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The Bastard of Istanbul

Elif Shafak

Start date: October 1, 2018

Finish date: October 30, 2018

Discussion: Country and Territories

Why we're reading this: Countries and Territories fo October: Armenia

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The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafa…more
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The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

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Showing 2 of 59 topics — 484 comments total

Country and Territories

A Dangerous Place (March 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 1 post · 6 views

last updated Mar 04, 2023 01:57PM

Homegoing (February 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 3 posts · 18 views

last updated Feb 06, 2023 01:39PM

What Members Thought

Jun 21, 2019 Cam rated it liked it

Someone suggested this book to me.... it was ok! It was about a girl whose Armenian American that lives with American mother sans visits her Armenian family. She wants to know more about her family so she visits Turkey where a lot of her family was terminated by the Turks. Her stepfather is Turkish who the mother started dating to get back at her Armenian ex husband. A lot of lives are intertwined and at times I felt a little lost.

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Oct 21, 2018 Donna rated it liked it

Shelves: multicultural, historical-fiction, adult-fiction, middle-eastern, other-diversity-jewish, fiction, family-life, death, relationships, n-y-times-best-seller

I read this book as part of my Diversity-In-All -Forms Book Club. I only gave it 3 stars and that was because the book was a work of art. But it was indeed hard to follow and moved slow. It was hard to keep the story lines clear. Asya is (or I thought) the central figure because it was she that was born out of wedlock. But as the book progresses we learn the background of all of her Aunts as well as the story of how she came to be (her Uncle is her Father!!).

If you read this book be prepared for ...more

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Aug 15, 2017 Krissy rated it liked it

The most interesting part of this book was in the acknowledgments. In 2006 the author was charged with "denigrating Turkishness" under article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code due to words the Armenian characters in the novel spoke. If convicted a 3 year prison sentence could occur. The charges were eventually dropped. The book is historical fiction and looks at the Armenian Genocide of 1915 that Turkey denies. I read a nonfiction memoir about a grand daughter of an Armenian survivor last year and ...more

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May 16, 2014 Angela rated it it was amazing

Shelves: international, 2016-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book took me longer to finish, but this is common with reading Elif Shafak's books. At least for me I feel like you really have to put yourself into the book, both time and space. She provides such vivid portrayal of her characters' lives. And in general I like her style of writing. I do have to say that this is one of my favorite books of all time because I wasn't sure how it would end. Near the end I thought I had an inkling, but never knew it would end in death.
So the story revolves arou This book took me longer to finish, but this is common with reading Elif Shafak's books. At least for me I feel like you really have to put yourself into the book, both time and space. She provides such vivid portrayal of her characters' lives. And in general I like her style of writing. I do have to say that this is one of my favorite books of all time because I wasn't sure how it would end. Near the end I thought I had an inkling, but never knew it would end in death.
So the story revolves around the relationship between Asya Kazanci and Armanousch (Amy) Tchakhmakhchian. Asya lives in Istanbul with her mother, aunts, grandmother, and great grandmother. She's rebellious against anything standard in Turkey. This rebellious nature comes from her mother, Zehila who wore short skirts and had a nose piercing. We're talking Turkey, which is usually conservative in nature...so Zehila stood out like a sore thumb. Zehila also had Asya at the age of 19 - and her family looked at her with such disgrace, finding it horrible that she was having a child - and no less had tried to get an abortion. As a reader I knew there was more to this story, but Shafak did not address Asya's father until near the end.
And then you have Armanousch, also known as Amy to her mother, Rose. Before I describe Amy, let me start with Rose. I hated that character. Immensely hated her. Because in my eyes it felt like she was never open to the Armenian culture. It felt like she hated all cultures, although she went and married Mustafa, Zehila's brother. Amy wanted to learn more about her Armenian culture, so decided that she would go to Istanbul. Highly unlikely for a person to up and leave like that nowadays, but this is how the story goes. Amy decides that she will stay with Mustafa's family - although he had not been back in Turkey for at least 20 years. How she was able to pull this off, I have no clue. Amy's parents did find out that she was in Turkey, and Amy's mother and stepfather flew over. But...something didn't feel right for me. Shafak did not openly state that Asya's father was Mustafa at that time, but I felt she hinted at it. Then she provided the actual scene where Mustafa, Zehila's only brother, had raped her. And Asya resulted from that rape. Talk about being shocked...but what did it for me was that Auntie Banu, the oldest child whom Mustafa feared...killed him by poisoning him with his favorite dessert. Somehow she knew (most likely she was psychic).

Wonderfully written book. I thoroughly enjoyed it...although the part when Auntie Banu was talking to her djinn - eh, I didn't really care for that part. Also, I happened to read near the end that Shafak was charged by the Turkish government for her portrayal of Turkey, which could have sent her to prison for 3 years. All charges were dropped, but it's still crazy that they were brought against her. ...more

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