A Strangeness in My Mind: A novel

Product DescriptionFrom one of our greatest, a panoramic new novel, his first sinceMuseum of Innocence, bringing us into Istanbul's underground through the eyes of a struggling street vendor.It is the 1990s in Istanbul, and although there were once thousands of boza vendors walking the frozen streets of the city, Mevlut now cuts a lonely figure on snowy winter nights. Falling deeply into debt, and desperate to marry off his incompetent son and satisfy his mistress, Mevlut turns to his old friend Ferhat, who collects payments on electric bills. The partners traverse the back streets of middle class neighbourhoods and shantytowns, venture into flats, shops and restaurants of the poor, relishing their power to punish cheaters and collect bribes. The dangers of Istanbul's underbelly eventually catch up with Mevlut, and he is attacked by a pack of dogs, hospitalized, robbed by bandits, and beaten and threatened at every turn. Istanbul is exposed as a city with a rich and dynamic underground culture which seeps into its secular business centres and mainstream society. Mevlut serves as a flighty guide, occasionally attuned to the city's nuances, but with a wild imagination and instincts tainted by desperation.ReviewShortlisted for the 2017 International Dublin Literary AwardWinner of the 2016 Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award for Foreign LiteratureLonglisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize“[A] magical literary offering.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer“As Pamuk follows his believably flawed protagonist and a teeming cast of supporting players across five decades, Turkey’s turbulent politics provide a thrumming undercurrent of unease. Rich, complex, and pulsing with urban life: one of this gifted writer’s best.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“[A] love letter to modern Turkey, and above all to the city of Istanbul. . . . [O]ne of Pamuk’s most enjoyable novels and an ideal place to begin for readers who want to get to know him.” —Adam Kirsch, The Washington Post “Pamuk’s novel grapples playfully with forty years of history in the culturally tumultuous city of Istanbul.” —The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)“[A]t once epic and intimate. A Strangeness in My Mind is always limned by the emotional richness, slippery melancholy and empathy that Pamuk, in his unique way, brings to bear on his narrative. . . . A Strangeness in My Mind is an achievement on a colossal scale.” —Hindustan Times“Woven through the pages is the author’s deep fondness for the city of Istanbul and a keen ability to articulate the tensions between old and new, urban and rural, traditional and modern. . . . [A] rich and compelling tapestry. . . . While the story is narrated in the third person and is focused on Mevlut, the voices of various characters break into the narrative and expand the story from their own perspective. In many hands this could be a wonky device—but not with Pamuk. Rather, it is a delightful approach taken with a deft touch.” —Winnipeg Free Press“[A]nother reminder of Pamuk’s brilliance in storytelling. . . . Pamuk’s concerns in A Strangeness in My Mind . . . have a unique universal appeal. . . . Pamuk has already proved what a great miniaturist he is in earlier novels. . . . Here, too, his eye for detail cannot be ignored. . . . Pamuk is at his best in this masterly portrayal of an artless man’s struggle to be nothing more than himself—to be happy, honest and open.” —The Times of India“[T]his novel is of gripping relevance to anyone who wants to understand either the sociopolitical landscape of Turkey or sociopolitical landscapes more generally. . . . The book pumped me up about the possibilities of the novel—the way that it can do a kind of work that social analysis and even history, with its limited access to private life and unspoken desires, can’t: namely, tracing the relationship between large-scale historical change and the thoughts and feelings that fill a given person’s head at an