My Reading the World adventures continue with a literary trip to Türkiye!
This was another Shelterbox Book Club choice. For those who haven’t seen my Egypt post, this is a great way to read some books you might not ordinarily hear about or have chosen yourself. You pay £10 per month and get sent a book every six weeks. You can vote for the book you want to read out of a selection of three, and they run a week of online events with discussions, etc. The best part is that your money goes towards supporting emergency shelters and essential items for victims of disasters worldwide.
I didn’t have a firm plan in mind for Türkiye, so I was very happy to go with the Shelterbox consensus. We chose Farewell Fountain Street by Selçuk Altun. I have since noted down a few possible future Turkish reads: Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk, The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak, Young Turk by Moris Farhi and In Jail with Nazim Hikmet by Orhan Kemal. The last two were our other potential book club options.
Cover photo credit: mohammad majid on Unsplash
FAREWELL FOUNTAIN STREET BY SELÇUK ALTUN
Farewell Fountain Street tells the story of Ziya Bey, an ageing Ottoman aristocrat with six months to live, and Artvin, his new assistant. The book begins with Artvin’s job interview and progresses with them revealing their life stories to each other. The writing is beautiful, warm and often funny, at once lyrical and matter of fact.
I found the kangaroos contrived
Artvin, on his time in Australia
Istanbul is very present in the story, even though it does not all take place there. It is almost like another character, and there are many gorgeous descriptions of the city itself. I would have liked a map at the start of the book, but then I would always like a map at the start of a book. I found Ziya Bey’s explanation of why he loved to return there, focusing on the quirks of the people, a joy.
I saw a herd of horses standing in the village square with their closed eyes, apparently savouring the wind
A quote about the Mistral in France
The book is described as ‘a tantalising thriller’ on the cover (the author described it in the Q&A I attended as a literary thriller). I tend to take cover blurb at face value, and I therefore went into this book expecting something completely different to what was delivered. I’d describe it as the extreme end of literary fiction – it’s pretty much all vibes, no plot except for one chapter. I generally prefer books to be more plot driven, so this wasn’t the easiest read for me.
The book often delves into topics I knew nothing about – for example, the history of Sultan Mehmet II, and theories about Waiting for Godot. While they fit into and add depth to the story, I found myself having to take regular research breaks. This was another factor in this being a challenging read for me.
However, I adored the ending, which I did not see coming at all. It made me think differently about the story as a whole. The book has stayed with me since I read it, and I can see myself re-reading it one day with more of an idea of what to expect.
I haven’t visited Turkey before, but this book really pushed Istanbul up my wanderlust list.
Where would you like to visit in Turkiye?
