A review by maddelleine
Bastarda Istanbulului by Elif Shafak

5.0

This is exactly what The Bastard of Istanbul left me with. Elif Shafak manages to immerse her readers into a faraway land (of course, for a person foreign to the Turkish culture), where stories intertwine so naturally as there wouldn't be any other way for them to be ordered. Using a combination of narrative styles, the author weaves her story by delicately switching between characters' stories and destinies, past and present and different states of mind.

Her originality is also shown in the choice of chapter names - each one bearing the name of a spice or ingredient, except for the last one, an ingredient of a different nature. This way, cinnamon, pistachio, sugar, white rice and others carry us through Istanbul, Arizona and San Francisco, spicing the road with history, national values and personal resolutions.

Cultural differences seem to be one of the main themes, whether they appear in the same country, across the ocean or even inside the same culture (or even more, house) and the characters appear to live in a world of irrationality, a micro-cosmos made of the Kazanci's home that creates the illusion of being almost completely independent of the outside world.

Now among one of my personal favourites :)