One rainy afternoon in Istanbul a woman walks into a doctor's surgery. "I want an abortion," she announces. She is nineteen years old, and unmarried. What happens that afternoon is to change her life, and the lives of everyone around her.
Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her extended family in Istanbul. Due to a mysterious family curse all the men die by age 41, so it is a house of women, among them her beautiful, rebellious mother, Zeliha, clairvoyant Auntie Banu and bar-brawl widow, Auntie Cevriye. But when Asya's Armenian-American cousin Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian comes to stay, long-hidden family secrets and Turkey's turbulent past begin to emerge.

BOOK RAY
Please PM or post in the forum if you are interested, and include
a) Your location
b) Where you are willing to post the book after you read it
(International, or only within N. America / Asia / Australia / Europe, etc.)

BookRay participants :
- Icila
- lydoula
- VictoriaWagtail
- ETMadrid
- lunatum
- penelopewanders
- vassilka

The bookray has successfully completed. Thanks everyone for participating!

~ ~ ~ ~ > Please make a journal entry when you receive the book.
~ ~ ~ ~ > Please read and pass on the book within two months of receipt. If you can't do this for any reason, please PM me to let me know.
~ ~ ~ ~ > When you are done reading, contact the next reader via PM for their address. Also make another journal entry (or edit your first one) to share your comments about the book.

(forum post)

On its way by post to Icila, who's kindly agreed to start the ring. Enjoy!

The book arrived yesterday. I'll read it soon. Thanks okyrhoe.

Regarding the family: an enjoyable fairy-tale. I'm well travelled but I never have gone to Turkey so far. I know Istanbul is fabulous and this book gives a feeling to wanting to visit.
As a child I had an armenian familly as neighbourgs, I went to a wedding in the armenian church in Paris, I never heard anything concerning their past.


I already have lydoula's address.

On its way to lydoula in Belgium. Enjoy !

It arrived today!Thanx Icilla for sending it :)

I really liked the book and the way that Elif Shafak was introducing all the characters of the story. I was amazed of her way where she wrote about the genocide of the armenians without taking any sides.
Istanbul was like she described it at his book. Crowded streets, people rushing, vendors selling their stuff on every street, rain that washes away everything and show you a more shiny Istanbul.
Now, after reading the book, I want to go again and spend a while exploring the city again.

Off to sweden and to VictoriaWagtail.

It's here on record time, thank you Lydoula :) I really look forward to reading this book. Maybe I should start right away? I need something captivating to inject some energy into my reading...

This was not my kind of book. It was too whimsical, introducing too many characters of too little interest and credibilty in too short a time frame. I didn't last more than about 60 pages, reading more felt like a waste of time so I put it down in favour of other books.

I will pm the next person on the list now and post the book to them at the end of the month.

The book is on its way to new adventures and a new reader. Enjoy! :)

Wow! VictoriaWagtail what a wonderful surprise you've given me on this Monday morning! Not only a book but a lovely postcard and TWO bars of chocolate!! That is a first for me amongst all the wonderful surprises I'd had through bookcrossing. Thank you very much. I hope one day to get to Stockholm.

I have just finished reading this. I found myself enjoying this more and more as the story and the characters developed (as they did aplenty!) At first, not knowing the first thing about the author or really knowing where it was going, I was unsure, but as I close the book I've decided this is a great discovery. I'd welcome the opportunity to read any of her other books and have just enjoyed listening to her TED lecture online. What a talented writer she is. Many people over the years have said to me that I would love Istanbul and I have no doubt they are right. This was my first foray into Turkish literature - I look forward to more. I enjoyed the fantastical elements, reminiscent of Latin American literature but with a definite Turkish twist. Thanks okyrhoe.

I just made it to the Post Office today so this is on its way to Finland.

The book arrived this week, thanks.

This arrived in the snowy alps a few days ago, and then was buried- not in the snow, fortunately, but under a pile of papers... Very busy time of year, work-wise, and a few rings here ahead of this, so it may be a bit before I can read this. I apologize in advance for any delay. Thanks for making available and sending - it looks interesting!

Well, having just completed A Time of Gifts, by Patrick Leigh Fermor, a memoir about a walking trip from Holland to Constantinople in 1933, it was interesting that this was top book on my "rings to be read" pile. The author of that book stops his narrative before making it all the way (the last page ends with "to be continued..."), but I was able to plunge right in to the heart of Istanbul. Other coincidence is that I've been looking for books about the Armenian genocide to use with a group of teenagers, one of whom is Armenian and requested the topic. I'm not sure this is the book for that group, but it was certainly more eloquent on the theme than another I had read in the hope I could use it. I don't remember if I was aware of that request at the time I signed up for this ring.
I enjoyed this story although it felt a bit like a Shakespeare comedy with the final looping of loops and tying of bows. I also felt somewhat bereft that there was no final scene with Armanoush's father and his family, although I suppose that would have prolonged the whole thing and given it an end with less panache. As hateful as they were to Rose, I still enjoyed "spending time" with those characters more than the rather crazy group of women in Istanbul.
An entertaining book to read while stuck in bed with the flu. Sorry it's stayed with me so long - I've PMed for the next address.

Now on its way from the Alps to Greece. Enjoy! (and thanks for making this book available)

I received it yesterday. It took the book more than a month to reach me! Thank you penelopewanders (for the card as well:-))

It didn't took me long to finish the book but I didn't have time to make a new entry and write a few things neither did I have the time to go to the post. So sorry!
The story didn't capture my interest from the first page. As a matter of fact I had to read almost half the book to start finding it captivating. The descriptions of Istanbul however kept my interest as well as the food. It's amazing how common the names of certain Armenian, Turkish and Greek dishes are! What impressed me was the writer's courage to talk about the genocide of the Armenians, an issue that is a taboo in Turkey. I've read many books about it in the past. Two titles that come now to my mind are: "The story of the last thought" by Edgar Hilsernath and "Not even my name" by Thea Halo.There was a time that I was very much interested in what happened in Minor Asia in 1922 and the way Greeks lived there before the catastrophe and the genocide. I believe that people should leave hatred behind and move on but we should also have the right to learn what really happened in the past, that's why I appreciated Elif Shafak's honesty.
I liked the characters in the story, I also liked the description of Istanbul as I mentioned before. I could see the colours and I could smell the fragrances of the food! It made me want to travel there again!
I'm sending it to okyrhoe tomorrow.

The book is travelling to okyrhoe in Athens. Thanx for sharing it with us:-)

The bookray has returned to home base. Thanks everyone for participating!

Elif Shafak's TED Talk on The Politics of Fiction.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reserved for
DubaiReader's Global Fiction VBB (round 2)

Released at the Book Swap meetup on Thursday September 19, at Cake cafe-pastry shop (19 Makriyianni street, metro stop "Acropolis").