The best book I've ever read
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I don't say this lightly, but I think truthfully this is the best book I've ever read. Louis De Bernieres writes with such compassion, and so skilfully evokes the characters, setting and cultural mores of the period he's writing about that the story is compelling from page one. The characters are very likeable and human, and they become real as the novel progresses, so that it is almost painful to finish the last page and have to say goodbye to them. Having recently visited south west Turkey for the first time earlier this year I was stunned by the accuracy of de Bernieres' descriptions of the landscape and its ancient reminders of earlier civilisations. To my shame I was mostly ignorant of the history of this part of the world, so am extremely grateful to this book and its author for presenting its story in such realistic, sympathetic and human terms. The "history lessons" included in the book about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk are rather dry, especially if you hated history at school, but appear as short intervals in the whole, and reveal a charismatic and visionary character in the father of Modern Turkey.
Highlights of the book for me are in Karatavuk's memoirs from Gallipoli, the last reflections of the Greek philanthropist Georgio P. Theodorou, and the charming and convivial exchanges of the Christian and Muslim villagers living comfortably and respectfully side by side in the small Anatolian community in the early 20th century.
The imagery is stunning, both enchantingly beautiful- such as the marvellous description of Leyla Hanim's rooms, magically decorated for the romantic seduction of Rustem Bey complete with "roving" candlesticks - and graphically violent in equal measure, such as the disturbing memory which keeps a weary sergeant awake at night. Violence is positioned directly alongside small acts of kindness, and the descriptions of relations between the "Franks" and the Turks in trenches yards apart are particularly touching. The writing is full of love, humour and pathos, which make this a book to revisit over and over.
My advice on picking up this book, as surely you must, is to arm youself with a good map of Turkey and its neighbouring Greek islands, as the one inside the front cover isn't desperately clear, and it would be a crying shame to give up on this book because of geographical confusion! Read it and be transported!
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This book makes you think
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This is a wonderful book. Hard going at times, but ultimately rewarding. If you loved Captain Corelli, this has many of the same ingredients: engrossing characters, minutely-observed village life, and a war that shatters everything. As ever with Louis de Bernieres, you have the sense that the entire book is painstakingly researched. Which makes it fascinating at times and treacle-ish at others. But, give it time. After 100 pages you won't be able to put it down.
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