Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk


Stacks PL248.P34 M3713 2009

Recommended by: Ogerta Lala, International student from Albania, Haggerty English Language Program

This special book is one of the most liked and appreciated by the literary critics but very soon it will be a literary icon like “Madam Bovary” and “Anna Karenina”. This novel takes place in Istanbul -- the Istanbul of 1975, divided between modern and archaic mentality. Kemal, a young boy, part of the high society, was engaged with Sibel. She was an aristocratic girl, educated in Paris. They were the perfect couple that had everything -- love, money, and entertainment. But a turning point happened in Kemal’s life when he met a very young girl called Fusun. She was so different from Sibel. She was only an 18-year-old shop girl with a lot of beauty and splendor that Kemal had become obsessed. All his world was overthrown and he became prisoner of his passion for Fusun. He never thought that his love for her was so immense that he could forget Sibel, his family, his business and everything else. This love was impossible as he went through pain, dreams and ended with a museum. The end of this destructive love was incredible and arduous. The book was wonderful and at the end of it you felt like you lost something special. That was what I felt after finishing this book. I felt I lost a best friend and Kemal lost her Fusun. It is a must-read.