I heard Orhan Pamuk speak at Stanford University. He mentioned his fascination with colors, having decided to be a painter before he turned to writing. His interest in the novel is that you can create a world where the action takes place, basically, in your head, rather than on a movie screen, say. So the novel allows a writer to create anything, and the reader to picture the action reflective of the reader's own experience. In this sense the novel is a simple but powerful means of creating a world, and thus conveying ideas that might otherwise be hard to express. The basic idea of this novel is, Is there really a difference in the way East and West perceives colors, and painting, and the details of illustration? Spun around this premise are the details and colors and painted tapestry of a murder in Istanbul. In thinking about "who done it" we are led to think about the nature of painting and the motivations and personalities of the painters.

The book is not written for the mass market. That is part of the appeal, at least to me, but unfontunately, it means that most people will not be inclined to finish it. One could wish it were 50 pages shorter, but once you understand a little about Mr. Pamuk and his themes, you will want to read it all the way through, and pick up some of his other novels as well.

I think we need especially to acknowledge the translator of this book. Mr. Pamuk speaks English, but not very fluently. The book was written in Turkish and translated by the very gifted Dr. Erdag Goknar of Duke University. Dr. Goknar was born in the USA, but he has an outstanding knowledge of Turkish and Turkish literature, and is a good friend of Mr. Pamuk. His translation reads like an original work. ( )

It was certainly an interesting read, but I didn't like most of the characters, in particular Shekure. The plot stagnated at points, but it all came together very quickly (perhaps too quickly) in the end. All in all, I'm looking forward to reading more Pamuk, particularly books set in the contemporary period. ( )

In process. Enjoying so far.

Now, about 60% through, this has all the marks of a good book that I won't finish. ( )

I was completely enthralled by this book from the beginning.
I did not know very much about Turkish culture and history (besides having a Turkish professor in graduate school). I loved the way the author wrote the book; each chapter is from the perspective of a different character. The book is a mystery but also a commentary on life in the interpretation of beauty. I loved it from start to finish and highly recommend it! ( )

Differently written, to say the least. But worth it. Every bit. ( )

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, which I am currently in the middle of reading, is so far intensely amazing - set in 16th-century Istanbul, a kind of murder mystery that is really about the clash of two different kinds of art and storytelling.

A challenging novel (in the best sense) set in the world of palace artists in 16th c. Istanbul. Pamuk presents multiple perspectives on the purpose & meaning of art, the tension between tradition & individuality, heresy, cross-cultural exchange, and the transition from a medieval to a modern mindset. Fiction as art.

“Nothing is pure,” said Enishte Effendi. “In the realm of book arts, whenever a masterpiece is made, whenever a splendid picture makes my eyes water out of pure joy and causes a chill to run down my spine, I can be certain of the following: Two styles heretofore never brought together have come together to create something new and wondrous. We owe Bihzad and the splendor of Persian painting to the meeting of an Arabic illustrating sensibility and Mongol-Chinese painting. Shah Tahmasp’s best paintings marry Persian style with Turkmen subtleties. Today, if men cannot adequately praise the book-arts workshops of Akbar Khan in Hindustan, it’s because he urged his miniaturists to adopt the styles of the Frankish masters. To God belongs the East and the West. May he protect us from the will of the pure and unadulterated.”

Ommegang Abbey Ale
Wolaver’s Organic IPA ( )

A triumph of hype over substance, I thought. I'm not sure whether this is because of Pamuk himself, or whether the astonishingly stiff and formal style of the narrative can be attributed to the translator, but I was very much underwhelmed by this. The aspects of the novel which covered the differences between Western Christian and Islamic perceptions of art and aesthetics were certainly interesting; there were also some moments of true inventiveness and creativity, such as the chapters which wer...more A triumph of hype over substance, I thought. I'm not sure whether this is because of Pamuk himself, or whether the astonishingly stiff and formal style of the narrative can be attributed to the translator, but I was very much underwhelmed by this. The aspects of the novel which covered the differences between Western Christian and Islamic perceptions of art and aesthetics were certainly interesting; there were also some moments of true inventiveness and creativity, such as the chapters which were narrated from the point of view of a sketch of a dog, or the colour red. For the most part, though, I found the characters unengaging, flat and irritating, with Pamuk liking to show off, almost, through them. It's a very uneven mix of dialogue, plot, history and theology, and while not a bad novel, per se, I really don't think I'll ever be coming back to it. ( )

Each chapter of this book is narrated by one of the characters. The book started slowly but by the time I has half way through I must have become used to the way Pamuk told the story and was interested enough in the characters and story that I wanted to know who committed the murder and what would happen to the characters. By the time I approached the end of the book I couldn't put it down. ( )

Unusual, ( )

I found this book to be too much into deception and lies to be worth my time. It wasn't like reading a good murder mystery, more like reading an autobiography of an ENRON executive.
Didn't bother to finish it. ( )

interesting from historical and philosophical point of vue, but far too complicated... gave up in the middle. Maybe I was too tempted by other books at the time and not ready for this long and confusing read. ( )

Difficult at the beginning to enter into the story. Every chapter of the book is written from the prospective of a different person. The book tells the story of a group of miniaturists working on a secret book for the Sultan. The main topic is the the different view about drawings, paintings, and art in general between muslims and europeans.
It is interesting also the love story between the characters, and the relationships between the maestro and his disceples. ( )

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: good book, nice author, wondeful man. That Orhan really knows how to get my goat.

great, read before pamuk was known, wonderful mystery book. I want re-read. ( )

Reading this, it felt like Black Book all over again except with way too many narrators. The constant exchange of voices was a bit confusing, especially when two characters are alone together for a scene, and mid-scene the point-of-view changes for no reason. I loved the two alternating voices in Black Book because it was simple, never confusing, offered a change of pace, and tied in nicely with the story where the main character thinks he is becoming the other one. With Red though, I feel like the author just had too many good candidates for narrator and couldn't choose. This easily could have been handled by Black all the way through, alternating perhaps with the great Poe-like murderer. The storyteller is perhaps my favorite narrator, but his chapters are short and could be done in third-person within the other chapters. Of course, this is my personal bias. I love a strong narrative voice, and splintering it into multiple characters means I don't get nearly enough time inside one mind as I like. For some, what I have described is perhaps reason to read it. Just not my cup of tea.

Other than this one complaint, we have a good story in the vein of Pamuk's other recent novels, The Black Book and Snow. I would recommend both over Red, but all three are great, and his earlier novels are good, too.

Aside from the narrative voice complaints -- and I'm sure for others, this is not a complaint but a ( )

One of the best books I read last year. Completely engaging and interesting. ( )

A murder mystery in late-medieval Istanbul. It provides a rich picture of the life and attitudes of miniaturists of the time. It is well-crafted, but it did not much speak to me, beyond the historical interest. The English translation is unfortunately poorly edited, full of rather jarring contractions like "could've" and uneven in tone.

Fantastisk bok! ( )

In the 1590's the Sultan of Istanbul commissions a book to celebrate his empire. However he wants the pictures created by the miniaturists are to be done in the Euopean style. A style which causes consternation among the miniaturists and leads to them being killed one by one.

At the same time Black arrives back home to Istanbul as per the request of his old master and hoping at the same time to re-kindle the love he had for the masters daughter. However she is married and her husband is missing which causes her to be more the property of her family in-law than to follow any new love.

All of which ties in at the end with Hasan (the brother in law) trying to take away Blacks love of his life. This is as well as the conclusion of the muderer being named leads to all the assumptions you make during the book changing on an continous basis. Chapter by chapter a new possibility occurs and this along with such great writing makes the book so much fun to read.

Snow was given as a present to me to try. My Name is Red was choosen as I enjoyed Snow so much. Rest assured I will be buying more of this guys books! ( )

My Name is Red เป็นนิยายของปามุก ที่ผมได้อ่านเป็นเรื่องแรก
แต่เป็นเรื่องที่สองที่อ่านจบ เรื่องที่สองที่ได้อ่านแต่อ่านจบเป็นเรื่องแรกคือ Snow
เทียบกันสองเรื่องนี้ ผมชอบ My Name is Red มากกว่าเยอะ

แต่ My Name is Red ใช้พลังในการอ่านเยอะมาก นึก ๆ ดูไม่ต่ำกว่า 8 หลับกว่าจะอ่านนิยาย 500 หน้านี้จบ
ต้องเปิดดิค เปิดแผนที่ บางครั้งอ่านซ้ำเพราะมันยาก

ความพิเศษของเรื่องนี้คือใช้ คน ซากศพ ภาพวาด หมา ต้นไม้ เหรียญ ซาตาน
ฆาตกร กระทั่งสีแดงมาเล่าเรื่องในมุมมอง first person
แต่สามารถเล่าเรื่องได้อย่างลื่นไหลเนียนมากเขียนเก่งจริง ๆ

เปิดเรื่องโดย “ซากศพ” เล่าว่าถูกฆ่ายังไง
ซากศพบอกว่าเขาคือ Master Elegant Effendi ช่างฝีมือดีของท่านสุลต่าน
ถูกฆ่าด้วยเหตุผลเกี่ยวกับศาสนาของเขา บทต่อ ๆ ไป ก็จะเปลียนคนเล่าไปเรื่อย ๆ

เนื้อเรื่องหลักคร่าว ๆ คือสุลต่าน Murat III ของ Ottoman ต้องการจะทำหนังสือ Manuscript ที่มีภาพประกอบแบบ Frankish และต้องการใช้เทคนิค perspective ของพวก Frank หรือ ยุโรเปี้ยนนี่แหละ (คนเปอร์เซีย ก็เรียกคนยุโรปว่า “ฝรั่ง”เหมือนกัน) แต่การวาดภาพแบบ perspective นี้ขัดต่อความเชื่อของศาสนาอย่างรุนแรง(ประมาณว่าพระเจ้าอัลเลาะห์ห้ามวาดภาพตีบ) สุลต่านจึงสั่งให้ Enishte Effendi ผู้รับผิดชอบโปรเจท ปิดงานทำหนังสือนี้เป็นความลับ แม้แต่กับช่างวาดเองเพื่อไม่ให้รู้ว่าจะใช้ เทคนิค perspective. เอนิชเต้ เอฟเฟนดิ จึงให้ช่างวาดคือ “Butterfly”, “Olive”, “Stork” (ชื่อ workshop name ของช่างวาด) วาดเป็นส่วน ๆ แล้วค่อยนำภาพมารวมกัน แต่หนึ่งในช่างวาดนี้เองที่เป็นฆาตกรฆ่า Elegant Effendi แต่กว่าคนอ่านจะรู้ว่าใครคือฆาตกรก็ตอนท้าย ๆ ของบทรองสุดท้าย การสืบหาตัวคนร้ายจากภาพวาดม้า ก็สนุกตื่นเต้น อ่านแล้วนึกถึง The Name of the Rose ของ Umberto Eco

ส่วนเรื่องย่อย ในเรื่องย่อยมีเรื่องของ Black กับ Shekure แม่ม่ายลูกสอง
ฉากอีโรติกนี่ก็ไม่ธรรมดา เปรียบ. . . เป็น reed pen และ . . . เป็น inkwell ตัวอย่างเช่น

I can’t say I completely understood why Persian poets, who for centuries
had likened that male tool to a reed pen, also compared the mouths of us
women to inkwells, or what lay behind such comparisons whose origins had
been forgotten through rote repetition—was it the smallness of the mouth?
The arcane silence of the inkwell? Was it that God Himself was an illuminator?
Love, however, must be understood, not through the logic of a woman like me
who continually racks her brain to protect herself, but through its illogic.

ประโยคที่ผมชอบคือ Tell me then, does love make one a fool or do only fools fall in love?

และเรื่องซ้อนเรื่องในนิยายเรื่องนี้มีเพียบ ที่น่าสนใจคือเรื่องของ Style & Signature, Painting & Time, Blindness & Memory เรื่องค่านิยมของศิลปินวาดสมัยก่อนน่าสนใจมากเช่น ช่างวาดคนไหนแก่แล้วยังตาไม่บอดถือเป็นเรื่องน่าอาย มีStyle หรือ Signature ในงานถือว่าฝีมือไม่ถึงเพราะ Style เกิดจากความไม่สมบรูณ์ (style was nothing more than an imperfection) การมี identity ในงานเป็นการไม่เคารพครูบาอาจารย์

สรุปว่าเรื่องนี้เจ๋งมากแต่ต้องออกแรงพอสมควรที่จะอ่านให้จบ
อย่างไรก็ตามสมควรแล้วที่ออฮาน ปามุกได้รางวัลโนเบล ( )

When I purchased the book the reviews were nothing but stellar -- I couldn't wait to dig in. The author's attention to detail is exquisite; he often creates a beautiful picture of what is happening. Other times the amount of detail is simply too much. At around page 250 I found myself skimming the longer passages, and there were many of them. By the end I was only reading to see if I guessed right on "who did it," with little care for the rich detail or wrapping up lose ends in the character's lives. Perhaps because of this my rating for the first half is a solid 5 stars, second half would be 2 1/2. Perhaps reading 2 other books alongside this was too much of a distraction... ( )

Clever who-dunnit through the eyes of various participants - including the murderer (but we don't know their name!) Interesting exploration of the way the sacred arts of the East met the secular artistic tradition of the West. The denouement is guaranteed to make your toes curl. ( )

In my opinion the best novel of Pamuk

The early parts dragged a lot, but the last few chapters were killer. In every sense of the word. I'll have more to say on this book once I've digested it a little more. Something I love about Pamuk, or at least both this book and Snow, is that he is really trying to write Novels of Ideas that are also Good Stories with Real Characters, which is an incredibly difficult task, but I think he pulls it off (which is why he has a Nobel Prize, obvi). As I say, I was dubious about this for the first half of My Name Is Red, but once the clock was ticking for Black and Osman to solve the murder, things really picked up, especially when all three major miniaturists were finally in one room. ( )