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I Am My Country: And Other Stories
A fiercely imaginative debut story collection by “a startling talent who can seemingly do anything” (Anthony Marra) explores the lives of ordinary people in Turkey to reveal how even individual acts of resistance have extraordinary repercussions.
“No recent collection has captivated me as much as I Am My Country. You must read it!”—Andrew Sean Greer
Spanning decades and landscapes, from the forests along the Black Sea to the streets of Istanbul, Kenan Orhan’s playful stories conjure dreamlike worlds—of talking animals, flying houses, and omniscient prayer-callers—to examine humanity’s unfaltering pursuit of hope in even the darkest circumstances.
A determined florist trains a neighborhood stray dog to blow up a corrupt president. A garbage collector finds banned instruments—and later, musicians—in the trash and takes them home to form a clandestine orchestra in her attic. A smuggler risks his life to bring a young woman claiming to be pregnant via immaculate conception across the border with Syria. A poor cage-maker tries to use his ability to talk to birds to woo his childhood love just before the 1955 Istanbul pogrom. These characters are united by a desperate yearning to break free from the volatile realities they face: rising authoritarianism, cultural and political turmoil, and staggering violence.
Ranging from the absurd to the tenderhearted, the stories in I Am My Country illuminate the constant force amid one country’s history of rampant oppression and revolutionary progress: the impulse to survive.
“No recent collection has captivated me as much as I Am My Country. You must read it!”—Andrew Sean Greer
Spanning decades and landscapes, from the forests along the Black Sea to the streets of Istanbul, Kenan Orhan’s playful stories conjure dreamlike worlds—of talking animals, flying houses, and omniscient prayer-callers—to examine humanity’s unfaltering pursuit of hope in even the darkest circumstances.
A determined florist trains a neighborhood stray dog to blow up a corrupt president. A garbage collector finds banned instruments—and later, musicians—in the trash and takes them home to form a clandestine orchestra in her attic. A smuggler risks his life to bring a young woman claiming to be pregnant via immaculate conception across the border with Syria. A poor cage-maker tries to use his ability to talk to birds to woo his childhood love just before the 1955 Istanbul pogrom. These characters are united by a desperate yearning to break free from the volatile realities they face: rising authoritarianism, cultural and political turmoil, and staggering violence.
Ranging from the absurd to the tenderhearted, the stories in I Am My Country illuminate the constant force amid one country’s history of rampant oppression and revolutionary progress: the impulse to survive.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published April 25, 2023
21 people are currently reading
3740 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
May 4, 2023
In general, I read more novels than short fiction, but there are times when short fiction accomplishes things novels can't. That's the case with Kenan Orhan's I Am My Country. The stories collected here are set in or near Turkey and explore forms of resistance, primarily to government suppression, but also in interpersonal relationships.
I know relatively little about Turkish politics, so part of what makes this collection so effective in my mind is that it lets us see the region from multiple perspectives: different generations, different faiths, different regions; different economic statuses. My favorite story is The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra. A waste management worker finds increasingly unusual items in the trash: first a musical score, then instruments, then people—musicians, artists, and more. Each "leveling up" of what comprises trash is a result of increasingly frequent prohibitions on items or practices that the government finds threatening. As this brief summary suggests, these prohibitions first focus on music—only certain composers and certain types of instruments are allowable—but they increase in breadth.
If, like me, you knowledge of the current situation in Turkey is limited, you'll have to be an active reader. You'll need to draw inferences about past events, varying social norms, and the meaning of individual words. But this work is worth the effort. For anyone interested in world literature, I Am My Country will make rewarding reading.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
I know relatively little about Turkish politics, so part of what makes this collection so effective in my mind is that it lets us see the region from multiple perspectives: different generations, different faiths, different regions; different economic statuses. My favorite story is The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra. A waste management worker finds increasingly unusual items in the trash: first a musical score, then instruments, then people—musicians, artists, and more. Each "leveling up" of what comprises trash is a result of increasingly frequent prohibitions on items or practices that the government finds threatening. As this brief summary suggests, these prohibitions first focus on music—only certain composers and certain types of instruments are allowable—but they increase in breadth.
If, like me, you knowledge of the current situation in Turkey is limited, you'll have to be an active reader. You'll need to draw inferences about past events, varying social norms, and the meaning of individual words. But this work is worth the effort. For anyone interested in world literature, I Am My Country will make rewarding reading.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
August 27, 2023
This marvelous short story collection by Turkish American Kenan Orhan sketches life in Turkey as one in which society struggles with an evolving state of affairs. Each story in this deeply-felt melange is unique, but religion and politics are the threads that bind them. The policies of Islamist President Erdoğan feature prominently in the collection.
The stories address the erosion of Turkey’s secular state and its democratic principles where characters receive prison sentences for minor infractions. “That was the way things seemed now—it was impossible to keep track of what could get you in trouble.” One woman fears that government policies will end with “chains to beds, multiple wives, child-birthing factories.” Another story recounts a protest rally where people “expel in one grand catharsis every issue taken with the government.” We read about a decaying mine where workers’ deaths are met with platitudes, and where a flower shop owner trains her dog to carry an explosive to a rally in which the president is in attendance. This will be the one example where terrorist policies would be applicable.
The impact of Erdoğan’s authoritarianism on daily life is no better described than in the first story. In this imaginative flight into magical realism, readers meet a trash collector in the Beyoğlu District of Istanbul, where Erdoğan served as District Head of the Welfare Party in his early career. She wends her way through shoulder-wide alleys where she recovers what she calls the small grandeurs of life, remnants of lives stolen by government decree. Like that of a composer who places his instruments and himself in the bin for collection and incineration. “I enjoyed collecting the composer’s trash if only for the reprieve of tending to something precious, of being entrusted with the death of the beloved machinations of one’s art.” Perhaps this scene speaks to the changes in 2013 when then Prime Minister Erdoğan announced the privatization of theaters and the mayor of Istanbul increased civil servant control over city theater repertoire and artistic content. The trash collector, as others, will find herself stripped of civil rights, facing imprisonment for the “inability to reduce my life along the guidelines of presidential decrees.”
Readers who are aware of current events will find many references, but this knowledge is not necessary for enjoying this engaging collection. The stories are well crafted treasurers of human experience, and readers will find the array of delightful characters and their interesting stories worth a read.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
The stories address the erosion of Turkey’s secular state and its democratic principles where characters receive prison sentences for minor infractions. “That was the way things seemed now—it was impossible to keep track of what could get you in trouble.” One woman fears that government policies will end with “chains to beds, multiple wives, child-birthing factories.” Another story recounts a protest rally where people “expel in one grand catharsis every issue taken with the government.” We read about a decaying mine where workers’ deaths are met with platitudes, and where a flower shop owner trains her dog to carry an explosive to a rally in which the president is in attendance. This will be the one example where terrorist policies would be applicable.
The impact of Erdoğan’s authoritarianism on daily life is no better described than in the first story. In this imaginative flight into magical realism, readers meet a trash collector in the Beyoğlu District of Istanbul, where Erdoğan served as District Head of the Welfare Party in his early career. She wends her way through shoulder-wide alleys where she recovers what she calls the small grandeurs of life, remnants of lives stolen by government decree. Like that of a composer who places his instruments and himself in the bin for collection and incineration. “I enjoyed collecting the composer’s trash if only for the reprieve of tending to something precious, of being entrusted with the death of the beloved machinations of one’s art.” Perhaps this scene speaks to the changes in 2013 when then Prime Minister Erdoğan announced the privatization of theaters and the mayor of Istanbul increased civil servant control over city theater repertoire and artistic content. The trash collector, as others, will find herself stripped of civil rights, facing imprisonment for the “inability to reduce my life along the guidelines of presidential decrees.”
Readers who are aware of current events will find many references, but this knowledge is not necessary for enjoying this engaging collection. The stories are well crafted treasurers of human experience, and readers will find the array of delightful characters and their interesting stories worth a read.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
May 13, 2023
The stories that were good were brilliant, and the others were just ok and I think that is what makes this collection what it is. I love that theses stories transported me to parts of the world I haven’t been to and forced me to meet characters who are vibrant and lifelike.
I particular enjoyed the story about the Garbage Collector who collected an entire orchestra and stored them in the attic. It was such a smart story that I cannot seem to shake.
This is really a solid collection, that I think the avid reader will appreciate.
I particular enjoyed the story about the Garbage Collector who collected an entire orchestra and stored them in the attic. It was such a smart story that I cannot seem to shake.
This is really a solid collection, that I think the avid reader will appreciate.
April 14, 2023
“i am my country” is a collection of short stories regarding turkish people; many different aspects of identity are explored. the culture is rich and well described in a unique style of prose that at times borders on poetic. this is not an easy read, but it is quite wonderful with moments that truly impact the soul. at the end of this collection, i did feel a bit lost and melancholic.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!
November 15, 2022
Given the globalization of the world, I shouldn't be surprised at this collection that spans life in contemporary Turkey. Added a splash of magic realism, enough to expand a metaphor but not too much to take over, each story is a revelation. Highly recommend.
April 22, 2023
This collection of 10 short stories is refreshing and completely innovative. These are set in Turkiye and have references to the Ottoman Empire, Syria, Kurds, Greeks, Armernia, etc. I enjoyed reading about a setting and characters that rarely appear in other writings (at least the ones I come across).
No story resembles or echoes its siblings here. They are distinct and feel as if each was written by a different author. And they feel complete unto themselves and do not have that "jarring" ending that many short stories have. They are bold and depict some resistance or protest; and they are whimsical or bizarre. They assert themselves and many have both an obvious or subtle morality tale. I wondered if many of these stories exposed a former empire reckoning with itself as its pieces (geographic and ethnic) struggled to place themselves in a new context. This is most blatant in the half-Turk, half-Greek character in "The Birdkeeper's Moral."
I liked "The Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra," "The Stray of Ankara," "Festival of Bulls," "I am My Country," "The Smuggler," and "The Birdkeeper's Moral."
I readily recommend this book and will keep an eye on this author. I want to read more of his work.
Thanks to Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A few quotes:
...From the state in which I find the pages, I can tell that man is tortured by the impossibility of translating what swirls around his soul into a symphony that would render the same swirlings in the soul of a listener, and that is enough for me to know that his music is beautiful....
...Materialism would be appreciating them because they took up space, but I fell in love with the old man's instruments because of the way they took up space, the ease with which they entered the view of the eye....
...It's not at all like an earthquake. We know those here; you grow up knowing them. We know this too: the silence, the absence of aftershocks, the snap of energy is a single, released moment, the space between heartbeats....
...There has always been a need for people to turn the beauty of one thing into rubble, then from the rubble erect their own ideas of beauty. Save yourself the time and appreciate the beauty already there....
No story resembles or echoes its siblings here. They are distinct and feel as if each was written by a different author. And they feel complete unto themselves and do not have that "jarring" ending that many short stories have. They are bold and depict some resistance or protest; and they are whimsical or bizarre. They assert themselves and many have both an obvious or subtle morality tale. I wondered if many of these stories exposed a former empire reckoning with itself as its pieces (geographic and ethnic) struggled to place themselves in a new context. This is most blatant in the half-Turk, half-Greek character in "The Birdkeeper's Moral."
I liked "The Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra," "The Stray of Ankara," "Festival of Bulls," "I am My Country," "The Smuggler," and "The Birdkeeper's Moral."
I readily recommend this book and will keep an eye on this author. I want to read more of his work.
Thanks to Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A few quotes:
...From the state in which I find the pages, I can tell that man is tortured by the impossibility of translating what swirls around his soul into a symphony that would render the same swirlings in the soul of a listener, and that is enough for me to know that his music is beautiful....
...Materialism would be appreciating them because they took up space, but I fell in love with the old man's instruments because of the way they took up space, the ease with which they entered the view of the eye....
...It's not at all like an earthquake. We know those here; you grow up knowing them. We know this too: the silence, the absence of aftershocks, the snap of energy is a single, released moment, the space between heartbeats....
...There has always been a need for people to turn the beauty of one thing into rubble, then from the rubble erect their own ideas of beauty. Save yourself the time and appreciate the beauty already there....
June 16, 2023
Perfect collection of short stories. So beautifully written. Each story shares a strong central theme of the homeland of Türkiye but each story resonated distinctly.
The Beyoglu municipality waste and management orchestra: 5/5. Starting the collection out strong with this beautiful little piece of magical realism. I loved the narrator, who is naive but curious, who appreciates the artistry that she saves from the trash even if she doesn’t fully understand what exactly she is rescuing. Similar themes to The Memory Police, which I also enjoyed. Although I wouldn’t say I’m very well-versed in modern Turkish politics, I understood the metaphors very clearly.
The stray of Ankara: 4/5. Also very well written. A darker subject matter, but I felt Gökçe’s desperate thoughts and actions were believable and heartbreaking. She is pushed over the edge by her circumstances. I loved the doomed connection she built with the dog, and I want to believe maybe at the end she realized they actually have more in common than she thought. But maybe that just means they’re both doomed to their fates. The reader will also begin to notice a recurring character of President Erdogan, who is directly or indirectly responsible for much of the suffering of his people.
Soma: 5/5. This one had the feel of a slice of life, coming of age story, with the backdrop of disaster brewing in the background, then abruptly to the foreground. I loved how the author describes the world of open-water swimming, and how for the narrator Izzet it is the ticket out of the dangerous and bleak existence in a mining village. Reminded me vaguely of Shuggie Bain, but perhaps more hopeful. The future tense of the ending leaves the probability of this hopeful future up for debate but I choose the believe in happy endings for my mental health.
Festival of Bulls: 4/5. I believe the author is just as comfortable and competent writing from both a male and female perspective, and I appreciated the respect he gives to the teenage sister here, who chooses the more conservative option of wearing a head scarf, and who chafes under her controlling older brother. It was a pleasant surprise to have multiple POVs in a short story, but having the older brother’s thoughts as he tries to save her from poverty and dangerous older men helped bring nuance to their conflict. The characters are so well-developed in such a short amount of time that the reader can clearly imagine the events that will play out after the ending.
I am my country: 4/5. This reads like a memoir, and I wonder how much of it is pulled from the author’s own experiences. I loved reading about the experiences of traveling to one’s motherland as a child, and making realizations later in life that permanently alter one’s perspective and question the fallibility of memory. I feel like I would be the Max character, which no close connection to another country, no second language, but with a deep appreciation for those who do. I can never fully understand what it’s like for these third-culture kids but I will forever listen to their stories.
Three parts in which Emre kills his daughters: 4/5. I want to shake Emre and beg him to wake up, but his daughters tried that already. I think the part where it explains that he reads so much because he’s making up for lost time from his childhood is interesting, but it has created a hyper-fixation that ultimately cost him everything.
Mule brigade: 5/5. Not an easy read. I cried. I’m such a pacifist but it was interesting reading from the perspective of a soldier carrying out a cruel and arguably unjustified mission. The narrative voice was detached, cool, observant. Other characters are louder, passionate, desperate- monsters, zealots. He is just human, and he is just there.
The smuggler: 4/5. The whole story takes place in a single car ride as the narrator smuggles a pregnant girl, claiming immaculate conception, across the border. It delves deeper into some of the political, ethnic, and religious conflicts of the area, and condenses them between these two characters. I’m not sure if I fully understood the ending, but like always, I choose to believe the best for them.
The muezzin: 3/5. The first person omniscient narrator was an interesting choice. I liked the backdrop of an unrelenting flood dredging up the dead and exposing problems like the mailman’s affair. I feel like the magical realism element returned. Some great writing again, too.
The birdkeeper’s moral: 4/5. By far the longest story, with more fantasy than the rest. Taking place in 1955 during a particular time of political upheaval, and also decades before during a different political, it follows the connection between the birdkeeper Sami and his childhood love, Fatima. The themes of freedom and possession occur throughout, as Sami and the birds look at his cages with wildly different understanding.
The Beyoglu municipality waste and management orchestra: 5/5. Starting the collection out strong with this beautiful little piece of magical realism. I loved the narrator, who is naive but curious, who appreciates the artistry that she saves from the trash even if she doesn’t fully understand what exactly she is rescuing. Similar themes to The Memory Police, which I also enjoyed. Although I wouldn’t say I’m very well-versed in modern Turkish politics, I understood the metaphors very clearly.
The stray of Ankara: 4/5. Also very well written. A darker subject matter, but I felt Gökçe’s desperate thoughts and actions were believable and heartbreaking. She is pushed over the edge by her circumstances. I loved the doomed connection she built with the dog, and I want to believe maybe at the end she realized they actually have more in common than she thought. But maybe that just means they’re both doomed to their fates. The reader will also begin to notice a recurring character of President Erdogan, who is directly or indirectly responsible for much of the suffering of his people.
Soma: 5/5. This one had the feel of a slice of life, coming of age story, with the backdrop of disaster brewing in the background, then abruptly to the foreground. I loved how the author describes the world of open-water swimming, and how for the narrator Izzet it is the ticket out of the dangerous and bleak existence in a mining village. Reminded me vaguely of Shuggie Bain, but perhaps more hopeful. The future tense of the ending leaves the probability of this hopeful future up for debate but I choose the believe in happy endings for my mental health.
Festival of Bulls: 4/5. I believe the author is just as comfortable and competent writing from both a male and female perspective, and I appreciated the respect he gives to the teenage sister here, who chooses the more conservative option of wearing a head scarf, and who chafes under her controlling older brother. It was a pleasant surprise to have multiple POVs in a short story, but having the older brother’s thoughts as he tries to save her from poverty and dangerous older men helped bring nuance to their conflict. The characters are so well-developed in such a short amount of time that the reader can clearly imagine the events that will play out after the ending.
I am my country: 4/5. This reads like a memoir, and I wonder how much of it is pulled from the author’s own experiences. I loved reading about the experiences of traveling to one’s motherland as a child, and making realizations later in life that permanently alter one’s perspective and question the fallibility of memory. I feel like I would be the Max character, which no close connection to another country, no second language, but with a deep appreciation for those who do. I can never fully understand what it’s like for these third-culture kids but I will forever listen to their stories.
Three parts in which Emre kills his daughters: 4/5. I want to shake Emre and beg him to wake up, but his daughters tried that already. I think the part where it explains that he reads so much because he’s making up for lost time from his childhood is interesting, but it has created a hyper-fixation that ultimately cost him everything.
Mule brigade: 5/5. Not an easy read. I cried. I’m such a pacifist but it was interesting reading from the perspective of a soldier carrying out a cruel and arguably unjustified mission. The narrative voice was detached, cool, observant. Other characters are louder, passionate, desperate- monsters, zealots. He is just human, and he is just there.
The smuggler: 4/5. The whole story takes place in a single car ride as the narrator smuggles a pregnant girl, claiming immaculate conception, across the border. It delves deeper into some of the political, ethnic, and religious conflicts of the area, and condenses them between these two characters. I’m not sure if I fully understood the ending, but like always, I choose to believe the best for them.
The muezzin: 3/5. The first person omniscient narrator was an interesting choice. I liked the backdrop of an unrelenting flood dredging up the dead and exposing problems like the mailman’s affair. I feel like the magical realism element returned. Some great writing again, too.
The birdkeeper’s moral: 4/5. By far the longest story, with more fantasy than the rest. Taking place in 1955 during a particular time of political upheaval, and also decades before during a different political, it follows the connection between the birdkeeper Sami and his childhood love, Fatima. The themes of freedom and possession occur throughout, as Sami and the birds look at his cages with wildly different understanding.
April 27, 2023
Kudos to debut story collection author Kenan Orhan for his newly published work. These short stories pack an immense punch. Through these stories, the author highlights what has been occurring in Turkiye over the years through the voices of ordinary Turkish people. In their unique ways, each protagonist of a story finds their way to cope with and or rebel against authoritarianism and restrictions against freedom. From the absurd (as a coping mechanism) to the melancholic, the stories portray the deep anguish and at the same time - hope - for the future. In my opinion, the stories are such that now and in years to come, this collection of stories will be studied as great literary works that capture the depth and breadth of Turkish political, social, and cultural issues of these years. The writing is brilliant. There is so much in each story to parse out, delve into, and dissect. I particularly want to highlight The Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra (isn’t the title intriguing?), I Am My Country, and The Birdkeeper’s Moral. I’m looking forward to more of Kenan Orhan’s works in the future. I highly recommend this book. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
July 26, 2023
3.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I was interested in this collection of stories as it looks at the lives of ordinary people in Turkey. Some are strange and fantastical; others deal with the reality and brutality of war, political unrest and escaping a land falling apart. Some are playful and others are heartbreaking. Overall, the people in the stories are resilient and have a will to survive. They find the light and that glimmer of hope even in the bleakest of times.
December 14, 2025
Fresh off the horrific disappointments that are most of Daphne de Maurier's short stories, this book felt like a triumph. In short, Orhan displays a mastery of almost everything I value in a writer, but he gets a point knocked off for not writing anything happy.
As a staunch believer in the ideal of the American composite culture, ethnic nationalism is at once a bizarre and a fascinating force to me. Most of the history of the world, including the history of the region that the author so vividly creates, makes little sense because the idea that two types of people can live in the same place is not theoretical or strange to me. This made it incredibly refreshing to read these stories, the strongest of which had a deep sense of ethnic nationalism attached to them, and the weakest of which was the one about American integration. Orhan interrogates the ethnocentricity of the place he is writing about, especially in relation to Turkey's relationship with the Kurds, but it remains the vital heart of nearly all of these stories.
This ethnocentricity provides a wonderful sense of place and person. Turkey is as strange to me as any fantastic setting dreamed up by a fantasy novelist, but the author steadfastly refuses to provide the waypoints standard in other genres to understand the setting. I understand Turkey less from these stories than I would from reading a guidebook, and by fleshing them out in this indecipherable way Orhan has made a place that I know to be real rather than a place that I feel that I can be transported by words. There is a barrier between me and the characters in these stories that they will not cross, and I can only cross with an effort so great and sustained that only those who immigrate (and even then not all) will ever choose to undertake it.
Adding an additional veneer of impossibility to these stories is the presence of light touches of magical realism. This serves to bend the light just enough that things become even harder to see, enhancing the overall effect.
Basically, these are quite good.
As a staunch believer in the ideal of the American composite culture, ethnic nationalism is at once a bizarre and a fascinating force to me. Most of the history of the world, including the history of the region that the author so vividly creates, makes little sense because the idea that two types of people can live in the same place is not theoretical or strange to me. This made it incredibly refreshing to read these stories, the strongest of which had a deep sense of ethnic nationalism attached to them, and the weakest of which was the one about American integration. Orhan interrogates the ethnocentricity of the place he is writing about, especially in relation to Turkey's relationship with the Kurds, but it remains the vital heart of nearly all of these stories.
This ethnocentricity provides a wonderful sense of place and person. Turkey is as strange to me as any fantastic setting dreamed up by a fantasy novelist, but the author steadfastly refuses to provide the waypoints standard in other genres to understand the setting. I understand Turkey less from these stories than I would from reading a guidebook, and by fleshing them out in this indecipherable way Orhan has made a place that I know to be real rather than a place that I feel that I can be transported by words. There is a barrier between me and the characters in these stories that they will not cross, and I can only cross with an effort so great and sustained that only those who immigrate (and even then not all) will ever choose to undertake it.
Adding an additional veneer of impossibility to these stories is the presence of light touches of magical realism. This serves to bend the light just enough that things become even harder to see, enhancing the overall effect.
Basically, these are quite good.
March 24, 2023
DNF at 70%.
I requested this book because I thought I would love the themes: love of homeland, the immigrant experience, hope in oppression. It is short stories which I haven’t read since high school, but that didn’t bother me. I did enjoy some short stories then and with these themes especially I thought this book would be perfect for me. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
I did not enjoy reading this book. At all. From the start the book was just a bit too funky for me. I didn’t understand the stories. They weren’t easy to understand; they were a mishmash of events that started and ended very abruptly so I didn’t understand what was going on at all. Maybe this is just the way short stories are? That you need to take a pen and paper to highlight and think deeply to understand what’s going on? Again, haven’t read any short stories in years but I don’t remember them being like this. Because of the weird style I did not see the themes very easily and I could not follow the stories at all.
If you are someone who regularly reads short stories and is okay with a very funky style of writing that is not easy to read, this book may be for you. However, if you read fiction to enjoy the book without needing to bend over backwards understanding what is happening, this isn’t for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an eARC of this book.
I requested this book because I thought I would love the themes: love of homeland, the immigrant experience, hope in oppression. It is short stories which I haven’t read since high school, but that didn’t bother me. I did enjoy some short stories then and with these themes especially I thought this book would be perfect for me. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
I did not enjoy reading this book. At all. From the start the book was just a bit too funky for me. I didn’t understand the stories. They weren’t easy to understand; they were a mishmash of events that started and ended very abruptly so I didn’t understand what was going on at all. Maybe this is just the way short stories are? That you need to take a pen and paper to highlight and think deeply to understand what’s going on? Again, haven’t read any short stories in years but I don’t remember them being like this. Because of the weird style I did not see the themes very easily and I could not follow the stories at all.
If you are someone who regularly reads short stories and is okay with a very funky style of writing that is not easy to read, this book may be for you. However, if you read fiction to enjoy the book without needing to bend over backwards understanding what is happening, this isn’t for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an eARC of this book.
February 21, 2024
Sometimes you have a feeling that the experience of writing something was particularly cathartic for its author, but it doesn't (at least at the time of reading it) reach you in the way you know it probably could. I think that's often the case when reading something that is so distinctly tied to its setting, as the stories of this collection are tied to Turkey. That was not my reading experience. I felt so involved in the disparate stories of this collection, as if through reading them and projecting my own experience of living in (and out) of Turkey onto them, Orhan and I were in on some sort of secret. These stories are their setting in a very thoughtful way, but it wasn't quite enough. Turkey is a hard place to love, and there were glimmers of that tension in all of these stories, I guess I just wanted a little more.
This collection is beautifully written and I'm excited to read more from Orhan.
This collection is beautifully written and I'm excited to read more from Orhan.
July 10, 2023
Some of the stories would really hook me but by the end I realized this simply isn’t the type of book I’m in need of reading at the moment. Maybe I’ll read it again one day when life leads me to a different headspace.
January 30, 2024
This moved me so deeply, wow. I would read this man’s grocery list
August 27, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ whimsical, cultural, entertaining yet heartbreaking… it’s been a while since i’ve been enchanted by a collection of short stories
July 20, 2023
A bold collection of stories that celebrate the resilience of the human spirit through oppression and adversity. The author places common people in uncommon circumstances with a touch of magical realism and a splash of hope.
December 13, 2024
the best story is last
May 18, 2023
I have to admit, I chose this book from NetGalley based on the recommendation of writers I love—Anthony Marra, Andrew Sean Greer, among others—and I was not disappointed. I especially enjoy learning about places I've never been, so these stories, set in Turkey and depicting the ordinary lives of its people, were especially compelling. This "fiercely imaginative debut collection" is exactly as advertised, with captivating tales of talking animals and unique, inspiring characters transcending the dark realities of their lives. I highly recommend it.
As a bonus, the author is an Emerson College MFA grad. Which I considered good news for the current Emerson creative writing major in my house. :)
As a bonus, the author is an Emerson College MFA grad. Which I considered good news for the current Emerson creative writing major in my house. :)
April 24, 2023
I Am My Country offers 10 short stories, most of them set entirely in Turkey, and all of them about Turkish people. The stories range from magical realism or fantasy to more reliably realistic tales. Some are about siblings, some are about romantic love, and some establish tenuous relationships between virtual strangers. However, despite the diversity in subjects and themes, all of the stories here incorporate Turkey’s political turmoil into the mix. In some stories it plays a far bigger role than in others, but each has at least an element of the sociopolitical environment and the ways that impacts our characters. “The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra” and “Mule Brigade” are among the most political, in these stories taking strict government issues and dramatizing them into the seemingly absurd.
My favorite story was “The Muezzin,” in which a woman is so distraught by the death of her mother that grief becomes her new identity. She has little emotional space left for her husband, and he strays. Meanwhile, it never stops raining and the politicians only add to the strain. What does it mean for two people to reconnect and move forward in the midst of chaos and certain death?
Another story that stood out is “Three Parts In Which Emre Kills His Daughters.” Emre’s head is in the clouds; he’s always reading his novels and ignoring his three teen and young adult daughters. His youngest daughter is killed at a political rally, and this trauma consumes Emre, making him even more distant from his two remaining daughters. Emre isn’t present in his daughters’ lives until it’s too late.
From antagonism between different groups within Turkey, to the country’s relationship with Cyprus and Greece, to choices we make between selfishness and community, the stories in I Am My Country give a sense of Turkey’s political landscape, history, and culture. The stories are strange but thoughtful, and though they tend toward the bleak, they make for an intriguing collection.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing me with an ARC of this book!
* Please read my full review on my blog, Amanda's Book Corner! *
My favorite story was “The Muezzin,” in which a woman is so distraught by the death of her mother that grief becomes her new identity. She has little emotional space left for her husband, and he strays. Meanwhile, it never stops raining and the politicians only add to the strain. What does it mean for two people to reconnect and move forward in the midst of chaos and certain death?
Another story that stood out is “Three Parts In Which Emre Kills His Daughters.” Emre’s head is in the clouds; he’s always reading his novels and ignoring his three teen and young adult daughters. His youngest daughter is killed at a political rally, and this trauma consumes Emre, making him even more distant from his two remaining daughters. Emre isn’t present in his daughters’ lives until it’s too late.
From antagonism between different groups within Turkey, to the country’s relationship with Cyprus and Greece, to choices we make between selfishness and community, the stories in I Am My Country give a sense of Turkey’s political landscape, history, and culture. The stories are strange but thoughtful, and though they tend toward the bleak, they make for an intriguing collection.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing me with an ARC of this book!
* Please read my full review on my blog, Amanda's Book Corner! *
July 8, 2023
As a first gen American with Turkish roots, I felt especially seen in the titular piece, “I Am My Country.”
some quotes::
“Of Turkey, I knew the cherry pits, the white-sliver cigarettes, the gold chain in the morning sun.”
“Reading about Turks was like fortifying my own Turkishness.” (literally me, while I read this book)
“I didn’t teach my first boy Turkish. I didn’t teach the second or the third boy either. I look through a reference book for a word that means the loss of a trait, the ending of a string of inheritances passed through generations…vestigial: having become functionless through the course of evolution.” (oh hai, it me, i’m the second “son”).
“I asked my mother if my ethnicity is a trinket to be displayed in a glass case, or if it is a reliquary-ensconced idol for worshipping, or if it is some simpler else: a freckle on an arm full of freckles.”
some quotes::
“Of Turkey, I knew the cherry pits, the white-sliver cigarettes, the gold chain in the morning sun.”
“Reading about Turks was like fortifying my own Turkishness.” (literally me, while I read this book)
“I didn’t teach my first boy Turkish. I didn’t teach the second or the third boy either. I look through a reference book for a word that means the loss of a trait, the ending of a string of inheritances passed through generations…vestigial: having become functionless through the course of evolution.” (oh hai, it me, i’m the second “son”).
“I asked my mother if my ethnicity is a trinket to be displayed in a glass case, or if it is a reliquary-ensconced idol for worshipping, or if it is some simpler else: a freckle on an arm full of freckles.”
January 26, 2025
I don’t know what I was expecting when I started this, I don’t even particularly know how it made it onto my radar, but it’s not anything like what I expected to read. I was pleasantly surprised.
Collectively all of these stories are not 5/5, but there were several greatly profound works sprinkled throughout that will certainly remain with me long after I’ve finished reading. Orhan has such a way of capturing particular moments in time that just resonated really well with me. Cohesively though, there were some short stories that were just okay, and the last few felt like they dragged on and the point got a bit lost and washed away, which made it hard for me to finish. What I did find important though, was how transferable the lessons of these stories can be. Even though they were based in/on/about one place, Turkey, so much of it was applicable to what is happening in the United States right now, and in the rest of the world.
The story of Soma was written in such a way that I’ve never experienced. It’s like Orhan took the way I’ve seen the world lately and put it down perfectly on those pages. I’ve never read something written so close to how I would hope to explain it. The traveling I have done in my current job has greatly impacted how I see so much of rural America, and how this story based in Soma, Turkey had the capability to encapsulate a similar feeling was something quite remarkable. It’s like he took my thoughts from those experiences and expanded them with the words I couldn’t find.
The title story, I am My Country, resonated with me in a way that was unexpected, maybe it was all the bits about Kansas and the midwest and the discussion of dying language in family lineage of immigrants that I could relate so much to feeling and experiencing, but it really got to me.
I hope that Orhan goes on to write a full-length novel because if some of these short stories did so much for me, I can’t wait to read his long-form stuff in the future if he is to do that. The range shown in just 10 short stories was definitely enough to hook me for a full-length novel. I’d love to read something in a similar vein to “The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra”.
Overall I’m grateful I picked this up, I have learned so much about the history and current state of Turkey and I realized how much I really didn’t understand or know about the country and the intricate relations of the area. I will definitely be looking into more literature like this in the future.
Collectively all of these stories are not 5/5, but there were several greatly profound works sprinkled throughout that will certainly remain with me long after I’ve finished reading. Orhan has such a way of capturing particular moments in time that just resonated really well with me. Cohesively though, there were some short stories that were just okay, and the last few felt like they dragged on and the point got a bit lost and washed away, which made it hard for me to finish. What I did find important though, was how transferable the lessons of these stories can be. Even though they were based in/on/about one place, Turkey, so much of it was applicable to what is happening in the United States right now, and in the rest of the world.
The story of Soma was written in such a way that I’ve never experienced. It’s like Orhan took the way I’ve seen the world lately and put it down perfectly on those pages. I’ve never read something written so close to how I would hope to explain it. The traveling I have done in my current job has greatly impacted how I see so much of rural America, and how this story based in Soma, Turkey had the capability to encapsulate a similar feeling was something quite remarkable. It’s like he took my thoughts from those experiences and expanded them with the words I couldn’t find.
The title story, I am My Country, resonated with me in a way that was unexpected, maybe it was all the bits about Kansas and the midwest and the discussion of dying language in family lineage of immigrants that I could relate so much to feeling and experiencing, but it really got to me.
I hope that Orhan goes on to write a full-length novel because if some of these short stories did so much for me, I can’t wait to read his long-form stuff in the future if he is to do that. The range shown in just 10 short stories was definitely enough to hook me for a full-length novel. I’d love to read something in a similar vein to “The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra”.
Overall I’m grateful I picked this up, I have learned so much about the history and current state of Turkey and I realized how much I really didn’t understand or know about the country and the intricate relations of the area. I will definitely be looking into more literature like this in the future.
March 9, 2023
A Goodreads giveaway win! I often enter giveaways for short story collections 'cause I'm a big fan of the form. Orhan's book is about Turkey, people living in Turkey, and occasionally Turks living elsewhere. I think every story here touched on some element of Turkish culture, most of which was unfamiliar to me, so I learned a lot. The first story in the collection (probably my favorite, definitely the most memorable) features a female garbage collector who begins finding musical instruments in the trash, and instead of taking them to the dump, she brings them home and stores them in her attic. The instruments are followed by handwritten musical pages, and eventually musicians themselves, all stashed in her attic, where they form an orchestra. I loved the musicality of this story and the magic realism form. Most of the rest of the stories are more realistic, and feature a variety of characters (Orhan seems comfortable writing from both a male and female narrative perspective) involved in situations usually out of their control. "The Smuggler" is about a man who smuggles things across the border from Syria, who's been taxed with bringing across a pregnant young girl, who claims her pregnancy is by immaculate conception. I loved this detail, although it never played out as important in the story. The women in Orhan's stories often deal with both religious and cultural inequality. Many of the main characters (most of the stories are written in first person) are pursuing ways to improve their lives, often unsuccessfully. One of my other favorites here is a story titled "Three Parts in Which Emre Kills His Daughters," where a father is pretty neglectful or at least unaware/uninterested in his daughters' lives, which results in his losing them. The final story about a birdkeeper who discovers he can communicate with birds, particularly a kind of sarcastic owl, returns to the realm of magic realism. Orhan's characters are usually likeable and always interesting enough for the reader to want to learn their story. Many of them are poor and struggling. The only real downfall here is that many stories reach an end without coming to any conclusion, a type of writing I've come to associate with MFA writers (Orhan is one).
June 3, 2023
I Am My Country, the debut short story collection by Kenan Orhan, has ten stories with common theme of war and government oppression. All of the stories are centered around a tumultuous Turkish political climate, and the way that the citizens adjust to their new circumstances. I do not know anything about this, the government of Turkey or the wars and coups that the Turkish people have endured. I only have these stories as a reference. With a mixture of stories that use elements of fables and magical realism, and some taunt and fantastic writing, I understand how the citizens feel. These stories do in a short period of time what many novels take hundreds of pages to do: draw us into the world, make us understand, and make us feel empathy for the characters.
All of these stories are good in their own ways. A few that I like best:
“The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra” opens the collection with a woman who works as a trash collector. She starts to find musical instruments then musicians in the garbage on her route. She collects them and has an orchestra in her attic, something that is banned with the new government.
“Mule Brigade” A story where mostly reluctant soldiers drive into a village to round up and kill the work animals so that the villagers are not using them to smuggle contraband across the border.
“The Birdkeeper’s Moral” A man who catches birds in homemade cages to make a living runs into a girl whom he loved decades earlier. He tries to find a way to impress her, with the help from an owl who is giving him advice.
Many of these stories are set up like fables, but most of them end as cautionary tales. Orhan’s ability to paint a picture of the world that is crumbling around the character’s feet, while the characters mostly remain hopeful for the future, makes I Am My Country really stick out. It has been a long time since I have read a collection quite as powerful and moving as this one.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
All of these stories are good in their own ways. A few that I like best:
“The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra” opens the collection with a woman who works as a trash collector. She starts to find musical instruments then musicians in the garbage on her route. She collects them and has an orchestra in her attic, something that is banned with the new government.
“Mule Brigade” A story where mostly reluctant soldiers drive into a village to round up and kill the work animals so that the villagers are not using them to smuggle contraband across the border.
“The Birdkeeper’s Moral” A man who catches birds in homemade cages to make a living runs into a girl whom he loved decades earlier. He tries to find a way to impress her, with the help from an owl who is giving him advice.
Many of these stories are set up like fables, but most of them end as cautionary tales. Orhan’s ability to paint a picture of the world that is crumbling around the character’s feet, while the characters mostly remain hopeful for the future, makes I Am My Country really stick out. It has been a long time since I have read a collection quite as powerful and moving as this one.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 19, 2024
Upon my first reading of the stories in this collection, “I Am My Country,” I felt that I did not connect with or relate to the stories in any way. However, upon deep reflection, I came to appreciate their efforts to shed light on the oppressive regime of its democratically elected ruler. The stories collectively appear as a denunciation of Turkey’s politics and particularly of its authoritarian leader, President Erdoğan. They also appear to denounce traditional Muslim customs and beliefs. The first story, titled “The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra” makes a mockery of Erdoğan’s restrictive policies, exaggerating the government’s use of censorship to control its citizens’ thoughts and perceptions. The second story, “The Stray of Ankara,” depicts a woman’s intent and efforts to assassinate the president.
The third story also appears obliquely to denounce the president: When a town’s mine collapses and over 50 of the miners are killed, the president visits the town only to be met by an angry mob of villagers that blames him for the deaths. In the next story, a young man and his sister argue over the value of traditional Muslim customs and its misogynistic practices. President Erdoğan has extolled motherhood, saying repeatedly that "no Muslim family" should consider birth control or family planning so that they may multiply their descendants. " He also condemns feminists and has said that men and women cannot be treated equally.
Given the rise of dictatorships around the world and the threats America has witnessed against its own democracy, I applaud the author, Kenan Orhan’s, efforts to demonstrate the importance of a free press, freedom of religion, and equal rights for everyone. Thank you to NetGalley, Mr. Orhan, and Random House for giving me an advanced reader’s copy of this important book. My review of the book is VOLUNTARY.
The third story also appears obliquely to denounce the president: When a town’s mine collapses and over 50 of the miners are killed, the president visits the town only to be met by an angry mob of villagers that blames him for the deaths. In the next story, a young man and his sister argue over the value of traditional Muslim customs and its misogynistic practices. President Erdoğan has extolled motherhood, saying repeatedly that "no Muslim family" should consider birth control or family planning so that they may multiply their descendants. " He also condemns feminists and has said that men and women cannot be treated equally.
Given the rise of dictatorships around the world and the threats America has witnessed against its own democracy, I applaud the author, Kenan Orhan’s, efforts to demonstrate the importance of a free press, freedom of religion, and equal rights for everyone. Thank you to NetGalley, Mr. Orhan, and Random House for giving me an advanced reader’s copy of this important book. My review of the book is VOLUNTARY.
September 1, 2025
This is an amazing collection of short stories by a debut novelist. These stories take place 'from the forests along the Black Sea to the streets of Istanbul'. There is a lot of history I did not know and enjoyed learning. Some stories have magical realism, others not but all of the stories, on some level, deal with the turmoil of being human. I found the writing to be very good, though some transitions were difficult to follow. I was fully immersed in each story. This collection does require your full attention. And I had to put the book aside because there was much to think about and a lot of emotions swirling around in my heart.
Some of my favorites:
The Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra (Magical Realism) is the story of a trash collector and how she brings home discarded musical instruments to her home. And then a conductor followed by more instruments and then a whole orchestra. She hides them in her very small apartment. This is a political statement against the regime of a political dictator.
The Stray of Ankara is about Gokce, a florist in Ankara and how she decides to use a stray dog to blow up a corrupt president. The ending left me wondering.
The Smuggler - a young Turkish man smuggles a Kurdish woman into Turkey. She is around 15 and pregnant. She says she is a virgin. This story takes place while they are driving to Turkey, as they go through the border crossing and to their final destination. This is another story that left me wondering.
The Birdkeeper's Moral is very good though I struggle with what really happened in this story.
I hope Kenan Orhan continues to write.
Some of my favorites:
The Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra (Magical Realism) is the story of a trash collector and how she brings home discarded musical instruments to her home. And then a conductor followed by more instruments and then a whole orchestra. She hides them in her very small apartment. This is a political statement against the regime of a political dictator.
The Stray of Ankara is about Gokce, a florist in Ankara and how she decides to use a stray dog to blow up a corrupt president. The ending left me wondering.
The Smuggler - a young Turkish man smuggles a Kurdish woman into Turkey. She is around 15 and pregnant. She says she is a virgin. This story takes place while they are driving to Turkey, as they go through the border crossing and to their final destination. This is another story that left me wondering.
The Birdkeeper's Moral is very good though I struggle with what really happened in this story.
I hope Kenan Orhan continues to write.
May 19, 2023
But an interesting book. I liked all the short stories and Everybody had problems and they had to solve them and somewhere We're based on tradition and mixed with modern ideas. My favorite was the bird cage. It was an interesting way of looking at the conflicts with greece and turkey and somehow the war got involved too. Yes a m I was person who made bird cages and also capture birds as well. This Al appears to him and he starts talking to him and then we come friends.. When he was growing up he had a friend d e d t e d e j u It was part of a very wealthy family. His father was also a bird capture as well. He had a rough childhood because his father kept pushing him to do things. This is how we met this woman as a young girl. They lost touch because of the war and stuff went on. His father was Taken away by the turkisoldiers. He stayed at home for a year and then he was displace does well. It was just an interesting take on how when the british left things went very sideways on cyprus. I can see this happening all the time because people stolen stand people. This woman came back into his life later on and he remembers how kind and sweet she was and he made her a bird cage and she really loved it. He also had the bird's well who helped him capture other birds. The bird became very sad I think because he wanted freedom. It was a great book
April 27, 2023
I Am My Country
By Kenan Orhan
The author is a Turkish American. With this collection of stories, he presents to the reader both sides of his heritage. His stories touch on what it's like to belong to two cultures on the one hand – and yet to not precisely fit in either one.
His stories deal with topics which we have heard about from afar, but he brings them up much closer for the reader's edification. He has stories of the crackdowns of the Turkish government, the imposition of Islamic mores on the citizens, the treatment of women, and the Turkish government's ongoing battle with the PKK and other Kurds within their borders.
I found his stories to be eye-opening. I especially liked "The Beyglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra" because it shows how, by attrition, the Turks have lost more and more of their culture to government bans. Through these stories, the author makes clear his dislike of what Erdogan and his government is doing to the country as a whole. He points out the brainwashing that occurs when only one school of thought is allowed (see "Mule Brigade").
I learned a lot from this collection. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a clearer, truer view of Turkey today.
By Kenan Orhan
The author is a Turkish American. With this collection of stories, he presents to the reader both sides of his heritage. His stories touch on what it's like to belong to two cultures on the one hand – and yet to not precisely fit in either one.
His stories deal with topics which we have heard about from afar, but he brings them up much closer for the reader's edification. He has stories of the crackdowns of the Turkish government, the imposition of Islamic mores on the citizens, the treatment of women, and the Turkish government's ongoing battle with the PKK and other Kurds within their borders.
I found his stories to be eye-opening. I especially liked "The Beyglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra" because it shows how, by attrition, the Turks have lost more and more of their culture to government bans. Through these stories, the author makes clear his dislike of what Erdogan and his government is doing to the country as a whole. He points out the brainwashing that occurs when only one school of thought is allowed (see "Mule Brigade").
I learned a lot from this collection. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a clearer, truer view of Turkey today.
April 17, 2023
First, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.
I'm not going to lie, I'm having a bit of an identity crisis here...
I thought, pretty definitively, that I was into folk tales. Like, felt very confident about that fact.
But this is not the first folk tale book I have DNF'd this year.
What is the deal?
Is it that I don't like modern folk tales? That I am too set in my ways and only like the folk tales I am "used to"? Is my brain just not good enough at abstract thinking to enjoy these modern folk tale retellings?
Honestly, I am not sure what it is. I didn't even get through the first story and DNF'd this one at 5%. I just never felt gripped/a buy-in to the story.
The writing itself was not bad at all and I did enjoy, nebulously, the idea of the first story - but when it came to having to commit to actually finish reading it... I just couldn't take the plunge.
I am sure other readers will greatly enjoy this book and be able to get meaning from it. I am sad that I am not one of those readers.
I'm not going to lie, I'm having a bit of an identity crisis here...
I thought, pretty definitively, that I was into folk tales. Like, felt very confident about that fact.
But this is not the first folk tale book I have DNF'd this year.
What is the deal?
Is it that I don't like modern folk tales? That I am too set in my ways and only like the folk tales I am "used to"? Is my brain just not good enough at abstract thinking to enjoy these modern folk tale retellings?
Honestly, I am not sure what it is. I didn't even get through the first story and DNF'd this one at 5%. I just never felt gripped/a buy-in to the story.
The writing itself was not bad at all and I did enjoy, nebulously, the idea of the first story - but when it came to having to commit to actually finish reading it... I just couldn't take the plunge.
I am sure other readers will greatly enjoy this book and be able to get meaning from it. I am sad that I am not one of those readers.
June 24, 2023
My problem with this book was the same one that I have with almost all short story collections. I liked some (well, one really) a lot, and I didn't really like others.
Even though I just finished this short book a few hours ago I can barely remember any of the stories. Mostly I just have a feeling of frustration. I know many of the stories left me unsatisfied. They cut off too soon before we had any kind of closure. Or they were too ambiguous, to the point where I wasn't sure if what I was reading was actually a dream sequence. I wanted to be more grounded in the writing with a better sense of the world. I think that's why the one story I vividly remember and really liked was the most realistic one. The story that follows a Turkish soldier rounding up mules was both horrible and eye-opening. I've never read anything about this conflict that has apparently been taking place for decades. This experience was more of what I was hoping and expecting to get instead of the magical realism.
Even though I just finished this short book a few hours ago I can barely remember any of the stories. Mostly I just have a feeling of frustration. I know many of the stories left me unsatisfied. They cut off too soon before we had any kind of closure. Or they were too ambiguous, to the point where I wasn't sure if what I was reading was actually a dream sequence. I wanted to be more grounded in the writing with a better sense of the world. I think that's why the one story I vividly remember and really liked was the most realistic one. The story that follows a Turkish soldier rounding up mules was both horrible and eye-opening. I've never read anything about this conflict that has apparently been taking place for decades. This experience was more of what I was hoping and expecting to get instead of the magical realism.
April 18, 2025
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Short story collections can be hit or miss and after the first few stories in this one I thought it was going to be a hit, but unfortunately the stronger stories were the first two or three. I loved The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra so much. It was quirky and I loved how it highlighted creating pockets of hope and resistance against authoritarian regimes. I also really liked The Stray of Ankara despite finding the ending a little abrupt, and I found Soma to be devastating especially after learning a bit more about the real events that story inspired. Unfortunately none of the others really hit quite as well for me, though each of them had a glimmer of something I really enjoyed. Overall, I thought the exploration of Turkey was really fascinating, though maybe I would have gotten more out of the stories if I knew more about the place and its history. I do think Orhan is a very talented writer and am interested in seeing what else he rights.
Short story collections can be hit or miss and after the first few stories in this one I thought it was going to be a hit, but unfortunately the stronger stories were the first two or three. I loved The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra so much. It was quirky and I loved how it highlighted creating pockets of hope and resistance against authoritarian regimes. I also really liked The Stray of Ankara despite finding the ending a little abrupt, and I found Soma to be devastating especially after learning a bit more about the real events that story inspired. Unfortunately none of the others really hit quite as well for me, though each of them had a glimmer of something I really enjoyed. Overall, I thought the exploration of Turkey was really fascinating, though maybe I would have gotten more out of the stories if I knew more about the place and its history. I do think Orhan is a very talented writer and am interested in seeing what else he rights.
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