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I loved The Island of Missing Trees, which is about the conflict between Greeks and Turks in Cyprus. I then started digging around for more of her books and came up with this one – her first major work in English.
About The Bastard of Istanbul
In her second novel written in English, Elif Shafak confronts her country’s violent past in a vivid and colorful tale set in both Turkey and the United States. At its center is the bastard of the title, Asya, a nineteen-year-old woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists, and the four sisters of the Kazanci family who all live together in an extended household in Istanbul: Zehila, the zestful, headstrong youngest sister who runs a tattoo parlor and is Asya’s mother; Banu, who has newly discovered herself as a clairvoyant; Cevriye, a widowed high school teacher; and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster. Their one estranged brother lives in Arizona with his wife and her Armenian daughter, Armanoush.
When Armanoush secretly flies to Istanbul in search of her identity, she finds the Kazanci sisters and becomes fast friends with Asya. A secret is uncovered that links the two families and ties them to the 1915 Armenian deportations and massacres.
~ Synopsis from GoodReads
My Review
I loved The Bastard of Istanbul. I must say it is really a wonderful read. The author manages to paint vivid pictures with words. The parts where she describes Istanbul are a treat to read.
That said, it was great that I had listened to the second season of the Empire podcast before reading this book. Before listening to the podcast, my understanding of Western Asia was pretty weak. I mean, Turkish history and the Ottoman Empire were just a couple of uninteresting paragraphs in my history textbooks in college, and I had never heard of the Armenian massacre until last year.
So, the podcast gave an academic sketch of what happened. But the book brings the massacre to life and shows its impact that still lingers today.
So, I loved the book for its history, but I also loved it for its vigorous, unforgettable female characters. All of them are spunky and individualistic and out of the box. I especially loved Asya’s mother, Zehila, and would have been happier if she had been more centre-stage.
A few parts of the book (the parts about djinns) are a little bizarre, but I think I actually liked these parts. Shafak weaves in magical realism very skillfully, so it’s more like a part of the background rather than an intrusion on the main story.
Overall, this being one of her earlier books, it’s clear she’s still finding her voice a little bit. But despite some of the inconsistencies in tone, I liked this book very much. And it’s got me even more intrigued by Turkey and Istanbul – I definitely have this place on my travel bucketlist now.
