Status Updates From The Innocence of Objects

I haven't gotten very far in this book, but it's not because I don't like it. Each little chapter sparks such creative ruminations that I'm tempted to play with all the ideas I'm getting until the well runs dry. Only then will I dip into a new chapter.

Of course I'm also inspired to read the novel, The Museum of Innocence that drew on the objects he collected for the (physical) museum he chronicles here.

Portrays 1950s-1990s Istanbul through found objects & old photographs. Process & artisans that made the Museum of Innocence a reality. Establishes the near identity between the protagonist Kemal (who fictitiously lives upstairs in the Penthouse) and Pamuk (who entered the novel as a character, transcribing verbatim the story Kemal told him). Beautiful photographic essays an excellent alternative to a real visit.

A book-catalogue-partly fiction. Arty, nonfiction volume to the novel The Museum of Innocence. Photo essays highlight box displays at Masumiyet Müzesi, Istanbul, also remarking about landmarks, late-20th-c day-to-day-life, Pamuk in youth, story characters, etc. Fictive in the sense that Pamuk attributes reality to Kemal and other fictitious characters through recounted conversations and real contributions by them.

It's with a heavy heart that I'm setting this book down. I think it's beautiful. I loved the introductory chapters as Pamuk explains the motivation for the project. I have no idea what's going on with the book though and don't like half-hearing this narrative that I didn't realize was published separately.