The Red-Haired Woman: A novel | 
so-soThe first part was the best...a young man serves as an apprentice to a well digger in Turkey. The descriptions of the work involved and their relationship will stay with me. The book spends much time on father/son, mother/son lore and how life follows myth. There is a haunted quality and a deep shame that runs like a thread throughout. Sadly, it was a bit flat, only 3 stars for me. However, I‘m madly in love with my new mug!
pickI really enjoyed this book in which Orhan Pamuk integrates marvellously some myths. It's impossible to sum up this book without giving any spoiler. My advice would be to dive right in.
The first part about the construction of a well is very interesting; it's also interesting to see the evolution of Istanbul through the book. It's a short book, and I wish the end would have been longer, with more developed characters.
pickThere‘s this thing about a Orhan Pamuk, it takes me the first line only to be transported to that... reality.
pickA boy who loves to read and is obsessed with the stories of Oedipus and of Rostum. He also wants to be a writer. The obsession with these myths affects him and his life ahead.
pickThe story revolves around a man almost obsessed with the stories of Rostam and Sohrab along with the similar story of Oedipus all his life. Written beautifully in the inimitable Orhan Pamuk style, the story flows seamlessly. Theough three generations of men in his family, the author dwells on the expectations and reverence between fathers and sons.
Just found the cutest little independent bookstore and cafe through indiebound.org. It‘s The Reserve in Sarasota, Florida. Great coffee, nicely curated selection.
So happy that I saw Orhan Pamuk today in conversation with the former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Robert Finn at the University of Pennsylvania. Intellectual discussion. So many PhD students in the house. #booksigned
#TBRtemptation post 7! 30 miles outside of Istanbul, a well-digger & his apprentice look for water on a barren plain. Through the summer heat, they form a familial bond of sorts that neither has had before. In town, the boy is enchanted by a red-haired girl in a traveling theater troupe. She's as fascinated in him. An accident befalls his mentor, and he flees. What's the boy's blame & will he see the girl again? #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎
pickThis was an immersion into a young man's obsession with Oedipus and Rostam & Sohrab and its precipitate- his time in an Istanbul suburb in the late '80s and weeks spent digging a well by day and wondering the city by night- and the lasting effects on his life.
Very introspective. Pamuk's writing is so utilitarian. No fluff or fat, just the story. So when a metaphor or fluid description appeared it was particularly alluring. He's a master. 🙌🏻
Did someone say #LitsyPartyOfOne ? 😁
What a good night for this. Having chronic pain flare usually lengthens my reading time since I don't want to do anything that involves moving or noise.
Also, this is my first Pamuk novel after much hype from my best friend who's read a few of his older novels. So far it's pretty good. Not what I expected but I didn't really know what to expect!
