My Name Is Red discussion

I'm nearing the end of this book. It took me 100 pages to want to read it. I persevered because I respected the person who recommended it.

Often Pamuk falls into meditative lists enumerating the fine details of a painting, a feeling, a scene. For instance, in the chapter "I am called Black," this sentence: "We saw princes in the Khorasan style seated in their handsome nobles, with magnificent falcons clutching their forearms, hunting bolt upright astride their exquisite horses." That sentence could occur almost anywhere in the book. It becomes deafening, this onslaught of persistent magnificence, handsomeness, and exquisiteness.

Minutiae aside -- the fact that this is a book about miniaturists is indeed a metaphor for his enumerative and exhaustive lists -- reading this book I feel as though I am traveling in a foreign country. I do not know the language, I do not know the customs, and I am astoundingly ignorant of its art history. For instance, what is this universe of "pretty apprentices"? References to pretty boys and pedophilia are throughout the book. It is a universe where coffee drinking is a sinful act, but beating and seducing little boys is a God-given right. Although I am completely comfortable with the topic of homosexuality, even I tire of the incessant references to pretty boys. I can only deduce that Pamuk's repetitive references to what we call pedophilia mimic the miniaturists' obsessive preoccupation with pretty boys, but it grates on my twenty-first century mindset.

And the women?! I have a friend who told me recently that today, in Arab countries where the women are oppressed, they must resort to extreme manipulation and indirect influence to wield any influence. Such is life in My Name is Red, where the only two female characters spend all their time scheming and plotting to manipulate the men in their lives.

I am curious to understand the history of these social customs.

I don't know that I would read more Pamuk. His mastery of the art of writing is without dispute. I grow weary of lists, lovely though they may be.

I just finished the book I agree with all you said except I am eager to read more of his work. Perhaps you should look at some miniature paintings and would appreciate his descriptions more. His dialogue on the East vs West style of painting was fascinating. I am always pleased to read any insight into the Eastern mind to help understand our positions leading to the adversarial relationship we have with that area of the world.
If you want more on these social customs you may enjoy The Cairo Trilogy

that is the very prime interest of the book....the insights into Art...if the meditative passages weren;t there, then it would simply be a murder mystery which is only one of the several aspects of the book.