A review by marcusk2010
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
1.0
This was bad, really bad. I read it anyway, though.
I listened to a reading of the book on a German radio program. Most of it was in German, of course, but the last couple of minutes she read a short chapter herself in English. I was hooked. The topic seemed interesting and the premise of the book was promising. I was clearly expecting something different. Something fresh. I can't define fresh here, but Elif Shafak's writing is anything but fresh. It's written in a way that I don't feel anything for any character in the book. Yes, the people in the book do horrible things to each other, but it doesn't reach me, doesn't touch me. I was more shocked by my reaction to what happened to Leila at the age of six than to what happened itself, actually. It left me cold. And as I progressed into the story, I couldn't help but think that this is all cliché. None of the characters felt real, they all felt like generic ingredients for some quirky story. A trans woman, a dwarf, a nightclub singer, a black beauty and a man who suffered from his unrequited love for the dead protagonist. Ah yeah, and a deaf cat. How do you even know a cat is deaf, or just choses to not listen to you? And on top, the book, the writing feels imperfect. Imperfect because in the first two thirds the book wants to be taken extremely seriously due to the heavy topics. But then, closer to the end, it just drifts off into slapstick, which doesn't benefit the book, at all. From there it´s all downhill. I am disappointed. Yes, that's it I am simply disappointed. I liked the cover, though.
I listened to a reading of the book on a German radio program. Most of it was in German, of course, but the last couple of minutes she read a short chapter herself in English. I was hooked. The topic seemed interesting and the premise of the book was promising. I was clearly expecting something different. Something fresh. I can't define fresh here, but Elif Shafak's writing is anything but fresh. It's written in a way that I don't feel anything for any character in the book. Yes, the people in the book do horrible things to each other, but it doesn't reach me, doesn't touch me. I was more shocked by my reaction to what happened to Leila at the age of six than to what happened itself, actually. It left me cold. And as I progressed into the story, I couldn't help but think that this is all cliché. None of the characters felt real, they all felt like generic ingredients for some quirky story. A trans woman, a dwarf, a nightclub singer, a black beauty and a man who suffered from his unrequited love for the dead protagonist. Ah yeah, and a deaf cat. How do you even know a cat is deaf, or just choses to not listen to you? And on top, the book, the writing feels imperfect. Imperfect because in the first two thirds the book wants to be taken extremely seriously due to the heavy topics. But then, closer to the end, it just drifts off into slapstick, which doesn't benefit the book, at all. From there it´s all downhill. I am disappointed. Yes, that's it I am simply disappointed. I liked the cover, though.