Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
The White Castle
The White Castle | Orhan Pamuk
6 posts | 14 read | 7 to read
From a Turkish writer who has been compared with Borges, Nabokov, and DeLillo comes a dazzling novel that is at once a captivating work of historical fiction and a sinuous treatise on the enigma of identity and the relations between East and West. In the 17th century, a young Italian scholar sailing from Venice to Naples is taken prisoner and delivered to Constantinople. There he falls into the custody of a scholar known as Hoja--"master"--a man who is his exact double. In the years that follow, the slave instructs his master in Western science and technology, from medicine to pyrotechnics. But Hoja wants to know more: why he and his captive are the persons they are and whether, given knowledge of each other's most intimate secrets, they could actually exchange identities. Set in a world of magnificent scholarship and terrifying savagery, The White Castle is a colorful and intricately patterned triumph of the imagination. Translated from the Turkish by Victoria Holbrook. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
blurb
GatheringBooks
The White Castle | Orhan Pamuk
post image

#IdiomInsight Day 5: There are definitely some #CutCorners in this lemon cheesecake with lemon sorbet on the side. Taken a month ago while in Bodrum, Turkey. Naturally paired with a book by one of Turkey‘s finest novelists.

44 likes1 comment
blurb
GatheringBooks
The White Castle | Orhan Pamuk
post image

#SummerSpecial Day 30: There are unlikely friends in this novel making it a good #FriendsDay book. Reading with the Aegean sea in the background. Paired with my all-time fave lemonade.

Eggs Lovely 🥰 1y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 🌅 1y
Branwen So lovely! ☀ 1y
59 likes3 comments
review
Abailliekaras
The White Castle | Orhan Pamuk
post image
Mehso-so

I put this down a few months ago and when I picked it up again I had lost the thread. I love the intricacies & intelligence of Orhan Pamuk‘s writing but this was too convoluted for me (even Byzantine). His sentences are lyrical but I couldn‘t engage with the characters. Also the translator refers to ‘Istanbul‘ but it‘s set in the 17th century, so this jarred a bit (unless I‘m wrong? I thought Istanbul was used later).

j.rye Now ‘Istanbul(Not Constantinople)‘ is stuck in my head. Lol. But I think you‘re right on the dates. It wasn‘t changed until the 20th century. 5y
Abailliekaras @j.rye ha ha! Yes I always think of that song too. 😉 5y
36 likes2 comments
review
CarolynOliver
The White Castle | Orhan Pamuk
post image
Mehso-so

I wanted to love this book (Pamuk's My Name Is Red is one of my favorites). The premise is interesting, the writing is good, the ending is masterful---but it bogs down in the middle, at least for me. Loved the narrative frame and unreliable narrator, wasn't into the psychological intrigue.

28 likes1 stack add
blurb
CarolynOliver
The White Castle | Orhan Pamuk
post image

I'll read just about anywhere, but this is my favorite spot in the house. #riotgrams #whereiread

britt_brooke Lovely spot! 8y
I-read-and-eat That's so beautiful 😍 8y
KarenUK Gorgeous 💕 8y
ReadingSusan That looks so comfy. 8y
CarolynOliver @britt_brooke @I-read-and-eat @KarenUK @ReadingSusan Thank you! It is ridiculously comfortable, and I like looking out the window at the snow. 8y
48 likes1 stack add5 comments
review
MelanieAnn
The White Castle | Orhan Pamuk
Pickpick

💙