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My Name is Red

by Orhan Pamuk, Erdag M. Goknar (Translator)

3.71 · rating details · 7,520 ratings · 1,108 reviews

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 amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers.

The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a ...more

Paperback, 417 pages

Published December 5th 2006 by Vintage (first published 1998)

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May 22, 2010

miaaa rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to miaaa by: Graeme

Shelves: ophelia-s-library, fictions-others

On-a-high version:

I am called Black, I longed for my dearest Shekure for twelve years;
I, Shekure, not quite sure what was I doing in this story;
I am called Butterfly, I was the one who drew the Death and Mia thought I was the murderer;
I am called Stork, I was the one who drew the Tree and Butterfly always envy me as I was more talented without the help from our master;
I am called Olive, I was the one who rendered the Satan and drew the exquisite horse;
I...more

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Dec 04, 2007

Darcy rated it

Shelves: keepers, twentieth-century-novels

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...moreGenerally, 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 effective way to structure a story so as to hide the whodunit. Each character only tells as much as he, she or it knows and in Pamuk's novel even the murderer hides his or her identity.

The structure in "My Name Is Red," though is less designed to sustain suspense and more to allow room for the various philosophical discussions concerning the purpose of art and, perhaps more importantly, the distinctions between Islamic states and Western Europe. The Frankish mode of painting, particularly of portraiture--to glorify the subject, to paint him or her in terms of his/her earthly wealth and power, to distribute such an image openly as a show of control, to demonstrate the creative abilities of the artist--is at the center of these debates and discussions. Black's uncle finds such images alluring and fascinating while others see them as abhorent. Master Osman, for example, sees himself as being forced to choose between the centuries old Islamic traditions he venerates and the more modern and distinctly foreign style he despises. Such a choice is not made easily, as the artists themselves discover. The Frankish method celebrates the individuation of the artist--it prizes the signature of the artist as much as the commissioner of the image. This reverence for the artist, as much as for the piece of art, proves to be a great temptation to the men involved and leads directly to the murder.

The structure, however, also allows for a second discussion, not about art but about writing on art. As much as this is a novel concerning visual images, it is also a novel about ekphrasis--the verbal description of art. Ekphrasis has the effect of slowing down a narrative, of interrupting it. Thus, in Homer's Illiad, the great battle scene is suddenly punctured by a lengthy description of Achilles' shield. Pamuk plays with this model repeatedly. When the image of the horse, described several times in the novel, is given a voice of its own the narrative is not interrupted, but rather the description of the image becomes the narrative. And, moreover, as the image speaks it refutes the fundamental principles underlying Master Osman's devotion to Islamic traditions of art. Pamuk can hardly resist the joke--this is a novel about art in which not a single image appears, except the map at the beginning and the ones we create in our minds as we imagine the images described. But, are we creating an image of the ideal horse, the horse of God, or one we can actually touch, taste, and smell?(less)

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Jul 29, 2009

Ayu Palar rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone :D

Shelves: favorites-ever

‘To God belongs the East and the West’ – Al-Qur’an, Al Baqarah ayat 115.

I had abandoned My Name is Red for how long I can’t remember. The brilliance of it was untouched, what a shame. But after reading Other Colours (an amazing essay collection also by Orhan Pamuk), I thought I should give Mr. Pamuk another shot, and boy, how much I enjoyed the novel! And I understand why Pamuk deserves the Nobel prize. He’s the kind of writer that can bring out the cultural richness but at the same...more

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Nov 20, 2007

علی rated it

Shelves: novels

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, to s...moreIt’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, to stablish a better situation to discuss about tabus, concerning the distinctions between Islamic states and Western Europe. It's how the so-called Islamic style of illuminating lost it’s values to the so-called Frankish mode of painting, painting the earthly wealth, rather than images of what God creates on earth. In another word, demonstrating the creative abilities of the artist (European style) which Enishte effendi finds fascinating is forbiden in Islam, as if it’s kind of competing with God in creating. That’s why some other master miniaturists kill him to not loose their stabilities and honour as artists.
In means that those who are not seeing the realilty of life and human being (idealists) are going to loose their style and power. This describes the restrained violence of the culture clashes which are so relevant to our world at this time through the allegory of artistic expression as European manner of representing the world, and that of the Islamic faith, in the novel!
اگرچه وقایع داستان در دوران عثمانی (1591) می گذرد اما نمی شود گفت "تاریخی"ست. جنایی هم نیست اگرچه وقایع حول و حوش دو قتل اتفاق می افتد. و اگرچه بحث، بیشتر در مقایسه ی دو شیوه ی هنری، مینیاتور جهان اسلام و نقاشی ونیزی یا مکتب فرانسوی ست، اما رمان در مورد فلسفه ی هنر هم نیست. یعنی نه آنقدر تاریخ در آن هست و نه فلسفه و نه جنایت. اهمیت اساسی در لایه ی دوم رمان است، همان گونه که در "برف"، رمان دیگر پاموک. دغدغه ی فکری پاموک مساله ی جاری زمان ماست، مقایسه و تقابل جهان اسلام و سنت از یک سو و جهان غرب و مدرنیته در سوی دیگر. مساله ای که ذهن اغلب روشنفکران در جهان اسلام را به خود مشغول داشته. انتخاب دو شکل تصویر سازی در دو جهان، به دلیل فلسفه ای که در پس ساختار مینیاتور (یک بعدی بودن آن و پرهیز از خلق دوباره ی جهان) و هنر نقاشی غربی (دید سه بعدی هنرمند از جهان) وجود دارد، انتخاب بسیار ظریف و استادانه ای ست از سوی پاموک، برای نشان دادن تقابل میان دو گونه تفکر در جهان معاصر، یکی سنتی و اقتدارگرا و دیگری مدرن و دموکرات. یکی در فراموشی انسان در مقابل خدا و دیگری در اهمیت به انسان به عنوان هسته ی اصلی جامعه ی بشری.
با انتخاب زمان تاریخی در گذشته، پاموک این فرصت را به خود داده تا در مورد بسیاری مسایل که صحبت کردن از آنها امروزه ممنوع است، به راحتی و در کمال آزادی صحبت کند

یادداشتی در مورد "برف" از اورهان پاموک، در جایی دیگر
http://www.ali-ohadi.com/global/index.ph...
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Sep 26, 2007

Lissa rated it

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...moreI 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, almost at the outset, is that his death is related to a book that the Sultan has commission that is to be illustrated in the European style, with respect to perspective and a view of the world as an actual person sees it (as opposed to how Allah would see it). Enishte Effendi, the person in charge of the manuscript, calls his childhood apprentice Black Effendi back from Persia to Istanbul to help investigate the murder and help him finish the Sultan's book. Within this overarching plot is the plight of Enishte's daughter Shekure, whose husband went to war four years prior and never came back. Black has been pining away for her during his twelve year absence from Istanbul, though he is not the only man who is interested in becoming her new husband. Amongst the plot and subplot, there are multiple discussions of style and individualism and what it means to be a father/father-figure, among other topics.

The story is told in a sort of Faulkner-esque fashion, with each chapter being told in the perspective of different characters in the story. These characters are sometimes alive, and sometimes dead (as in the first chapter entitled "I am a corpse"). Also, sometimes the chapters are told in the sort-of perspective of the drawing from Enishte's book - I say sort of, because they're really told from the perspective of a coffee house storyteller who is pretending to be what is depicted in Enishte's book. Are you confused yet?

The was my first issue with this book: at the beginning, it's very confusing. Not knowing a lot about the muslim faith, it took many chapters before I figured out what exactly was wrong with the way Enishte wanted to illustrate his manuscript. My second problem with this book was all of the exposition. There is too much time spent on the exposition on topics like love and style that are obliquely connected with the plot. Certainly these expositions add greater depth to the different characters, but after a while it started to get a little tedious. Thirdly, Pamuk does not inhabit his different narrators in the way that David Mitchell (Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas) manages to. As a result, the book feels a little bit flat. Fourthly, the ssubplot with Shekure adds very little to the book. I found her to be an incredibly unappealing character, and I found myself wishing that the murderer would murder her next.

All of that being said, the book does have a certain flair to the writing. Some of the exposition is really though-provoking. I also thought that the stories told from the perspective of drawings and corpses and even colors were interesting additions to the plot. In sum, I'm not sorry I read it, but I was expecting more out of it.
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May 25, 2007

Sarah rated it

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: Venetian ...moreOrhan 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: Venetian portraiture and Islamic illustration.

Also, Pamuk writes some of the most fascinating lists I’ve read. I must admit that when I encounter lists in novels I usually skim them, but I found Pamuk’s lists engrossing throughout. I have typed out a few passages that I found especially significant, but they work better in context, of course.

Describing a painting of a horse.
“It is a handsome horse: a horse of the Ottoman line. It is a symbol that would demonstrate to the Venetian Doge Our Sultan’s wealth and the regions under his control. But on the other hand, as with everything the Venetian masters depict, this horse was also to be more lifelike than a horse born of God’s vision, more like a horse that lived in a particular stable with a particular groom in Istanbul so that the Venetian Doge might say to himself, ‘Just as the Ottoman miniaturists have come to see the world like us, so have the Ottomans themselves come to resemble us,’ in turn, accepting Our Sultan’s power and friendship. For if you draw a horse differently, you begin to see the world differently [emphasis added]. Despite its peculiarities, this horse was rendered in the manner of the old masters” (266).

Note the clever implications regarding Pamuk’s own novel.
Did a painting become legendary for what it was or for what was said about it? (266).

The musings of one of the Istanbul miniaturists.
My paintings reveal what the mind, not the eye, sees. But painting, as you know quite well, is a feast for the eyes. If you combine these two thoughts, my world will emerge. That is:
ALIF: Painting brings to life what the mind sees, as a feast for the eyes.
LAM: What the eye sees in the world enters the painting to the degree that it serves the mind.
MIM: Consequently, beauty is the eye discovering in our world what the mind already knows (281).
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Sep 10, 2009

Kelly rated it

Recommended to Kelly by: various GR friends

Shelves: fiction, worlds-lost-dead-and-dying, owned, turkey-and-ottomans, identity-crisis, 21st-century, grand-opera

My fickle heart longs for the West when I'm in the East and for the East when I'm in the West.
My other parts insist I be a woman when I'm a man and a man when I'm a woman.
How difficult it is being human, even worse is living a human's life.
I only want to amuse myself frontside and backside, to be Eastern and Western both.

This is Pamuk's enduring, never ending obsession. He's written fiction and non-fiction, journal articles and newspaper bites, and given endless int...moreMy fickle heart longs for the West when I'm in the East and for the East when I'm in the West.
My other parts insist I be a woman when I'm a man and a man when I'm a woman.
How difficult it is being human, even worse is living a human's life.
I only want to amuse myself frontside and backside, to be Eastern and Western both.

This is Pamuk's enduring, never ending obsession. He's written fiction and non-fiction, journal articles and newspaper bites, and given endless interviews on this theme. He's even been thrown in jail and put on trial for the identity he has chosen. He's won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his commitment to expressing his deeply divided mind and spirit, and that (at least he and many others believe) of his country- Turkey. (I apologize in advance if this ends up being something of a ramble through the literary bramble, but I can only say that that would mirror the experience of reading this book.)

My Name is Red will tell you that it is a murder mystery, set in 16th century Istanbul, under the rule of the Sultan. But it will also tell you that it is about many other things, each of which changes, ephermerally, by the moment. The atmosphere of the story digs a little bit into Garcia-Marquez's garden, but storytelling would never be mistaken for his. Each chapter is told by a different voice- some of which are plausible members of a storytelling round, and some of which would really only belong in that category if you were on acid, but they all seem about equally credible, due to the fact that nobody is really credible, so one might as well be fiction or myth as fact. (For instance, we hear from the voices of the drawing of a horse, the fake voice of a woman who is actually a man, a gold piece and the color red.) It is ethereal, elusive, and there isn't one incarnation of the mind that can be trusted here. Don't fall into the trap of assuming that what you read has anything to do with anything other than the particular pyschology of the moment- Pamuk is a master of depicting the every day track of a mind, and how unreliable each feeling of a moment is- how everything important is changed by the fact that one just happens to feel hungry at a particular moment, or desperately horny at another. It is an absolute masterwork of insight on the psychology of a particular people at a particular time, and all the various reasons why they are that way, and yet he is able to make them as relatable as possible through it all.

What struck me the most throughout the entire book was how terrified, it seemed, that Pamuk was of missing something. While other authors might be striving to become masters of literature, masters of form, I think Pamuk wished that he could be nothing so much as a master of tapestry-making. I think he would die happy if he could have given this book to the theoretical Weaver in the sky and gotten it back as a divine scrap of worked fabric. There are lists upon lists upon lists of endless things that go on for pages, only to stop and start up once again. As a part of his contradictory feelings towards the West, in a culture whose stories and traditions often originated in the East... although he longs for the West, he's terrified, just as his characters are, that everything they know from the East will disappear. It seems like he can't stop himself- there's some sort of driving fear if he doesn't list everything about history and culture and myth, and repeat all the stories again and again to make sure we remember what they are, it will be gone forever. His expression of ambivalence towards Western culture perfectly expresses the mindset of illuminators in 16th century Istanbul terrified that their entire lives are about to become irrelevant.

The other absorbing, fascinating, and horrifying thing was how well Pamuk illustrates the idea that absolutely nobody speaks with their own voice, both through his painters, constrained by centuries of adherance to a perfect style that some random master brought out of Baghdad that depicts the "perspective of Allah." It is considered heresy and a fault to have a "style", and "signatures" are furitively hidden away as much as possible- the idea that blindness is the ideal to be obtained for these artists is just heartbreaking- at least to someone coming at it from a Western perspective, where seeing painters deliberately rob themselves of their sight, their most precious commodity, over and over again, in the course of obtaining a meaningless idea of perfection that is not their own. The murderer throughout this book strives endlessly to hide himself by speaking in a voice that does not at all resemble how we see him in other places. The majority of people who are speaking a themselves tell stories in order to express their feelings- in fact at the beginning all the suspected illuminators speak almost entirely in story form in order to answer any important question on any philosophical, religious, or even personal topic. Expressing one's feelings just isn't done. One doesn't go up to the pretty boy one would like to fuck and tell him so, one tells him a parable about a gorgeous boy in order to show your admiration for him. Much as the pictures are seen as the "perspective of Allah," it seems that there is only one way to speak, too, in the "words of Allah," or those stories which are sanctioned by the authorities as legitimate- the authority of Allah on earth. It was the ultimate tragedy of the book from the Western perspective, and the ultimate triumph of the book from the accepted ides of the time, all of these de-individualized people (as much as can be done or denied or pushed from sight) striving towards the goal of seeing as Allah does, ever in the correct way.

But everyone recognizes the end of the "Eastern" way of life coming from the West, in the guise of the "Venetian" ways that everyone will want to slavishly follow in the future, ways which reactionary preachers and religious people are protesting against before they've even made serious headway, trying to keep their way of life "pure." But the rest of the book poitns out again and again that there is no way that the culture of the Ottoman Empire was pure in any way- no constantly conquering culture with a large army and a long reach could ever be. No autocratic society that entailed artisans, craftsman and soldiers to pick up and serve someone else once their lord was defeated (if they weren't killed out right) could develop in isolation without any influence from the outside. He shows globalization already happening, back in the 16th century, and how deep the effects penetrate then and now.

I loved his Istanbul for his brilliant evocation of identity, living with a burdensome past and an uncertain future, for its poetry and its memory. My Name is Red accomplishes much the same thing, with more magic- but just enough dirt to bring it right straight home where it belongs in 2009.(less)

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Aug 02, 2007

Leslie rated it

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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Jul 28, 2011

Arwa rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Amal fahad

حسناً إذاً , أنهيت الكِتاب وأخيراً , قرأته في وقت حرج جداً , كنت أتمنى إن أنهيه خلال يومين على الأقل , لكن الأيام امتدت لـ عشرة أيام تقريباً !

- أجواء الرواية صعبة ! تتحدّث عن شيء مجهول بالنسبة لي , ما النقش ؟ وكيف هو ؟ أريد أن أرى وقة واحد مذهّبة منفوشة , لا أريد صورة خسرو وشيرين , أريد شجرة , عصا على قارعة الطريق , تكفيني ..

- أكثر ما أعجبني " المدّاح " , وكيف يستطيع تقمّص الأدوار , تمنّيت لو أجد مثله الآن , يذهلني بكلامه , وكيف يستطيع تقمّص دور النقود , الكلب ...moreحسناً إذاً , أنهيت الكِتاب وأخيراً , قرأته في وقت حرج جداً , كنت أتمنى إن أنهيه خلال يومين على الأقل , لكن الأيام امتدت لـ عشرة أيام تقريباً !

- أجواء الرواية صعبة ! تتحدّث عن شيء مجهول بالنسبة لي , ما النقش ؟ وكيف هو ؟ أريد أن أرى وقة واحد مذهّبة منفوشة , لا أريد صورة خسرو وشيرين , أريد شجرة , عصا على قارعة الطريق , تكفيني ..

- أكثر ما أعجبني " المدّاح " , وكيف يستطيع تقمّص الأدوار , تمنّيت لو أجد مثله الآن , يذهلني بكلامه , وكيف يستطيع تقمّص دور النقود , الكلب , الشجرة , المرأة , حتّى دور الشيطان ! !
أعتقد أن أكثر جمال الرواية كان على يد هذا المدّاح ;)

- كنت أقرأ سابقاً لكتّاب غير مسلمين , وأجد في الرواية من الإيحاءات الجنسية الكثير , لكنّ أن أجد مثل هذه - ليست الإيحاءات بل التصريحات - بيد شخص حاول أن يذكّرنا بتاريخ النقش الإسلامي ؟ ! , ويذكر من آيات الله في الرواية الكثير ؟
مالداعي لمثل هذه المشاهد ؟ مالجمال الذي ستضيفه للرواية ؟
أتمنى أن أستطيع سؤال أي كاتب يقحم مثل هذه المشاهد في كتاباته وأريده أن يجاوبني , خصوصاً أن الرواية ليست رومنسية !
كنت سأعطيها الخمس النجمات لولا القرف الذي أصابني , القرف الذي لم أجد مثله في أي رواية سابقة قرأتها !!

- في الكتاب وصف للموت وتصوير له وكلام على يدّ الميت , من أفضل ماقرأت في وصفهما ومحاولة الحديث عنهما !

- الكاتب ذكيّ جداً , بدءاً بفكرة الرواة المختلفون لحدث واحد , معرفته بكل هذه الأمور والمواقف والأحداث في تاريخ الفنّ , إلى إنهائه الرواية وأنا لم أجد صعوبة في تذكر كل الشحصيات ..(less)

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Dec 02, 2008

Santh memories rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classic_fiction, historic_fiction, world_fiction, my-collections

“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 langsung...more“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 langsung oleh Sultan. Dalam proyek rahasia ini banyak melibatkan para iluminator (3 iluminator) yang diberi nama julukan “Kupu-Kupu”, “Bangau” dan “Zaitun”. Dari pembuatan proyek ini kita akan membaca sejarah lampau tentang cerita-cerita dari Al-Quran, penaklukan banyak negara, penjarahan, berpindahnya banyak literatur, hasil karya seni, kitab, lukisan, dll. Atau bisa dikatakan dari proyek ini bisa dipahami tentang mulai mendesaknya budaya Barat ke negara-negara Islam (Timur). Terlihat pula usaha-usaha para seniman besar untuk mempertahankan apa yang sudah diwariskan secara berabad-abad – atau tergoda untuk mengikuti “gaya” baru.
Adapula seorang Hitam yang telah kembali dari 12 tahun pengembaraannya. Selama 12 tahun itu pula dia membawa cinta untuk perempuan dari masa kanak-kanaknya.
Mengenai seni melukis itu sendiri, kita akan dibawa pada banyak cerita – kitab – yang menggambarkan banyak peristiwa – melihat seperti apa yang dilihat Allah – bahkan sampai termasuk pemilihan warna. Kita akan dikejutkan dengan banyak contoh keterserahan kepada dunia seni ini – yang dianggap sebagai pelanggaran agama – jika dibandingkan dengan seni kaligraf. Betapa merindunya para seniman agung – yang sudah mencapai usia lanjut – dengan keadaan menjadi buta (bahkan ada yang sengaja membuat mata mereka buta). Karena dengan buta mereka akan melihat lebih banyak warna seperti yang dilihat Allah.
Dan untuk menyingkap siapa si pembunuh itu sendiri bisa dilihat dari “gaya” melukis ketiga ilustrator berbakat yang juga terlibat dalam pembuatan buku Sultan – bahkan lebih spesifik mencari siapa yang melukis lubang hidung kuda secara aneh!
Membaca buku ini kita dibawa pada keadaan muram di Istanbul – perkampungan miskin, banyak orang buta, peperangan, pemberantasan terhadap hal-hal yang melanggar agama, nasib dan hak perempuan kala itu, ketidaksukaan terhadap kaum sufi, darwis, dsb (bahkan kopi-pun disinggung di sini!).

Komen:
aku sama sekali nggak “ngeh” soal lukis-melukis. Jadinya cukup lambat untuk bisa mengerti buku ini – yang secara semuanya bercerita tentang seni melukis (bahkan teknis banget), cerita-cerita dibalik banyak hasil karya agung sekaligus para maestronya.

sejarah Turki pada masa itu sangat sulit – belum lagi mengingat semua kronologis peristiwa yang ada…plus nama-nama yg cukup sulit dan susah dihafal (paling apal ya Hitam ama Shekura hehehe).

musti dua kali baca tentang Kupu-Kupu, Bangau dan Zaitun, serta bakat dan sifat-sifat mereka, cara mereka bertutur, dll

but, finally I finished it (ya walaupun endingnya menurutku terlalu mendadak dan tidak terlalu ngagetin…hmm…mungkin kecondongan ngebandingin ama cerita-cerita Agatha Christie kali ya…
hehehe)

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Aug 22, 2009

Steve rated it

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I loved this book. It's passionate, provocative and intelligent, surprisingly bringing the field of 16th-century miniaturist painting to bear on aesthetic and ethical issues that seem urgent (at least for artists) today. The main concern is with the notion of 'style' in art: is it desirable to have a personal style as an artist or are traces of style simply evidence of faults? In the process of investigating this question we discover the more fundamental question: what constitutes 'style'? Chara...more

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Feb 08, 2008

laura rated it

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

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Oct 28, 2009

Melody rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Melody by: Sara Jones

Shelves: historical, second-monday-bookgroup

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

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Aug 13, 2007

Bina rated it

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

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Feb 10, 2011

Victoria Evangelina rated it

Shelves: fiction, in-english

~WANDERING THE STREETS~

The beauty of the language enchanted me and I was lost in descriptions of Istanbul, the city I love dearly, the city which is today, in my eyes, is one of the capitals of Islamic Art. The stories of the murdered one, seeking justice; of two love birds, wishing to unite and the history of miniaturist art and apprenticeship of the 16-century Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) and other story lines, narrated by some 10 story-tellers, are masterfully woven in this e...more

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May 29, 2011

Jaspreet rated it

I picked up My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk to fulfill the November destination of the World Party Reading Challenge. It took me much longer than expected to finish the book. While the story was interesting, it is a murder mystery with many possible suspects, I found it hard to get through in the beginning. I was confused by the cast of characters, but I grew to enjoy the subplots as well as the main plot. Looking at paintings and artistic style to determine a murderer was very intriguing. I ...more

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Jan 09, 2011

Tarfah Al-Suleimany rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: available-at-raspberry-s, never-again, world-voices, 2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Let me preface this by saying that from the get-go I felt that this book was just not my style; the author's style was just too convoluted, and the prose too high-brow. Having said that, I took this book as a personal challenge which I just could not put away unfinished.

The intrigue surrounding the book commissioned by the Sultan around which the entire story was based, and the murders that occurred due to the book's supposedly blasphemous content, were, in my opinion, really just an e...moreLet me preface this by saying that from the get-go I felt that this book was just not my style; the author's style was just too convoluted, and the prose too high-brow. Having said that, I took this book as a personal challenge which I just could not put away unfinished.

The intrigue surrounding the book commissioned by the Sultan around which the entire story was based, and the murders that occurred due to the book's supposedly blasphemous content, were, in my opinion, really just an excuse to go on and on about the history of Arab, Persian (generally Eastern) artistry (calligraphers, illustrators, illuminators, etc.). Lovers of art and history would most likely be enraptured by My Name is Red.

Also, the never-ending repetition of the Shirin and Husrev love story was truly irritating. When I first started this book, I had never heard of them. By the end of it, I didn't want to hear any more! Same goes with the tale of the Whitesheep and the Blacksheep. I kept on thinking "not this again!"

I also did not like the heroine Shekure in the slightest: hated her manipulative and conniving nature, and thought she was a terrible role-model for her sons, who, as the whim struck her, and as they suited her convenience, she could be cuddling one minute, then cruelly slapping the next.

The highlight of the story for me was the chapter "I am a gold coin". For someone who doesn't enjoy overly descriptive novels, I thought the imagery and the reader's imagination were truly captured in telling the story of the coin- truly wonderful.

My favorite character was that of the Jewess, Esther, whose colorfulness and busy-body meddling were truly entertaining, and whose character was the most relatable.

In short, I truly felt this book could have been ALOT shorter than it was- basically the entire story surrounding the Sultan's book and the associated murders could have been told in under 200 pages were it not for the over descriptive nature of the author's writing style and his continuous re-telling of the same/similar tidbits of artistic history.

I can understand why readers would enjoy this book, but it definitely isn't my style.(less)

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Jul 25, 2010

Amalia rated it

I've spent quite a bit of time debating how to rate this book- more than once it nearly landed on my "May I please have these hours of my life back" shelf, mostly because it moves so, so slowly and because (for me) the detail that Pamuk puts into it turns into nothing more than tedium.
However, parts of the story are so beautiful and well-written (see the chapters written from the perspective of the color red or the horse in the painting) that I don't feel that my time was entirely...more

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Feb 14, 2010

Saf rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people looking for something different

Shelves: tbb-2010

A great murder mystery and love story set in 16th century Istanbul with multiple characters providing narration, some of whom happen to be inanimate objects or animals.

The opening paragraph did enough to capture my attention and from then on in I was hooked:

"I am nothing but a corpse, a body at the bottom of a well. Though I drew my last breath long ago and my heart has stopped beating, no one, apart from that vile murderer, knows what’s happened to me. As for that wretch

...more

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Jan 26, 2012

Salma rated it

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تحديث: إضافة القراءة بالعربي من عام 2007 و لا أدري لم وضعت قراءة بالانكليزية أصلا، ربما لأني كنت أظنه موقع بالانكليزية
---

أمممممم...0
لا أدري ما أقوله عن هذه الرواية التي حاز صاحبها جائزة نوبل لهذا العام و التي بلغت شهرته الآفاق بسببها و التي ترجمت لـ 24 لغة...0
هي قصة جريمة حدثت في الزمن العثماني و بين أوساط النقاشين (أي المصورين الذين كانوا يزينون الكتب برسوماتهم). و من خلال القصة ينقلنا باموق بإسهاب و معرفة و عناية إلى أجواء النقش الإسلامي و تاريخه و مواضيعه و الأل...more

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May 19, 2008

Desiree rated it

Recommends it for: art enthusiasts, dinner party attendees who would like to discuss the history of Turkish miniatures

Recommended to Desiree by: Erin Effendi Slonaker, Literary Brat

Shelves: mademesmart

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

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Nov 23, 2007

Miguel rated it

Recommends it for: historical fiction fiends

Exactly... if I can somewhat parrot what Eric said, I was surprised and disappointed by the reviews of this book on this site. I really have not read a historical fiction that was written in such a stylistically pleasing and creative way; from all kinds of perspectives (My name is death, I am a gold coin, etc etc). It also really reminded me of the Name of the Rose in that the quality of the epic struggle is so finely encapsulated in this book. Struggles over the quest for knowledge, what it ...more

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Aug 28, 2007

Z rated it

Shelves: 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...moreThis 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 portraiture. That the book is well-researched is undeniable. I certainly learned something about the art and traditions of the time through it. However, unless you enjoy very, very slow reads, My Name is Red may not be worth spending a lot of your time over. About 500 pages long, it felt more like 1000 to me, because Pamuk allows the story to progress only at a halting pace, and by the end of it, I honestly didn't care who the murderer was or how the story was going to end. My main problem was with the characters -- they are incredibly flawed, to an extent that one feels virtually no compassion or sense of identity with any of them, and some amount of that is necessary if one is to feel truly involved or engaged in a story. It could also be the very setting -- both time and location -- that alienates them from the reader, but there's more to it than that -- I didn't like any of them.

One of the nice things about the book was the changing voice of the author in every chapter. Different protagonists tell their story in chapters like "I am Black" or "I am Shekure" and that definitely adds some interest to the tale. I could do with whatever of that I could find.

Although I am quite the fan of Pamuk's works -- I especially enjoyed Snow -- I have to say this book is the perfect example of hype being much more important in the success of a work than substance. Huge parts of it are simply boring -- no other word for it! It's a gainful read in that it isn't everyday fare and is certainly somewhat of a novelty in contemporary literature, with interesting historical information and a unique Eastern perspective, but it's just not the masterpiece it's been made out to be.(less)

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Jun 19, 2009

Siria rated it

Shelves: 20th-century, crime-fiction, historical-fiction, turkish-fiction, by-poc

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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Oct 29, 2010

Hayes rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010, why-didnt-i-like-this-more

Well I finished it. I had to skim through the second half, however; this book was a real struggle.

The idea was lovely: the various chapters are told from different points of view, starting with a stunning opener: I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of the well. We hear from the corpse's daughter, relatives, colleagues, servants. We hear from a painting, a coin, a sketch of a dog. We even hear from the murderer. But I couldn't get interested in any of it.

...more

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Nov 17, 2008

Juliane rated it

Shelves: nobel-prize, turkish, favourites, ottoman-empire, art, istanbul, mystery, historical-fiction

Loved this book, the mixture of historical fiction, murder mystery and love story. I learned a lot about the conflict between the miniature painters who advocated the traditional Islamic style of illustrating and those, who tried to bring forward the Western style. The Frankish mode of painting, particularly of portraiture and also perspective is on of the central points of these debates and discussions. I also loved Pamuk's way to tell his story written from the point of view of multiple chara...more

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Dec 03, 2011

Isabel rated it

· review of another edition

“Now then, draw Death for me,” the old man said.[return]“I cannot draw a picture of Death without ever, not once in my entire life, having seen a picture of Death,” said the miraculously sure-handed miniaturist, who would shortly, in fact, end up doing the drawing.[return]“You do not always need to have seen an illustration of something in order to depict that thing,” objected the refined and enthusiastic old man.[return]“Yes, perhaps not,” said the master illustrator. “Yet, if the picture is to...more“Now then, draw Death for me,” the old man said.[return]“I cannot draw a picture of Death without ever, not once in my entire life, having seen a picture of Death,” said the miraculously sure-handed miniaturist, who would shortly, in fact, end up doing the drawing.[return]“You do not always need to have seen an illustration of something in order to depict that thing,” objected the refined and enthusiastic old man.[return]“Yes, perhaps not,” said the master illustrator. “Yet, if the picture is to be perfect, the way the masters of old would’ve made it, it ought to be drawn at least a thousand times before I attempt it. No matter how masterful a miniaturist might be, when he paints an object for the first time, he’ll render it as an apprentice would, and I could never do that. I cannot put my mastery aside while illustrating Death; this would be equivalent to dying myself.”[return]“Such a death might put you in touch with the subject matter,” quipped the old man.[return]“It’s not experience of subject matter that makes us masters, it’s never having experienced it that makes us masters.”[return]“Such mastery ought to be acquainted with Death then.”[return][return]A tale of art, religion and murder, set in later 16th century Istanbul, which has been hanging about unread on my shelf for several years. For some reason I though it would be heavy going, and I only read it this month because I am trying to work my way through the books that I have owned for longest, but it turned out to be an intricate and beautifully written mystery story.[return][return]One of the master miniaturists working on a secret project for the Sultan, goes missing and is later found dead. The story of the murder investigation is told from multiple points of view, including some of the drawings made by the miniaturist and his colleagues, but the chapter headings make it clear who is talking so it never becomes confusing. The murderer is one of the narrators, pretending to be innocent of the crime and trying to throw suspicion onto his colleague, but he also narrates chapters as 'the murderer' and in these chapters he explains events and tries to justify his crime, and tries not to leave any clues to his identity.(less)

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Aug 07, 2011

Maria added it

My first experience of Orhan Pamuk, I wanted to love this book, but by the end I guess I was just lukewarm. I loved the device of writing from the perspective of all the main characters of the novel, rotating through the chapters, both living and after death and indeed non-living objects. It gave you multiple perspectives and allowed you get more deeply into many more characters than a novel often allows. Of the various sub-plots I was most drawn to the love story between Black and Shekure, surp...more

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Nov 15, 2010

Karenina rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: medioriente

Ho impiegato un po’ di pagine ad entrare nel mondo descritto in questo libro; un escursus storico fra i miniaturisti del ‘500 in Turchia e nelle aree limitrofe con numerosi ed interessanti riferimenti ai kanati dell’Asia centrale, all’antica Persia e alle figure mitiche di sultani e condottieri. La scrittura di Pamuk è densa, ripetitiva, quasi claustrofobica, la realtà narrata è lontana oltreché nel tempo, anche nello spazio: l’oriente del mondo islamico difficile da afferrare per noi occidental...more

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Feb 26, 2009

Jason Weeks rated it

Shelves: fiction, reviewed

“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 city. ...more“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 city. When one of them is murdered, love, art, philosophy and religion interplay in a tightly structured and complex novel of ideas, beliefs, and detective work.

Each chapter is devoted to the first-person point of view of a single character, including the murdered miniaturist and his murderer, other miniaturists, Black and Shekure, and the neighborhood match-maker; even the subjects of sketches used by a storyteller in a coffee shop get their say. This device allows Pamuk to tell the tale from many angles and to develop nuanced and distinctive characters. Black, for instance, has pined for Shekure for so long that his unrequited love propels and subsumes all his thoughts and actions:

“Maybe you’ve understood by now that for men like myself, that is, melancholy men for whom love, agony, happiness and misery are just excuses for maintaining eternal loneliness, life offers neither great joy nor great sadness.”

Black may be considered the primary character, but as in any good work of literature, plot and conflict do not revolve around a sole protagonist. The miniaturists themselves are central to the discussions of art and the reactions of their religious contemporaries; “My Name is Red” is thus, first and foremost, a political novel disguised as a historical mystery with art at center stage:

“An artist’s skill depends on carefully attending to the beauty of the present moment, taking everything down to the minutest detail seriously while, at the same time, stepping back from the world, which takes itself too seriously, and as if looking into a mirror, allowing for the distance and eloquence of a jest.”

The Koran forbids depicting Allah, and the miniaturists in “My Name is Red” are persecuted by fundamentalists who belief their illustrations are an affront to their faith. Pamuk's novels obliquely comment on current affairs, and the issues he writes about in “My Name is Red” are still contentious today. It isn’t any wonder that Pamuk's life has been threatened or that the Turkish government recently arrested a group of men plotting to kill him.

Despite the risk of didacticism in the novel and the threat of persecution in real life, Pamuk still pulls off a great story within a story. Black's courtship of Shekure isn't as radiant as Ka's courtship of Ipek in "Snow," and the philosophical discussions and historical analysis of Islamic art are sometimes repetitive and tend to slow the action, but in the end, “My Name is Red” successfully integrates multiple strands of storytelling into an illuminating and colorfully woven tapestry of art, history, and the human condition. In Pamuk's world, the past and the present are eerily similar - and that's both comforting and sad at the same time.

Read more of my reviews at: http://www.borrowedtimes.blogspot.com/

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
21st Century Lite...: My Name is Red: Chapters 46-60 & Complete Book Discussion	2	4	Feb 10, 2012 03:22am
21st Century Lite...: My Name is Red: General Talk (No spoilers please!)	11	10	Feb 07, 2012 12:40pm
21st Century Lite...: My Name is Red: Chapters 31-45 Discussion	2	3	Feb 07, 2012 02:28am
21st Century Lite...: My Name is Red: Chapters 1-15 Discussion	4	8	Feb 06, 2012 11:02am
21st Century Lite...: My Name is Red: Chapters 16-30 Discussion	2	4	Feb 04, 2012 12:43am
أكبر تجمع للقراء ...: رايكم برواية (اسمي احمر )لحد الان ؟!!!!!	5	33	Jan 17, 2012 07:49pm
character	3	37	Sep 07, 2011 02:41am

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About Orhan Pamuk

Ferit Orhan Pamuk is a Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist. Pamuk is often regarded as a post-modern writer. As one of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has been translated into more than forty languages. He is the recipient of numerous national and international literary awards. He was the first Turkish person awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on October 12, 2006, commended for be...more

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“I don't want to be a tree; I want to be its meaning.” — 115 people liked it

“Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add depth to our sorrow. ” — 40 people liked it

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