A review by m_sotos
Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Özlü

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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