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A review by paloma_sanchezh
El castillo blanco by Orhan Pamuk
3.0
Reseña en Español | Review in English (below)
No tengo mucho qué decir sobre este libro. No me ha fascinado pero tampoco lo he odiado. Creo que hay algo que hace que no conecte con la prosa de Pamuk, porque en general, después de terminar de leer su obra, me siento bastante, ¿cómo decirlo? Neutral. Sus historias no aburren pero tampoco me apasionan y creo que es algo de su técnica narrativa, que hace que ‘no conectemos’. Hace ya bastantes años leí Me llamo Rojo y me pareció una novela sumamente poética, el lenguaje onírico, la recreación de un sueño lleno de colores y vida. Pero, de la trama, de los personajes, recuerdo muy poco.
Me interesó El Castillo Blanco por ser una novela histórica, y por la premisa –un joven italiano que cae prisionero de los turcos en el siglo XVIII, y que, a pesar de su condición, pronto comienza a convivir con altos mandos, quienes se muestran interesados en su conocimiento y formación ‘occidental’. De esa manera, comienza a vivir con el personaje conocido como “El Maestro”, un filósofo y sabio turco, que quiere aprender de él. Sin embargo, su relación es conflictiva pues siempre estará el enfrentamiento con el otro o los otros. Y entonces, todo se convierte en una reflexión o un filosofar entre las vidas y mentes de estos dos personajes, que son un reflejo el uno del otro. Conservaré algunas imágenes bastante bien logradas –como cuando El Maestro platica sobre su infancia y las visitas a su abuelo en un hospital a orillas de un lago, y como su madre les compraba dulces a él y a su hermana – pero, aparte de ello, no hubo algo que realmente me impactara sobre la historia.
Como mencioné, no creo realmente que sea un mal libro; es más bien que Pamuk no es el escritor para mí.
_____
I don’t have much to say about this book. I did not love it but I did not hate it. Overall, I think there is something that does not let me connect with Pamuk’s style because usually, after finishing one of his books, I feel quite –how to best put it, neutral? His stories are not boring but they do not make me feel passionate about reading them and I think there is something about his writing style that does not allow me to connect with him. A couple of years ago I read My Name is Red, and I found it a quite poetic, beautifully written novel, like reading within a dream, full of colours and life. But of the plot, of the characters, I remember nothing at all.
I wanted to red The White Castle because the premise seemed interesting: this is a historical fiction of a young Italian men who falls prisoner to the Ottomans in the 17th century. Though he remains enslaved, he soon is called by high ranking officials that are interested in his knowledge and Western upbringing. Eventually he is bought by a man referred to as “The Master”, a Turkish philosopher and scientist that wants also to learn from him. However, their relationship, over the next 20 years, is just full of conflict as there will always be the existence of the other, or the concept of otherness. The story then centres mainly around this confrontation, a reflection and discussion on the lives and thoughts of these two men that in the end turn out to be a mirror of one another. I will keep in my mind some poetic events in the story –for example, when The Master talks about his childhood and the visits to his sick grandfather, on a hospital next to a lake, and how his mother would buy candy for him and his sister. But, apart from that, there
was not much that made an everlasting impact.
By no means have I thought this is a bad book or that Pamuk is not a good author –it is simply, that I cannot feel a strong connection with his stories or characters, though I recognize the writing is indeed, beautiful.
No tengo mucho qué decir sobre este libro. No me ha fascinado pero tampoco lo he odiado. Creo que hay algo que hace que no conecte con la prosa de Pamuk, porque en general, después de terminar de leer su obra, me siento bastante, ¿cómo decirlo? Neutral. Sus historias no aburren pero tampoco me apasionan y creo que es algo de su técnica narrativa, que hace que ‘no conectemos’. Hace ya bastantes años leí Me llamo Rojo y me pareció una novela sumamente poética, el lenguaje onírico, la recreación de un sueño lleno de colores y vida. Pero, de la trama, de los personajes, recuerdo muy poco.
Me interesó El Castillo Blanco por ser una novela histórica, y por la premisa –un joven italiano que cae prisionero de los turcos en el siglo XVIII, y que, a pesar de su condición, pronto comienza a convivir con altos mandos, quienes se muestran interesados en su conocimiento y formación ‘occidental’. De esa manera, comienza a vivir con el personaje conocido como “El Maestro”, un filósofo y sabio turco, que quiere aprender de él. Sin embargo, su relación es conflictiva pues siempre estará el enfrentamiento con el otro o los otros. Y entonces, todo se convierte en una reflexión o un filosofar entre las vidas y mentes de estos dos personajes, que son un reflejo el uno del otro. Conservaré algunas imágenes bastante bien logradas –como cuando El Maestro platica sobre su infancia y las visitas a su abuelo en un hospital a orillas de un lago, y como su madre les compraba dulces a él y a su hermana – pero, aparte de ello, no hubo algo que realmente me impactara sobre la historia.
Como mencioné, no creo realmente que sea un mal libro; es más bien que Pamuk no es el escritor para mí.
_____
I don’t have much to say about this book. I did not love it but I did not hate it. Overall, I think there is something that does not let me connect with Pamuk’s style because usually, after finishing one of his books, I feel quite –how to best put it, neutral? His stories are not boring but they do not make me feel passionate about reading them and I think there is something about his writing style that does not allow me to connect with him. A couple of years ago I read My Name is Red, and I found it a quite poetic, beautifully written novel, like reading within a dream, full of colours and life. But of the plot, of the characters, I remember nothing at all.
I wanted to red The White Castle because the premise seemed interesting: this is a historical fiction of a young Italian men who falls prisoner to the Ottomans in the 17th century. Though he remains enslaved, he soon is called by high ranking officials that are interested in his knowledge and Western upbringing. Eventually he is bought by a man referred to as “The Master”, a Turkish philosopher and scientist that wants also to learn from him. However, their relationship, over the next 20 years, is just full of conflict as there will always be the existence of the other, or the concept of otherness. The story then centres mainly around this confrontation, a reflection and discussion on the lives and thoughts of these two men that in the end turn out to be a mirror of one another. I will keep in my mind some poetic events in the story –for example, when The Master talks about his childhood and the visits to his sick grandfather, on a hospital next to a lake, and how his mother would buy candy for him and his sister. But, apart from that, there
was not much that made an everlasting impact.
By no means have I thought this is a bad book or that Pamuk is not a good author –it is simply, that I cannot feel a strong connection with his stories or characters, though I recognize the writing is indeed, beautiful.