ruiva

I finished Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın in the most peculiar way, DB would say. I picked it up a few chapters after I had left it months ago and followed the narrative till the end, admittedly jumping a few lines of the last chapters that were re-read once I unveiled the resolution of the story. then, I went back to the chapters before the Iran voyage from the beginning of that section. And then read chapter by chapter back until the place where I had left, or at least where I remembered the words clearly. could the author ever intend it to be read this way. does the reader have this reading freedom, power over the story's facts?
returning themes: east-west, the missing woman who leaves a red trail, this time not a scarf but the memory of her hair, an obsession with an idea, the willingness to integrate or explain a nationalist religious youth, the outskirts of Istanbul and the growth of the urban areas, old narratives and disappearing traditional jobs, the new westernized rich of Nişantaşı and so on. totally new and something that I had yearned for: the Iranian view. finally the two worlds meet somewhere, I wish Pamuk could somehow meet Kiarostami, who knows. another novelty: describing a world I was a part of: I was actually there then; the mention of muhteşem yüzyıl, the tv show I watched blindly for so long, eagerly hearing each word and expression.
not as convoluted as other novels, or is it the translator? equally rich in quotes and authors and text. how I miss the city of dreams.