ManBookering discussion

This thread is to discuss A Strangeness in my Mind by Orhan Pamuk.

From the title page, Orhan Pamuk makes his (apparent) intentions clear - a David Copperfield style Dickensian saga :

"Being the Adventures and Dreams of Mevlut Karataş, a Seller of Boza, and of His Friends, and Also a Portrait of Life in Istanbul Between 1969 and 2012 from Many Different Points of View"

But in practice, the main character is Istanbul itself, with Pamuk continuing the narrative quest cited by the Nobel committee: “who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures.”

Very much a MBI rather than a BTBA novel - not quite "literary" enough for the latter, and doesn't really add much to his overall works. But certainly deserves it's place on the longlist.

I finished this last night. I agree with Paul: Istanbul is really the main character in this novel. However, I did grow to be rather fond of Mevlut and a couple of incidents in his life brought genuine tears.