Art & Artists in Fiction
44 books |
56 voters
book data
2,739 ratings,
3.69
average rating, 556 reviews
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published
August 27th 2002
(first published 2000)
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 432 pages
characters
literary awards
IMPAC Dublin Award 2003
isbn
0375706852
(isbn13: 9780375706851)
description
At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 4,604)
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avg 3.69
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
I tried very hard to really like this book. But, I suppose it's impossible to succeed in everything.
My Name Is Red is both historical fiction and a murder mystery. It takes place in 1591 (according to the timeline at the end of the book). The over-arching motion of the plot centers around the death of a master miniturist in the Sultan's court. The death is revealed in the first chapter, though the reasons surrounding the his death are much slower in being revealed. What is known, alm...more
My Name Is Red is both historical fiction and a murder mystery. It takes place in 1591 (according to the timeline at the end of the book). The over-arching motion of the plot centers around the death of a master miniturist in the Sultan's court. The death is revealed in the first chapter, though the reasons surrounding the his death are much slower in being revealed. What is known, alm...more
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Read in February, 2007
Couldn't finish it, but made a valiant effort to get half-way through. Boring as heck, not a novel, but a treatise on miniaturism on 16th/17th century Turkey. Perhaps not finishing a book doesn't give you license to review it harshly, but while the style of writing was interesting and creative, and was a valiant effort, it was just...boring. It seems like he write in a style to resemble the period he was writing about, but there was so little plot with so much exploration of characters, it fe...more
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Read in November, 2007
It’s not a historical, though there is sort of history in it (Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, 1591). The mystery death of two master miniaturists doesn’t make it a murder mystery novel either. It’s not a philosophical novel though there are lots of discussions about illusrtation in European style concerning perspective, and traditional Eastern illustrating, which sees the world in the way Allah would see it.
What amazed me is, how Pamuk has taken a now forbiden discussion, 5 centuries back...more
What amazed me is, how Pamuk has taken a now forbiden discussion, 5 centuries back...more
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Generally, when a book starts out with a chapter entitled "I Am A Corpse," you know it's going to be pretty good.
The novel is set up so that each chapter introduces a different narrator, including (but not limited to), Black, Black's uncle, Shekure, a dog, a horse, the murderer and various artists in the workshop. This type of structure for a mystery novel isn't new--Wilkie Collins, for example, employed it several times, most notably in The Moonstone--and it is an effecti...more
The novel is set up so that each chapter introduces a different narrator, including (but not limited to), Black, Black's uncle, Shekure, a dog, a horse, the murderer and various artists in the workshop. This type of structure for a mystery novel isn't new--Wilkie Collins, for example, employed it several times, most notably in The Moonstone--and it is an effecti...more
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“Orang yang buta dan orang yag melihat tidaklah sama” (Fatir: 19).
Sebuah novel yang disajikan dengan penuturan dari sudut pandang tiap tokohnya. Gabungan antara sejarah dengan misteri pembunuhan yang berlatar di kota Istanbul pada masa kekuasaan Sultan Murat III di Kesultanan Utsmaniyah, khususnya pada musim salju tahun 1591.
Buku ini dibuka dengan pembunuhan seorang penyepuh emas – Elok Effendi – yang sebenarnya sedang terlibat dalam proyek pembuatan buku yang dipesan ...more
Sebuah novel yang disajikan dengan penuturan dari sudut pandang tiap tokohnya. Gabungan antara sejarah dengan misteri pembunuhan yang berlatar di kota Istanbul pada masa kekuasaan Sultan Murat III di Kesultanan Utsmaniyah, khususnya pada musim salju tahun 1591.
Buku ini dibuka dengan pembunuhan seorang penyepuh emas – Elok Effendi – yang sebenarnya sedang terlibat dalam proyek pembuatan buku yang dipesan ...more
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6 comments
Read in January, 2008
recommended to laura by:
book club
this book sort of felt like a text from an art history elective i never went to but had to study for the final...with all its intricate descriptions of artworks that were interesting, but too unfamiliar to respectably imagine, i skimmed paragraphs and pages waiting to get the chunky parts of the story. i really wish it had pictures to be honest.
as one member of my book club said "i feel like i need to read this book again, but i wish i never read it in the first place". th...more
as one member of my book club said "i feel like i need to read this book again, but i wish i never read it in the first place". th...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
people with patience
Saying I liked it or didn't like it doesn't really capture the complexity of my experience with this book. Part murder mystery, part love story, and part historical novel about the book-art in the ottoman empire....I thought it was right up my alley. Maybe I expected to have more of an emotional connection but it was all very intellectual and somehow that frustrated me...churned up my stomach which was quite contented on the diet of all-fluff, all-the-time. Reading this was like eating roasted...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Desiree by:
Erin Effendi Slonaker, Literary Bratrecommends it for: art enthusiasts, dinner party attendees who would like to discuss the history of Turkish miniatures
MP bet me $20 that I wouldn't like this book. The Brats were enthralled by this, because they can't remember the last time I whole-heartedly liked a book we read.
I liked and enjoyed the book, right until about page 350 (of 500) when I absolutely did not want to read any more about the philosophy of 16th century Islamic art nor flowery speeches about famous Turkish miniatures. Pamuk does himself a lot of injustice by making the book twice as long as it needs to be. I stopped caring an...more
I liked and enjoyed the book, right until about page 350 (of 500) when I absolutely did not want to read any more about the philosophy of 16th century Islamic art nor flowery speeches about famous Turkish miniatures. Pamuk does himself a lot of injustice by making the book twice as long as it needs to be. I stopped caring an...more
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1 comment
Read in August, 2007
This book took me about three weeks to a month to finish, which included a period of 10 days or so when I was out of town and didn't touch it. Though I was in the middle of the book at the time, I didn't miss it at all. That kind of says it all for me.
My Name is Red is based on a unique storyline, set in the late 1500s in Turkey. One of the Sultan's miniaturists has been murdered, and the art as it exists in the country is changing, unable to escape the influence of Venetian portrait...more
My Name is Red is based on a unique storyline, set in the late 1500s in Turkey. One of the Sultan's miniaturists has been murdered, and the art as it exists in the country is changing, unable to escape the influence of Venetian portrait...more
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Read in November, 2006
Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize for literature this year. Described as “part murder mystery, part love story,” I found this to be an absorbing novel, but what most interested me, and the reason that I recommend this book to you, were the passages which attempt to describe the late sixteenth-century Istanbul miniaturists’ attitudes towards art. My Name is Red, though it seems to be only loosely based upon historical fact, deals with the repercussions of the meeting of two visual worlds: Ven...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommended to Melody by:
Sara
My rating is more like 2 1/2 stars - because I do want to encourage you to read it. It is a curious mix of murder mystery, religion, violence, sex and art. I felt like I was reading the King James Version of some religious document that covered all these subjects. Very odd to have someone proclaim his praises to God or Allah in this case, and then recall how lovely it was to bugger the pretty boys.
The book is told through the eyes of several narrators - the miniaturists, their m...more
The book is told through the eyes of several narrators - the miniaturists, their m...more
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Read in February, 2006
A triumph of hype over substance, I thought. I'm not sure whether this is because of Pamuk himself, or whether the astonishingly stiff and formal style of the narrative can be attributed to the translator, but I was very much underwhelmed by this. The aspects of the novel which covered the differences between Western Christian and Islamic perceptions of art and aesthetics were certainly interesting; there were also some moments of true inventiveness and creativity, such as the chapters which wer...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
miscreants, artists, infidels
I guess this is in the realm of historical fiction: a murderous tale set in the mystical landscape of 16th century-Istanbul, populated by book illuminators and sultans.
In the Faulknerian (Faulkner-esque?) tradition, it paints a narrative in layers, with each chapter an account from the point of view of a different character. Everyone has a voice, from incorrigible gossips and forlorn lovers to a painting of a tree and death itself.
Here's a gem from Pamuk:
"...more
In the Faulknerian (Faulkner-esque?) tradition, it paints a narrative in layers, with each chapter an account from the point of view of a different character. Everyone has a voice, from incorrigible gossips and forlorn lovers to a painting of a tree and death itself.
Here's a gem from Pamuk:
"...more
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“My Name is Red” is many things at once: a love story, a murder mystery, a historical tale with parallels to modern times. In 1591, Black returns to Istanbul after twelve years abroad. The woman he loves, Shekure, is raising her two children alone after her husband failed to return from a military campaign. Charged by the Sultan to assemble an illuminated book using techniques borrowed from the Europeans, Black’s beloved Uncle has secretly assembled the finest group of miniaturists in the ...more
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Someone or other once said that "self-confidence is knowing what you can't do well, and avoiding it." While that perspective sounds like a recipe for a fairly limited life, there's an element of truth to it -- particularly when it comes to writing.
There's a kind of writerly skill that almost never gets mentioned in book reviews, because it precedes anything that appears on the page. It's the process of choosing a plot and structure for the as-yet-nonexistent novel: part ins...more
There's a kind of writerly skill that almost never gets mentioned in book reviews, because it precedes anything that appears on the page. It's the process of choosing a plot and structure for the as-yet-nonexistent novel: part ins...more
Read in March, 2006
After enjoying Snow so much I decided to go and seek out Orhan Pamuk's other famous title. It is a historical murder mystery set in Istanbul during the time of the sultans. The story revolves around the murder of a famous miniaturist and the controversy surrounding a new style of painting he was either for or against. With the fairly recent uproar over the depiction of the prophet in Denmark the religious and artistic debates that this book fleshes out are even more intriguing. The characters in...more
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Read in June, 2009
I was lent this book by a friend, and I have to be honest; it wouldn't have been a book I would have picked up on my own. It's something of a half-art history lesson, half murder mystery. Unfortunately for this book, however, there are points where it gets dry, and so it is difficult at times to keep reading until the parts that are quite profound or special.
There are times when the book feels overly pretentious, nothing more than a lecture on the miniaturists of the Ottoman Empire; and t...more
There are times when the book feels overly pretentious, nothing more than a lecture on the miniaturists of the Ottoman Empire; and t...more
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I guess it is not a simple thing to write such a book as it involves rather profound knowledge about history of miniature painting in 16th century in Ottoman Empire and in the whole Eastern and Western developed world.. I was wondering why this theme interests so much Orhan Pamuk and how the book could become such a hit while discussing the interesting but rather specific theme of the meaning of miniature painting in the light of Muslim religion. For me personally was interesting to touch this t...more
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Read in June, 2009
While the book descriptions focus on this story being a "murder mystery" the mystery takes a backseat to the descriptions of the characters and their views on life (each chapter has a new narrator). It was difficult at times to abandon modern Western sensibilities when confronted with some of the less savory aspects of 16th century Istanbul: widespread pederasty (seeing women uncovered was horribly bad, but sleeping with boys, acceptable?) and treating of women as property.
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Read in January, 2009
i found this book to be very poetic.
it is a double murder mystery mixed with romance, action, history and humanism. i did not figure out who committed the murders until it was revealed at the end.
i was a bit tired by the frequent references to homosexual desires of and toward young illuminating apprentices. perhaps it was that way in the world where this story takes place, but it was a bit heavy in its references.
otherwise, i think that i shall read more Pamuk in the future.
...more
it is a double murder mystery mixed with romance, action, history and humanism. i did not figure out who committed the murders until it was revealed at the end.
i was a bit tired by the frequent references to homosexual desires of and toward young illuminating apprentices. perhaps it was that way in the world where this story takes place, but it was a bit heavy in its references.
otherwise, i think that i shall read more Pamuk in the future.
...more
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quotes from this book
"... en el país de los infieles francos todos los perros tienen dueño. Al parecer los pasean por las calles arrastrándolos con cadenas al cuello como si fueran los más miserables esclavos. Dicen que además introducen a esos pobres perros a sus casas y que incluso los meten en sus camas.
... No son cosas que los francos puedan comprender el que los perros paseemos en manadas y gavillas por la calles de nuestro Estambul..."
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