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I wasn’t sure what to make of this when I started, while undoubtedly well written it just wasn’t pulling me in until about halfway. It’s a thinking book rather than a linear story with lots of subtext and philosophy thrown it, the plot also jumps around a bit between different narrators and times. I suppose ultimately the book is an amalgamation of past and present, dark and light, religion and secularism, family ties and loneliness, with one thing ultimately tying us all together ... food! ( )

This is a wonderful book.

Anyone who wants to understand the riddle that is Istanbul would want to read this book.

Shafak is originally Turkish - although she lives in London. She's deeply engaged with her mother country. Once at the Hay Festival, she talked to me about Turkish culture is a culture of forgetting. But with authors like Elif Shafak, Turkey will never be able to completely forget.

One part of the book that particularly resonated for me was her introduction to the Janissary's paradox - as follows:

The Janissary Paradox.

People who believe the Ottoman rule was righteous know nothing about the Janissary's Paradox. The Janissaries were Christian children captured and converted by the Ottoman state with a chance to climb the social ladder at the expense of despising their own people and forgetting their own past.

The Janissary's Paradox is as relevant today for every minority as it was yesterday. You are the child of expatriates! You need to ask yourself this age-old question time and again: What will your position be with regard to this paradox; are you going to accept the role of the Janissary? Will you abandon your community to make peace with the Turks and let them whitewash the past so that, as they say, we can all move forward

The oppressor has no use for the past. The oppressed have nothing but the past.

Para Armanoush, recién llegada de Arizona en busca de sus raíces, Estambul es como un gran barco de ruta incierta. Acogida por la familia de su padrastro, esta joven armenia-norteamericana irá desgranando los secretos de dos familias unidas por la tragedia que separó a turcos y armenios a principios del siglo XX. Una apasionante saga familiar sobre uno de los episodios más turbios de la historia de Occidente: el tantas veces negado genocidio armenio.

Elif Shafak is one of those rare writer whom i like to read most. Beautifully written about the intersection of Turkish family and American family ( )