As posted in goodreads
After being traumatized reading the Museum of Innocence, I still somehow want to indulge myself to read Orhan Pamuk's work again. There's just a sense of magnetism to keep on coming back to his home city Istanbul. And when I read the general plot of the story, I was simply hooked. Hoping, please, don't let it be too hurtful this time.
And oh boy.
I have to write back a little on Museum of Innocence to be able to put my thoughts properly here. Museum of Innocence tells a story about a rich Istanbul man who fell in love with his distant, somewhat poor cousin, Füsun. Throughout their relationship, he grew obsessive, following and setting her up for his advantage and by the end of the book, I was so mad and stressed, and I can't figure out why some people can say that this is a romantic love story. Ugh.
YOĞURTÇU (yoghurt street seller). Cihangir neighbourhood, Istanbul, 1950s.
(https://de.pinterest.com/jeancriel/street-vendors-in-turkey-former-ottoman-territorie/)
So I was slightly worried, but curious at the same time, when I found out that the central theme of A Strangeness in My Mind is a love story as well. But it turns out that it has have an opposite atmosphere compare to Museum of Innocence.
The two books have some similarities, though. In addition for both being set up in Istanbul, the story tells about the changes the characters experienced in relation to the development of politics within the decades when they lived in Istanbul. Funny enough, while Museum of Innocence delved inside the life of Istanbul's upper class where it's more 'Western' dominated, A Strangeness in My Mind is being told from the eyes of the more poor (very very poor), traditional, lower classes, migrants from villages part of Istanbul. I have to check, but maybe the two books are actually set in the West (Museum of Innocence) and the East (A Strangeness in My Mind) sides of the city?
So the book tells about a boza seller, Mevlut, who came from a village near Istanbul trying to make a living in the big city, starting when he was a young 12 years old boy. It further described about Mevlut and the dynamics of his family - dad, cousins, uncle, aunt, best friend - and later on his wife, his in-laws, children, nieces, nephews, as they struggle to survive, and how Istanbul's landscape changes from the 1950s towards 2012. There's of course the whole political situation, both within the country and outside, used as a background or sometimes directly affecting the characters. The book described (mostly in a fun way) of the life and culture of Turkish people, and the different people who lived there, and how they clashed, or get together.
Anyways, as I've mentioned about the atmosphere of the book, I couldn't help myself to be so comforted along the reading experience. Sure, it's so stressful to see the main character, honest boyish looking, Boza selling, Mevlut, working throughout his whole life trying to make ends meet by working various jobs with such optimism and earnestness. Or the people around his life who are simply ordinary people with the greatness and complexity of human beings. But while Museum of Innocence left me feeling depressed, this book comforts me about the reality of a changing life, of being young, falling in love, growing older, the relativeness of success, of happiness, of what home means, of how changes are unavoidable, and the fleeting lives of our species, and how time waits for no man. This book have so many ways to make the readers sad and depressed, but through Mevlut's heart and his soft feelings, you'd be comforted knowing that kindness and love can cure your heart.
The nights when Mevlut walks down the old small streets in Istanbul, carrying his boza drink, knocking peoples' doors, listening to their story and peeking on their lives; the comfort of knowing that you have loved and shared blissful years with your beloved, going home to a place where your heart can rest; when you can be comforted by the quiteness of the night, taking a refuge from the craziness of the world under daylight; for all that, I just need to say, thank you Mr Pamuk for writing such a wonderful story. Thank you for letting us know about Mevlut's life and the amazing people around him. Especially, Rayiha. It's always been her.
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