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Friday, 27 December 2013

Mediterranean Waltz - Buket Uzuner

Story of a small group of families in Istanbul from the mid 20th C approx. to modern day.  Very popular in Turkey, but I did not find it such a great read.  Especially the ending chapter, which seems very slapdash to me.
I imagine it was popular in Turkey because of several of the themes:
- the destruction of the beautiful Istanbul of old, and nostalgia for that city
- the fragmentation of Turkish society based on money, and nostalgia for "the good old days"
- the politics and political extremes of recent decades
- a background of a seemingly ongoing military coup
- some challenging of sexual norms and gender roles

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