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| Istanbul: Memories and the City | 
 enlarge | Author: Orhan Pamuk
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $3.86
You Save: $12.09 (76%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (45 reviews)
Sales Rank: 28465
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1400033888
Dewey Decimal Number: 949.61803092
EAN: 9781400033881
ASIN: 1400033888
Publication Date: July 11, 2006
Release Date: July 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Imperial City April 22, 2006
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
Is any city as mysterious or compelling as Istanbul? To be the seat of the Ottoman Empire for centuries only to see itself poor, downtrodden and defeated in the modern age must produce a melancholy unknown in the West. Turkey's greatest living national treasure, Orhan Pamuk, gives us an insider's view of Istanbul. And he does so in the best possible way - by using his own life as a guide for Istanbul's intrigues in a highly personalized story of the city.
ISTANBUL therefore is not a detailed or comprehensive history of the town. Rather, its thirty-seven chapters provide bitesized snapshots of Istanbul through the lens of a young man growing up knowing that his city was once great and also knowing, alas, that its best days are behind it. Istanbul residents even have their own word for the melancholy this produces and this sense of huzun infuses the entire book.
Pamuk covers many things in ISTANBUL, including growing up in the shadow of a once great empire, the intimate relationship city residents have with the Bosphorus river, tales of various writers and artists who have visited Istanbul and the legacy they left behind, and the picturesque nature of outlying neighborhoods. The reader finds himself strangely drawn to Istanbul at the same time as he feels the pain and isolation of its residents.
Given the personal nature of the writing, Pamuk also focuses quite a bit on the odd pull the streets, buildings and citizens of Istanbul have had on him. I once heard an interesting question about rock-and-roll. Would U2 have been a spectacular supergroup had they been from Oklahoma City rather than Ireland even if all else, the music and talent, had been the same? An interesting thought to chew on and one that is relevant here. Pamuk is one of the more important writers today. But where would he be if he had been born somewhere besides Istanbul? The city so infuses his soul that it is difficult to imagine him being from anywhere else and writing the books that he does. A non-native could not have written ISTANBUL and we should be thankful that it has a native son like Pamuk to do the job for us.
Huzun Redux. February 22, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I returned from my 6th visit to Istanbul a couple of days ago. I took along Pamuk's book thinking it might be fun to read about the city during my stay... This is not really a fun book to read, though it is a good one. As one reviewer pointed out the translation is very well done. The style is smooth and flowing. If you can't visit Istanbul in the grips of winter, Pamuk's book will give you some idea of what it is to walk alone through this great cities back streets and alleyways and to feel history rising up to meet you at every turn. There really is a special melancholia to Istanbul in the winter and Pamuk captures it perfectly.
 The City February 12, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is meant to be a memoir of Pamuk with a second main character, which is the city of fables, his home, my town, Istanbul. It turns out that in contrast to the city which has had such a colorful past, Pamuk has had a remarkably usual and cliche life (or youth more accurately, since this is all the book covers), that of a member of a city elite, who go to the same schools, live in the same neighborhoods, visit the same summer resorts and experience the same adolescent misadventures.
As much as he feels the connection to the history of the city, he is amazingly disconnected from his people and culture it seems. Explains much of his recent troubles there.
Yes, before the onslaught of economic liberalization, Istanbul was a city watching the modernization and progress passing by. Until globalization lifted the spirits of the nation and filled the wallets, Istanbul still maintained its really old-world outlook and charms. Haves and have-nots, old Istanbul families and new-comers, and Pamuk lived through the transition and witnessed the loss of privilege of the privileged.
Anxious to put distance between the Imperial past and the new EU candidate, modern secular Republic, Turks have not been very respectful of the relics and symbols of their Ottoman past. Ultimate symbol of the Ottoman Imperial culture, Istanbul, the seat of Empires has been conquered again and again by the masses moving in from Anatolia in the last fifty years. "Huzun" has been replaced by the dynamism and colors of the entrepreneurial immigrants for whom Istanbul is only a city, a path to riches and modernity.
Writing is uninspired. Again, he meanders a lot. Dissociative thoughts and feelings of an adolescent is hardly exciting literature. He seems to have been possessed by an unstoppable desire and need to confess and many personal family details are laid bare.
One extra star for the wonderful photos of master Ara Gurler, but minus a star for too many pictures of a chubby-cheeked, youthful Pamuk. Most unique aspect is the fact that a Turk finally wrote this book, not quite all about Istanbul, but close enough. Istanbul still awaits its Turkish Phillip Mansel.
Istanbul, the Grey City. February 5, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Since the Byzantine, Istanbul has been called " the Grey City", as in many days of the year grey clouds wander above the city, making the bosphorus look like filled with silver. Because of his personality, Orhan Pamuk sees Istanbul only in black and white, making the city look even more "grey". I am only 20 years old and have lived in Istanbul ever since I was born. But I don't feel that Istanbul is only filled with "huezuen" or every part of the city reflects the pain of the lost civilization. It is true that we lost many of our memories , as Pamuk says the city mourns the lost times, but another life now sorrounds the city and young people of the city builds up a new understanding, a new way of life in Istanbul.
Yet the book is extremely wonderful, especially when Pamuk talks about the experiences and paintings of the Western wanderers, who came to the city in times of the Ottomans. Because Istanbul lacks recources that tells us about his past, seeing the city in the old times and feeling that lost dignity was beautiful.
I also believe that reading this books helps a lot when understanding other books of Pamuk. His childhood and his memories tells us a lot abour the characters in books like Kar ( Snow ) or The New Life.
Ah Istanbul! January 27, 2006
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I read the book about three months ago. The author uses the best method to describe a city: blend it with his life/memories. The book is giving a picture of the city since 1950s, his childhood years. Since he is "remembering", and since this for him (and most of us) inherently refers to "missing", the book is blended with "huzun" (melancoly). In addition, since Istanbul herself is a city of "huzun", that is, is a city which every body have always things to "remeber" of her, this makes "huzun" bigger. Everybody is missing the old, beautiful, imperial Istanbul, once center of the world, that is...like the great authors/artists that described the city, for whom he dedicates chapters in his book. Pamuk is ironically describing how his family and similar families contributed the late years of the long metamorfhosis of Istanbul from an (collapsed, died) old imperial city to a overpopulated/modern city without a spirit. He is trying to find out that the old beautiful lady is not dead yet, she is still young and breathing, through countless physical and metaphysical signs scattered all over the city, but she is heartbroken, hidden, shy and she is waiting to be recognized, explored and pampered.
The English translation is superb. Also, there are many illustrations throughout the book, however I would recommend to the first-time readers about Istanbul to accompany historical and modern picture catalogues of Istanbul while reading this book. Why? To make/understand "huzun" bigger/better. To make the pain more intense! To see what we have done to this great city!
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