Zülfü Livaneli

Livaneli’nin öykülerini okumayi seviyorum. Çok basit ve akıcı bir dili var. Ne komplike cümleler kurmaya çalışarak okuyucuyu yoruyor, ne de sürekli bir mesaj iletme kaygısında. Bir çırpıda bitirdim huzursuzluğu. Okuyup bitirmem ne kadar çabuk olduysa da, öyküyü sindirmem günlerce sürdü. İlk gece kabusla uyanınca öyküde yaşanan acıların beni ne kadar derinden sarstığını fark ettim. Livaneli’nin ustalığı da burada zaten. Çabucak zevkle okuyup show more bitirdiğiniz kitaplar derin bir iz bırakıyor, siz hemen fark etmeseniz de. show less

A well written book with an unusual construction in that the author introduces you to each of the three characters individually, but for much of the book you have no idea how their lives will intersect.

Meryem is the character who grows the most, but then she's the youngest and has been living in a very protected situation. She has very little education and by culture has been separated from the men as have all the women in the town. She is brutally raped by her uncle, the local Imam, who show more then sentences her to death for her "filth". She is imprisoned in a barn, and left with a rope with which they expect her to hang herself. Though in her despair she considers it, eventually she refuses and her uncle then gives the job of disposing of her to his son, Cemal, who was a childhood playmate of Meryem. Cemal has very recently returned from military service in the civil war and has not had time to come to grips with how he himself has changed. He takes Meryem to Istanbul in the hopes that he can find a way to murder her in that city. Cemal is lost and is casting around for sure footing, but is not yet ready to take chances or make big changes in his life.

The third character is Isfan, a professor from Istanbul, who is undergoing a mid-life crisis and walks away from his marriage and work and tries to emulate a childhood friend who long ago sailed away in search of adventure and his place in life. Isfan's journey is one of self-discovery, but he seems incapable of really learning as much as he could.

A very satisfying read where I learned a good deal about Turkey, its problems, and its culture. show less

This is a beautifully written, heartbreaking story based on the real-life sinking of the Struma – a ship that launched from Romania and carried nearly 800 Jewish refugees on their way to Palestine. In February 1942, the ship was torpedoed while off the coast of Istanbul after being turned away by Turkish authorities.

The book is written with two timelines- one in 2001 with Maya Duran who is an employee of Istanbul University and her assignment of looking after Maximilian Wagner, a show more German-born Harvard professor. The other timeline is set during WWII and tells the love story of Max and Nadia, who were very much in love but were separated by the war.

During her time with Max, Maya soon learns his true reason for returning to Istanbul after a 59-year absence. Slowly he reveals that he last saw his beloved wife Nadia 59 years ago there in Istanbul. Their love story is told with great passion but then veers into a horrific and heartrending conclusion. The past and the present collide leaving the reader emotionally drained. A true emotional rollercoaster.

I must mention the brilliant translation done by Brendan Freely. He was able to maintain the magic of Livaneli’s writing throughout the story. The book also reveals some of the birthing pains of the Turkish nation itself, the atrocities committed against Armenians and Crimean Turks, the WWII politics between Turkey, Great Britain, and Russia.

I enhanced my understanding of the historic event by watching the short documentary “The Search for the Struma” on YouTube. show less

Wird in der Türkei gehypt, aber ich finde das Buch "Serenade für Nadja" des Autors wesentlich besser. Das Thema von Glückseligkeit ist zwar spannend, das Buch beginnt auch gut, doch dann wird es über weite Strecken langatmig und am Ende verläuft die Handlung viel zu schnell und kommt (im Vergleich zum Hauptteil) mit viel zu vielen Wendungen daher. Schade.