Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

Elif Shafak is always a JOY to read!
I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of the book, when we meet Leila and read through her and her friends' stories. They are so tragic and so touching at the same time.
It was also very interesting that Istambul was the backdrop of this book. All these characters ended up living in a city that also kind of despised them.
However, the second part of the book was less captivating and sometimes a bit too funny and shallow in contrast with the rest of the book.
Still, I must say that I was sad the book ended as it was such a delightful read.

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matmatmatty's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad tense 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? No

4.5

This is the story of Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul, who while dying is remembering her life and the moments that led up to her death.

This is a very emotional story, with Leila going through a lot on her childhood and a lot as an adult. Through the story, we learn about her closest friends she met along the way and all the characters felt so real and so complex.

Spoiler:

The second part of the story follows Leila's friends deciding to give her a proper burial and did feel a bit like a different story. I think it could've flowed a bit better but I am glad that we got a happy end. Once we hear about Leila's story, the book could have ended there and it would have been a sad story. But with this, we know she is a peace and everyone is a little closer because of that.

Overall, I really loved this story, it was very emotional at times and I felt for Leila at every point. Beautiful story ❤️

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deanna_c's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

A really poignant and moving story about the importance of friendship and finding your own way in life in spite of your beginnings. I really felt for Tequila Leila and I wanted so badly for a twist of fate where

she doesn’t in fact end up dead in the bottom of a trash bin, but of course this isn’t possible given that she’s already dead when the novel begins.

I really love Shafak’s style - which has only gotten better with each novel shes written in my opinion.

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melina03's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-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? No

3.0

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sable222's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I really don’t know how to feel about this book, in the end it just seems to me that it’s trying too hard to be diverse and inclusive in sort of a shallow way but then there’s some really beautiful genuine moments that made me feel something.

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eva_lesemaus's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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katrinarose's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Shafak does such an a wonderful job of setting the scene in Istanbul and the other various settings in Turkey. Her way of bringing a character to life in just a chapter is amazing, and I felt so much for Leila that I became sadder each chapter knowing that she had died. The character study and friendship development is definitely the most important and impactful part of this book, not the plot. It’s a beautiful and tragic story.

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daniellekat's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I loved part one (Mind) and thought this was on its way to 5 stars, but parts 2 (Body) and 3 (Soul) lost me. Shafak is a masterful writer and her descriptive style perfectly suits the novel's time and setting. My main criticism with this is the same for my last Shafak read (The Island of Missing Trees) - too much information is given to the reader. Especially in Part 2, there were too many perspectives and explicit details that I thought would have been more powerful left untold. I loved the found family aspect of this book and the way their grief manifested among them. I wish we were given more time with each of the friends but overall this was another well balanced blend of history and fiction. I highly recommend checking the content warnings on this one.

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