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The Architect's Apprentice

Elif Shafak (Goodreads Author)

3.99 · Rating details · 15,182 ratings · 2,018 reviews

From the acclaimed author of The Bastard of Istanbul, a colorful, magical tale set during the height of the Ottoman Empire

In her latest novel, Elif Shafak spins an epic tale spanning nearly a century in the life of the Ottoman Empire. In 1540, twelve-year-old Jahan arrives in Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan’s menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart el ...more

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Hardcover, 432 pages

Published March 31st 2015 by Viking (first published December 13th 2013)

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Dec 01, 2014 Ibrahim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scanned

The Architect's Apprentice is the latest historical novel by Turkish author Elif Shafak The author said that that a 1559 painting of Sultan Sulieman standing, an elephant in the background was the inspiration of the novel.

The story goes as the indian boy Jahan sneaks into a ship that traveled to istanbul to deliver an "elephant" a gift from the Maharaja to the Sultan. Then he became the tamer of the elephant at the Sultan's Palace.

The elephant then joins the chief Ottoman Architect Sinan, to t ...more

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Jun 15, 2016 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: audible, turkey, arts, 2016-read, hf, magic

Wow, how to best describe his book?!

This book is special. It has:

-stunning writing that stretches how you see the world around you. It gets you thinking in new ways, comparing Eastern versus Western modes of reasoning.

-exciting events. I thought the book was going to end and then realized there were three hours left. There was much more to what had happened than I had realized! I came to understand I needed to know much more.

-the feel, it captures the atmosphere, of Istanbul in the 1500s. A w ...more

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Apr 06, 2018 Roger Brunyate rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, bildungsroman, illustrated-review, biography-fiction, art, middle-east, place-portraits

Episodic. Informative, often fun, but still episodic

My wife, who has been reading this in tandem with me for a book club, made the most generous and perceptive remark. “Shafak is obviously channeling an earlier tradition of oral storytelling,” she said, “and her book should be judged accordingly.” She is right. This sprawling story of Jahan, an Indian boy who arrives in Istanbul at the height of the Ottoman Empire as the mahout for a white elephant and stays to become a favored apprentice of the ...more

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May 17, 2015 Mike rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, near-east, reviewed, translated

First, let's bask in the beauty of the cover:

description

Quite a sight, isn't it?

Anyway, this book reminded me a lot of The Golem and the Jinni (tGatJ). They are both historical fictions that take place in cosmopolitan cities told through the eyes of immigrants. In this case an Indian elephant trainer, Jahan, arriving in Ottoman Istanbul with a gift for Suleiman the Magnificent from a foreign Shah. We see the fascinating world of 16th and early 17th century Istanbul through his eyes as Jahan is taken under the wing of Mimar Sinan, the Royal architect, as well as presenting the elephant, Chota, in Imperial functions (war, parades, impressing foreign guests, etc..). Jahan interacts with a wide variety of historical figures, but these encounters never felt forced or contrived.

Much like tGatJ the story takes a very meandering pace, letting the reader soak in the settings and get to know the interesting characters Jahan meets. This book takes place over many decades and is told not so much as one coherent plot line, but a big collection of little vignettes. In one section the plague swept through the city, striking down many people can bringing the otherwise bustling metropolis to a halt. Shafak does a splendid job painting a bleak picture of the situation:

Grief was an indulgence only a few could afford. Death had to stop harassing the living for the dead to be properly mourned. When the plague was gone, only then would kin and kith beat their breasts and shed their tears to their heart's content. For now grief was pickled and preserved, kept next to the salted meats and dried peppers in the cellars, to be partaken of in better times.

On another occasion Jahan and another apprentice are sent to Rome by their Master to study the architecture there and communicate with Michelangelo. Jahan must take Chota to war, works on some of the great Ottoman Mosques, and becomes familiar with the royal princess, Mihrimah, to name but a few of the events of his long life.

What I liked so much about this book was Shafak's gorgeous use of language.

The Muslims wore turbans; Jews had red hats; and Christians, black hats. Arabs, Kurds, Nestorians, Circassians, Kazakhs, Tatars, Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Abkhazs, Pomaks... They walked separate paths while their shadows met and mingled.

She infuses the story with gorgeous imagery, well developed characters, and elegant prose. Each character had their own unique voice and outlook that flowed naturally from their circumstances and background; every character felt real and alive. It was fascinating to see how characters changed over the course of the story and how their past actions changed when viewed from the perspectives gained at the end of the book.

As much as I enjoyed these little slice of life moments, the book did lack a driving force. Jahan was for the most part reacting to thing around him. In tGatJ the action is compressed over a much shorted span of time with indications of a malevolent force lingering int he background. While there was some strange goings on over the course of this book, it did not come to a head until the very end of the book, when these happenings had mostly become moot. Which is a shame because the ideas the end brought up were actually quite interesting and worth exploring further.

In the end this proved to be a very enjoyable read in spite of this shortcoming. If you find the Ottoman Empire fascinating (like me) or just like good historical fiction this is an excellent book to pick up. ...more

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Apr 11, 2017 Ana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: about-murders, creatures-spirits, touches-art, absolute, architecture, law-abiding-citizen, page-turner, a-little-historical, made-me-cry, of-life-and-death

I cannot even begin to express how absolutely beautiful this book is. Everything, from the writing to the historical background, is so sublimely put to paper, it touches the reader so many times, that this has become one of those works for which I find myself incapable of conjuring enough words of praise. I have cried two times during the story, which says a lot about how delicately it tugs at your heartstrings making beauty out of every ugly feeling that it touches. I wish I could retain every ...more

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Feb 13, 2016 Zanna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: me-na-w, bechdel-pass, me-na-lit

This novel has poetry under its skin; without being direct about it, Shafak beguilingly invites you to experience life as a poem

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy -Rumi

This subtle narrative sensibility transforms events into gestures behind my eyes like a dance. Poetry is a retreat for me, a consolation, and so I found this book, reassuringly long, consoling, passing-sweet like the cherry blossoms that opened and fell around London while I was reading it. The retreat to the past, to love and life as a poem, a series of word-gestures coalescing into a dance, soothed me, and gave me an image of Istanbul to hold through the turbulent present.

The great architect of Ottoman Istanbul, Sinan, gets the historical novel he deserves here in my humble opinion. While the protagonist, Jahan, is a flawed character, often hapless or selfish, whose Bildungsroman this is in part, Sinan is wise, generous, driven, brilliant. Countless chapters end with a quotable comment of his on the nature of the possible and the human. On the other hand, his character can be critiqued(view spoiler) The novel thus avoids becoming a praise song for Sinan. I also think viewing a historical figure through the eyes of a fictional protagonist is a good policy; I really dislike when historical fiction feels obfuscating and intrusive. Shafak’s research and imaginative reconstruction of Sinan’s working life is gracefully integrated into Jahan’s story, which is interesting enough to carry the historical freight.

If Jahan himself is unremarkable, that only throws the ‘gypsy’ leader Balaban, Sinan himself, princess Mihrimah and the elephant Chota, the real stars of the show, into sharper and brighter relief. Each of these elements is meticulously realised. Shafak draws attention to racism against Romany people even in extremely cosmopolitan Istanbul, and she neither exotifies nor romantically mythologises them, but gives them a highly positive role. The depiction of Chota and other animals in the menagerie is tender. But the real historical figures and their acts carry such a magical, poetic aura of the past that they are my favourite aspect of the book.

The style is easy, not ornate, but some of Shafak’s descriptions pulled me up short with delight: “the wine taste of tree bark and roses left to dry”. The elegance, directness and tenderness of Sufi poetry infuses the language. I love the headstone:

Pray for the soul of one whose name was not discovered
Loved by the Almighty, He hath known her always.

While most of the central characters are men, the plot still revolves around women in some ways, and there are some excellent female characters, whose lives reflect local partriarchy and their own suppressed brilliance. For them, I round up my stars. ...more

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Sep 09, 2019 Ace rated it it was amazing

We live, toil and die under the same invisible dome. Rich and poor, Mohammedan and baptized, free and slave, man and woman, Sultan and mahout, master and apprentice … I have come to believe that if there is one shape that reaches out to all of us, it is the dome. That is where all the distinctions disappear and every single sound, whether of joy or sorrow, merges into one huge silence of all-encompassing love. When I think of this world in such a way, I feel dazed and disoriented, and cannot tel ...more

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Apr 18, 2020 Kavita rated it it was amazing

Shelves: turkey, historical-fiction

Wow! I haven't read such wonderfully detailed and realistic historical fiction in a pretty long time. The Architect's Apprentice follows the story of Jahan, a young boy from India who sets out to escape his stepfather and seek his fortune. He ends up in Istanbul and falls in love - with an elephant, a princess, an architect, and a city.

The narrative flows along delightfully from one story to another, one character to the other. The relationships ebb and flow as Jahan finds one adventure after a ...more

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Apr 09, 2015 Victoria rated it really liked it

I’ve challenged myself to read more books by International authors, I think it makes my world more expansive, it requires a certain sensibility. And not just Irish mysteries or Swedish stories about quirky geriatrics, though they are highly entertaining, but more literature with a capital L. So when The Architect’s Apprentice started popping up on must read lists, I stepped right up. I like my history with a side of fiction and given architecture is at this novel’s heart, I was sold.

What I found I’ve challenged myself to read more books by International authors, I think it makes my world more expansive, it requires a certain sensibility. And not just Irish mysteries or Swedish stories about quirky geriatrics, though they are highly entertaining, but more literature with a capital L. So when The Architect’s Apprentice started popping up on must read lists, I stepped right up. I like my history with a side of fiction and given architecture is at this novel’s heart, I was sold.

What I found is that this story required a different kind of reading as it was highly imaginative, atmospheric and more philosophical than I’d anticipated, this isn’t a book you read quickly. The author gives us the opulence of the Ottoman Empire, while also the barbarism. At times the prose was overwhelming and, truthfully, I wasn’t always too keen on returning to it, but forge on I did and I’m happy for the experience. The writing is languid and other-worldly, the truths it reveals take a bit more focus to fully grasp.

The architect to which the title alludes is Mimar Sinan who has been credited with more than 300 glorious structures and served under three Sultans. The fictionalized portion introduces us to an apprentice, Jahan, who receives not only an architectural education, but a spiritual one as well. The narrative follows an episodic construct, think Turkish Pillars of the Earth, though characterization only scratches the surface. This makes some sense, it’s a cast of many, but when Chota the elephant and the Gypsy Balaban are the most clearly wrought characters, you have to wonder why you never get a deeper sense of the protagonists.

That said, Shafak has written a beautiful ode to 16th century Turkey, to a master of architecture and the cultures that built Turkey’s magnificent domes. We also glimpse the clash between science and the Muslim faith and are presented a philosophical view of life that is not common to Western culture. This isn’t for everyone (as my book club can attest), but for those that choose to read it, its beauty will not disappoint.
...more

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May 13, 2020 Gabrielle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, own-a-copy, read-in-2020, reviewed, goodreads-made-me-do-it, cover-art

I had heard a lot of good things about Elif Shafak, and my first experience of her writing confirmed that she is a proper wizard with words, atmosphere and settings. “The Architect’s Apprentice” took me on a journey through 16th century Istanbul, a bustling, cosmopolitan city where many worlds seem to intersect. I had visited that place with Pamuk’s “My Name is Red” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), but I hadn’t been crazy about that trip. Shafak, however, completely seduced me with Ja I had heard a lot of good things about Elif Shafak, and my first experience of her writing confirmed that she is a proper wizard with words, atmosphere and settings. “The Architect’s Apprentice” took me on a journey through 16th century Istanbul, a bustling, cosmopolitan city where many worlds seem to intersect. I had visited that place with Pamuk’s “My Name is Red” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), but I hadn’t been crazy about that trip. Shafak, however, completely seduced me with Jahan’s story, and I was sad to leave him when I flipped the last page.

Jahan arrives in Istanbul under rather unusual circumstances: officially, he is the trainer and minder of a gorgeous white elephant he has cared for since the creature’s birth, but the captain of the ship on which he travelled has different plans for him. While tending to both his official duty and secret activities, he will meet the Royal Architect, Mimar Sinan, who sees potential in the young Indian boy and decides to take him on as an apprentice. The novel follows Jahan’s life, his work, his travels and his loves, and draws an amazing portrait not only of the character, but of a very unique time and place in history. It’s hard to summarize in more details, because to be honest, the narrative meanders: there is no structured plot in “The Architect’s Apprentice”, we simply follow Jahan’s footsteps, but that’s the beauty of the story, it grows with him.

I wasn’t expecting to adore Chota the elephant as much as I did, but of course, I ended up as attached to him as Jahan is. Shafak did a wonderful job of making him just as much of a character as the humans are. And of course, the city of Istanbul is a character in and off itself too: through Jahan’s apprenticeship, he helps build some amazing and famous buildings, mosques, observatories and palaces that we get to see through their builders’ eyes. If you have never given much thought to visiting Istanbul before reading this book, it will definitely make you want to travel and see those marvellous monuments with your own eyes.

It’s not a perfect book because it doesn’t go quite as deep as I would have liked on many aspects of Jahan’s story. I think I would have liked it even more if it had been a bit longer and explored his relationship with his master, the other apprentices and the gypsies more fully. But do not let that small complaint deter you from reading Jahan and Chota’s story. It is still lush with dream-like beauty and wonders. ...more

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Aug 12, 2018 Reem Ghabbany rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

THIS BOOK WAS SO FREAKING GOOD!! I DIDN'T HESITATE NOT EVEN FOR A MOMENT WHEN I DECIDED TO GIVE IT 5 STARS
THIS IS MY FAVORITE READ OF THE YEAR.
THIS WAS A JUST A MAGICAL READ THAT CONTAINED EVERYTHING I WISH FOR IN A BOOK
THERE IS ZERO FLAW IN THIS BOOK!!!!! ZERO PEOPLE

so now that I've calmed.
the story follows the life of an Indian boy named Jahan who escapes, with an elephant, his abusive stepfather to Istanbul. Jahan was many things but mostly he was a Mahout first and Architect second.
in a ...more

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May 04, 2019 Ann (Inky) rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, ragtags-n-miscreants, round-the-world, were-going-on-an-adventure, worlds-of-old, djinn-fever, make-love-not-war, pretty-princesses, books-ive-reviewed, read-from-library

“They should all be sound asleep at so late an hour -- the humans, the animals, the djinn. In the city of seven hills, other than the watchmen on the streets making their rounds, only two kinds of people would be awake now: those who were praying and those who were sinning.”

A magnificently epic story about a man’s life from beginning to end: living in ancient Istanbul, a witness of the Ottoman rising to its glorious and bloody height as well as the beginning of its downfall. We follow Jahan from being a runaway as a child on a ship, to a servant of a series of mad Sultans, and most importantly, to being the trainer and carer for a magnificent white elephant named Chota, who becomes his best friend and companion throughout his long years.

I have never traveled to Istanbul, but I now have a memory of its beauty, its sounds, its smells after basking in Elif Shafak’s rich writing. The flow was languid at times, but every time I just began to think “this is getting too slow,” the pace quickened within half a page. Shafak is clearly a master of the English language--and it isn’t even her native tongue. After learning that she writes some novels in Turkish and some in English, I am even more eager to see if/how they compare from my point of view, since I can only read in English. I am beyond excited to explore Turkey again through Elif Shafak’s eyes sometime in the near future.

What drew me to this book when I saw it in the library (besides the cool cover with an elephant) was the blurb on the cover promising a colorful cast of characters. Jahan meets many humans from many walks on life along his journey. From a tribe of traveling Romanies that always seem to be involved when trouble brews, to a beautiful princess trapped behind palace walls, even to Michaelangelo while he’s painting the Sistene Chapel in Rome. A “ragtag” team or a cast of misfits is one of my favorite tropes, and Shafak did not disappoint with her life-like characters. Each a distinct voice and each play a different part in Jahan’s life.

I learned so much from this, looking back, but at the time it didn't feel that way at all. At one point I did a Google check and found out that almost all of the characters were indeed real people from the history books. Shafak breathed so much life into these characters while telling their stories. Seeing their like-nesses pop up on Wikipedia had me holding back tears, as if I was reading an obituary of someone I once knew long ago.

While I wasn’t head over heels for this story itself, partially because I have a difficult time relating to male protagonists, it was such a solid epic adventure tale for me in a time that I needed an escape. Though I have been struggling to keep up with reviews, and I feel like I'm barely doing it justice, this book still holds a place in my heart, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this setting or time in world history, or if you just love a good story with an elephant at its center.

“It was after this incident that Jahan understood his master’s secret resided not in his toughness, for he was not tough, nor in his indestructibility, for he was not indestructible, but in his ability to adapt to change and calamity, and to rebuild himself, again and again, out of the ruins.”

...more

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Jan 01, 2015 Shaimaa Ali rated it liked it · review of another edition

"May the world flow like water," Sinan used to say. I can only hope that this story, too, will flow like water in the hearts of its readers. -- Elif Shafak about "The Architect's Apprentice"

That was the last phrase in the author's note, and for that & for many other reasons I gave it that rating!
The novel is huge (452 pages), to keep reading such a lengthy work you need it to be flawless ..this novel definitely lacks that style!
While the characters are well-illustrated, it lacks the thrill to p ...more

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Jul 25, 2015 Aman rated it really liked it

This book is one of the few books I've read and was immediately sucked into the story ,it delivers in rich details what Istanbul was like in the 1500s under the reign of the most powerful Ottoman sultan
We follow jahan a young boy who escaped from home and his elephant chota.though the story stretches on a long period of time which is the life of jahan until he is very old I found it very enjoyable and it didn't get boring in any part.
the book isn't mainly about architecture though it is present This book is one of the few books I've read and was immediately sucked into the story ,it delivers in rich details what Istanbul was like in the 1500s under the reign of the most powerful Ottoman sultan
We follow jahan a young boy who escaped from home and his elephant chota.though the story stretches on a long period of time which is the life of jahan until he is very old I found it very enjoyable and it didn't get boring in any part.
the book isn't mainly about architecture though it is present and the sites mentioned in the book are what gives Istanbul its identity and history. If you're not familiar with Sinan's work I highly recommend you to google the sites mentioned to get the full image.
Jahan the main character is sweet and good natured but so soft he got on my nerves
all the characters are real apart from jahan but their characteristics are the author's pure imagination.shafak did a great job because they seemed real and their actions rational.the author notes that she changed some of the historical facts for the benefit of the story which was not good because time became confusing,people seemed to be aging but jahan and mihramah remained young?!people who can be alive only by a work of miracles remained alive?!
I especially loved the gypsies and balaban who is so funny but why he always took care of jahan was beyond me.
chota the elephant is the sweetest animal on earth.
I could've give it full five stars but some mistakes annoyed me more than I could overlook which are:
1 the faith of Michelangelo's letter,I know it's a nuisance but it really really annoyed me
2 the thing about time and age that I mentioned earlier
3 (view spoiler) the whole Thing is OK but the end is simply disastrous .
4 there are hints against Islam and other religions through the book and I don't appreciate it.not being religious doesn't give you the right to criticize religion.it's disrespectful
All in all the book is excellent and it is a big deal coming from me because I'm not a fan of Elif Shafak.
There are some of sinan's quotes about architecture that caught my attention since I'm studying architecture my professional curiosity kicked in. Here are some of them:

Architecture is a mirror that reflects the harmony and balance present in the universe.

architecture is conversation with God and nowhere does he speak more loudly than at the center

Remember that cities too are like human beings...... Remember to pity a wounded city the way you pity a wounded person.

...more

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Jul 28, 2015 Diane rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-fiction

I saw this novel reviewed pretty glowingly, in the New York Times. I love historical fiction and I haven't read much on 16th Century Istanbul, so I was excited to give it a try. I started to read and was immediately captivated by the introduction, where Jahan (our Architect's Apprentice) has witnessed the disposal of a number of bodies at the palace where he lives and works.

There were hints at a great love that went unfulfilled...yay! There was the idea that this man had risen from being an ele I saw this novel reviewed pretty glowingly, in the New York Times. I love historical fiction and I haven't read much on 16th Century Istanbul, so I was excited to give it a try. I started to read and was immediately captivated by the introduction, where Jahan (our Architect's Apprentice) has witnessed the disposal of a number of bodies at the palace where he lives and works.

There were hints at a great love that went unfulfilled...yay! There was the idea that this man had risen from being an elephant's trainer to rising to work for an important architect...fantastic! I read on. By page 100 of almost 400, I realized that the author was wandering around with no solid plot in sight.

The 'great love' was the only daughter of the Sultan Suleiman, but she only dropped in occasionally to visit Chota, the elephant that Jahan was training. She and Jahan had something that might have been called conversations, but we never see them fleshed out. We don't see the relationship building, but rather, sporadically throughout the book, Mirhimah will wander into the story not to be heard from again for the next 50 pages. Their relationship is never really developed. Highly disappointing...strike one.

Jahan is 12 years old when he is first introduced. Unfortunately, as the book wanders its way through his life, there is nothing to indicate his changing age...till you read that his hair is turning white...wait, what??? How old is he? And, he's still an apprentice when he's an old guy? Strike two.

The biggest problem is that the story wanders from event to event with nothing to get the reader invested. Yes, there is someone who is trying to bring down the "master" (the architect) and we see an event here and there, with dozens and dozens of pages between. I kept forgetting that there was a threat, because hey...the elephant needed a tooth pulled or the elephant has gotten out of his chains or whatever. No suspense. Strike three.

The saving grace...getting it to 2 stars...was the beauty of the language. ...more

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Jun 18, 2020 Imi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, fiction, translations, kindle, 16th-century, turkish, authors-of-colour, she-writes, faves-released-2010s, read-in-2020

A mesmerising, beautifully detailed and simply magical book! As Shafak herself admits in the author's notes, she clearly has taken liberties with the chronology of historical events, and what she creates is a story that is a marvelous mix of fact and fiction. Ottoman Istanbul is beautifully realised, and the endless adventures of Jahan the mahout, elephant tamer, and architect's apprentice, kept me guessing and wondering what was around the corner. All the characters are strong, even Chota the e ...more

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May 30, 2018 Zahra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A character-driven novel, The Architect’s Apprentice is led chiefly by Jahan- an Indian who sets sail for the Ottoman land with an elephant in tow. It is a white elephant nonetheless, perhaps a metaphor for unspoken truths that line the plot at various points in the book.

Escaping a cruel step-father and the sorrow of a dead mother, Jahan sets foot in Istanbul as a mahout and makes the city his home for the next fifty years- ending up as an apprentice to the historical Master Sinan, Chief Royal A ...more

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Jan 29, 2017 Tova rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, owned, covergasm, turkey-ottoman-empire, read-2017

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS WAS A THING! THIS IS LITERALLY ALL I COULD ASK FOR! ELIF SHAFAK WRITING A BOOK THAT INCLUDES MY FAVORITE SULTAN (SULEIMAN), MY LEAST FAVORITE SULTAN (SELIM), MY SUN AND MOON (MIHIRIMAH) + MAYBE A BUNCH OF MY OTHER BABES (BAYEZID, CIHANGIR, MUSTAFA, MEHMET, HURREM, MAHIDEVRAN ETC.) IT'S SET IN 1500 OTTOMAN EMPIRE! God, I needed this book in my life yesterday. This is all I could ever want. Thank you elif from the bottom of my heart.
---
That was lovely. A bit slow, and Elif ...more

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Jul 14, 2015 Rincey rated it really liked it

Shelves: poc-author, favorites, 2015

See my full review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klhir... ...more

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Aug 17, 2017 Calzean rated it liked it

Shelves: culture-turkey, woman-author, historical-fiction, author-turkey

Good historical fiction allows the author to realistically recreate another time and another place revolving around known or little known people. This book revolves around Mimar Sinar the Royal Architect for Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III and his four fictional apprentices.
I was not aware of the scope of Sinar's achievements and for this the book provides a good overview of his life.
However, the story of Jahan the mahout who becomes one of the apprentices, breaks a number of p ...more

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Feb 20, 2016 Jalilah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mena-women-s-lit-challenge-16, mena-lit-2017-challenge, historical-fiction, middle-east-north-africa, into-the-forest-2016-challenge

The Architect's Apprentice is based on the real life person Mimar Sinan, the most famous architect of the Ottoman era. The story is told through the point of view of his apprentice, the fictitious character Jahan. Sinan's work has been compared to the genius work of Italian architect and engineer Michelangelo.
In 1540 12 year old Jahan arrives in Istanbul from India with a gift for the Sultan Suleiman,(aka Suleiman the Magnificent), a white elephant named Chota.
Like several of her other novel The Architect's Apprentice is based on the real life person Mimar Sinan, the most famous architect of the Ottoman era. The story is told through the point of view of his apprentice, the fictitious character Jahan. Sinan's work has been compared to the genius work of Italian architect and engineer Michelangelo.
In 1540 12 year old Jahan arrives in Istanbul from India with a gift for the Sultan Suleiman,(aka Suleiman the Magnificent), a white elephant named Chota.
Like several of her other novels that I've read, Honor. and and The Forty Rules of Love, The Architect's Apprentice combines historical fiction with a little bit of mystery, myth and magic. In all three novels Shafak lets the reader know the final outcome of the story in the very first chapter. So in this book it's revealed right away that Jahan will live to be over 100 and finally return back to India in his old age. In spite of this, I was constantly in a state of suspense, afraid for him because of all the dangerous situations he gets himself into. 16th Century Ottoman Turkey was a time where simply evoking the attention of the wrong person could lead to death. Jahan manages among other things to lie about his identity, steal jewels from the royal court, fall in love with the Sultans daughter and much more. The Ottoman court was full of intrigues. One could never be sure who could be trusted.
Jahan becomes one of four apprentices to work with Sinan, but all four have their secrets. Sinan becomes the sultans chief architect continuing to build the most beautiful mosques, hospitals, palaces, bridges, schools and shrines, but with his success come many enemies. This novel is very rich and detailed. There is nothing in it that is there without reason. When I finished I couldn't not stop thinking about all the details and events and how they all came together. I was tempted to start reading it again!
My only minor complaint is because the dates are only mentioned a few times, in the beginning and the end, I often did not know how much time had gone by. At the start of the novel Jahan is twelve, but suddenly in the middle of the story it's mentioned that he has white streaks in his hair. I had not realized so much time had gone by! Besides that it was wonderful novel that had me captivated completely from the start to finish and leaving me with the feeling that I wanted to stay a little longer in the world Shafak has created.
Edited to add: I just reread this book and found it every bit intriguing and captivating as the first time around! It definitely deserves 5 stars! ...more

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Jan 11, 2020 Suad Alhalwachi rated it it was amazing

The architect apprentice

I started this book ages ago, and stopped as I couldn’t bare the fact that a Sultan would kill his own brothers or sons for the mere fact of becoming a Sultan. However I had made a new year’s decision to complete every book that I had started and left it after few pages. Of this I have a few.

The writer is my best writer, if we can give ten stars o would have given her and this book ten stars as the book had played on each وتر of mine. Art, architecture, animals, Turkey The architect apprentice

I started this book ages ago, and stopped as I couldn’t bare the fact that a Sultan would kill his own brothers or sons for the mere fact of becoming a Sultan. However I had made a new year’s decision to complete every book that I had started and left it after few pages. Of this I have a few.

The writer is my best writer, if we can give ten stars o would have given her and this book ten stars as the book had played on each وتر of mine. Art, architecture, animals, Turkey and India. I am in love of all these things. I regret not completing the book before.

This sentence caught my attention “truth is a butterfly, it lands on this flower and that. You run after it with a net. If you capture it, you are happy. But it won’t live long. Truth is a delicate thing” just replace the word Truth with Happiness and you can constructs totally different end. Truth and happiness are the two sides of the coin.

Set in the 16th century and talks about three sultans from Turkey, an architect and his apprentices. One of them came to Turkey with an Elephant as a gift to Sultan Sulaiman from India. He faces an entangled fortune and misfortune and the story goes on.

The architect had designed and built over 360 mosques in Turkey, of which I had only seen a few. So this is my project this year to visit all of them. I should also see the Taj Mahal of course.

One thing I am not sure about Elif’s obsession with Djinn and efrits. Why? I know that they are there and very much exist in a parallel world. I also know that there is a whole Sura in Quran that speaks about them! But I am not sure if they show themselves to us or actually try to help us in anyway unless of course if we are prophets. In most of the stories (barring 40 rules of Love) there either a mention of djinn, even in her TED talks she mentioned them. I am truly intrigued about this.

I don’t want to burn the story but this one is the best of Elif Shafak.

Enjoy reading and hope you can be like me an Elif Shafak addict ...more

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May 30, 2015 Fatima rated it it was amazing

What can I say about Elif Shafak other than a beautiful writer who sucks the reader into her stories regardless of the setting.... Having read a third book by Shafak, her versatility as an author has been proven. A must-read.

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Oct 03, 2016 Liviu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: t_notable_books_2015, read_2016, mainstream, 2015_release_read

historical fiction spanning a long period of time and done very well, but still having the inherent weaknesses of books that skip years fast (usually people change a lot in time while in such books, they do not change that much, so the passing of time is very little felt)

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Oct 31, 2017 Hafizz Nasri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

If this a memoir then it would be a perfect journey of Jahan Khan Rumi. Taking my sweet time with the reading, delving in with every words-- before Jahan became the apprentice to an apprentice, love and sorrow, desire and jealousy, the life of the king from the start to the end. Every chapter and paragraph was written so beautiful, it feels like Chota was mine as well.

I love the part when Jahan was taken to the dungeons of the Fortress of Seven Towers where he accidentally met Balaban again-- t ...more

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Nov 22, 2014 Kelley rated it really liked it

Shelves: goodreads-giveaways

ARC received courtesy of Goodreads.com giveaway

I loved this book! It was an historical novel with a love story and a mystery. I had never read much about the Ottoman empire so the novel was a new part of history for me. At this beginning of this time, the 1500's, the Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived together in peace. The architect, Sinan, kept opining that all people are of equal value--regardless of religion, ethnicity or economic worth. The elephant, Chota, belonged to the main character, ...more

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Dec 25, 2014 Mehvish rated it really liked it · review of another edition

So glad that I started the new year with this book, even more so because this is the book that I had received as a gift from a very good friend of mine.

I loved the cover, it is gorgeous, the turquoise and gold is very inviting.

Quite tempted to give it 5 stars, but I am deducting one because it gets kind of boring in the middle.

All in all, the book is beautiful. Elif Shafak is a brilliant storyteller. Give it a read!

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Jun 24, 2019 Sameen Hassan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, my-favorites, partly-fiction-partly-real, turkish-authors, historical-fiction, literary-fiction

The Architect’s Apprentice: Such befitting connotations, such magnificent storytelling

A 12-year-old Jahan arrives in Turkey with his beloved Chota, an elephant as white as boiled rice. By the twist of faith, Jahan ends up being one of the four apprentices to the royal chief architect Sinan. Together the master, the four apprentices & Chota, build the city of Istanbul to its glory.

Spanned over several decades, The Architect’s Apprentice is a fictional plot woven intricately into the nonficti ...more

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Jul 06, 2020 Margo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audible-uk, historical, audible-sync, fiction

This story was rich, evocative and atmosphic but very hard to rate. The writing was so good that I hated to leave the world she created. The story had the feel of fantasy with its exotic locations and the foreign philosophy of its characters. The 16th century setting contributed to the feeling of distance.

I could rate this anywhere from 3 to 5 stars depending on aspect being considered so it is very probable that my rating will change.

I listened to the audiobook read by Grant Cartwright. The na ...more

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Aug 04, 2018 Teynidhi Ramsewak rated it really liked it

“It's odd how faces, solid and visible as they are, evaporate, while words, made of breath, stay.”
It's pretty amazing how soothing and melancholic Elif shafak's books are...they all remind me of a forlorn lullaby hummed by a mother to her sick child on a cold wintry day.

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About Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak

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Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and the most widely read female author in Turkey. She writes in both Turkish and English, and has published seventeen books, eleven of which are novels. Her work has been translated into fifty languages. Shafak holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's Colleg ...more

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