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'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away ...' Our brains stay active for ten minutes after our heart stops beating. For Tequila Leila, each minute brings with it a new memory - growing up with her father and his two wives in a grand old house in a quiet Turkish town; watching the women gossip and wax their legs while the men went to mosque; sneaking cigarettes and Western magazines on her way home from school; running away to Istanbul to escape an unwelcome marriage; falling in love with a student who seeks shelter from a riot in the brothel where she works. Most importantly, each memory reminds Leila of the five friends she met along the way - the friends who are now desperately trying to find her.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member alexrichman
An odd book - starts with a dazzling portrayal of Turkish life and Istanbul’s underbelly, before suddenly veering into the realms of thriller and then farce. Preferred the first half by far.
LibraryThing member stephkaye
In the last ten and half minutes of her life, a murdered prostitue reflects back on the childhood in Turkey that brought her to Istanbul, and the travails and friendships she encountered there. A beautiful meditation on blood family versus "water" family.
LibraryThing member EBT1002
The title of this novel full of delightfully rich characters refers to the premise that humans retain consciousness for some few minutes after the heart stops beating -- perhaps as long as 10 minutes 38 seconds. During those minutes, as one would imagine, reminiscence would occur. And so we meet
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Tequila Leila, an Istanbul prostitute with a history worth witnessing and a handful of friends worth cherishing. This is their story, each of their stories. Beautifully wrought and captivating, I loved this novel. It lost half a point as I think the author lost just a wee bit of her narrative edge in the final chapters, but this is a strong contender for the Booker Prize. Show Less
LibraryThing member chrisblocker
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World begins in the moments after Tequila Leila is murdered. For the next ten minutes and thirty some seconds, Leila’s consciousness fades, but not without a surge of memories, each starting with the recollection of a scent or taste. The first half of this
The idea behind the second part of the novel was a good one, but it failed to pull me in in anyway close to the first half. In Part Two, we’re brought into the circle of Leila’s five friends—all of whom were introduced in Part One—as they grieve and embark on a quest to honor Leila’s memory. There are some wonderful characters in this group, but none have been developed past a slightly expanded character sketch. Certainly, none along the lines of Leila. In some ways this section remains about Leila, but we really don’t learn much more about her here, nothing that really develops her story. This part of the novel merely feels like an old-fashioned quest taken by a group of friends.
Of this year's Booker longlist, 10 Minutes... remains one of my favorites—certainly worthy of its shortlist nomination. I don't think it's the eventual winner, but I also don't feel like I've read the winner yet. My interest in Shafak is very much alive and I look forward to reading more of her work.
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novel takes us on this journey in Leila’s brain, the huge peaks and valleys that make up her joyous and tortured existence. Leila is so wonderfully drawn, and the orchestration of the events that surround her is expertly done. I was very much pulled into her story—I cannot speak highly enough of these 183 pages.The idea behind the second part of the novel was a good one, but it failed to pull me in in anyway close to the first half. In Part Two, we’re brought into the circle of Leila’s five friends—all of whom were introduced in Part One—as they grieve and embark on a quest to honor Leila’s memory. There are some wonderful characters in this group, but none have been developed past a slightly expanded character sketch. Certainly, none along the lines of Leila. In some ways this section remains about Leila, but we really don’t learn much more about her here, nothing that really develops her story. This part of the novel merely feels like an old-fashioned quest taken by a group of friends.
Of this year's Booker longlist, 10 Minutes... remains one of my favorites—certainly worthy of its shortlist nomination. I don't think it's the eventual winner, but I also don't feel like I've read the winner yet. My interest in Shafak is very much alive and I look forward to reading more of her work.
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LibraryThing member ozzer
Elif Shafak's delightful novel commences morbidly with the death of her protagonist. How can there be any surprises with this kind of beginning? As it turns out—plenty. The story quickly morphs into a charming journey of self-discovery with themes of friendship and loyalty among outcasts. The
Tequila Leila is the murdered prostitute who experiences flashbacks to her life in her dying moments. Part 1 of this highly structured novel, the Mind, tells of her past in Van, her runaway to the city, and methodically introduces five friends and her future husband along with her own backstory. Each of the five friends is a different type of outcast. Nostalgia Nalan is a large transsexual. Sabotage Sinan is a childhood friend who was bullied by a domineering mother, the village Lady Pharmacist. Jameelah is a Somalian convert to Christianity who has been ostracized by her Muslim family. Zaynab122 is a cleaning woman at the brothel where Leila lives and works. And Hollywood Humeyra is a Syrian refugee who makes a living as a lounge singer. Leila's eventual husband, D/Ali, is also an outcast since he is a left wing activist who has chosen to pursue art against his family's wishes.
Leila is an empathetic person with a strong personality. She collects all of these outcasts, who develop strong friendships and powerful senses of loyalty. Part 2, the Body, shifts gears into a rollicking story of how the friends deal with her death and her body. Shefak treats this part of the novel with good humor and a sense of fun. Despite their obvious grief, the friends embark on a strange adventure demonstrating that death often mixes in bouts of humor.
Shefak's highly structured narrative is definitely not slow. In addition to the stories of camaraderie, she begins and ends with a surrealistic style. The novel ends (Part 3: The Soul) with an upbeat take on death as the body returning once again to be a part of the universe.
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setting is Istanbul and the nearby village of Van. These places inhabit a borderland between Europe and Asia, and between Muslim religious conservatism and modern secularism.Tequila Leila is the murdered prostitute who experiences flashbacks to her life in her dying moments. Part 1 of this highly structured novel, the Mind, tells of her past in Van, her runaway to the city, and methodically introduces five friends and her future husband along with her own backstory. Each of the five friends is a different type of outcast. Nostalgia Nalan is a large transsexual. Sabotage Sinan is a childhood friend who was bullied by a domineering mother, the village Lady Pharmacist. Jameelah is a Somalian convert to Christianity who has been ostracized by her Muslim family. Zaynab122 is a cleaning woman at the brothel where Leila lives and works. And Hollywood Humeyra is a Syrian refugee who makes a living as a lounge singer. Leila's eventual husband, D/Ali, is also an outcast since he is a left wing activist who has chosen to pursue art against his family's wishes.
Leila is an empathetic person with a strong personality. She collects all of these outcasts, who develop strong friendships and powerful senses of loyalty. Part 2, the Body, shifts gears into a rollicking story of how the friends deal with her death and her body. Shefak treats this part of the novel with good humor and a sense of fun. Despite their obvious grief, the friends embark on a strange adventure demonstrating that death often mixes in bouts of humor.
Shefak's highly structured narrative is definitely not slow. In addition to the stories of camaraderie, she begins and ends with a surrealistic style. The novel ends (Part 3: The Soul) with an upbeat take on death as the body returning once again to be a part of the universe.
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LibraryThing member charl08
Shafak uses the time the brain (possibly) takes to close down completely to flashback through Leila's memories, from her rural childhood with an increasingly conservative father to life in a brothel in Istanbul. The dramatic political changes in Turkey, as well as life on the outskirts, is
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beautifully told through Leila's diverse friendships with outsiders. I loved the detail about the history and life of the city, from graveyards to "Hairy Kafka" street. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheEllieMo
Part 1 of this book is beautiful, as it goes through the last memories of Tequila Leila as her brain starts to wind down after she dies. Each minutes, a memory comes to here that is then expanded into her back-story, so that the reader finds out how she ended up where she did, and how she met her 5
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closest friends. Parts 2 and 3 go off the boil somewhat, though there are still some great moments. Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
good read. great local color. she tells the story of a girl who grows up in van,
is raped repeatedly by her uncle and who escapes to istanbul where
she becomes a prostitute at the street of brothels, she is killed by a pair
of jerks who remind me of her father and uncle, and she ts buried in the
cemetery of the companionless. five of her friends take her out of there, and throw her off the bosphorous bridge, there is a bit of magical realism here.
is raped repeatedly by her uncle and who escapes to istanbul where
she becomes a prostitute at the street of brothels, she is killed by a pair
of jerks who remind me of her father and uncle, and she ts buried in the
Show More
cemetery of the companionless. five of her friends take her out of there, and throw her off the bosphorous bridge, there is a bit of magical realism here.
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LibraryThing member NeedMoreShelves
I very much enjoyed this novel about a murdered prostitute from Istanbul and the friends who ultimately saved her. I'm always on board for a good friendship story, and this book had many; I was also hooked from the beginning by Elif Shafak's beautiful writing style.
The construction of the novel
The second section - "Body" - starts where Leila's mind has finally stopped, and tells the story of her five closest friends and their efforts to give her the burial she deserves. This section of the novel veered just a bit into melodrama for me, but I still very much enjoyed the characters and their deep and evident love for their friend Leila.
Not a perfect novel, but certainly one I enjoyed. It's unique characters and structure will make it a story I won't soon forget. Definitely recommended.
The construction of the novel
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was quite unique, and I found it particularly effective. Science has come to understand that a person's mind can still remain active for up to 10 minutes after the body is dead. Shafak divides her book into two main sections, and in the first - "Mind" - our protagonist, Leila, is already dead. What we read is the ten minutes and 38 seconds following her death, in which her still active mind is remembering important events and people from her life. Each memory is sparked by a sense - the smell of a wood burning stove, homemade strawberry cake - and these memories allow the reader a glimpse of the joy and sorrow that made up Leila's remarkable life.The second section - "Body" - starts where Leila's mind has finally stopped, and tells the story of her five closest friends and their efforts to give her the burial she deserves. This section of the novel veered just a bit into melodrama for me, but I still very much enjoyed the characters and their deep and evident love for their friend Leila.
Not a perfect novel, but certainly one I enjoyed. It's unique characters and structure will make it a story I won't soon forget. Definitely recommended.
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LibraryThing member BettyTaylor56
Haunting and beautifully written, Elif Shafak dares to address the social injustices to women in Turkey. But it is also a story of hope and love and, above all, friendship.
We have all heard the adage that just before death our lives flash before our eyes. In the aftermath of her murder, Leila’s
In Part One, for 10 minutes and 38 seconds, we journey with Leila as she relives scenes from her childhood, her joyful marriage, her relationships with her friends, the sexual abuse she lived with beginning at an early age. This corpse has a story. We smell, see, taste, hear Leila’s world, Leila’s life. The joy, the sadness, the warmth, the cruelty. Through all the heartache she has experienced, she has had friends that were there for her…to the end. "Leila did not think one could expect to have more than five friends. Just one was a stroke of luck." Sabotage Sinan, Nostalgia Nalan, Jameelah, Hollywood Humeyra, Zaynab122…the kind of friends we would all be honored to have. I loved Zaynab122 comment “I understand her choices might not be mine, but I still respect them.” What a precious friend! Jameelah was described as “the woman who looked into people’s souls and, only when she saw what she needed to see, decided whether to open up her heart to them.” In addition to Leila’s story, we are given the background stories for each of her friends’ lives. I found it amazing how these people experienced so much abuse yet were still able to open their hearts to each other. This is also a story of the city itself – beautiful Istanbul, cruel Istanbul, ancient Istanbul, modern Istanbul. Religious Istanbul, secular Istanbul. “All these Istanbuls lived and breathed inside one another, like matryoshka dolls that had come to life.” I fell in love with Istanbul when I first visited it and again as I read this story.
Then in Part Two of the book, her friends are determined to give Leila the finest funeral Istanbul has ever seen. My heart ached along with these remarkable friends as they risked everything for their dear friend Leila.
We have all heard the adage that just before death our lives flash before our eyes. In the aftermath of her murder, Leila’s
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life flashes before her, beginning at the moment of her death and for 10 minutes and 38 seconds afterward.In Part One, for 10 minutes and 38 seconds, we journey with Leila as she relives scenes from her childhood, her joyful marriage, her relationships with her friends, the sexual abuse she lived with beginning at an early age. This corpse has a story. We smell, see, taste, hear Leila’s world, Leila’s life. The joy, the sadness, the warmth, the cruelty. Through all the heartache she has experienced, she has had friends that were there for her…to the end. "Leila did not think one could expect to have more than five friends. Just one was a stroke of luck." Sabotage Sinan, Nostalgia Nalan, Jameelah, Hollywood Humeyra, Zaynab122…the kind of friends we would all be honored to have. I loved Zaynab122 comment “I understand her choices might not be mine, but I still respect them.” What a precious friend! Jameelah was described as “the woman who looked into people’s souls and, only when she saw what she needed to see, decided whether to open up her heart to them.” In addition to Leila’s story, we are given the background stories for each of her friends’ lives. I found it amazing how these people experienced so much abuse yet were still able to open their hearts to each other. This is also a story of the city itself – beautiful Istanbul, cruel Istanbul, ancient Istanbul, modern Istanbul. Religious Istanbul, secular Istanbul. “All these Istanbuls lived and breathed inside one another, like matryoshka dolls that had come to life.” I fell in love with Istanbul when I first visited it and again as I read this story.
Then in Part Two of the book, her friends are determined to give Leila the finest funeral Istanbul has ever seen. My heart ached along with these remarkable friends as they risked everything for their dear friend Leila.
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LibraryThing member dooney
Shafak has an almost poetic way of setting a scene, of describing a place, and telling a story so that it seems palpably present as one reads. The use of the device of memory, the rather disconnected bits of the lives of the characters are brought together beautifully in a story that exists in he
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midst of the history of Istanbul, separate and yet a part of the whole. Beautiful, powerful, touching, absurd -- in fact all of humanity, its joys and its tragedy, captured, if only for a moment. Show Less
LibraryThing member lindaspangler
well written. very sad but did not bog down the novel. protagonist is realistic, brave in the face of much oppression, but a real person.
about a sex worker in Turkey and the hardships of proverty and sexism in Turkey. the title refers to the time it takes for her to die
about a sex worker in Turkey and the hardships of proverty and sexism in Turkey. the title refers to the time it takes for her to die
LibraryThing member Dreesie
This novel has an original structure, quite unlike anything I have read. Tequila Leila, a prostitute in Istanbul, has died, dumped in a trash can--but for 10 minutes and 38 seconds more, her brain continues to function. And we learn her history through her memories--from birth to death. Her origin,
Then we meet her 5 friends--in their grief, we see them come together to give Leila the sendoff she wanted.
This novel gives a great taste of the seedier parts of Istanbul, and stays true to historical events. While I liked the book and found the structure interesting, I also fully expected to have the crime of her murder solved, we learn so much about it. People have clues! Characters are introduced just so the reader knows! But this goes nowhere. Instead, in what felt like an awkward transition to me, we find her friends in their grief. And then, after another awkward transition that seems very unbelievable in an otherwise believable story, we see how her friends' lives go on without her--though with her always in their midst.
I don't expect this to make the Booker shortlist. Yes, the structure is original, but it doesn't feel polished enough to make the shortlist. I am often wrong on the Booker though.
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how she ended up as a prostitute in Istanbul, her marriage, and we learn how she met her 5 best friends over the course of her life. And how she died. Then we meet her 5 friends--in their grief, we see them come together to give Leila the sendoff she wanted.
This novel gives a great taste of the seedier parts of Istanbul, and stays true to historical events. While I liked the book and found the structure interesting, I also fully expected to have the crime of her murder solved, we learn so much about it. People have clues! Characters are introduced just so the reader knows! But this goes nowhere. Instead, in what felt like an awkward transition to me, we find her friends in their grief. And then, after another awkward transition that seems very unbelievable in an otherwise believable story, we see how her friends' lives go on without her--though with her always in their midst.
I don't expect this to make the Booker shortlist. Yes, the structure is original, but it doesn't feel polished enough to make the shortlist. I am often wrong on the Booker though.
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LibraryThing member adrianburke
First part great - part two just not credible and it all falls down.
LibraryThing member mbmackay
This was my first book by this well recommended author - Elif Shafak.
The book tells of the hard lives of those who fall outside societal norms in Turkey. The life stories are tough, and the book does a wonerdful job in highlighting the humanity of sufferers, and the inhumanity of the society that
My only reservation is that the book is a little too didactic. The moral of the story could be presented more subtly while still achieving the educative objective.
The book tells of the hard lives of those who fall outside societal norms in Turkey. The life stories are tough, and the book does a wonerdful job in highlighting the humanity of sufferers, and the inhumanity of the society that
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mistreats them.My only reservation is that the book is a little too didactic. The moral of the story could be presented more subtly while still achieving the educative objective.
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LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
This novel sure had its ups and downs. It is a novel I would have abandoned were it not for the fact that I read it as part of a reading challenge. It started out with a bang and then proceeded into a structure I dislike—that of various chapters each talking about only one of the main characters.
Then...boom! The structure changed again and we were literally off on a chase to the end. This took quite a while, but I preferred reading the second half of the book vastly more than the first half. I prefer my fiction to be told in a more linear style.
In the end, I’m glad I didn’t bail and had the opportunity to think back about what I especially liked about this book. I guess my favorite part of it was the local color and customs of its setting in Turkey as I enjoy very much reading about other cultures. Second, I appreciated that the theme of this book was friendship, maybe even more now with divisive politics hitting me all the time on social media. The characters of this book were vastly different, yet found ways to connect.
Even though I had difficulty with the structure of this book, I would definitely try another book by this author to see how she handles an entirely different story.
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These chapters went into great detail. At that point I was becoming worried because I don’t have that great a capacity to keep various characters straight if they never interact for a large part of a novel.Then...boom! The structure changed again and we were literally off on a chase to the end. This took quite a while, but I preferred reading the second half of the book vastly more than the first half. I prefer my fiction to be told in a more linear style.
In the end, I’m glad I didn’t bail and had the opportunity to think back about what I especially liked about this book. I guess my favorite part of it was the local color and customs of its setting in Turkey as I enjoy very much reading about other cultures. Second, I appreciated that the theme of this book was friendship, maybe even more now with divisive politics hitting me all the time on social media. The characters of this book were vastly different, yet found ways to connect.
Even though I had difficulty with the structure of this book, I would definitely try another book by this author to see how she handles an entirely different story.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
In Istanbul it was the living who were the temporary occupants, the unbidden guests, here today and gone tomorrow, and deep down everyone knew it.
This is the story of a murdered prostitute, but there is so much more to Tequila Layla than that. You know from the beginning that she is dead, and the
The second half of the book is about what 'the five' do to honour Tequila Layla after her death, and I preferred it to the first half, but overall this tale of friendship, politics and the people on the edges of society is one of my top reads of the year.
This is the story of a murdered prostitute, but there is so much more to Tequila Layla than that. You know from the beginning that she is dead, and the
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first half of the book covers her life as a child growing up in a family full of secrets and then as an adult in Istanbul. It also includes the back-stories of 'the five', her closest friends.The second half of the book is about what 'the five' do to honour Tequila Layla after her death, and I preferred it to the first half, but overall this tale of friendship, politics and the people on the edges of society is one of my top reads of the year.
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LibraryThing member ffortsa
Shafak introduces us to six misfits in Istanbul, via the final memories of one of them, Leila, whose life is truly flashing through her brain as she dies. This is not a spoiler - you learn it on the first page. The five others are the true friends who have helped her make a life in Istanbul after
The story takes a turn after Leila's body is found and buried in a cemetery for the 'Companionless' - what a term! The five friends are determined to give her a more fitting burial.
My reservation about the book is its muted polemic about acceptance. Shafak ultimately presses her thesis a little too much, although I suspect in Instanbul the theme of acceptance needs to be pressed even more than in the U.S.
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escaping a sad childhood, and we learn about them in the minutes and seconds her brain keeps working. Each has a different reason to be an outcast, a misfit of some sort, and each is dedicated to Leila. They are very distinctive characters and Shafak does them full justice. She also has a real knack for anchoring the story in events the reader knows from recent history, so as to say 'this happened while this was happening elsewhere'.The story takes a turn after Leila's body is found and buried in a cemetery for the 'Companionless' - what a term! The five friends are determined to give her a more fitting burial.
My reservation about the book is its muted polemic about acceptance. Shafak ultimately presses her thesis a little too much, although I suspect in Instanbul the theme of acceptance needs to be pressed even more than in the U.S.
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LibraryThing member boredgames
epic in scope, lushly evocative and kind of moving although i didn't love the way it was written
LibraryThing member Castlelass
Tequila Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul, has been brutally murdered. Her heart has stopped but her brain continues to function for 10 minutes 38 seconds. As she slips away, she tells her story through recounting memories of salient events of her life. We see her birth into a dysfunctional family,
Şafak’s prose is expressive and insightful. Her vivid descriptions are filled with sensual details of the smells, tastes, and textures of Leila’s environment. She also includes historical references about Turkey and the Middle East, which educate, inform, and add local color. Although it is centered around a rather macabre premise, once the story gets going, the idea behind it subsides and it is easy to become engrossed in Şafak’s sophisticated storytelling. The first part of the book is structured into one-minute segments of memory, alternating with the backstories of Leila’s five eccentric friends. This structure is very effective in focusing the narrative on the essential information to understand Leila’s life, motivations, and how she ended up as a murder victim. The characters are beautifully drawn, and each friend has an important role in the second part that goes on after Leila’s death. I particularly enjoyed the way the friends love and support each other. The friends’ burial caper infuses a dose of dark humor and provides relief from the heavier content.
Themes of this book include bonds formed through friendships (which can be even more important when family disappoints); the exploitation of sex workers and lack of a system that addresses the root causes; the dynamics of power; and how hard life can be for those viewed as “different.” It takes place in the 20th century, but the topics and themes are eminently relevant in today’s world. Though it is about death, it is to the author’s credit that it ultimately feels life-affirming and hopeful, a story of unbreakable human spirit in the face of injustice. Leila becomes a catalyst for positive change in the lives of her friends. This is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.
This book has been nominated for the 2019 Booker prize. I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Memorable passages:
Leila observes her thoughts as her brain shuts down: “Her memory surged forth, eager and diligent, collecting pieces of a life that was speeding to a close. She recalled things she did not even know she was capable of remembering, things she had believed to be lost forever. Time became fluid, a fast flow of recollections seeping into one another, the past and the present inseparable.”
Leila reflects on her close friends, thinking of them as her safety net: “Every time she stumbled or keeled over, they were there for her, supporting her or softening the impact of the fall. On nights when she was mistreated by a client, she would still find the strength to hold herself up, knowing that her friends, with their very presence, would come with ointment for her scrapes and bruises; and on days when she wallowed in self-pity, her chest cracking open, they would gently pull her up and breathe life into her lungs.”
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abuse at the hands of a relative, and formation of close bonds of friendship with five other social outcasts. We find out the reasons behind her flight from her small hometown of Van to Istanbul, and how she became a prostitute. The story then shifts to the group of friends, who conduct a well-intentioned escapade to give Leila a proper burial. Şafak’s prose is expressive and insightful. Her vivid descriptions are filled with sensual details of the smells, tastes, and textures of Leila’s environment. She also includes historical references about Turkey and the Middle East, which educate, inform, and add local color. Although it is centered around a rather macabre premise, once the story gets going, the idea behind it subsides and it is easy to become engrossed in Şafak’s sophisticated storytelling. The first part of the book is structured into one-minute segments of memory, alternating with the backstories of Leila’s five eccentric friends. This structure is very effective in focusing the narrative on the essential information to understand Leila’s life, motivations, and how she ended up as a murder victim. The characters are beautifully drawn, and each friend has an important role in the second part that goes on after Leila’s death. I particularly enjoyed the way the friends love and support each other. The friends’ burial caper infuses a dose of dark humor and provides relief from the heavier content.
Themes of this book include bonds formed through friendships (which can be even more important when family disappoints); the exploitation of sex workers and lack of a system that addresses the root causes; the dynamics of power; and how hard life can be for those viewed as “different.” It takes place in the 20th century, but the topics and themes are eminently relevant in today’s world. Though it is about death, it is to the author’s credit that it ultimately feels life-affirming and hopeful, a story of unbreakable human spirit in the face of injustice. Leila becomes a catalyst for positive change in the lives of her friends. This is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.
This book has been nominated for the 2019 Booker prize. I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Memorable passages:
Leila observes her thoughts as her brain shuts down: “Her memory surged forth, eager and diligent, collecting pieces of a life that was speeding to a close. She recalled things she did not even know she was capable of remembering, things she had believed to be lost forever. Time became fluid, a fast flow of recollections seeping into one another, the past and the present inseparable.”
Leila reflects on her close friends, thinking of them as her safety net: “Every time she stumbled or keeled over, they were there for her, supporting her or softening the impact of the fall. On nights when she was mistreated by a client, she would still find the strength to hold herself up, knowing that her friends, with their very presence, would come with ointment for her scrapes and bruises; and on days when she wallowed in self-pity, her chest cracking open, they would gently pull her up and breathe life into her lungs.”
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LibraryThing member steve02476
Not great, but OK. I gave it an extra star for taking place in Istanbul, a city I’m fascinated with and hope to visit someday.
LibraryThing member CharlotteBurt
An interesting book about a woman lured into prostitution after escaping from an abusive family. The first half is when her life flashes before her eyes for 10 and a half minutes and the second part her friend's reaction to her death. About friendship, love and death.
LibraryThing member technodiabla
This novel begins with a Turkish prostitute who has been murdered. As the last of life leaves her body, she recounts her story and the stories of her friends. And then her friends take the novel the rest of the way.
I really enjoyed this page turner. Easy reading but well-written, with interesting
I really enjoyed this page turner. Easy reading but well-written, with interesting
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characters, who were sometimes caricatures and could have been more nuanced and developed. It's about acceptance, friendship, and the lives of misfits. This is definitely a woman-centric book and would be a great book club selection. It's doesn't do any favors for Muslim men. The authors own story is also interesting and worth reading up on. Show Less
Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 2019)
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2021)
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Shortlist — Fiction — 2020)
Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist — Fiction — 2020)
BookTube Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2020)
Ondaatje Prize (Shortlist — 2020)
NPR: Books We Love (2019)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2019)
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