Silent House

Oct 17, 2012 Paul Gleason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally published in Turkey in 1983 and now translated into English for the first time, Silent House (Knopf) is Orhan Pamuk's second novel. Although the Nobel Prize-winner makes no direct mention of the historical relevance of the book in the text itself, his story takes place roughly one month before the September 12, 1980 Turkish coup d'état, in which the Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren and the Turkish Armed Forces restored order after violence had broken out between right-le...more Originally published in Turkey in 1983 and now translated into English for the first time, Silent House (Knopf) is Orhan Pamuk's second novel. Although the Nobel Prize-winner makes no direct mention of the historical relevance of the book in the text itself, his story takes place roughly one month before the September 12, 1980 Turkish coup d'état, in which the Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren and the Turkish Armed Forces restored order after violence had broken out between right-leaning nationalists and communists. An Army-contolled National Security Council then ruled Turkey until 1983, when democracy was restored.

So why is Silent House relevant to English-language readers in 2012, almost thirty years after the book's publication? The answer lies in a statement made by one of Pamuk's minor characters - a pharmacist named Kemal Bey: "[Politics is] everywhere. . . . No matter where you go, it grabs you by the collar."

Kemal refers to the beating of Nilgün, a young woman who runs afoul of Hasan, an extreme and equally young Turkish nationalist, for buying a communist newspaper. Very sexually attracted to Nilgün, Hasan kicks and punches her for her "crime," just as much out of a sense of adolescent machismo and tough-guy posturing. The point is that Hasan is too immature to come to terms with his physical urges - and his body becomes the site of a dilemma that for Pamuk in Silent House and in his mature novels characterizes Turkey. Should Hasan follow the stereotypical view of Western culture and try to have sex with a woman to whom he's attracted? Or should he follow the stereotypical view of Eastern culture and attack a woman with left-wing values?

For Pamuk, Turkey - and, in particular, Istanbul - is a liminal space, where history has entangled Western and Eastern values to such an extent that it's the most valuable setting for the novelist to explore some of the key political issues of our time. It's a place where political factions live and breathe side-by-side, as they constantly brush up against each other in public street corners, coffeehouses, and alleyways - but also in the privacy of family homes.

And these family homes are the most dangerous places for Pamuk because they harbor silence and implicit consent to violence. They're where violence begins. Indeed, the silent house of the novel's title truly serves as Pamuk's description and condemnation of the silence that beats at the heart of Turkey. The house - which is located just outside Istanbul, in Cennethisar - brings together three generations of Turks when three young people, including Nilgün, visit Grandmother Fatma and her dwarf son Precep. But the generations are sadly cut off from each other. They squabble about petty matters. They, however, don't discuss their inner thoughts, the political implications of which are obvious. For example, Fatma mostly lingers alone in her bedroom and broods on the Western values of her deceased husband and his unfinished encyclopedia in which he considers death and Nothingness, her grandson Faruk thinks long and deeply about whether history is a story or reality, and a second grandson, Metin, ponders the virtues of Western materialism. Pamuk's Silent House is really Turkey itself.

Which is a shame because silence can only hold for so long before violence erupts. Profoundly anti-violence, Silent House is Pamuk's early cry for tolerance, reason, and communication during a time when democracy was on the line and, indeed, temporarily lost in Turkey. It's necessary reading, especially for those of us in the United States who recognize similarly sharp political divisions.(less)

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s.penkevich Great review. This one has been staring me in the face at work lately (literally, the two displays that it is on are directly across from my register,...more
Dec 04, 2012 07:22am

Paul Gleason Yeah. I think it's his most accessible text and gets at his major themes. People tend to like My Name Is Red more, however. It's a postmodern murder m...more
Dec 04, 2012 12:07pm

Miriam Was looking for a review that put this book politically and historically in
context and you did that perfectly. However there is no mention of the exce...more
Feb 09, 2013 06:54am

Sep 01, 2012 Clarinda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: leituras-2012, amigas-trocados

Turquia, antes do golpe militar de 1980. A agitação política e social. Uma velha senhora que vive só. A cultura turca. Três gerações e a sua história. Os sonhos.

Estes e outros ingredientes, fazem deste livro uma obra interessantíssima e que vale a pena ler. Com alguns momentos mais parados e outros que não nos deixam largar a leitura, Pamuk conduz-nos numa viagem passado/presente, faz-nos entrar na pele das personagens, faz-nos senti-las, faz-nos entendê-las à luz da cultura e da sociedade turca...more

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Feb 22, 2012 ميّ أحمد rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات

...لم يكف أورهان باموق عن الثرثرة على لسان شخصياته في روايته الشيقة البيت الصامت على مدى 456 صفحة والتي أنجزها بعد روايتيه (العتمة والنور) و(جودت بك وأبنائه) وقد نال عليها جائزة الاكتشاف الأوربي عام 1991 بعد ترجمتها للغة الفرنسية

تنبيه : تجاوز هذه المراجعة حتى لا تفسد أحداث الرواية

فكرة الرواية تدور حول التيارات السياسية التي ظهرت في تركيا خلال فترة الستينات والسبعينيات وذلك من خلال عائلة تعيش في مدينة جنة حصار وهي مدينة قريبة من استانبول يعيش في هذا البيت القزم رجب والجدة فاطمة والتي تمثل التي...more ...لم يكف أورهان باموق عن الثرثرة على لسان شخصياته في روايته الشيقة البيت الصامت على مدى 456 صفحة والتي أنجزها بعد روايتيه (العتمة والنور) و(جودت بك وأبنائه) وقد نال عليها جائزة الاكتشاف الأوربي عام 1991 بعد ترجمتها للغة الفرنسية

تنبيه : تجاوز هذه المراجعة حتى لا تفسد أحداث الرواية

فكرة الرواية تدور حول التيارات السياسية التي ظهرت في تركيا خلال فترة الستينات والسبعينيات وذلك من خلال عائلة تعيش في مدينة جنة حصار وهي مدينة قريبة من استانبول يعيش في هذا البيت القزم رجب والجدة فاطمة والتي تمثل التيار الإسلامي , وذكريات زوجها صلاح الدين والذي يمثل التيار العلماني الملحد ويبدو أن باموق قد أسقط ازدواجية الدولة التركية العلمانية – الإسلامية على بيت هذه العائلة حين تصطدم الأفكار ويعلو صوت صلاح الدين كثيرا بعربدته وسكره وأفكاره التحررية وأحلامه بتأليف موسوعة يدون فيها اكتشافاته التي تمثل فكره الإلحادي وكل ذلك من خلال ذكريات الجدة فاطمة

كان صلاح الدين يقول : كل يوم هو عالم جديد يا فاطمة , العالم مثلنا يولد
كل صباح , وهذا يجعلني أنفعل إلى حد أنني أستيقظ قبل شروق الشمس , وأفكر بأن كل شيء سيكون جديدا جدا سأرى , وسأقرأ , وأعرف ما لم أعرفه أبدا وبعد أن أعلم ما أعلمه بشكل جيد سأنفعل, لحد أن أقفز من سريري, وأهرع راغبا في رؤية الشمس ورؤية النباتات وهي تتملل متغيرة , بعدها سأهرع إلى الأعلى دون إبطاء لأكتب ما رأيته لماذا لا تشعرين أنتِ هكذا !!! يجب أن أكون كالأوربيين مثل داروين مثلا يا له من شخص مدهش لكن مع الأسف لا يمكن أن يكون الإنسان شيئا في هذا الشرق المخدر
!
الخادم رجب أو القزم يشكل شخصية رئيسية في الرواية فهو الابن الغير شرعي من زوج الجدة من خادمتها اليهودية وهو يبدو كمراقب مسالم تجاه شخصيات الرواية كفتهُ إعاقته وفقره وصلة قرابته بالعائلة ليظهر كشخصية تراقب من بعيد إنه صوت الراوي المحايد حتى وإن كان قزما يرعى شئون الجدة وعلاقاتهما تشوبها الحذر والترقب والارتباك إضافة إلى الاحتقار الذي تكنه الجدة فاطمة له فهو يذكرها بماضي زوجها وعربدته مع الخادمة

أنزل من السرير بهدوء وأجلس إلى الطاولة وأنظر إلى الإبريق كيف ينجح الماء بالوقوف فيه دون أن يفور ؟
كأنني دهشت لهذا ! إن إبريق ماء شيء يدعو للدهشة كثيرا .. ذات مرة قلبت كأسا على نحلة وحبستها .. حين شعرت بالضيق نهضت من سريري ونظرت كانت النحلة قد تجولت على مدى نهارا وليلتين داخل الكأس حتى فهمتْ أن لا مخرج لها بعد ذلك انزوت في أحد الأطراف دون أن تتحرك وتعلمت أن ليس لها ما تفعله سوى الانتظار والانتظار دون معرفة ما تنتظره !! حينئذ شعرت بالاشمئزاز منها قرفت فتحت النافذة وجررتها إلى حافة الطاولة .. ناديت رجب وطلبت منه أن يسحق هذه الحشرة المقرفة, قطع قصاصة من جريدة وأمسك بالنحلة بدقة وألقاها بالنافذة لم يستطع قتلها لأنه من نوعها!

لقد كان أورهان بارعا في صوت الجدة فاطمة والتي كانت الشخصية الأكثر تأثيرا وهي تسرد ذكرياتها ا خلال السنوات التي أرقتها فيها أفكار زوجها المتأثرة بالفكر الغربي ناهيك عن وردود أفعالها مع القزم وعدم قدرتها على الاندماج مع الأجيال الجديدة أحفادها الذين كانوا في زيارة لها من استانبول وهو الوقت الذي تحول فيه البيت الصامت إلى صاخب لا يكف عن الثرثرة

يضحكون : يا لغرابة هؤلاء العجائز , يضحكون , كيف حالك أيتها الجدة ؟ يضحكون. هل تعرفين ما هو التيلفزيون ؟ يضحكون . لماذا لا تنزلين إلى الأسفل وتتناولين الطعام معنا ؟ يضحكون . هل ننزهك بالسيارة أيتها الجدة ؟ يضحكون . كم هي جميلة تطريزات ثوبكم الصباحي ؟ يضحكون . لماذا لم تدلي بصوتك الانتخابي ؟ يضحكون . لماذا تعبثين بخزانتك دائما ؟ يضحكون لو قلت لهم لماذا يضحكون هكذا وأنتم تنظرون إلي ؟ سيضحكون أيضا يضحكون ويقولون إننا لا نضحك ياجدة .. ويضحكون مرة أخرى ..

الأحفاد فاروق ومتين ونيلفون , كلا منهم يشكل تيارا وفكرا مختلفا ففاروق المؤرخ والأبن الأكبر للعائلة يسير على خطى والده وجده ويحاول ربط الماضي بالواقع يبحث عن موسوعة والده والتي أحرقتها الجدة للتخلص من آثامه العالقة بها حتى بعد وفاته

( استيقظت فجأة وأنا أرى أشياء غريبة ومثيرة للفضول تكدرت حين عرفت إن ماأراه حلما كنت أرى في حلمي شيخا يرتدي عباءة يدور حول رأسي يناديني : فاروق فاروق ! كان سيخبرني بسر التاريخ غالبا ولكنه يعذبني قليلا قبل أن يخبرني !

متين الشاب الصغير معلم الرياضيات الذي يعشق فتاة غنية جميلة فتراوده أحلام الثراء ويفكر ببيع البيت في حوار مع الجدة يتصاعد حدة في الوقت التي تتصنع فيه الجدة النوم حتى يصل إلى البكاء والتوسل ثم الغضب وينتهي بعبارة ( لماذا مات أبي وأمي وتعيشين أنت ِ )

نيلفون الفتاة الشيوعية لم يكن لها صوت في الرواية إلا عن طريق الشخصيات الأخرى فهي دودة كتب, تتعامل بحنان مع الجدة وقزمها رجب جميلة يعجب بها صديق طفولتها حسن (ابن إسماعيل شقيق رجب) بائع اليانصيب وهو الذي يمثل التيار القومي التركي المتصاعد في تلك الفترة والذي كان يحارب الشيوعية

تقدمت وتقدمت ثم توقفت فجأة خلعت الثوب الأصفر الذي ترتديه وبينما كنت أخمن لون لباس سباحتها لفت منشفة وتمددت أخرجت كتابا وبدأت تقرأ أستطيع رؤية يدها التي ترفع الكتاب تعرقتُ مر زمن طويل وهي تقرأ , رشقت وجهي بالماء لكي أبرده , مر زمن طويل وبقيت أقرأ تخيلت فيما لو ذهبت إليها سأقول: مرحبا كيف حالك ؟ أنا أتيت لأسبح , نهضت نيلفون مشت إلى البحر فكرتُ بجمالها, قفزت لتسبح , تسبح بشكل مستقيم , تذهب للعمق دون التفكير بأن أغراضها بقيت على الشاطىء لا تهتمي نيلفون أنا أحرس تلك الأغراض ..

حسن تجدها شخصية طفولية رعناء تفتقد الحب أحيانا وأحيانا أخرى ثائرة على أوضاعها تغرق في بحرأحلامها فيتخيل إنه سيد وله مصنع يعمل به العمال وأن نيلفون تأتيه صاغرة يعشقها بطريقة غريبة حتى إنه يقوم بسرقة مشطها يتشممه يراقبها وهي تسبح يتسلل لغرفة نومها يشم ثوب نومها ولا ينفك عن التفكير بها حتى يكتشف شيوعيتها وإذ ذاك يقدم على ضربها بكل قسوة

الرواية تلامس الواقع التركي في العمق وسكان هذا البيت الصامت لا يكفون عن الثرثرة كنت أقولها وأنا اقفز من فصل لآخر مستمتعة بأسلوب أورهان الرشيق والممتع على لسان شخصيات الرواية كل شخصيةا كان لها صوتها, فكرها , أجيال مختلفة متنافرة أجتمعت في بيت واحد وكانت تروي نفسها بنفسها في فصل مستقل حتى إن الأمر يكاد يختلط عليك , عليك أن تجاهد قليلا لتصل إلى أصوات الرواة عندها ستتنفس بعمق لأنك وصلت إلى مفاتيح الرواية ولكن
أدخر بعضا من أنفاسك لأنك ستحتاج نفسا طويلا للمتابعة

أنا متيمة بباموق لذلك لستُ مسئولة إن لم ترق لك الرواية :)

(less)

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May 07, 2011 Marco Caetano rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Algures na Turquia, próximo de Istambul, numa terra à beira-mar chamada Forte-Paraíso mora Fatma. Fatma é uma víuva nonagenária que serve de eixo a esta narrativa. Vive com um anão, Redjep, que para além seu criado, é também filho bastardo do seu defunto marido. Tudo isto numa casa que outrora foi nova, mas agora nem por isso...

Todos os anos no Verão, os seus três netos vêem a Forte-Paraíso passar alguns dias de férias. Faruk, o mais velho, divorciado, parece querer seguir as pisadas do seu pai...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Margaret Sankey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An early work by Pamuk, this is Turkey on the brink of the 1980 army coup encapsulated in one listless family. In a distant suburb of Istanbul, 90 year old grandma Fatma waits in a crumbling old house, surrounded by modern development of a resort town. Her arranged husband was an idealistic doctor exiled for challenging in Sultanate government, who then moldered within reach of the capitol through vast reforms, squandering his youth and her money on a ridiculous encyclopedia project and alcohol....more

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Dec 29, 2012 Mark Staniforth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Orhan Pamuk’s Silent House, translated into English for the first time this year having originally been published in Turkey almost thirty years ago, is, in my opinion, a novel to admire rather than love.
Pamuk’s literary greatness can hardly be over-stated: he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, and is considered a giant both in his native land and beyond. Hand in hand with such plaudits, I suppose, comes the expectation of a weighty, complicated read.
‘Silent House’ is the story of...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Chaitra rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: what-the-hell-was-that, banging-heads-on-keyboards, set-in-turkey, orhan-pamuk, translated, read-in-2013, politics, nytimes-notable-books

I must be missing something vital - in translation? in theme? Because this was the second book of Orhan Pamuk in as many weeks that I had zero (possibly negative) appreciation for. Granted, this is a translation of a very old book and Snow is a fairly recent graduate of the Pamuk alum. But, many of the themes that bothered me in Snow, bothered me here too. I'll come to that in a minute.

Silent House is a story of a Turkish family headed by an old (highly loathsome) grandmother, Fatma. She's ill a...more I must be missing something vital - in translation? in theme? Because this was the second book of Orhan Pamuk in as many weeks that I had zero (possibly negative) appreciation for. Granted, this is a translation of a very old book and Snow is a fairly recent graduate of the Pamuk alum. But, many of the themes that bothered me in Snow, bothered me here too. I'll come to that in a minute.

Silent House is a story of a Turkish family headed by an old (highly loathsome) grandmother, Fatma. She's ill and is looked after by a dwarf named Recep. Her husband was a godless man, who spent his life drinking his raki and writing an encyclopedia and impregnating a housemaid. Recep the dwarf is one of his progeny, the other is a lottery ticket seller called Ismail who has good for nothing wastrel for a son, called Hasan. His official son was also a man who drove himself to an early grave by drinking too much, his wife a sickly woman who died before him. The plot of this story covers the week when the grandchildren come to the said Silent House for a week long visit. Faruk is a sad loser divorcee, who is turning into an image of his grandfather. Nilgun, beautiful, is a communist. Metin is the practical one - he wants to go to America and he wants money.

All of these above characters have first person perspectives. Except Nilgun and Ismail and the dead ones, but they appear in other people's perspectives. It's highly distracting, because there's not much difference in their perspectives. Metin and Hasan especially are interchangeable but for their respective loves. It's only used as an expositionary device, to relate incidents, not thoughts. Thoughts, when they are presented, do not go deeper than - "I want to go to America and become rich and famous"/"I only think about you!"/"I love you"/"Grandmother is what they'll say to me, and I'll say . I'm confused as to the point - was this emotional vapidity the point? Were we supposed to sympathize with any of these characters? Unfortunately, I didn't. I wanted to wring their collective neck so that the monologue could come to a stop. I'd spare Nilgun - who seemed like a decent character, perhaps because she didn't have a perspective, but (view spoiler).

There must be something wrong with Turkish men. As represented by Pamuk, they don't seem to be able to mature into thinking adults. They fall in love at the drop of a hat, think that violence and doing things that their true love doesn't want to shows manliness and their love, because what does a woman know anyway? There isn't a contrast either. No matter the economic background, no matter the political and religious affiliation, this is how all men behave. Again, is this the point? The immaturity that's somehow symbolically linked to Turkey? (I know it's not in Snow - we're supposed to sympathize with the character and I don't think Ka personifies Turkey, at least, I hope not.) There are some interesting issues raised, about politics, about religion. Nilgun is a commie and Hasan is a nationalist, Fatma's entire family is godless but tolerant, she alone is godly and thus intolerant. But this never becomes more than background noise. There's a plot point circumstantially linked to politics, but it's still not explored in any in-depth fashion. Depth was a problem I had with Snow as well.

Is this a problem of the translation? Does it read better in the original Turkish? Because as it is, it's a complete waste of good trees. It's also disheartening, because from Silent House to Snow, I don't see Pamuk getting better. I will hold out judgment until I read My Name is Red, but so far my foray into Pamuk oeuvre isn't very promising. (less)

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Oct 13, 2012 Irwan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, finished

I have quite a high expectation with this book, you know that, Mr Pamuk? He stops walking and looks away from the newspaper he has been perusing. You know, it has been a long time since you gave me a good reading experience. As if it is his obligation to me. Since that innocent book about a guy who was madly in love and created a museum. His blank look is a bit skewed hearing my description of his beloved book. I think you went mad as well by building your own museum and shamelessly publishing a...more I have quite a high expectation with this book, you know that, Mr Pamuk? He stops walking and looks away from the newspaper he has been perusing. You know, it has been a long time since you gave me a good reading experience. As if it is his obligation to me. Since that innocent book about a guy who was madly in love and created a museum. His blank look is a bit skewed hearing my description of his beloved book. I think you went mad as well by building your own museum and shamelessly publishing a book about that, which by the way is now waiting on my desk. He smiles strangely as if annoyed saying, What are you trying to say,ehm,..Mr. Reader? Well, you have been too busy with that museum nonsense that you forget your duty as a novelist: to write! For a split second I realize what I have been blurting out to my favorite author, oddly I cannot stop, Finally this Silent House book is here for me to read, How snobbish I sound the word ‘finally’, like somebody picking up a due loan, just like the habit of his socialite characters, like Faruk the failed historian, Nilgün the young girl aspired to Communism, and Metin the youngest of the siblings who wants to escape Turkey, to America. To be somebody. These three people are the grandchildren of Selahettin, another mad character you wrote, Mr. Pamuk! He is a Turk who wants to be a Westerner, declares the nonexistence of God. Fatma, his wife, when he was still alive, used to listen to his ravings about bootstrapping the Turkish society to be able to catch up with the West. Fatma always listens silently, hence the Silent House!, you see how smart I am to guess your little riddle there, Mr.Pamuk, while actually she is terrified with the sin that the husband commits. Not only that, Selahettin, without Fatma’s knowledge, could find time between his insane writing of volumes of encyclopaedia, which will enlighten the backward Turkey still overwhelmed by its Ottoman past glory, to have an affair with the housemaid, resulting in two children: Recep who is a dwarf and Ismael who ends up living as a cripple, not by birth, but by Fatma’s one moment of rage in which she realized how she could no longer live with the sins her husbands had committed. Are you confused yet, Mr. Pamuk? He still looks attentively and silently. Of course you are not confused, it is your craft to create such a dense stream of zig zag long sentences, attacking sloppy readers from every directions, crying for a complete attention. See how demanding you are, Mr. Pamuk? He only smiles. Rather cheekily. And says nothing. And you took a slice of time and space, less than a week, in the ancient house Selahettin built, where Fatma has been living all this time, now as a widow, served by Recep the dwarf now 53 years old. The three grandchildren is paying a regular visit. A rather reluctant reunion. Each brings their own aspiration, which you show us nakedly in turn, Mr. Pamuk. Aspiration of young secular Turks in the middle of he tension with the traditional past. Then there is Hasan, the son of Ismael, the illegitimate sibling of the three. He has joined the Nationalist movements, aspiring to the traditional, Muslim, Ottoman values. Partly by peer pressure, partly by frustration of a young man with dreams which seem impossible in his current place in the society. You cleverly portrayed this tension and captured the gist of time, which is almost thirty years ago, almost twenty years before this kind of tension erupted in the global scale igniting the age of terrorism, right, Mr. Pamuk? Oh, now you just sound like a pseudo intellect literary critic, with your fancy smancy words. He seems to loose interest in my talk and walks away. But he turns around abruptly, How dare you trying to emulate my writing style in such a cheap way! Get more practice! (less)

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Feb 04, 2013 Kelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"A Casa do Silêncio" é um romance do escritor turco Orhan Pamuk, galardoado com o prémio Nobel da Literatura em 2006.
Na Turquia, perto de Istambul, há um lugar à beira mar chamado Forte-Paraíso, onde vive a viúva nonagenária Fatma que é a figura central desta narrativa. Fatma vive numa casa muito antiga com um anão, Redjep, o seu criado e filho bastardo do falecido marido de Fatma. No Verão chegam os três netos de Fatma para passar uns dias de férias, Faruk, Nilgune e Metine. Os pais destes mor...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Madame X rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: issue-book, literature, politics

SILENT HOUSE is the sort of book that provides plenty of fodder for conversation, but before I get around to that I need to say something about this translation, because it appears to be awful. The overall tone is "clumsy," and reading is like having a conversation with someone who might be very eloquent in their native tongue but is reduced to fourth-grade-level flailing in English. It's not up to the standards that I expect from Knopf, one of the few publishing imprints that still inspires any...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Catherine Woodman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is an old one that has been newly translated into English. Orhan Pamuk has now won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and so all his work can be translated into English. When I was first in Turkey in 2006, I read his travelogue about Istanbul and not very presciently predicted he would win the Nobel Prize—he is very clearly that good. He has always reminded me of Marcel Proust in the level of attention to detail that he gives to everything that surrounds each of his characters.

This book ta...more This book is an old one that has been newly translated into English. Orhan Pamuk has now won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and so all his work can be translated into English. When I was first in Turkey in 2006, I read his travelogue about Istanbul and not very presciently predicted he would win the Nobel Prize—he is very clearly that good. He has always reminded me of Marcel Proust in the level of attention to detail that he gives to everything that surrounds each of his characters.

This book takes place against the backdrop of a military coup that took place in Turkey in 1980 (the book was published originally in 1983). This history feels strongly present in the novel's governing metaphors of tradition, transition and inter-generational tension. A family reunion is taking place in a fishing village near Istanbul, where Fatma, the 90-year-old widow of a local doctor, is receiving a ritual summer visit from her three grandchildren. The book is alternatively narrated by her, her children, and her servants.

One of Fatma's grandsons, Faruk, is following his father and grandfather in working on a manuscript which will seek to explain Turkey and the universe. The late doctor's project was an encyclopedia of everything, reminiscent of Mr Casaubon's in Middlemarch (ie. not likely to be completed—all work and no organization), although the Turkish physician was seeking to disprove the existence of God. Faruk seems far more functional than that. Other cultural tensions within the country are represented-- granddaughter Niljun, a leftist activist who buys the communist daily paper and mesmerizes the men around her with her beauty, would choose to live in the Soviet sector, while grandson Metin would take the mandate of the Georgian peanut farmer. Metin wants to leave Turkey for America and sees no reason why his grandmother shouldn’t sell her dilapidated but highly valued home and bankroll his dreams. The other narrators in the story are a dwarf who cares for Fatma and his son, Hasan, who is a fundamentalist Muslim who is the center of the tragic chapter that the story builds to. The book is sorrowful in tone from front to back, but it is a well told tale that reflects an interesting culture and country.
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May 31, 2012 A. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: turcos, novela, contemporanea

Como en otras novelas suyas, Pamuk nos mete dolorosa e intensamente en la piel de sus personajes y nos acerca, a través de sus ojos, a la cultura turca, sus conflictos, su historia y sus arraigadas convicciones religiosas. Los protagonistas simplemente se confiesan ante nosotros y marcan el ritmo de otra obra del escritor turco que he leído con mucho placer.

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Oct 07, 2007 Micaela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My aunt is a deaf person, and she fell curiously about the tittle of this book, when she finished the book she borrow me it because she loved it. I loved this book too, from the start i could see that this story had something special, the personages were very special and each one had a very interesting history to tell us.

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Apr 28, 2013 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Three young middle class Turks from Istanbul make a summer visit to their 90 year old grandmother in a seaside resort town about an hour from Istanbul. She lives with her 55 year old servant, a dwarf who is the illegitimate son of her long dead husband. Her son, the father of the three visitors, is also deceased. What follows is the story of these characters and a few more told in the first person by each character. The major topics in the framework of a country with feet in the east and the wes...more

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Jan 28, 2013 John Benson rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have liked all Pamuk Orhan's newer books. This one is one of his earlier ones that has just recently been translated into English. About halfway through the book, I quit, because I did not care about any of the characters and I didn't care what happened to them.

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Dec 12, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The socio-political environment of 1980 Turkey is reflected in family dynamics during an annual week-long visit to see grandma. Two families by one man experience life's hardships differently but the family history is never discussed and naturally violence ensues. The silent house on the hill is a mini Turkey complete with more affluent communists and indigent nationalists. The now deceased grandfather embraced science of the west yet grandmother feared these thinkings and held on to eastern tra...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Bettie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

to order

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber (4 Oct 2012)

978-0571275922
0571275923

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Jan 27, 2013 Ferris rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel, although translated and released in English in 2012, was actually one of Pamuk's early works, originally published in 1983. It was interesting to read this early novel now, after having read almost all of his later works. There are glimmers of the masterful writer in this story, but it is nowhere near the eloquent, finely crafted quality of his current writing. Clearly, even from his earliest writing, Pamuk attempts to blend literary and political elements to convey through fiction,...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Graham Crawford rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a very well written book with extremely real characters, but I can't say I enjoyed it. Appreciated maybe - It's a journey into nothingness and futility, anger spite & fear. I felt like I needed a wash afterwards. I found the Grandmother's vicious point of view particularly difficult to read. Almost as bleak as a Cormac McCarthy, but more believable - *shudders*. I read the drunken rage and rape driving scenes with a kind of fascinated horror, needing to put the book down but forced t...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Jay rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

Is Istanbul a suburb of Atlanta? I was expecting a book about Turkey by a Turkish author to make me feel like I'm in that foreign country, but this book felt like a Flannery O'Connor novel, with a bunch of characters that just weren't that nice, some oddities (people, situations), and a sense of time and of buildings and people getting run down. I was waiting for someone to slip and call the grandmother's house a plantation. Not so interesting - just couldn't care about the people, but you got t...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Noor rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

الايجأبيتان الوحيدتان كانتا تمكن المؤلف من نقل القارئ الى اجواء تركيا التي كتب الكاتب قصته فيها، و النهاية الصادمة المؤثرة نوعا ما، والغير متوقعة رغم تلميح الكاتب البها بوضوح خلال احداث الرواية.
لم اجد في الرواية بنية قصصية، من ناحية تصاعد الاحداث نحو العقدة وما الى ذلك. السرد متداخل، احيانا بتلقائية واحيانا بشكل مربك.
احداث الرواية تسير بسرعة شديدة تجعل القارئ رغما عنه ينتظر حدوث شيء لا يحدث ابدا.

لا اعرف ان كنت سافكر بالقراءة لباموق مجددا.

ربما ستساعدني اجابة السؤال التالي:

هل المشكلة في اسلوب بامو...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Laraine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was intriguing, though not easy to get into.

Written in 1983, it captures the thinking of a young Turkish man speaking through the varied characters, about the changing world in Turkey, pre-1980's Revolution. This novel was not translated until last year (2012) from Turkish into English.

As I had no background in the topic, I found it critical to research the era to learn about Turkey, its factions and its issues to get past the first few chapters. I consulted the flyleaf several times...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Zara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, own, review-list

Silent House, by Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Orhan Pamuk, is a dramatic and detailed story of a Turkish family bound by a dark history beginning in Cennethisar, a former village near Istanbul.

The novel is driven by its characters more so than its plot through a series of stream-of-conscious, inner forms of dialogue that recall sporadic memories and reveal the characters’ deeply rooted biases and fears.

There is Recep Efendi, a 55-year-old dwarf who resides in the Darvinğlu mansion as a serv...more Silent House, by Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Orhan Pamuk, is a dramatic and detailed story of a Turkish family bound by a dark history beginning in Cennethisar, a former village near Istanbul.

The novel is driven by its characters more so than its plot through a series of stream-of-conscious, inner forms of dialogue that recall sporadic memories and reveal the characters’ deeply rooted biases and fears.

There is Recep Efendi, a 55-year-old dwarf who resides in the Darvinğlu mansion as a servant and loyal caregiver to Fatma Karatash-Darvinğlu, a 90-year-old, bedridden grandmother whom he refers to as Madam.

And Fatma Darvinğlu , herself, a devout, religious, upper class woman whose age and obstinate beliefs chiselled her into a cold, proud, and bitter woman who punishes those around her due to her grief and disappointment in love, marriage, righteousness, and the inauthenticity of the modern world, which she misunderstands, fears, and loathes.

The two of them together, await the arrival of her now grown grandchildren for their annual summer visit at Shore Avenue, No. 12, Cennethisar: Faruk, recently divorced and an associate professor and avid historian whose love for the Gezbe archives and its contained past inspires him to want to write a story of no obvious connections or interpretations; Nilgun, a beautiful woman whose warm affection, intelligence and leftist beliefs bring her unwanted attention and danger; and Metin, who considers himself the most practical of his siblings and an intelligent tutor of mathematics whose talent to multiply any pair of two-digit numbers in his head ostracize him from his pretentious group of friends.

As the story slowly unravels, the reader learns about the grievances caused by Fatma’s ambitious and high-strung husband whose sole obsession to write and publish a scientific encyclopedia drives his marriage and finances to the ground.

This hunger for knowledge is eventually passed down to their son, Doğan, who aspired to be more like his father, became a direct administrator in the east, and signed up for politics. Much to Fatma’s opinion and dismay, like his father, he intrinsically felt responsible “for all the crimes and sins and injustice in [the] world,” at which point she wished he didn’t feel that way so that he would listen to her instead and not suffer, nor be agitated.

To read the rest of my review, you're more than welcome to visit my blog, The Bibliotaphe Closet:

http://zaraalexis.wordpress.com/2013/...#

Zara @ The Bibliotaphe Closet
http://zaraalexis.wordpress.com
@ZaraAlexis on Twitter(less)

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Sep 16, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-man-asian, turkey, review-copy, 2013-iffp, 20th-century

Silent House is the first of the books nominated for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize that I’ve read, but I would have read it anyway. I have yet to read My Name is Red which won the IMPAC Prize in 2003 so it was Snow that was my introduction to Pamuk and I was fascinated by the way his characters were trapped in a dichotomy between Islamism and modernism and could not opt out of making a choice. The Museum of Innocence is an intriguing story of obsession which uses the trappings of a failed re...more Silent House is the first of the books nominated for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize that I’ve read, but I would have read it anyway. I have yet to read My Name is Red which won the IMPAC Prize in 2003 so it was Snow that was my introduction to Pamuk and I was fascinated by the way his characters were trapped in a dichotomy between Islamism and modernism and could not opt out of making a choice. The Museum of Innocence is an intriguing story of obsession which uses the trappings of a failed relationship to show how Turkey is caught between east and west. (See my review). Orhan Pamuk is on my list of favourite authors.

Pamuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006 and his body of work is cited as a ‘quest for the melancholic soul of his native city [with] new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.’ Silent House is his second novel which although first published in 1983 has only just become available in English translation. (What took so long?) It is a fascinating story which uses the device of a family reunion to exemplify the conflict between Western and Eastern values in Turkey and their yearning for a distinctive identity which is also modern. Turkey’s geography places them on the border of Europe and Asia but it is not dynamic Asia which beckons. The political battle for Turkey’s soul is between the Middle East and Europe, between religious tradition and the secularism which modernised Turkey under the dynamic leadership of Kemal Atatürk. (The irony of this novel being nominated for the Man Asia Literary Prize when Turkey is actively campaigning to join the European Union won’t have been lost on anyone who knows Orhan Pamuk’s body of work).

The cover of the Australian edition shows the fate which secular Turks fear: shabby old houses, the ruins of a citadel representing lost glories, a prominent mosque, and a lonely woman in a headscarf plodding along with no apparent purpose. This is what the long-dead Selâhattin rages against in the novel, and it is the life his widow Fatma lives and does not want to change.

There are multiple narrators in Silent House and Selâhattin though long-dead is the most eloquent of them all. We know his voice because Fatma, now in her nineties, is still replaying their arguments in her memory. He was a rude, opinionated man who drank too much and having had to flee Istanbul because of his political ambitions, spent his time writing a derivative encyclopedia designed to replace religion with science and enable Turkey to belatedly join the modern world. His rejection of the existence of God appalls Fatma, and she refuses to be dragged into his sin.

But hide as she might in her room, Fatma cannot escape the intrusions of the modern world.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/12/16/si...(less)

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Jan 04, 2013 Sally Bourne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beautifully woven prose with the texture of each character so carefully drawn so as to really know each one of the main protagonists. The story is reflective of the political tensions being played out at the time, also describing how Turkey had been and glimpses of what it was to become. I also liked Parmuk's reference to himself as a Orhan a person they knew who wanted to write a novel and his advice at the end concerning the beauty of books and that if you don't understand them on first readin...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, library

My brother asked me if I still use my Kindle much and I had to say at the moment I have been borrowing books from the library and this is such a library find. I have quite a mixed opinion of Pamuk. I often find his books a struggle to get through, only to then contemplate them for months and years after and really appreciate them.

Margaret, a fellow goodreader, read this in Turkish and commented on the different register of each narrator. I read this in translation and I am sad to say that this d...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Robin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

This book has me scratching my head - I can't quite decide how I feel about it overall. I was intrigued by the first few chapters, but then decided as I read further that I really disliked most of the characters and found their thoughts to be maddeningly repetitive and unrealistically idiotic. I slogged through the middle of the book, forcing myself on because I really wanted to finish it and find something redeeming about it. I was surprised to be drawn back into the story in the end, although...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is Pamuk's second novel. It started a bit strange, but once I got used to the style it turned out to be quite a good story. It becomes particularly sinister as it progresses, which I like, and the end is, if not a shocker, then at least surprising. Overall, this is not Pamuk's best, but it does show some of his talent as a writer. I am not as hard on Finn's translation as some readers are. I think he did a pretty decent job.

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May 19, 2013 هديل خلوف rated it 2 of 5 stars

لا أعرف من أين أبدأ .. الرواية كانت صامتة (!) ورتيبة جداً وتحوي كماً هائلاً من الأفكار الفلسفبة التي ولا بد أنها تؤرق كاتب الرواية نفسه .. الشخصيات كانت متباينة وتملك كل منها جنونها الخاص .. لفت انتباهي شخصيتي متين وحسن .. هذان المراهقان الطموحان بجنون والذي يعاني كل منهما عقدة النقص .. كان متين من الطبقة الراقية ولا يعترف بوجود الله أما حسن فهو من الطبقة الفقيرة ومتطرف دينياً .. ومع ذلك كان هناك الكثير من نقاط التشابه وخصوصاً في طريقة التفكير !
الرواية تجعلك تفكر .. لكنها رتيبة .. رتيبة جداً

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Apr 29, 2013 Elisabeth Faaberg rated it 1 of 5 stars

I haven't finished the book, but put it back on the shelf and replaced it with another, because it irritated me more that I enjoyed it.
I felt that so many thoughts and idéas were left hanging in the air, without any explanations or clearifications.
Jumping back and forth in time and between characters, irritated me to no end.
Maybe it's just me that don't understand turkish litterature?

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