Snow-Orhan Pamuk

Just back from finishing my latest novel Snow. Snow could be classified as one belonging to the genre of philosophy, a subject that I usually avoid. I must say this book has changed my perception and I am now itching to explore this new treasure trove.

Snow tells us the story of a professional poet (I never knew you could make a living being a poet) Ka who visits his hometown Kars to investigate the high rate of suicides among the headscarf girls. While he is at Kars he also meets up with the sweetheart of his student years Ipek who is now divorced. Kars being a border town and relatively inaccessible to the rest of the country is a hotbed for radical Islamic activity, making it a thorn in the flesh for the secular government and the omnipresent army. Elections are due shortly and the radical Islamic party is most likely to win the elections, which would hamper Turkey’s chances of making it to the EU. Heavy snow results in the city of Kars being cut off from the rest of the country, an ideal opportunity for disgruntled army men to stage a coup. The coup provides a wonderful opportunity to the nationalistic Turks to finish off enemies they deem a threat to the fatherland, without the fear of retribution from the Turkish government as their act would be considered patriotic.
Orhan Pamuk tell us this story trough Ka he poet who gets labeled an atheist by the radicals and a radical by the secularists .Ka apparently is unperturbed and his only concern is to save his skin. In the meantime he is busy wooing the gorgeous Ipek though I must add that I found the alacrity with which he indulged in unprotected sex alarming. (Literature is not always the best place to educate oneself about sex!!)
Ipek has a sister Kadife who is categorized as a fundamentalist and is hence constantly at odds with the rest of her more leftist leaning family. The story revolves around the lives of these three chracters,the choices that they make and the reasons that they stand by them.

While reading Snow you are always under the impression that Orhan Pamuk the author identifies strongly with Ka and views Turkey through his lenses Ka spares no one and views all with cynicism whether it is the Nationalists or the Islamists.
Ka laments the sad sate of affairs in Turkey where each group tries to impose their ideology on the rest of the country, none of which are acceptable. Ka makes his way through this maze remarkably well but towards the end of the story I found Ka to be rather weak, (too afraid to be happy cause it would be followed by sadness and so continue to stew in sadness. WTF!!)

To conclude I would say that Snow make an interesting read because the language is simple (don’t have to rush to the dictionary every 5 minutes) and the story that Orhan manages to weave through these characters is thought provoking. He spices such a weighty subject with a subtle element of humor which makes Snow all the more endearing.