The Bastard of Istanbul
A "vivid and entertaining" (Chicago Tribune) tale about the tangled history of two families, from the author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reese's Book Club Pick) "Zesty, imaginative . . . a Turkish version of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club." --USA Today As an Armenian American living in San Francisco, Armanoush feels like part of her identity is missing and that she must make a journey back to the past, to Turkey, in order to start living her life. Asya is a nineteen-year-old woman living in an extended all-female household in Istanbul who loves Jonny Cash and the French existentialists. The Bastard of Istanbul tells the story of their two families--and a secret connection linking them to a violent event in the history of their homeland. Filed with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it, and about Turkey itself.
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Community Reviews
Captivating and phenomenal story. Elif Shafak is a masterful storyteller. She holds your attention till the end with her writing. Well developed characters and narration superb
Everything was good. The way the story proceeded it was definitely good. But the way it revealed Asya's father was what ruined the book for me. There was astounding history, two families having a long hidden connection, the protagonists were so beautifully described. It's just doesn't give the satisfying ending I was looking for.
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