Book Review — Snow
It’s February and the snow is falling without a break. Ka, has returned from Germany and is in this border town of Kars to write a story for the newspaper Cumhuriyet, based in Istanbul, on girls committing suicides.
Orhan Pamuk is a powerful writer who combines politics with magic and magic with culture to weave stories which get etched in our memories and are way too disturbing to handle. Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish writer who won the Nobel Prize In Literature for his masterpiece “My Name Is Red” in 2006.
“Snow” is a novel by Orhan Pamuk which was published in 2002 in Turkish language and later translated into English by Maureen Freely and was published in 2004.
Snow is set in the 90s. Snow has fallen and this border town of Kars is cut off from the mainland Turkey. The cut off is so bad that it’s almost impossible to get to Istanbul even in case of an emergency. Snow highlights the cultural gap in modern Turkey. Poverty, political turmoil, unemployment etcetera which had plagued Turkey then. Most important theme of this book is the debate of East Vs West, it’s also a debate between the modern white Turks of Istanbul and the so-called religious conservatives of rural Turkey. And how this debate has shaped the outlook of modern Turkey. The book attempts to make a cultural analysis of socio-political environment of Turkey through a decently written story.
Ka, is a poet who returns from Frankfurt after spending his time there in political exile. He’s commissioned by his newspaper (based in Istanbul) to write a story on successive suicides committed by girls across Kars. People of Kars allege that these girls are committing suicides because they feel the government is snatching their right to practice their faith freely by banning headscarves. This remains the central theme of the book and one is forced to question the religious and cultural enviornment of Europe in general. It’s established that wearing of hijab is as much as an unquestionable right as much as not wearing it is.
It’s established that wearing of hijab is as much as an unquestionable right as much as not wearing it is.
Ka’s life takes a turn from reporting about headscarves when he finds his old Istanbul schoolmate — Ipek, in Kars. He begins to develop feelings for her. Snow, has characters which are as dark as a snowy winter. You’ve an Islamist — Blue who’s Ipek’s sister dominated with his convincing eloquence. You’ve a teenager who dreams to be the first muslim teenager who writes islamic science fiction.
While he’s in Kars, Ka is told to narrate his poems in a local event. Readers are also treated with Ka’s (Orhan Pamuk’s) poems. The climax of the entire novel is a theatre show where a girl is supposed to take off her hijab to symbolically signify liberty.
The best part of the book is the way it doesn’t force opinions, rather it makes the reader question horrendous conformities our culture and government has surrounded us with. The landscape of Kars sends shivers down your spine. Snow is not a particularly thrilling novel nor it’s an overwhelmingly artistic work. It’s a novel which has been written directly from a socio-political perspective. You won’t find excitement yet you’ll enjoy it profoundly.
Snow is not a particularly thrilling novel nor it’s an overwhelmingly artistic work. It’s a novel which has been written directly from a socio-political perspective. You won’t find excitement yet you’ll enjoy it profoundly.
Rating : 3.5/5
