Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Özlü

4 reviews

zoemaeboonz's review

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challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I felt this book had an interesting insight into the mental health institution within Turkey, it was both deeply sad and heartbreaking. However I felt detached from the character and storyline often throughout the book. I enjoyed reading this but would not recommend it to others. 
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mcglat's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Even at a reader’s distance it’s hard to bear a lot of the experiences Özlü relates in this book. A life shattered by uncaring mental institutions and their brutal, arcane electroshock treatment. I would not fault anyone for lacking the stomach for it, but it’s a striking and sad read. And man, those rhapsodic ending passages, just incredible, sublime, the kind of writing I daydream about. What a gift to come across this book. 
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a_davis's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced

3.25

this reminded me a bit of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, which I really didn’t love, but more in the sense of a meandering narrative style and a potentially distorted reality given by the main character. I had a hard time following along with specific plot points but I enjoyed the larger themes and philosophical questions
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m_sotos's review against another edition

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dark reflective
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I absolutely adored the prose in this book - Özlü was able to perfectly capture sense of place and conveys complex emotions/experiences in concise yet beautiful terms. This book explores incredibly dark themes and depicts terrible events with frankness. Yet, despite its dark content and persistent, overpowering atmosphere of melancholy (maybe specific to the Turkish context, huzun), I was left at the end of the book with a clear sense of the beauty of life, due to Özlü’s acute descriptions of richly layered places and a richly layered life. 
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