The Bastard of Istanbul

                                                           From the book cover:
As an Armenian American living in San Francisco, Armanoush feels like part of her identity is missing and that she must make a journey back to the past, to Turkey, in order to start living her life. Aysa is a nineteen-year-old woman living in an extended all-female household in Istanbul who loves Johnny Cash and the French existentialists. The Bastard of Istanbul tells the story of their two families - and a secret connection linking them to a violent event in the history of their homeland. Filled with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it, and about Turkey itself.

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Elif Shafak is a storytelling and plot building genius. She jumps from continents and perspectives adding mystery and layers.

More than the characters, this novel is about Turkey. After this book was published, Elik Shafak was accused by the Turkish government of 'insulting Turkishness' and could have spent three years in prison, had the charges not been dropped.

Not knowing much about Turkey's history, this novel has awakened a desire to learn more. Jammed packed with characters and themes, it's easy to get distracted.

At the root of this novel is the question: How much does the past determine the future? Elif Shafak appears to answer this question in the closing pages of the novel.

Family stories intermingle in such ways that what happened generations ago can have an impact on seemingly irrelevant developments of the present day. The past is anything but bygone...If Levent Kazanci hadn't grown up to be such a bitter and abusive man, would his only son, Mustafa, have ended up being a different person? If generations ago in 1915 Shushan hadn't been left an orphan, would Aysa today still be a bastard? p. 356

The Bastard of Istanbul isn't for everyone. It took me two tries to get into it. At the close of the first quarter I was hooked despite having to spend a great deal of time trying to figure out how the characters were all connected. The 19-year jump didn't help matters. Nevertheless, I am glad that I made the effort to read this novel.

Novels like this are why I love to read. I've learned about a country and two cultures and hadn't previously given much thought to.

3.5/5