First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Galip is a lawyer living in Istanbul. His wife, the detective novel-loving Ruya, has disappeared. Could she have left him for her ex-husband or Celal, a popular newspaper columnist? But Celal, too, seems to have vanished. As Galip investigates, he finds himself assuming the enviable Celal’s identity, wearing his clothes, answering his phone calls, even writing his columns. Galip pursues every conceivable clue, but the nature of the mystery keeps changing, and when he receives a death threat, he begins to fear the most.

Happy Friday everyone! We have successfully, I hope, made it through yet another tedious workweek. Personally, it was more pleasant than I expected. Nevertheless, I’m just glad it is done. I hope everyone is ending the work week on a high note. I hope, like me, you were able to accomplish all the tasks you started during the first day of the week. Here’s a pat on the back for a job well done. It is time to step back and dress down. It is time to dive into the weekend! How time flies! We are a third through the tenth month of the Kan year. Before we know it, we will be welcoming a new year. I hope that before the year ends, you achieve all the goals you set for yourself at the start of the year. I hope you get recognized and repaid for all your hard work this year. I hope the remainder of the year will be great for everyone and will be brimming with good news, blessings, and pleasant surprises. More importantly, I hope everyone will be healthy in body, mind, and spirit.

Before I could dive into the weekend, let me cap the blogging week with a First Impression Friday update. This weekly blog meme has become a tradition. It is an integral part of my weekly blogging rites, a perfect way to close the book blogging week. While it used to be a space to figure out my feelings about the book I am currently reading, over time, it has developed into a springboard for my book reviews. This October, I am going to have a mixed reading journey. I am dividing my attention between books that are part of my reading challenges, works of Asian literature, and books that are shortlisted for the Booker Prize; my copies of the Booker Prize shortlist are in transit. For now, I am focusing on the works of Nobel Laureates in Literature. Speaking of which, I was pleasantly surprised – but it was a welcome surprise – by the announcement of Han Kang as the most recent laureate. The Korean writer grew on even though I had a rough start with The Vegetarian. I was so ecstatic I nearly screamed when the Swedish Academy announced her name.

My current read is the work of another Asian Nobel Laureate in Literature, Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book. Interestingly, by awarding Kang, a female Asian writer, the most prestigious literary prize, the Swedish Academy could dodge two perennial but valid criticisms: its Euro-centrism and male-centrism. Anyway, back to The Black Book. I listed the novel in my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge and is the fifth novel by the highly-heralded Turkish writer I read. Who’d have thought that my first encounter with Pamuk was through an online bookseller? I wasn’t even aware of the implications of being a Nobel Prize in Literature awardee. I simply obtained a copy of Snow. Nine years later, I have already read five of his novels.

Originally published in 1990 in Turkish as Kara Kitap, the novel is set in Istanbul, the home of most of Pamuk’s works. It introduces Galip, a lawyer. One winter night, Galip came home to discover that his Rüya disappeared with just a note saying she would keep in touch. Galip, surprised, set on to find out what happened to his wife. In the process, moments of introspection provide us glimpses into their union. Galip and Rüya are cousins – technically half-cousins – and they first met when Rüya’s family moved to Istanbul when they were both young. Galip fell in love with Rüya but she ended up getting married to a left-wing activist. As fate would have it, Rüya left her husband and married Galip. Pamuk also paints a portrait of Rüya. One thing stood out about her: she loved reading detective novels even if the translations were bad. Is this somehow a foreshadowing?

Several questions hounded Galip. Did his wife leave him for her former husband? The mystery deepened with another character’s unexplained and unexpected disappearance. At the same time that Rüya went missing – or so her husband assumes – Rüya’s half-brother Celâl also disappeared. Celâl is a columnist for Milliyet who was twenty years older than Rüya. He writes about a plethora of subjects spanning Istanbul and Turkish literature and history, investigations of crimes, and general discourses on life. His works attracted a huge following. Galip was among his devout readers. Galip even admires Celâl and yearns for a life like his. However, everything went tail spinning when Galip’s wife and her half-brother disappeared. Celâl has not notified the publication about his absence nor did he show up for work, prompting the publishers to publish his old works.

The novel alternates between a third-person narrator and Celâl’s voice. Some of Celâl’s columns were integrated into the novel. Slowly, more mysteries start to float to the surface. For one, a select few know about Celâl’s residence; Galip knew and took up residence there when he was unable to locate either his wife or her half-brother. Galip also covered up for the two of them, even pretending to be Celâl. A mysterious caller claiming to know Celâl from way back then added further layers of suspense. Somehow, the story’s lens focuses on Celâl and his past, placing Rüya at the back of the reader’s mind. The subversion, or perhaps pivot, might somehow point to something deeper or more sinister; the novel, following its publication, earned both praises and attacks from both left-wing and conservative critics and columnists.

I am just a couple of pages away from deciphering the puzzle. I can’t wait to see how all of these pan out. Considering that this is Pamuk’s world, I am not expecting any straightforward conclusion. This is, I guess, one of the pleasures of reading his works. How about you fellow reader? What book or books have you read over the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!