Reviews

Without a Country by Ayşe Kulin

shinboru's review against another edition

4.0

Kolayca okunabilir türden bir kitap olmasına rağmen bir ve ikinci kuşaktan aldığım keyfi diğer iki kuşaktan alamadım. Sanki kitabın başında ve sonunda tamamen farklı olaylara değinilmiş ve farklı bir odak noktası bellenmiş gibi hissetmekten kendimi alıkoyamadım. Yine de itiraf etmeliyim ki okurken keyif aldığım bir kitap oldu, sadece karakterlerin üzerinde daha çok durulmasını isterdim.

Sayın Ayşe Kulin ile düşünce yapımız tamamen uyuşmasa dahi parmak bastığı ve vurgulamak istediği noktalar genel olarak çok yerinde. Böyle bir yazara sahip olduğumuz için şanslıyız. Bilhassa bu kitapta da ilk iki kuşakta odaklandığı hususlar oldukça etkileyici.

chek_mk's review against another edition

3.0

Sürükleyici başlayan fakat ikinci kuşaktan sonra bir aile hikayesinden çıkıp Türkiye tarihine odaklanan yapısı ile üzdü. İlk başlarda ailenin bakış açısından öğrendiğimiz Türkiye, daha sonra Türkiye gündeminin bakış açısıyla aileyi görmek.. Ele alınan konu itibariyle keyifli ama yönü değişen anlatımı ile sıkıntılı geçti okuma sürecim.

worldlibraries's review against another edition

3.0

Without a Country is my third Ayşe Kulin novel. This was the third book I had read in a row translated by Kenneth Dakan. Ayşe Kulin always selects superb history from Turkey's past for her books and this book is no different.
The new Republic of Turkey, desperately trying to modernize, provided a safe place to land for German Jewish professors who escaped Germany with the clothes of their backs.

It's hard to imagine the situation these professors found themselves in. I guess we should imagine professors, with Ivy League credentials and ideas, naively wondering to themselves, 'is someone is trying to bump me from department chair?' discovering well, actually, the nation wants to liquidate you. To this day, the Nazis seem nuts.

Turkey stayed completely out of WWII. The Republic used that time to bring in dozens of German Jews at the top of their profession to found and start new universities.

All Ayşe Kulin novels have an issue or two. This book's issues are that she tried to tell the story of too many generations, four in total. The second half of the book felt very rushed and not as compelling because we as readers didn't get the same buildup for those characters as we did for the WWII generation.

booksofjj's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The first and last parts of the book are hard to get along with but there is a lot of good in the middle of the book. Really enjoyed but was put off with the ending

rachelmabarca's review against another edition

5.0

Shocking

I’ll be honest: I was intrigued, then bored, then interested, then bored, then bored again, then suddenly intrigued, heartbroken, sympathetic and empathetic. The journey through 4 generations of Jews from WWII to religious terrorist groups was poignant to say the least. The character development was completely between the lines, but as the story wound down, I realized how attached I’d become to the characters. This one will cause me a lot of thought for the next several days.

nipqueen's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

arda_18's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

librarian_lisa_22's review against another edition

2.0

Not well written, but interesting enough story. I knew nothing about Jewish German scientists who emigrated to turkey during the holocaust. So now I do.

hedgepig's review against another edition

2.0

Enjoyed the overall story and learning about the aspects of history but the writing was not quite up to the same standard as other historical fiction I’ve read. Seemed to skip over and jump around a lot more towards the end.

yeller's review against another edition

3.0

I did enjoy this book, and the snapshots of life in Turkey it provided, but I was expecting a story that spent a little less time on who fell in love with who and who broke whose heart. At the end of the day, this book has little to do with history or politics, both of which serve as the vague background setting or plot devices more than anything. It was enjoyable, but it dragged because it read almost as chick lit, and that's just not my thing.

Additionally, the ending kind of felt like it came out of absolutely nowhere. There was no real climax, it was just sort of over.