Happy Wednesday Dear Readers!
As we near the end of this semester (congrats to all of our Graduates!!!), we know that you are anticipating the upcoming Summer! Who wouldn’t be?! With lots of sunshine and free time (hopefully!) we’d like to give you insight into some great reads that you can pick up and use to keep your brains fresh for the Fall!
Today we bring to you a Faculty Pick, reviewed by our very own History Instructor, Ellen Stone.
Pamuk, Orhan, Snow translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely. Random House, New York, NY, 2004.
Ka returned to Turkey after years of self- exile in Germany to find love and inspiration to write poetry again. The outpost city of Kars close to the border with Armenia had seen better days, but Ka travelled here in the guise of a reporter hired to write about the “head scarf girls”. The secular Turkish government did not allow head gear on women in their buildings so some high school girls had committed suicide over this issue. The city, cut off from the rest of the world by a huge snow storm, closed roads and rails. Only a few hours in the city, and Ka witnessed the killing of the minister of education by a Muslim extremist in a teahouse where all the unemployed men hang out. There are more twists and turns in the story when a group of traveling actors staged a bloody coup d’etat with cooperating military. Ka secretly visited the leader of the Islamic extremists called Blue and confessed that perhaps he may have begun to believe in God. The real object of Ka’s trip, a recently divorced beauty from his college days named Ipek, lived with her sister and father in a hotel they own. The father, an old Communist, had served time in prison for his beliefs. All these story lines are complicated by the repressive Turkish government that has bugged the entire city with technology or spies. Pamuk kept the reader on the edge of her seat until the very end. Enjoy.
Contributed by Ellen Stone, STC History Instructor
Intruiged? Don’t forget, you can read this book for yourself by checking it out from our Library! (click here for availability)
