The short stories in this anthology are all written by women born after the establishment of the Turkish Republic, but have little else in common. The stories range from domestic vignettes to avant-garde experiments to social commentaries. Some of the authors achieved fame within their lifetimes, while others remain obscure. Some authors have books that have been translated into English, but most have not. This collection was a good introduction to female Turkish authors and to social issues in Turkey between the 1950s and 1988 when this book was published. ( )

Written 11/29/2011

I grabbed this book as I went out the door to an appointment last week - how horrible it would be to be caught without something to read! I originally bought it back when Reading Globally was doing a Turkey theme and everyone were tripping over themselves to read books by male authors. Granted, I had to search for this, but I thought it worth it to hear from those who hold up half the Turkish sky.

I've read 4 of the stories, and enjoyed most of them. The authors have all been born since Turkey was declared a republic, and the stories are no more than 3 or 4 pages long.

"Hayriye" by Nezihe Meric is a delightful, almost folktale-ish story about the effect of one happy woman on a whole neighborhood.

"The Window" by Sevim Burak is told by a woman watching another woman through a window. The woman she watches is perhaps mentally ill and is mistreated, and in observing her, the woman watching examines her own life and inaction. I might have to read this one again, as it's one of those stories in which you are not sure exactly what you have just read.

"Mother" by Selcuk Baran is a story of a long-suffering woman, who cares for her family and her husband, bedridden with some "incurable" disease. The tale is ironic, in that there is a discussion about a sermon on sinfulness of adultery, which allows the reader to understand, but not perhaps the other characters, that this is how the woman has been able to cope and bring some small joys to her family.

"The Mirror" by Leyla Erbil. Erbil's story reminded me a little of Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's The Time: Night with the lament: "kids, what are they good for?" And tells a woeful tale of thankless grown children preying on an elderly mother.

I don't always read short story collections and anthologies all the way through cover to cover, so oftentimes I don't get around to reviewing them, but why not? I've enjoyed what I have read so far and I may finish the anthology at some point but, then again, I may not. ( )