The Bastard of Istanbul

by Elif Shafak

Walking in Istanbul meant walking in tandem with the crowd.

The ear was such a trustworthy part of the human body. No matter how much weight you gained, your ears remained exactly the same, always loyal.

But having no imperial achievements on her curriculum vitae and possessing a natural incapability for charming people, Asya thought, what on earth could she do about her nose?

It is thanks to alcohol that there is something resembling democracy in Turkey.”

Thus, he prided himself on rematerializing the abstract, and reinserting into the human body the work of art that had come out through an artist’s desire to externalize his inner emotional state. Here at the Skewed Window, dining was less culinary than philosophical, and the act of eating was deemed to be guided not by the primordial urge to fill your stomach or suppress your hunger but by a sublime dance with catharsis. After