Snow - Orhan Pamuk

Title: Snow
Author: Orhan Pamuk
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Price: Rs. 405/-
Language: English

Perhaps, me saying that Snow is one of the most wonderful books I have had the good fortune of reading doesn't hold as much value as I would like it to. It's because I'm not the only one saying it.

The story traces the protagonist, Turkish poet and journalist, Ka's journey from the lonliness of the city of Frankfurt, Germany to his divine intervention on the streets of Kars in Istanbul. An atheist, he arrives in Kars to cover the reality behind the suicides of girls across Kars, only to be moved by spirituality of this Turkish city. The truth behind the Republicans, their desire to eradicate the Muslim headscarf and the 'revolution' that arrives hence changes the lives of everyone, especially Ka, forever.

'A novel of profound relevance to the present moment.'  -The Times

Pamuk's Snow can move even the most solid of heart and take them to a city where they have never been surrounded by flakes of snow, and whiteness and bloodbath. He paints a picture of Istanbul that creates within the reader, atleast it did for me, the feeling of fernweh - wanderlust.

The love of Ka for Ipek, a Turkish woman he had known since childhood, is almost most too sensuous to bear. The author's talent for the written word makes Ka's lonliness, longing and his brush with the spiritual more intense and surreal. Snow is like a poem; fluid, captivating and exquisite. It is like snow; pure, magical and dark. For me, Snow is a must-read piece of literature that will stay relevant till the end of time.

'Profound and frequently brilliant...Illuminate[s] the confrontation between secular and extremist Islamic worlds better than any work of non-fiction I can think of.'                       -New Statesman

Other Books by this author: The Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name is Red and The Museum of Innocence etc.

Rating: 5/5