Scan barcode
reneesquared's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When I first began reading, I saw the lack of quotation marks and couldn't help but sigh thinking I'd been roped into another Sally Rooney-esque book. What I found instead was a much more compelling reason for the lack of quotation marks. The giving of stories, what tragedies to divulge, the complicated nature of love and obsession and how we remember our lives in light of grief.
I will admit that this story was hard for me to get through in the beginning. I wasn't compelled by the relationship between the main character and her boyfriend and while I empathized -while knowing I shouldn't- with the main character, it felt very bleh.
Once I hit the narrator's grandmother exploring and explaining her life, the story really began to to take shape and made it impossible for me to put down. And then the story made me want to prolong the inevitable end just so I could spend more time with this family. Very much mimicking the feelings of our main character once she begins to unravel her family's fraught and strained history.
I've come to recognise that the beginning of the book was really warming us up to the discoveries we are revealed by the end. This book (along with my last) have truly made me reconsider my perspective on generational stories and I think this genre will quickly characterise the rest of my reading year.
This story weaves politics, grief, obsession, devotion and love altogether in such a way that I want to read it all over again, just to connect the dots that I may have missed upon first reading.
I will admit that this story was hard for me to get through in the beginning. I wasn't compelled by the relationship between the main character and her boyfriend and while I empathized -while knowing I shouldn't- with the main character, it felt very bleh.
Once I hit the narrator's grandmother exploring and explaining her life, the story really began to to take shape and made it impossible for me to put down. And then the story made me want to prolong the inevitable end just so I could spend more time with this family. Very much mimicking the feelings of our main character once she begins to unravel her family's fraught and strained history.
I've come to recognise that the beginning of the book was really warming us up to the discoveries we are revealed by the end. This book (along with my last) have truly made me reconsider my perspective on generational stories and I think this genre will quickly characterise the rest of my reading year.
This story weaves politics, grief, obsession, devotion and love altogether in such a way that I want to read it all over again, just to connect the dots that I may have missed upon first reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness and Death of parent
Minor: Vomit
mollyan's review
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
oliviasbookshop's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bengisue's review
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ililly2003's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
selilabude's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
chettireads's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
reveal's review
4.0
I think the only flaw of this book to me is how all these grand, emotional moments are tucked as a fancy last sentence of a paragraph. It happens a lot. And some details could've been expanded upon? Like what is Deniz to Sibel, really? (And my serious minor pet peeve is, I wish we had read the relative terms in Turkish! Like dayı just isn't the same as uncle!!)
But other than that... the discussion of generational trauma and mother-daughter relationships (all the relationships between women really!!!), the history of Turkey and the extremely difficult feeling of being diaspora - feeling kin for a country that isn't yours, that will never be home to you, but so much of belonging in the PEOPLE - those spoke to me so much and really verbalized some of the most complicated feelings I store in me. I think Seçkin did an amazing job there. Such a good book.
But other than that... the discussion of generational trauma and mother-daughter relationships (all the relationships between women really!!!), the history of Turkey and the extremely difficult feeling of being diaspora - feeling kin for a country that isn't yours, that will never be home to you, but so much of belonging in the PEOPLE - those spoke to me so much and really verbalized some of the most complicated feelings I store in me. I think Seçkin did an amazing job there. Such a good book.
veritysturm's review
5.0
so impressed and moved by seçkin’s characters, their expression of feeling, and their noticing (her noticing of them?). impressed by how much difficulty she was able to spin into a family, how accessible it was. amused and affected by the pacing. some moments were too good to be believable, but it’s 300 pages, not a life