Adeline
4.25 stars
Historical fiction following Jahan a young boy who arrives as a animal trainer to Istanbul with a white elephant as a gift for the Sultan, and rises as the apprentice to the chief royal architect.
This was the first Elif Shafak book I read and it definitely won’t be my last.
The writing was so beautiful, rich in details, lush and evocative, completely immersing me into 16th century Istanbul and the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire. The author did a great job recreating an enchanting portrait of the city of Istanbul (one of my dream destination) showing the everyday life of its inhabitants, the good and the bad things happening there.
Jahan was a compelling main character, you can’t help but feel and root for him. His relationship with his elephant was so wholesome to read and his actions towards other people made him a rather sweet person (though not squeaky clean perfect in any way). The side characters were also interesting, though less developed as the story is mainly written from Jahan’s point of view. I would have liked to see more of certain side characters, explore their stories and thoughts.
Elif Shafak did a great job incorporating into her story various philosophical reflections on faith, death, love, power, art, architecture etc
Pacing wise, this was a pretty fast moving story and I absolutely inhaled it despite the number of pages and tiny fonts.,helped by the gorgeous writing.
However, because of that fast pacing, time and events were depicted rapidly, time being compressed as years pass in a blink. As usual with that kind of narrative style I didn’t feel fully connected to the events experienced by the characters, though several moments were emotional to read about especially Jahan with his elephant, his master and fellow architecture apprentices.
Also I would have liked to see some subplots delved into more or resolved in a shorter timeframe because when they were resolved much later (too late? practically at the end of the story), I had forgotten about it and wasn’t invested in the resolution. I wasn’t a huge fan of how some of the character’s arcs ended up.
Overall, a rich and interesting story with a gorgeous prose, despite elements I didn’t like, it made me excited to read more of Elif Shafak’s work especially There Are Rivers in The Sky which is in my physical copy tbr.
4.25 stars
Historical fiction following Jahan a young boy who arrives as a animal trainer to Istanbul with a white elephant as a gift for the Sultan, and rises as the apprentice to the chief royal architect.
This was the first Elif Shafak book I read and it definitely won’t be my last.
The writing was so beautiful, rich in details, lush and evocative, completely immersing me into 16th century Istanbul and the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire. The author did a great job recreating an enchanting portrait of the city of Istanbul (one of my dream destination) showing the everyday life of its inhabitants, the good and the bad things happening there.
Jahan was a compelling main character, you can’t help but feel and root for him. His relationship with his elephant was so wholesome to read and his actions towards other people made him a rather sweet person (though not squeaky clean perfect in any way). The side characters were also interesting, though less developed as the story is mainly written from Jahan’s point of view. I would have liked to see more of certain side characters, explore their stories and thoughts.
Elif Shafak did a great job incorporating into her story various philosophical reflections on faith, death, love, power, art, architecture etc
Pacing wise, this was a pretty fast moving story and I absolutely inhaled it despite the number of pages and tiny fonts.,helped by the gorgeous writing.
However, because of that fast pacing, time and events were depicted rapidly, time being compressed as years pass in a blink. As usual with that kind of narrative style I didn’t feel fully connected to the events experienced by the characters, though several moments were emotional to read about especially Jahan with his elephant, his master and fellow architecture apprentices.
Also I would have liked to see some subplots delved into more or resolved in a shorter timeframe because when they were resolved much later (too late? practically at the end of the story), I had forgotten about it and wasn’t invested in the resolution. I wasn’t a huge fan of how some of the character’s arcs ended up.
Overall, a rich and interesting story with a gorgeous prose, despite elements I didn’t like, it made me excited to read more of Elif Shafak’s work especially There Are Rivers in The Sky which is in my physical copy tbr.