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Silent House
Silent House | Orhan Pamuk
3 posts | 5 read | 8 to read
Never before published in English, Orhan Pamuks second novel is the story of a Turkish family gathering in the shadow of the impending military coup of 1980. In an old mansion in Cennethisar, a former fishing village near Istanbul, a widow, Fatma, awaits the annual summer visit of her grandchildren. She has lived in the village for decades, ever since her husband, an idealistic young doctor, ran afoul of the sultans grand vizier and arrived to serve the poor fishermen. Now mostly bedridden, she is attended by her constant servant Recep, a dwarfand the doctors illegitimate son. Despite mutual dependency, there is no love lost between mistress and servant, who have very different recollectionsand grievancesfrom the early years, before Cennethisar grew into a high-class resort surrounding the family house, now in shambles. Though eagerly anticipated, Fatmas grandchildren bring little consolation. The eldest, Faruk, a dissipated historian, wallows in alcohol as he laments his inability to tell the story of the past from the kaleidoscopic pieces he finds in the local archive; his sensitive leftist sister, Nilgn, has yet to discover the real-life consequences of highminded politics; and Metin, a high school nerd, tries to keep up with the lifestyle of his spoiled society schoolmates while he fantasizes about going to Americaan unaffordable dream unless he can persuade his grandmother to tear down her house. But it is Receps nephew Hasan, a high school dropout, lately fallen in with right-wing nationalists, who will draw the visiting family into the growing political cataclysm issuing from Turkeys tumultuous century-long struggle for modernity. By turns deeply moving, hilarious, and terrifying, Silent House pulses with the special energy of a great writers early work even as it offers beguiling evidence of the mature genius for which Orhan Pamuk would later be celebrated the world over. This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.
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review
naeyma
Silent House | Orhan Pamuk
Pickpick

I read this when I was younger. It definitely left an impression on me. It may be hard to grasp due to culture differences and may be confusing when trying to understand different characters veiws because of all the political mess, but it was an amazing book and I would recommend it.

naeyma @SW-T thank you! 😊 5y
LitsyWelcomeWagon Welcome to Litsy! Here are links to #Litsytips: http://bit.ly/litsytips and #LitsyHowTo videos: goo.gl/UrCpoU. There‘s lots of fun things to do: book exchanges, buddy reads, photo challenges and more! #litsywelcomewagon 5y
Eggs Welcome to Litsy 🤗 5y
3 likes4 comments
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Abailliekaras
Silent House | Orhan Pamuk
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These books are all memorable for their scenes of summer. Beautifully written but elements of #cruelsummer when love and families go awry. #junetunz

LeahBergen What a nice edition of Brideshead. 😍 7y
Abailliekaras Thanks @LeahBergen it's a 1st Australian edition we found at a second hand book sale. Someone who had run out of space to store their enormous book collection. 😉 7y
27 likes2 comments
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MichellisLife
Silent House | Orhan Pamuk
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Picked up some board books at the Dollar Tree for Laurel and saw this beauty there. I had to pick it up. I loved A Strangeness in My Mind. I can't wait to read more of his books.

5 likes1 stack add