Snow by Orhan Pamuk

This is from a Nobel Prize winner (2006), a Turkish writer who is born the same year as myself and is a lifelong resident of Istanbul. It's a very interesting book although I found much of it sad but I guess much of it is meant to be sad. The basic story line is a Turkish poet who is living in exile in Frankfurt returns to his homeland to visit but one of his main objectives is to make contact with a woman who he has discovered recently divorced. He feels he may have a chance to win this woman now and so he journeys to a remote Turkish city to report on the state of affairs there but primarily to renew his acquaintance with this woman, Ipek, who he knew when they were all at university. The poet, Ka, is suppose to investigate the rash of suicides of young women who were in conflict with authorities over wearing their head scarves. They want to wear their head scarves as an emblem of their faith and the authorities, particularly the university, wants them to refrain from wearing them at school. The head scarves have become a symbol of faith versus secularism. This is a conflict that we're familiar with listening to the news from Europe. Ka has been living a rather desolate life in Frankfurt although he's relieved also to be able to leave Turkey whenever he desires. Ipek becomes the object by which he can achieve happiness if he can get her to return to Germany with him and share his life. Unfortunately, Ka and Ipek and everyone we meet in the city of Kars become embroiled in a bizarre political coup and the story goes on from there. There is a nice literary deceit in that the author also appears in the story as Ka's friend who is retracing his time in Kars after Ka's death in Frankfurt. Pamuk uses Kars as a cut off place, cut off by snow, in which to enact his story of love and politics. I don't claim to understand many of the cultural implications of the book but I did understand the terrible duality of Turkey, the bridge between east and west, and this seems to torment the society as the struggle to find their path. Will they be modern, like Europe , godless? or will they go the way of the Islamic republic or some variation of and think what they like regardless of facts? These are some of the important questions discussed in the book along with talking about everyday sorrows and joys, although joy seems to be a commodity in short supply in Kars. The review quotes make much of the literary angle of the book too, how a writer is creative and delves into the mind of his or her characters. I think all in all I liked the book and would try to read other books by this author. I recommend it as timely reading.