Review by Booklist Review
The bubonic plague afflicts a remote outpost of the Ottoman empire, inflaming old tensions but also presenting an opportunity for radical political change. In the stormy Mediterranean, somewhere between Rhodes and Alexandria, lies Pamuk's imagined island, Mingheria, the "Pearl of the Levant." The Quarantine Authority has well-rehearsed protocols to limit the spread of disease (and squelch unhelpful news reports). But the Ottoman "sick man of Europe" is fading, and the illness that sweeps the land in 1901 is unusually cruel. The island's Greek and Muslim elders jostle for position. But the Sultan's investigator, Bonkowski Pasha, has been murdered under mysterious circumstances, and a new Mingherian nationalism is ascendant. For the patriotic Major Kamil and his young wife, Zehnap, history calls. Deftly blending rich realism and wry social commentary, Turkish Nobel laureate Pamuk (My Name Is Red, 2017) delivers an invented history that leverages the all-too-familiar experience of a deadly pandemic to return to one of his cherished topics: Ottoman bureaucratic and social reform. The continued volatility of the Turkish political environment and the potency of Pamuk's allegory were underscored when, upon this novel's Turkish publication in 2021, Pamuk faced a criminal inquiry for allegedly besmirching Turkey's founder, Ataturk. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Pamuk is always a must-read, and the potency and timeliness of this novel will stir even more interest.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the ambitious latest from Nobel Prize winner Pamuk (My Name Is Red), a plague has swept through Mingheria, a fictional island in the Ottoman Empire. The 1901 calamity was chronicled by Princess Pakize, whose letters historian Mina Mingher is preparing for publication in 2017. But struck by the princess's "descriptive flair" and weary of writing another "dreary" history book, Mina decides to turn the letters into a novel. Indeed, there's flair to Mina's text, which forms the bulk of a narrative that includes the murder of Istanbul's royal chemist, sent to the island to implement quarantine protocol; political upheaval that results in Mingheria declaring its independence; and romances among a slew of characters. Via Mina, a descendent of Mingherians, Pamuk ascribes importance to players from all social strata: politicians, religious leaders, and ordinary citizens alike. Though Mina's romanticizing of her ancestors and her nation's history can sometimes be overwrought, the story she shapes is consistently captivating. As a result, the grandiose statements--"emotions and decisions of individuals could often change the course of history"--wind up ringing true. Though it doesn't stand with the author's best work, the cracking narrative will keep readers in for the long haul. Agent: Sarah Chalfant, Wylie Agency. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Turkish Nobel Laureate Pamuk's (My Name Is Red) epic historical-fiction title tells the story of a plague that breaks out on the imaginary island of Mingheria, a state of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s. The island's population is split between Muslims and Orthodox Greeks, with each side blaming the other for the outbreak. Fights over quarantine protocols occur, eventually leading to murder. This novel is narrated through the eyes of a fictional historian telling the tale as it is revealed to her through letters and other artifacts. The writing is so realistic that listeners may forget that it is fiction. Narrator Amira Ghazalla's beautiful accent adds to this immersive work, translated from the original Turkish. Her performance clearly delineates between the historian's perspective and the staggering number of characters throughout the story. Ghazalla remains engaging throughout this 29-hour-long production. VERDICT Ghazalla's soothing voice will draw listeners into this captivating story. While set in a very different era, this is a timely listen in the ongoing age of COVID.--Carleigh Obrochta
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Plague strikes a small Ottoman island in 1901. Nobel laureate Pamuk's latest novel is a behemoth: 700-some pages about a fictional island in the Mediterranean under siege by plague. Mingheria, in Pamuk's imagining, is populated by both Muslims and Orthodox Greeks, who react with varying levels of obedience to the strictures of quarantine. Set in 1901, the novel also takes on the dwindling of the Ottoman Empire and the tensions between West and East, modernity and tradition, and science and religion. There is a lot at play here, and while Pamuk's prose is as elegant and informed as ever, an occasional hint of pomposity does waft through his pages. Then, too, there is so much information to be conveyed that the burden sometimes falls to his characters, and dialogue becomes an unfortunate vehicle for exposition. So, for example, the young doctor who has been sent to Mingheria to help tells his wife, the former sultan's daughter, "Let me first tell you of the state the international quarantine establishment finds itself in." It's possible the novel is overdetermined. The frame for the narrative is as follows: Princess Pakize, that young doctor's wife, has been writing long letters about the events at hand to her sister, and, more than a hundred years later, Mîna Mingher, a scholar, is narrating a novel based on those letters. On top of all that, there's a murder mystery at play. And yet, despite these flaws, Pamuk's storytelling is so compelling and coy; his intelligence and interests so wide-ranging; the project, as a whole, so ambitious, that the book has survived its own excesses. There is a great deal here to savor. Not quite a triumph, Pamuk's latest work still manages to delight. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
