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White Castle Orhan Pamuk 9781897685839 Books

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White Castle Orhan Pamuk 9781897685839 Books

This is the 1st novel by this author that I read and I enjoyed it. It has an intricate plot and the language somehow entices you in. Most of the time the reader is mystified by various occurrences in the book, which cannot be rationally explained (such as the sultan's project to create a super weapon). I found it hard to understand the author's inner longings, because as a Turk he presents a rather strong façade with a little bit twisted, surreal ornament, but I liked the fact that the protagonist is a Southern European, as we get to see what it may feel like to be a Southern European in Turkey in that era, but from the perspective of a Turkish native. All in all a good read.


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White Castle Orhan Pamuk 9781897685839 Books Reviews

I have wanted to read something by this author for some time. He came recommended as a truly unique voice, with the additional interest of being a Turk steeped in the mores and traditions of his country and yet able to view them with some satirical distance.
SO I was very happy to discover this volume and was not disappointed. It is a first-rate historical novel set in the Ottoman Empire during the beginning of the Enlightenment in Europe. Without giving away any secrets, the plot follows a young Venetian university graduate who is enslaved and given to a Turkish savant, who wishes to learn from him as much as he can. From the most horrible humiliations and labor, the young Venetian rises to the top of Ottoman society, all the time battling to maintain an identity independent from his owner.
The historical details are fascinating and often very funny. The reader witnesses the limits of proto-science in a more of less Medieval Islamic culture, which is viewed as half magic but also as full of potential power. Then there is the Ottoman court, in which the slave and his owner become key players through guile and some scientific accomplishments, in particular during the plague. The intrigues are full of tension and mystery, a world glimpsed but not wholly explained in a perfect balance of novelistic art.
Finally, there is the inter-play between slave and owner, a conflict that is brutal and terrifying and yet a rare treat for the reader. The psychology of this conflict, I found, is extremely profound and realistic, showing the effect that each had on the other as the years passed. It is also full of surprises.
Highest recommendation.
No one can match this woman's experience with severely dysfunctional parents, yet she tells her true story with insight and love, and without exaggeration. A heroic journey! Fast read. Must read.
The other reviews appear accurate so I won't comment on what they've already said.

I have read a number of books by A.H. Almaas.. Though I don't agree with everything he writes, I will use his most basic structuring of the person to comment on this novel. Almaas says (based on Plato, most likely) that a person IS his essence, and HAS a personality. The personality usually operates in a non-natural way, inflating itself as it tries to control itself and others. Almaas calls this the Impostor, which I think is a bit judgmental but the term works for analyzing The White Castle.

I am not thinking Pamuk has read Almaas but maybe he has read Plato. Though who knows if he had that in mind when writing his Novel.

Still, if the model of essence and personality has some truth to it, this should be revealed by any novelist who digs deeply enough into character. This is exactly what the White Castle does digs into the nature of the character--what IS he truly, and what is his personality structure. The impostor struggles to keep it identity hidden, and stay in control of the person, rather than relax into a more natural way of being true.

It is a sad novel, a tragedy, in that the personality never gains the truth of itself, but succeeds only in creating a lie and living it. It was difficult for me to finish. I got bogged down in the middle, as other readers mentioned. I think this is because our own personality recognizes the impostor in the story, and then we don't want to read more for fear of our own impostor being revealed. It takes effort to finish the novel. However, we may learn much from the tragic choices of others, this is why the genre of tragedy is still with us after several thousand years.

I think "the white castle" is symbolic for a human being. In this case, the castle is not taken. The weapon to take the castle is poorly designed and bogs down in the mud, lost. This symbolizes the tragic end that the impostor remains in power of the person.

I could be wrong of course but that is how I read it.

I see The White Castle as similar to the tragic, A Turn of the Screw by James, and the likable story by Ursula K. LeGuin in her early short story, "the diary of the rose" in the collection, "The Compass Rose."

Caution Worth reading unless you are depressed, it might make you feel worse ) I don't think it would have been healthy for me to have read this book during my depressed decades..
This is the 1st novel by this author that I read and I enjoyed it. It has an intricate plot and the language somehow entices you in. Most of the time the reader is mystified by various occurrences in the book, which cannot be rationally explained (such as the sultan's project to create a super weapon). I found it hard to understand the author's inner longings, because as a Turk he presents a rather strong façade with a little bit twisted, surreal ornament, but I liked the fact that the protagonist is a Southern European, as we get to see what it may feel like to be a Southern European in Turkey in that era, but from the perspective of a Turkish native. All in all a good read.