My Name is Red
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Orhan Pamuk is one of Turkey's premier novelists and My Name Is Red, when published in the original Turkish in 1998, became the fastest-selling book in Turkish history. It is high time then that a translation to English was made, and this publication will be widely welcomed by Pamuk's growing legion of English-speaking admirers.
In the late 16th century, during the final years of the reign of Ottoman Sultan Murat III, a great work is commissioned, a book celebrating the Sultan's life. The work is conducted in secret, to the ignorance of the artists involved, for fear of a violent religious reaction to the European style of the illuminations in the book. An artist goes, missing, feared dead, and Black, a painter who has been in a self-enforced exile because of spurned love, returns to help his former Master investigate the disappearance.
Pamuk's prose is as exquisite and rich as the elucidations it describes. This is a dense, atmospherically fevered book, which demands a high level of patience and attention from the reader, perhaps mirroring the patience of the miniaturists. Written in the first person, with multiple narratives, this is a book full of unreliable witnesses, and as the various stories of the narrators unfold, the truth of the disappearance slowly emerges. The sense of place and time are carefully constructed and diligently maintained throughout the novel, which, like Umberto Eco's The Name Of The Rose, far exceeds the genre of literary historical crime to become a hypnotic meditation on religion, love, time, patience and artistic devotion. --Iain Robinson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Magnificent... In this world of forgeries, where some might be in danger of losing their faith in literature, Pamuk is the real thing, and this book might well be one of the few recent works of fiction that will be remembered at the end of this century.' --Observer
'We in the West can only feel gratitude that such a novelist as Pamuk exists, to act as a bridge between our culture and that of a heritage quite as rich as our own.' --Daily Telegraph
'More than any other book I can think of, it captures not just its past and present contradictions, but also its terrible, timeless beauty. It's almost perfect, in other words. All it needs is the Nobel Prize.' --Maureen Freely, New Statesman --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
'We in the West can only feel gratitude that such a novelist as Pamuk exists, to act as a bridge between our culture and that of a heritage quite as rich as our own.' --Daily Telegraph
'More than any other book I can think of, it captures not just its past and present contradictions, but also its terrible, timeless beauty. It's almost perfect, in other words. All it needs is the Nobel Prize.' --Maureen Freely, New Statesman --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
`MNIR' is a whodunit set in late 16th century Istanbul. An illustrator of manuscripts (Elegant Effendi) is murdered by one of his colleagues. Black Effendi, newly returned from exile, is set the task of finding the murderer by his uncle, for whom the victim was working when he was killed. As Black delves deeper into the output of the workshop in which Elegant worked, he uncovers many tensions between the workers, including over the intrusion of European techniques into Islamic illustration, the succession to the position of master of the workshop, professional jealousy and good old-fashioned lust. Black must unravel these strands to identify the murderer before the sultan makes good a threat to have the whole workshop arrested and tortured.
Parallels with Eco's `The Name of the Rose' are impossible to avoid. Both books are murder mysteries whose resolution is based in religious philosophy, and both play very cleverly with the idea of big religious concepts interacting with the baser aspects of human nature. Fans of one will enjoy the other. Pamuk's writing is more humanistic than Eco's, and perhaps less coldly academic. Black's investigations are woven in with a genuinely fascinating love story that becomes integral to the story, rather than just a distraction. In addition, Pamuk's writing is very beautiful, and the whole book is set against the background of a wintry and claustrophobic Istanbul that is very well described. Because of this, it is slow paced, occasionally too slow, and the murder mystery aspect becomes secondary to Black's own life in places. However, in general I really enjoyed reading `MNIR' and, despite it being a big book, finished it fairly quickly. It was enjoyable and cerebral, and a great piece of historical fiction.
Parallels with Eco's `The Name of the Rose' are impossible to avoid. Both books are murder mysteries whose resolution is based in religious philosophy, and both play very cleverly with the idea of big religious concepts interacting with the baser aspects of human nature. Fans of one will enjoy the other. Pamuk's writing is more humanistic than Eco's, and perhaps less coldly academic. Black's investigations are woven in with a genuinely fascinating love story that becomes integral to the story, rather than just a distraction. In addition, Pamuk's writing is very beautiful, and the whole book is set against the background of a wintry and claustrophobic Istanbul that is very well described. Because of this, it is slow paced, occasionally too slow, and the murder mystery aspect becomes secondary to Black's own life in places. However, in general I really enjoyed reading `MNIR' and, despite it being a big book, finished it fairly quickly. It was enjoyable and cerebral, and a great piece of historical fiction.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm utterly appalled by the rampantly half-witted loons that have reviewed this book. "Artificial frame". It's a book between two covers, how's that for an "artificial frame"? "Kinda interesting although i really didn't understand so put it down"! What's not to understand? It's a murder mystery. You have to work out who killed the guy on page one - you read five hundred pages, then you find out. Have you never seen 'Murder, She Wrote'? It's not complicated.
This is a fascinating novel. It uses an innovative framework to ask questions about cultural hybridity, religious intolerance (and its political uses), the clash between the old and the new, the east and the west. In short, this is a novel about Turkey, sitting there on the cusp between religious, geographical and political boundaries that threaten its sense of national identity. Oh, and it's quite well written, too.
This is a fascinating novel. It uses an innovative framework to ask questions about cultural hybridity, religious intolerance (and its political uses), the clash between the old and the new, the east and the west. In short, this is a novel about Turkey, sitting there on the cusp between religious, geographical and political boundaries that threaten its sense of national identity. Oh, and it's quite well written, too.
61 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have decided to write this review for 2 reasons:
1. I read the book (!)
2. The reviews haven't done the book justice.
I am native Turkish but having grown up and lived in the UK all my life it was easier for me to read the English translation of this book. Being Turkish I note that the translations were perfect, it has been translated EXACTLY. However, this doesn't take into consideration cultural understandings of terms and phrases. As a Turk it was easier for me to identify with these than perhaps other readers. I was quite surprised by some of the reviews for this book which I put down to "lost in translation" hence my own review...
I found the book original and hugely entertaining. It's a detective story of sorts with love thrown in. But Orhan Pamuk is dealing with lots of other issues too: differences in Eastern/Western art, culture and the impact of religion. Its a very original book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Take it slow and it will all make sense. Promise!
1. I read the book (!)
2. The reviews haven't done the book justice.
I am native Turkish but having grown up and lived in the UK all my life it was easier for me to read the English translation of this book. Being Turkish I note that the translations were perfect, it has been translated EXACTLY. However, this doesn't take into consideration cultural understandings of terms and phrases. As a Turk it was easier for me to identify with these than perhaps other readers. I was quite surprised by some of the reviews for this book which I put down to "lost in translation" hence my own review...
I found the book original and hugely entertaining. It's a detective story of sorts with love thrown in. But Orhan Pamuk is dealing with lots of other issues too: differences in Eastern/Western art, culture and the impact of religion. Its a very original book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Take it slow and it will all make sense. Promise!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
too long, too straight
both are a problem with ethnic stuff... we get these works delivered to the Anglo-Saxon market and they're always too long, never humorous enough, too po-faced about, oh I dunno,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by mike rodent
If you would enjoy intrigues between 16C Turkish miniaturists, then...
Pamuk accomplishes a stunningly complex historical novel, the best that the genre can offer. With this story, you enter a world fundamentally different from the present day, in... Read more
Published 13 months ago by rob crawford
A Novel which Works on Several Levels
"My Name Is Red" is a philosophical historical murder mystery reminiscent of Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose"; in both books the central philosophical issues are concerned with... Read more
Published 18 months ago by J C E Hitchcock
Not Bad Enough to Throw Across the Room
I can sympathise with Marion Pennington who said she threw the book across the room in frustration. I didn't find it aroused quite the same emotion but it is a rare book that I... Read more
Published 18 months ago by S. Berry
it's certainly different
In the introduction to this book (in the Everyman's Library edition) Orhan Pamuk explains that until he became a novelist in his early 20s he was a keen artist; his enjoyment in... Read more
Published 18 months ago by William Jordan
O rphan Pamuk
The book came promptly which was good. I thought the book was difficult to read as there were many characters with names from a culture which were unfamiliar there fore difficult... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Ms. Barbara Wardle
Elegant and meditative
This novel is in one sense a 'crime novel', and yet it is so much more. The murder around which the plot revolves is a vehicle for exploring the cultural differences between... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Danielle
East v. West
I found this book difficult for a number of reasons:
1. Style. Being addressed by a corpse in chapter 1,a dog(3),a tree(10) and a gold coin(19) is off-putting. Read more
1. Style. Being addressed by a corpse in chapter 1,a dog(3),a tree(10) and a gold coin(19) is off-putting. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Donald Hughes
My Name is Red
Sorry, but my name is Unread! I couldn't get past page 26 of this book. I found it too challenging to pursue further. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Constantreader
Worth the Effort
I'm not surprised that other reviewers who boast how quickly they normally read books found My Name is Red hard to race through. Read more
Published 23 months ago by S. Bevan
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