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My Name Is Red

By Orhan Pamuk

(93)

| Paperback | 9780571212248

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Book Description

At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers.

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At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers.

The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style. But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition indeed. The ruling elite therefore mustn’t know the full scope or nature of the project, and panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery–or crime? –lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex and power.

Translated from the Turkish by Erda M Göknar

Critics

  • Baton charge

    My Name Is Red is a novel in 20 different voices. Half are fabulous: the personified elements of the exquisite illuminations painted by several of the leading characters. These are decorative and digressive. The other voices belong to 10 characters w ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • Talking pictures

    The "impossible narrator" is not exactly an established critical term, but how else can we refer to some of the narrative voices used in Orhan Pamuk's multi-narrator novel? Each chapter of My Name Is Red, which is set in late 16th-century Istanbul, h ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

7 Reviews

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  • 2 people find this helpful

    oh well, anybody intersted in Islamic Art?

    The only book I don't like but still bother to put it here - just to warn you guys.

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    fruit said on Apr 14, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    The author's depiction of 16th century Istanbul and the lives and traditions of its artists is quite fascinating. I enjoyed the beautiful passages on the nature of art and the differences manifested in artistic techniques between East and West.
    However, Pamuk stresses the same points over and over ... (continue)

    The author's depiction of 16th century Istanbul and the lives and traditions of its artists is quite fascinating. I enjoyed the beautiful passages on the nature of art and the differences manifested in artistic techniques between East and West.
    However, Pamuk stresses the same points over and over (and over!)again and at the end of the story I felt tired and annoyed. I simply could not bring myself to care about any of the characters, with their deception and lies, or about the fact that Pamuk won a Nobel Prize.

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    momiji1020 said on Oct 1, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    It's quite a time-consuming reading for me not only because it's quite a long story, it is more than just a murder mystery, it is a novel with Turkish history, the the aesthetics of Islamic art, and eastern and western art comparison. It is intriguing, but it is also tiring.

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    W.S. said on Jan 25, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • A multi-faceted detective story with the point-of-view switching between characters as the story winds to a resolution.

    I enjoyed this almost as much as The Black Book. Pamuk's love for the city of Istanbul is all over both novels - this one set at a time when European influences were starting ... (continue)

    A multi-faceted detective story with the point-of-view switching between characters as the story winds to a resolution.

    I enjoyed this almost as much as The Black Book. Pamuk's love for the city of Istanbul is all over both novels - this one set at a time when European influences were starting to wash over the ottoman culture.

    Highly recommended.

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    huntch said on Aug 26, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • I enjoyed the rich setting of this book. The format was a little confusing at first but it didn't take too long to get the hang of it. The murder mystery was perhaps the least interesting part, the suspects being the least defined characters in the book. I enjoyed the discussions about art and cultu ... (continue)

    I enjoyed the rich setting of this book. The format was a little confusing at first but it didn't take too long to get the hang of it. The murder mystery was perhaps the least interesting part, the suspects being the least defined characters in the book. I enjoyed the discussions about art and culture. I'm not going to rush out and read anything else by him, but it was still enjoyable.

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    Robot-mel said on Jun 15, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

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9780571212248 Paperback $14.74 $11.10 The Book Depository
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