A plain, poorly written book that successfully makes occupied Istanbul seem completely boring.

My copy had a fake "Best Novel of the Year" logo/image added to the cover, which thankfully disappeared from later editions.

I read half of this and couldn't be bothered picking it up again. ( )

Veda is a successful novel, a family saga, a historic moment analyzed through the lens of personal tragedies and triumphs. Nestled at ridge defining the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the Turkish Republic, the novel follows a web of characters around the inhabitants of an old Istanbul house. The family of the finance minister of the falling Ottoman Empire, Ahmet Res(h)at, live through some turbulent and rough times as the city is under siege, the Muslims under the abusive control of ex-Ottoman minorities as well as foreigners. Ahmet Reshat Bey walks a thin line between his loyalty to the sultan and helping the emerging resistance against the British-lead foreign forces, birthed in Anatolia under the leadership of the charismatic general, Mustafa Kemal. We all know how the story ends, in a way. But what Kulin manages so deftly is to tell us the story of the every day life of people whose lives are invariably affected by the war and siege, but have to eat, sleep, give birth, fall in love, struggle for domestic authority, grow up to become teenagers and wives... She weaves in the emerging modernization of gender roles (an early version of feminism,) the ever-important power dynamics between a woman and her mother-in-law, the relationship between the elite and the serving class along with a sweeping love story that is sure to make some cry for a while.

All in all, the plot and character development, the language flow, the historic perspective are very well executed. Perhaps my only problem with the book is that some events seem a bit too contrived, and some a bit too emotional. But these are Turks, who are known to be emotional, and the times are rough, so nothing seems out of place. ( )

This book tried to do too many things—adventure story, love story, political discourse, gender study, historical fiction—and ended up doing none of them particularly well. I found it an over-wrought love story set within a tepid adventure plot with not enough historical information or color to make up for it.

It piqued my interest in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, but didn't satisfy it.

My full review will be in Issue #18 of Belletrista. ( )