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Turkey Street: Jack and Liam move to Bodrum
Six months into their Turkish affair, Jack and Liam, a gay couple from London, took lodgings in the oldest ward of Bodrum Town. If they wanted to shy away from the curtain-twitchers, they couldn't have chosen a worse position. Their terrace overlooked Turkey Street like the balcony of Buckingham Palace and the middle-aged infidels stuck out like a couple of drunks at a temperance meeting. Against all the odds, the boys from the Smoke were welcomed into the fold by a feisty mix of eccentric locals and a select group of trailblazing expats, irresistible ladies with racy pasts and plucky presents. Hop aboard Jack's rainbow gulet as he navigates the choppy waters of a town on the march and a national resurgence not seen since Suleiman the Magnificent was at the gates of Vienna. Grab your deckchair for a whirlwind tour of love and duty, passion and betrayal, broken hearts and broken bones, dirty politics and the dawn of a new Ottoman era.
342 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2015
266 people want to read
About the author
Jack Scott
6 books64 followersJack Scott was born on a British army base in Canterbury, England in 1960 and spent part of his childhood in Malaysia as a ‘forces brat’. A fondness for men in uniforms quickly developed. At the age of eighteen and determined to dodge further education, Jack became a shop boy on Chelsea’s trendy King’s Road: ‘Days on the tills and nights on the tiles were the best probation for a young gay man about town.’ After two carefree years, Jack swapped sales for security and got a sensible job in local government with a pension attached. By his late forties, passionately dissatisfied with suburban life and middle management, he and his husband Liam abandoned the sanctuary of liberal London for an uncertain future in Turkey.
In 2010, Jack started an irreverent narrative about his new life and Perking the Pansies, the blog quickly became one of the most popular English language blogs in Turkey. Within a year, Jack had been featured in the Turkish National Press, had published numerous essays and articles in expat and travel magazines and contributed to the Huffington Post Union of Bloggers. As the blog developed a head of steam, a growing worldwide audience clamoured for a book. Jack duly obliged and his hilarious (well, he thinks so) memoir, Perking the Pansies hit the streets at Christmas 2011.
The book became a critically acclaimed, award winning best seller and its success has opened out a whole new career for Jack as an author. Jack and Liam decided to end their Anatolian adventure and paddle back to Britain on the evening tide. They currently live in Norwich, a surprising cathedral city in eastern England.
Jack's often nostalgic for his encounters with the hopeless, the hapless and, yes, the happy go lucky. They gave him an unexpected tale to tell. Act Two, Turkey Street Jack and Liam move to Bodrum, was published in May 2015 by Springtime Books
In 2010, Jack started an irreverent narrative about his new life and Perking the Pansies, the blog quickly became one of the most popular English language blogs in Turkey. Within a year, Jack had been featured in the Turkish National Press, had published numerous essays and articles in expat and travel magazines and contributed to the Huffington Post Union of Bloggers. As the blog developed a head of steam, a growing worldwide audience clamoured for a book. Jack duly obliged and his hilarious (well, he thinks so) memoir, Perking the Pansies hit the streets at Christmas 2011.
The book became a critically acclaimed, award winning best seller and its success has opened out a whole new career for Jack as an author. Jack and Liam decided to end their Anatolian adventure and paddle back to Britain on the evening tide. They currently live in Norwich, a surprising cathedral city in eastern England.
Jack's often nostalgic for his encounters with the hopeless, the hapless and, yes, the happy go lucky. They gave him an unexpected tale to tell. Act Two, Turkey Street Jack and Liam move to Bodrum, was published in May 2015 by Springtime Books
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 9, 2016
Thank you to Jack and Liam for taking me on my Turkish adventure. For my review, I offer some North American perspective.
Us US Americans are notoriously badly traveled--I've been fortunate to travel some, but let's be honest the majority of us barely get to Canada or Mexico, let alone the Middle East. To most here, Turkey sounds like a distant kingdom of magic and mystery. Part thrilling, part terrifying! My limited experience in the Middle East was wonderful, so I was excited to read "Turkey Street" and gain insight into life there as an expat and LGBT.
In this the second book of their adventures, the newness and novelty of the gay couple's move has worn off. The Emigreys (old expats) and VOMITs (victims of men in Turkey) are up to their old tricks, and our protagonists grapple with how to continue evolving while Ataturk's homeland faces some complicated challenges as a rising economic power on the edge of Europe with a proud Islamic tradition.
There's lots of wit and unique turns of phrase I found myself highlighting in the Kindle reader. ***HOWEVER*** warning this book is very very British! Not like Simon Cowell and JK Rowling British, more like Henry VIII and Katie Price British i.e. unless you have some exposure to British culture and history you'll be making solid use of the handy glossary in the back Jack Scott kindly wrote for North American readers wondering what's "blankety blank" and who's "Vicky Pollard."
In the end, "Turkey Street" is a great read, and I learned about both Turkish AND British culture. Now please excuse me while I apply my slapper red lipstick and groove to the "Best of Zeki Muren" on my iTunes!
Us US Americans are notoriously badly traveled--I've been fortunate to travel some, but let's be honest the majority of us barely get to Canada or Mexico, let alone the Middle East. To most here, Turkey sounds like a distant kingdom of magic and mystery. Part thrilling, part terrifying! My limited experience in the Middle East was wonderful, so I was excited to read "Turkey Street" and gain insight into life there as an expat and LGBT.
In this the second book of their adventures, the newness and novelty of the gay couple's move has worn off. The Emigreys (old expats) and VOMITs (victims of men in Turkey) are up to their old tricks, and our protagonists grapple with how to continue evolving while Ataturk's homeland faces some complicated challenges as a rising economic power on the edge of Europe with a proud Islamic tradition.
There's lots of wit and unique turns of phrase I found myself highlighting in the Kindle reader. ***HOWEVER*** warning this book is very very British! Not like Simon Cowell and JK Rowling British, more like Henry VIII and Katie Price British i.e. unless you have some exposure to British culture and history you'll be making solid use of the handy glossary in the back Jack Scott kindly wrote for North American readers wondering what's "blankety blank" and who's "Vicky Pollard."
In the end, "Turkey Street" is a great read, and I learned about both Turkish AND British culture. Now please excuse me while I apply my slapper red lipstick and groove to the "Best of Zeki Muren" on my iTunes!
March 5, 2016
I enjoyed reading Perking the Pansies, the first book by Jack Scott about the adventures of him and Liam in Turkey, but Turkey Street is even better.
At the beginning of the book, it says “Jack likes to be educational as well as decorative,” and that is indeed true as the book works on many levels. It successfully weaves together information about Turkey in terms its culture, politics and history with a colourful description of the day to day life.
It is full of the double entendre which Jack uses so well, making this a book you should never read on a train or a plane as your fellow passengers will wonder why you are giggling every few seconds and then roaring with laughter.
But Turkey Street is much more than a comedy and a description of Turkish life. As you read it you are smacked in the face with the harsh realities of life as an expat. The desperation of those caught in a web they feel they cannot get out of even though their heart tells them to leave and return to their homelands. The feeling of being pulled between the excitement and difference of an expat life and the family who needs you back home.
Turkey Street is an excellent read for anyone; gay or straight, who know Turkey and who have never been there, expat or not. It delivers humour, sadness, and insights into a foreign life, but most of all it is a love story that cannot help but touch the heart.
Put Turkey Street on the top of your reading list, you won’t regret it.
At the beginning of the book, it says “Jack likes to be educational as well as decorative,” and that is indeed true as the book works on many levels. It successfully weaves together information about Turkey in terms its culture, politics and history with a colourful description of the day to day life.
It is full of the double entendre which Jack uses so well, making this a book you should never read on a train or a plane as your fellow passengers will wonder why you are giggling every few seconds and then roaring with laughter.
But Turkey Street is much more than a comedy and a description of Turkish life. As you read it you are smacked in the face with the harsh realities of life as an expat. The desperation of those caught in a web they feel they cannot get out of even though their heart tells them to leave and return to their homelands. The feeling of being pulled between the excitement and difference of an expat life and the family who needs you back home.
Turkey Street is an excellent read for anyone; gay or straight, who know Turkey and who have never been there, expat or not. It delivers humour, sadness, and insights into a foreign life, but most of all it is a love story that cannot help but touch the heart.
Put Turkey Street on the top of your reading list, you won’t regret it.
February 19, 2017
TURKEY STREET, the sequel to Jack Scott’s PERKING THE PANSIES, is a satisfying hail and farewell to the unlikely country two gays fall in love with, passionately court, and reluctantly leave behind.
Like the first book, this one is a tasty Turkish delight, a mad dervish of colorful characters, and a love song to an adopted country. The main difference I find in these pages is a more tangible undercurrent of sadness and the inevitability of kismet’s farewell kiss. The bitter-sweet texture is what gives this sequel its uniqueness, much as the first one is rare for its witty narrative and remarkable characters.
Happiness is often defined by its opposite. In TURKEY STREET Scott gives us a symbolic olive tree dedicated to a fallen lover, an orphan lost in a brutal system, and broken family members who pull the heart strings back to England.
Both Jack (the narrator) and Liam (his husband) have the kind of breezy wit that keeps the story moving with grace and style. Author Scott has the rare ability to speak volumes with a few well chosen words and tongue-in-cheek innuendo. Being a student of language, I appreciate the glossaries at the end—street Turkish and even Brit-speak with more than a little Polari thrown into the mix.
If there be a narrative flaw, it would be the occasional lapse of point of view, where we see a brief scene through the eyes and mind of a character other than Jack. Picky, picky. By and large, I feasted on this story…a lavish banquet of language, a delicious taste of understated love.
Like the first book, this one is a tasty Turkish delight, a mad dervish of colorful characters, and a love song to an adopted country. The main difference I find in these pages is a more tangible undercurrent of sadness and the inevitability of kismet’s farewell kiss. The bitter-sweet texture is what gives this sequel its uniqueness, much as the first one is rare for its witty narrative and remarkable characters.
Happiness is often defined by its opposite. In TURKEY STREET Scott gives us a symbolic olive tree dedicated to a fallen lover, an orphan lost in a brutal system, and broken family members who pull the heart strings back to England.
Both Jack (the narrator) and Liam (his husband) have the kind of breezy wit that keeps the story moving with grace and style. Author Scott has the rare ability to speak volumes with a few well chosen words and tongue-in-cheek innuendo. Being a student of language, I appreciate the glossaries at the end—street Turkish and even Brit-speak with more than a little Polari thrown into the mix.
If there be a narrative flaw, it would be the occasional lapse of point of view, where we see a brief scene through the eyes and mind of a character other than Jack. Picky, picky. By and large, I feasted on this story…a lavish banquet of language, a delicious taste of understated love.
July 6, 2015
Turkey Street, by Jack Scott is at once a charming travel memoir and a smart, sassy commentary on how a small community of expatriates -- including a British gay couple -- get along each day in foreign lands such as Turkey, where the book takes place.
Jack and Liam have gone to the tiny town of Bodrun along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts on an extended holiday from the dank fogs of London. This is the story of the outrageous people they meet and the oftentimes funny, sometimes poignant, situations in which they find themselves.
Seen primarily through the eyes of Jack, the neighborhood comes alive with warmth and hospitality at their arrival. Their Turkish landlady, Beril, seems to think that by fixing them any one of two dozen Turkish dishes, she can put a bad mood or situation instantly better. Her efforts are met with long-suffering patience by Jack and Liam, whose domestic devotion -- if not always bliss -- shines through the entire narrative.
We meet many characters of note. There's Sophia, a one-time aspiring film star, but now "a resolutely single, well-appointed Turkish widow with dazzling white hair fashioned into a bun and a heart in a million pieces" even years after the death of her diplomat husband.
There's Sean, Liam's severely handicapped younger brother, whose "overfriendly' demeanor makes him many friends. Liam is fiercely protective of him, even after thirty years, and agonizes when he must finally put him in a home when their mother can no longer care for him.
"Liam helped Sean from his wheelchair and the two brothers sat side by side on the small bed, hands held, sensing the overwhelming inevitability of a situation neither of them could change."
We meet Nancy, whose faithless love for a sea captain outweighs her good sense. "Nancy's pneumatic chest heaved and her heart pounded expectantly, like a virgin on her wedding night."
And, we meet Grit, the innkeeper of a one-star establishment called the Otel Latmos. "There was no disguising it. Grit was a bit of a gorilla. Six feet and more in her cross-hikers, she had the lumbering gait of a silverback."
Ultimately, however, this is a tale about Jack and Liam's devotion to each other and how they weather the ups and downs common to any relationship, and his deft treatment of the story -- told with humor and grace -- speaks volumes for how much they care for one another.
Overall, I found the book to be well-written and insightful -- particularly on the subject of Turkey and its status in the world community. I give Turkey Street an unqualified five stars.
Jack and Liam have gone to the tiny town of Bodrun along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts on an extended holiday from the dank fogs of London. This is the story of the outrageous people they meet and the oftentimes funny, sometimes poignant, situations in which they find themselves.
Seen primarily through the eyes of Jack, the neighborhood comes alive with warmth and hospitality at their arrival. Their Turkish landlady, Beril, seems to think that by fixing them any one of two dozen Turkish dishes, she can put a bad mood or situation instantly better. Her efforts are met with long-suffering patience by Jack and Liam, whose domestic devotion -- if not always bliss -- shines through the entire narrative.
We meet many characters of note. There's Sophia, a one-time aspiring film star, but now "a resolutely single, well-appointed Turkish widow with dazzling white hair fashioned into a bun and a heart in a million pieces" even years after the death of her diplomat husband.
There's Sean, Liam's severely handicapped younger brother, whose "overfriendly' demeanor makes him many friends. Liam is fiercely protective of him, even after thirty years, and agonizes when he must finally put him in a home when their mother can no longer care for him.
"Liam helped Sean from his wheelchair and the two brothers sat side by side on the small bed, hands held, sensing the overwhelming inevitability of a situation neither of them could change."
We meet Nancy, whose faithless love for a sea captain outweighs her good sense. "Nancy's pneumatic chest heaved and her heart pounded expectantly, like a virgin on her wedding night."
And, we meet Grit, the innkeeper of a one-star establishment called the Otel Latmos. "There was no disguising it. Grit was a bit of a gorilla. Six feet and more in her cross-hikers, she had the lumbering gait of a silverback."
Ultimately, however, this is a tale about Jack and Liam's devotion to each other and how they weather the ups and downs common to any relationship, and his deft treatment of the story -- told with humor and grace -- speaks volumes for how much they care for one another.
Overall, I found the book to be well-written and insightful -- particularly on the subject of Turkey and its status in the world community. I give Turkey Street an unqualified five stars.
February 21, 2016
I devoured Perking the Pansies by the same author and am delighted that this second book is every bit as good as the first. The further adventures of Jack and husband, Liam, follow this glorious couple in all their technicolour gayness through their (mis?)-spent time in Bodrum. Providing a fabulously irreverent peak into both local and expat community, as they sashay from the glitterati to poignantly painted down-on-their-luck characters, Scott peels back the layers of expat life and the sense of pace and fun is infectious. But Scott never loses sight that these are real people in a real place and it is as if we are simply hiding behind a curtain, watching a spectacular reality show with shades of light and dark, humour and pathos in turn. I particularly enjoyed the insightful comments on Turkey, its history, political, economic and cultural confusion and the outrageous audacity of this very loving couple to attempt life in a country as it focusses more and more on its Muslim mores. Witty, gritty and thoroughly readable – loved it!
June 15, 2015
I love Turkey, for all its flaws. I read Jack Scott's first book and it stood out from all the other books about Turkey. If anything this one is even better. Very funny and in places moving without going over the top. Many people struggle a bit leaving family behind, I thought the Liam story was very realistic and well written and I loved Beril. I hope there will be a third book.
May 21, 2015
Funny, pacy and poignant. Another glimpse into the fascinating and fabulous (most of the time) Bodrum life of Jack and Liam. Who can fail to love this book, the sequel to the brilliant 'Perking the Pansies'?
October 5, 2015
A wonderful follow up to Perking the Pansies and very touching
May 20, 2015
Jack does it again. Funny, poignant, racy and insightful.
December 16, 2015
Turkey Street, Jack and Liam move to Bodrum by Jack Scott: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwid... 2015 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)
September 23, 2016
After meeting the crazy inhabitants of Bodrum town and reading through to the last poignant moments in Turkey Street by Jack Scott, it was really hard to come to the end of this tale and return to normal life. Scott’s portrayal of his life with partner Liam had me longing to sit in the garden with them, drinking wine and eating meze, swapping jokes and creating memories.
Despite having come from the big city bustle of London, Jack and Liam easily adapt to the sunnier, slower shores of the Aegean. Not content to take a wait-and-see approach to getting to know the locals, they dive straight into the social scene, dancing with divas and overfriendly hirsute manga, while upsetting the more staid expat residents who get by on a fixed income and a very stiff British upper lip. Being the only gays in the Bodrum village quickly sees them the talk of the town, and Jack makes good use of the opportunity to mingle with expat women effected by both the Turkish heat and the men. His portraits of women no longer young, led astray by rampant hormones and sex galore are engaging rather than embarrassing, and acknowledge the realities behind the tabloid exposés.
Scott even manages to touch on the tricky subject of living in a foreign country, with a lifestyle you can’t get back home, while still pining for what you’ve left behind. It isn’t always an easy choice to make. It requires sacrifice and for most of us, no matter how much we enjoy living in Turkey, time not spent with family is a major sore point. The idea of family is an underlying theme in this book albeit subtly touched upon. In his description of the people he calls friends, Scott shows the way people who choose to live in another country also form relationships as strong as, if not stronger than those based on blood ties.
If you’ve been to Bodrum or another Turkish seaside resort on holiday and now you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to help you move here, Turkey Street by Jack Scott isn’t for you. As the author points out, Bodrum isn’t Turkey. However, if you’re after a rollicking good laugh occasionally sobered up by a sprinkling of home truths about what it’s like to be an expat in Turkey, this is a must read.
Despite having come from the big city bustle of London, Jack and Liam easily adapt to the sunnier, slower shores of the Aegean. Not content to take a wait-and-see approach to getting to know the locals, they dive straight into the social scene, dancing with divas and overfriendly hirsute manga, while upsetting the more staid expat residents who get by on a fixed income and a very stiff British upper lip. Being the only gays in the Bodrum village quickly sees them the talk of the town, and Jack makes good use of the opportunity to mingle with expat women effected by both the Turkish heat and the men. His portraits of women no longer young, led astray by rampant hormones and sex galore are engaging rather than embarrassing, and acknowledge the realities behind the tabloid exposés.
Scott even manages to touch on the tricky subject of living in a foreign country, with a lifestyle you can’t get back home, while still pining for what you’ve left behind. It isn’t always an easy choice to make. It requires sacrifice and for most of us, no matter how much we enjoy living in Turkey, time not spent with family is a major sore point. The idea of family is an underlying theme in this book albeit subtly touched upon. In his description of the people he calls friends, Scott shows the way people who choose to live in another country also form relationships as strong as, if not stronger than those based on blood ties.
If you’ve been to Bodrum or another Turkish seaside resort on holiday and now you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to help you move here, Turkey Street by Jack Scott isn’t for you. As the author points out, Bodrum isn’t Turkey. However, if you’re after a rollicking good laugh occasionally sobered up by a sprinkling of home truths about what it’s like to be an expat in Turkey, this is a must read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews