Erik B.K.K. > Recent Status Updates

Why is this book so tough to read :(

This is such a boring book... What a disappointment :'(

Why why why is this book so mediocre. It has so much potential, but instead Shafak seems to have focused only on getting as much information and events in the book as possible. So much, we don't even get to really know the main character. His traits? Friendliness and loyalty and NOTHING else = stereotype cardboard character. And the book reads like a fleshed out summary. Kill your darlings (events) next time Shafak!

"Already had the sun the horizon reached
Whose circle of meridian covers o'er
Jerusalem with its most lofty point,

And night that opposite to him revolves
Was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales
That fall from out her hand when she exceedeth;

So that the white and the vermilion cheeks
Of beautiful Aurora, where I was,
By too great age were changing into orange."

This is.... such a weird book. Is it even a book? What I so far -know- it to be: a symbol; a mirror; a dream; a hallucination; a river; a stronghold; a vision; a lecture; a lesson ; a song; a poem; a rant of a mystic, or a rant of an addict; a clash between light and darkness, where light looks strangely shadowy and darkness seems oddly bright... What makes this so hard to read is also what makes this so addicting.

Picked up reading again after some months. All feels fresh and new! Hope this time it'll stick.

So far a very entertaining read, though I'm not sure what to make of it. The story feels 'undefined': it starts of as a mystery, then quickly spins around to a coming of age story. The main character Jahan tells stories to the Sultan's daughter, so I'm thinking is this some sort of 1001 nights - but then those stories are quickly cut off as well. Then we proceed to war genre, but a very fleeting one. So, what's next?

I've decided to limit myself to one story per night. (I secretly hope this will affect my dreams) Ya Leil...