story was a bit simple minded for my age, but for small children it would be perfect. It has eye appealing illustrations that would keep the children’s attention. And, every kid can relate to someone not believing them. It makes the story personal to them as well as the people around them.
One classroom extension that can be done with this book is to teach the children how to make snowflakes out of paper. Another classroom extension that can be done is a drawing of what the children each think their homes would look like covered in snow.

There are a fair number of reviews of this book in LT, so I am just going to dwell on what I think are some poignant themes.

Ka, a poet, has returned from Germany to the city of Kars in northeastern Turkey to investigate the meaning of observant Islamic girls who commit suicide. It's a complex issue of whether a woman should wear the full-covering scarf, and what that means to ones religion and the problem that causes for Turkey's government as a secular state. The story includes a love quadrangle.

The book is called "Snow" in English, which is an apt symbol for this book. It is called "Kar" in Turkish, a name that brings up associations that noone in an English speaking country would have.

The snow symbolizes the theme of silence that permeates the novel. The snow that falls incessantly during the story of the novel is not violent, but relentless, so that passage in and out of Kars is impossible. There is an emptiness when Ka walks the streets of Kars. Another silence is that of Armenians, who used to live widely in this part of Turkey, and are now gone. Their legacy is shown by the number of Armenian buildings pointing to a more glorious past.

Kars is a provincial city (at 130,000 population, it is larger than a town). It is presented as something of a backwater, but with a signficant legacy that can't be proclaimed.

Another silence is that of the 19 poems that Ka writes during his stay in Kars. They were kept in a special green notebook, but are now all lost and no one can even remember the few lines that were spoken publicly. I've wondered whther this is an allusion to the Pamuk not being a poet, or has written unpublished poetry.

The narrator is a person who knows Ka ral well, but never shows up as a character in the novel, but only as a private force, leading me to believe he is some sort of alter ego of the write Orhan Pamuk himself. ( )

Entirely brilliant, in this story of a writer cut off in a remote town by snow, Pamuk uses this as a microcosm of the fissures and stresses dominating Turkey at the moment. The story is gripping, beautiful in parts, with strong characterisation. There are moments of high comedy and times when he shocks with the way the story unfolds. Highly recommended. ( )

I give this book four stars even though I only enjoyed three. There's definitely way more in this novel than I was able to appreciate. It's thick and nuanced and has much to offer. Lots of beauty. Lots of truth. ( )

This is like looking into a crystal decanter and wondering what's inside. It's beautiful, well constructed and nicely written. It reveals a lot about the connections between islamic thinking and provincial life. Pamuk's persistant use of an 'opposing forces' technique (if a character has bad thoughts, make him a good man - and vice versa) undermines it a little. The balance leaves few rough edges in the end. ( )

I got through 3 chapters but I just couldn't get into this. Maybe I'll pick it up again later.

Great book, love the imagery and the characters. Becomes a little laborious towards the end but I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. ( )

Link to a review on my personal website. ( )

Turkish poet reunites with old friends in a small town in Turkey. There are alot of struggles between those in politics and among students attending schools and universities. There is a series of suicides among girls forbidden to wear headscarves. ( )

On the surface this is a book about a poet, Ka, who returns to Turkey after twelve years of political exile and, on the recommendation of a friend, visits Kars. This town has recently experienced a rash of suicides among young women and is involved in a verbal conflict and public debate about the practice of covering women's heads. It's indicative of the conflict between religious observance and atheism and the East and the West that simmers below the surface here. The early part of the novel is narrated from the perspective of Ka himself and the action focuses on a short period of time while Kars is cut off from the rest of Turkey by a heavy snowfall. As the town is isolated, so the action itself becomes more detached from reality. The snow itself a symbol that touches so many levels of this novel.

During this time, the reader follows the interactions of many characters: Ka, the idealistic poet, irritating, hypocritical and self-absorbed; the shallow, vain and selfish Ipek; Kadife, her sister, the principled leader of the headscarf girls; Blue, a dogmatic and unpleasant reactionary Islamic fundamentalist; Sunay, the farcical and pitiful actor looking for one last moment in the spotlight before his reknown fades. Personally, I found none of the characters that likeable and certainly couldn't empathise with their situations, so what surprised me was how much I liked the novel. Normally, if I don't empathise with anyone, I find it hard to make a connection with a novel. As I analysed this and read further, I realised that the voice of the narrator, a friend of Ka's, that dominates the storytelling in later parts of the novel, appealed to me initially on a subconscious level. At a similar time, without giving too much away, the novel shifts and is no longer about Ka himself, but more about the lost poems he wrote during his time in Kars. His experiences are seen in the context of these mythical, absent entities that become characters themselves. I found myself wishing that they not be found as to hear them would shatter the image of their meaning that Pamuk's description had given me.

Herein lies some of the brilliance of this novel. The reader comes to appreciate the poems from the meaning and inspiration behind them without actually hearing them. First we are introduced to the characters from Ka's perspective, later the narrator (who we are led to believe is Pamuk) sheds new light on them as he travels to Kars in search of Ka's notebook, the poems and some kind of explanation behind events he has recounted.

I won't add more because I don't want to spoil this for anyone who hasn't yet read it. I can say that it is an easy read and on one level not challenging to the reader. On another level, however, as you begin to appreciate the layers in this book, it becomes highly thought-provoking, asking the reader to delve beyond the surface to get the most from it. It is definitely one of my 'Recommended Reads'! ( )

“Every life is like a snowflake: individual existences might look identical from afar, but to understand one’s own eternally mysterious uniqueness one had only to plot the mysteries of one’s own snowflake”.

หลังจากตกอยู่ในภาวะก้าวไม่พ้นภาคหนึ่งของ In Cold Blood อยู่เป็นอาทิตย์ ภาวะนี้เกิดจากการตั้งใจอ่านมากเกินไปและไม่มีเวลามากพอจะอ่านรวดเดียวจบ ผมวางมือจากเรื่องจริงแต่ง ๆ ของคาโพที่ มาอ่านเรื่องแต่งที่จริง ๆ โดยออฮาน ปามุกดีกว่า เมื่อได้ยินว่าเรื่องนี้เขียนเกี่ยวกับเอเตี้ยสท์ด้วย ผมจึงสนใจขึ้นมาทันที( แต่เมื่ออ่านแล้วพบว่ามีมากกว่าเรื่องของเอเตี้ยสท์เยอะ) ทั้งที่มีเรื่อง My Name is Red ดองไว้บนหิ้งมาแรมปีและไม่เคยคิดจะอ่านเพราะเกรงใจความหนาเกือบห้าร้อยหน้าของมัน แต่กลับขวนขวายหา Snow มาอ่าน เริ่มจากลองอ่านสองบทในเนท สำนักพิมพ์ใจดีให้อ่านสองบท วันรุ่งขึ้นเลิกงานผมไปร้านหนังสือหามาอ่านทันที. Snow พิมพ์โดยสองสำนักพิมพ์แต่คนแปลคนเดียวกันคือ Maureen Freely ความแตกต่างของสองสำนักพิมพ์คือ edition ของสำนักพิมพ์ Vintage จะไม่มี Effect พวกจำลองบทความในหนังสือพิมพ์ จดหมาย หรือ Transcript ต่าง ๆ จะเป็นตัวอักษรแบบเดียวกันหมด แต่ของ Faber จะแพงกว่านิดหนึ่งแต่มีจัดแบบตัวอักษรที่เหมาะสมกว่า ฉะนั้นผมเลยชื้อฉบับของ ff มา อ่าน ๆ ดูสอง edition แปลต่างกันเล็กน้อย ไม่รู้เหมือนกันว่า edition ไหนก่อนหลังกัน

เมื่ออ่านถึงคำสุดท้าย ความคิดในสมองมากมายซึ่งสะสมมาตลอดเวลาสามวันที่หนังสือเล่มนี้เป็นดั่งอวัยวะที่สามสิบสาม ในหัวเสมือนมีเสียงเล่าของ Orhan และเสียงตัวละครในเรื่องก้องสะท้อนอยู่ จนไม่รู้จะหยิบส่วนไหนมาเรียบเรียงเป็นบันทึก มีทั้งเรื่องการเมือง สังคม อำนาจของสื่อสารมวลชน–ทีวีและหนังสือพิมพ์ อินเทลเลคชัวล์ปัญญาชนบัวจวาซี่กระฎุมพี่กระดุมน้องตะวันตก ความแตกแยกของคนในชาติ การบุกรุกของวัฒนธรรมตะวันตก ศาสนา เชื่อในพระเจ้า ไม่มีพระเจ้า ชาตินิยม คลั่งชาติ สิทธิสตรี ความยากจน ความเขลา การแสดง คนคู่ สองคนในร่างเดียว ความขัดแย้งในตัวเอง รัฐประหารปลอมแต่คนตายจริง ความรักโรแมนติก การหึงหวง หักหลังคนรักซ้อนไปซ้อนมา ละครซ้อนละครในนิยายซ้อนนิยายที่ทำให้งงว่ามันเรื่องจริงหรือมันเรื่องแต่งหรือเรื่องแต่งที่ภายหลังเป็นเรื่องจริง สรุปว่าแม้ไม่รู้จะเขียนบันทึกอย่างไรก็จะเขียน

หนังสือเริ่มต้นด้วย 4 epigraphs จาก 4 นักประพันธ์

“Our interest’s on the dangerous edge of things.
The honest thief, the tender murderer,
The superstitious atheist.”
- Robert Browning

“Politics in a literary work are a pistol shot in the middle of a concert, a crude affair though one impossible to ignore. We are about to speak of ugly matters.”
- Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma

“Well, then, eliminate the people, curtail them, force them to be silent. Because the European Enlightenment is more important than people.”
- Fyodor Dostoevsky

“The Westerner in me was discomposed,”
- Joseph Conrad

ซึ่ง epigraphs ทั้งสี่นี้ช่วยให้ผู้อ่านพอจะเดาแกนของเรื่องนี้ได้พอสมควร และเมื่ออ่านจบก็พบว่าตัวละครหลายตัวมีบุคลิกตรงกับบทกวีของ Robert Browning จริง ๆ เข้าใจเลยว่าทำไมปามุกถึงให้ตัวเอกทั้งคู่เกิดราศีคนคู่จิมิไน

“Snow” หรือ “Kar” ในภาษาตรุกีแปลว่า “หิมะ” เรื่องราวเกือบทั้งหมดใน “Snow” เกิดขึ้นที่เมือง “Kars” เมืองชายแดนของประเทศตุรกีและตัวเอกของเรื่องเป็นกวีชื่อ “Ka” ชื่อเต็มว่า Kerim Alakusoglu อ่านว่า เครีม อะลาคุชโชลู แต่เขาเรียกตัวเองว่า ‘คา’ (Ka) มาจากตัวนำหน้าของชื่อและสกุลของเขา ซึ่งเรื่อง “Snow” จึงเป็นเรื่องของ “คา คาร์ คาร์ส์” (ความยากอย่างหนึ่งของนิยายเรื่องนี้คือผู้อ่านไม่คุ้นกับชื่อคนและสถานที่ซึ่งเป็นภาษาตุรกี แต่ว่าดีมากที่ฉบับภาษาอังกฤษจะบอกวิธีการออกเสียงชื่อคนและสถานที่ให้ด้วย และชื่อของตัวละครไพเราะมากทีเดียว Ipek, Kadife, Zahide, Sunay Zaim, Funda Eser, Mesut, Fazil, Necip, Teslime.)

“คา” กวีที่ลี้ภัยการเมืองไปอยู่ที่แฟรงค์เฟิร์ต เยอรมันเป็นเวลากว่า 12 ปี ในปี 1992 คากลับมางานศพของแม่ที่อีสตันบูล์ และรับงานเขียนในหนังสือพิมพ์ Republican เกี่ยวกับเรื่องการสังหารนักการเมืองท้องถิ่นและการฆ่าตัวตายของผู้หญิงหลายคนที่เมืองคาร์ส์ แต่จุดประสงค์ที่แท้จริงของเขาคือหวังว่าจะพบอีเป็ค (Ipek) คนที่เขาหลงรักสมัยเรียนซึ่งขณะนี้หย่าร้างกับสามีแล้ว จะขอเธอแต่งงานและไปอยู่ที่แฟรงค์เฟิร์ตด้วยกัน เขาเดินทางฝ่าพายุหิมะสู่เมืองคาร์ส์ก่อนที่เส้นทางจะถูกตัดขาดจากเมืองอื่น –อังคาร่า อีสตันบูล์– และเมื่อเขามาถึงเมืองคาร์ส์ก็พบอีเป็ค เขาสามารถเขียนบทกวีได้อีกครั้งหลังจากทีเขียนไม่ออกมาหลายปีเขาเขียนได้ลื่นไหลราวกับมีเทพกวีมากระซิบบอกข้างหูทีละคำ ๆ

สาม-สี่วันที่ “คา”อยู่ท่ามกลาง “คาร์” ในเมือง “คาร์ส์” เขาพบทั้งความสุขที่สุดในชีวิต เขียนกวี 19 บทด้วยความสุขเต็มเปี่ยม และช่วงเวลาเดียวกันนี้เขาก็พบกับความปวดร้าวถึงขั้นอยากตายทั้งหมดนี้เพราะอีเป็คคนเดียว คาเป็นตัวเอกที่ไม่ได้เก่งทุกอย่าง แม้เขากวีที่โด่งดังในตุรกีแต่เมื่ออยู่เยอรมันกลับไม่มีใครรู้จักเขาในฐานะกวีแม้แต่ผู้หญิงที่คบหาด้วย เขาขี้หวงอีเป็คโดยไม่มีเหตุผล เห็นแก่ตัวอย่างที่มนุษย์ธรรมดาคนหนึ่งเป็น

Snow เป็นนิยายที่อ่านแล้วชวนคิดทั้งเรื่องชาติ ศาสนา การเมือง รัฐบาลที่พยายามทำให้คนฮิสลามกลายเป็นพวกคลั่งศาสนาที่ไร้เหตุผล อ่านเรื่องนี้แล้วก็ได้มุมมองที่กว้างขึ้นลึกขึ้นกว่าเดิมเยอะมาก อ่านไปคิดถึงความขัดแย้งในภาคใต้บ้านเรา คิดถึงผู้คนในสังคมบ้านเรา การเมืองบ้านเรา บางประโยคนี้โดยจริง ๆ

โดยเฉพาะบทที่ 31 “We’re not stupid, we’re just poor!” อ่านตั้งสามรอบ เพราะงงตัวละครเยอะไปหมดบทที่ 31 นี้

“people might feel sorry for a man who’s fallen on hard times, but when an entire nation is poor, the rest of the world assumes that all its people must be brainless, lazy, dirty, clumsy fools.”

หรือท้ายบทที่ 29 หลังจากผู้อ่านรู่ว่าคาโดยยิงตายแล้ว

“How much can we ever know about love and pain in another’s heart? How much can we hope to understand those who have suffered deeper anguish, greater deprivation and more crushing disappointments than we ourselves have known? Even if the world’s rich and powerful were to put themselves in the shoes of the rest, how much would they really understand the wretched millions suffering around them? So it is when Orhan the novelist peers into the dark corners of his poet friend’s difficult and painful life: How much can he really see?”

ท้ายบทนี้ผู้อ่านรู้ว่าบทกวี 19 บทที่ถูกเขียน แต่ผู้อ่านไม่มีวันได้อ่าน ถูกนำมาเรียบเรียงในแผนผังรูปเกล็ดหิมะ (snowflake)

ในเรื่องนี้เราจะเห็นอำนาจของสื่อที่สามารถกำหนดชะตาคนได้ นักข่าวหนังสือพิมพ์สามารถกำหนดได้ว่าคาจะเขียนบทกวีชื่อว่าอะไร หรือใครจะตายอย่างไร ทั้งที่เหตุการณ์ยังไม่เกิดขึ้น

สุดท้ายแล้วเรากุมชะตาบงการชีวิตเราเองหรือเป็นผู้อื่นที่มีอำนาจเหนือเรา พระเจ้า คนรัก รัฐบาล สื่อมวลชน เพื่อน ญาติ พี่น้อง หรือในที่สุดแล้วเราก็ต้องเป็นสองคนในร่างเดียวเหมือนตัวละครหลายตัวทั้ง คา อีเป็ค ที่ทั้งสองเกิดคนคู่ คู่หูอย่าง Necip Fazil ต่างก็ไม่เป็นตัวของตัวเอง กระทั่งออฮัน ปามุกเองก็เหมือนถูกวิญญาณของคาเข้าสิง

Snow ทิ้งคำถามไว้ให้ผู้อ่านหนักเศียรต่อไป ( )

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful....

In this book an exiled poet returns to Turkey in turbulent times with Islamist and secular intrigue set in the somewhat surreal town of Kars. The town is cut off by a blizzard thus making the setting all the more surreal, not to mention the poems of the poet that play such a central part but never appear.
There were times when I felt I would not get through this work. Yet something in the writing drove me on despite my having to re-read bits, reflect and go back in places. I kept asking myself ... why? Was it the politics and my lack of understanding of the situation? Was it the inaccessibility of the unusual? Maybe of more interest I should suggest we ask what is it that kept me going? Something to do with the quality of writing. the clever and reflective use of the 'snow' theme. The latter certainly intrigued me ... I really wanted to learn about Turkey and the state - religion, change, politics and traditions. To be honest what I learnt from this novel seems very much at odds from what I glean from the news and BBC, but hey who says they have the monopoly of what is ‘truth’.

Considering some inexplicable element drove me on I have been trying to understand ‘why’? So what is this book about we wonder? It is about the tensions of change and education, it is involved with politics, East - West tensions and religion, the wearing of headscarves and theatre. We see events from the fundamentalists point of view and their concern regarding the growth of liberalism. We witness the murder of the Director of Education Institute in the New Life Pastry shop. He was wired for sound and we eavesdrop the harrowing conversation with his killer. Violence seems so commonplace in Kars the Turkish town in which the novel is set. Day to day life is in such stark contrast to my life, my expectations of the society in which I live, my freedoms and my professional life. Yet, the counterbalance to this horrendous violence is the love of the main character Ka for Ipek. To say it is complex, multi layered and a challenge is a bit of an understatement as far as this reader is concerned! From time to time I felt I was missing the point or was not sufficiently knowledgeable to understand some of the dialogue and cultural elements.

Overall I think this book is quality and deserving of the acclaim it has received but for me I felt that the author was simply making it too difficult for me, the reader to become truly engaged. ( )

SNOW is the story of Ka, an exiled poet who returns from Germany to Kars, a small town in Turkey, purportedly to report on a rash of suicides by religious girls who are legally forbidden to wear head scarves. The head scarf debate is a hot political issue in Turkey even today, yet Ka's return to Turkey is driven less by an interest in politics and more by an interest in Ipek, a beautiful woman who lives Kars. Although Ka is not particularly interested in the political situation, his behavior while in Kars lands him in the center of a political storm that erupts during an actual snow storm-- a storm which leaves Kars temporarily isolated from the rest of Turkey.
Pamuk uses the image of snow beautifully and effectively as an analogy throughout the story. He also does a wonderful job of capturing the complexity of Turkey as a country that bridges East and West. Pamuk poignantly portrays the nuanced tension between religion and secularism, rich and poor and educated and uneducated. He manages to do this through both plot twists and character development.
That said, at times SNOW seemed like snow itself, a random sprinkling, but of people and of information, particularly related to Ka's poetry. Some of the characters were far better developed than others. And some of the plot points verged on being absurdist.
Even so, SNOW is an important and timely book that deserves to be read. ( )