The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

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stoppoppingtheP
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The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

Post by stoppoppingtheP »

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak is a story that spans many generations. Asya is a bastard. The product of her mother and some other unknown entity. Asya grows up in a household of women, all her aunts and her grandmother, who bring her up. Each aunt has their distinguishing personality traits And quirks, each stranger than the other.

One of the traits of her family is the curse that seems to be on all the menfolk of their family. They are cursed to die young. It seems that this is why Mustafa, the only son among the girls, flees to America.

On the other side of the world Mustafa manages to build a life for himself, estranging himself from his past. He meets Rose, marries her and they live together with Amy, Rose's daughter from her first marriage. Amy or Armanoush, as her real name is, is half-Armenian. Her father and his family have continually told her about the injustice done to them by the Turks, and the Armenian Genocide. Knowing that her grandmother was from Istanbul, Armanoush decides to go and see if she can find some of her past.

She decides that she will stay with Mustafa's family in Istanbul. On her quest in Istanbul, we discover the opinions of both Turks and Armenians on this tragedy that binds them both. We also discover that the destinies of the two families are much more intertwined than we could have ever imagined.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The characters were brilliant, the storyline was captivating and I was transported to the streets of Istanbul with the authors words.I am rating this book four out of four stars and would encourage those with love for adventure to read it.

“there have been so many times
i have seen a man wanting to weep
but
instead
beat his heart until it was unconscious.

-masculine”


― Nayyirah Waheed
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