In 2006, Orhan Pamuk became the first Turkish citizen to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is the best-selling author of My Name Is Red (2001), Snow ( ), Other Colors ( ), and Istanbul ( Selection ).
The Story: In 1975, 30-year-old businessman Kemal falls deeply in love with the much younger Füsun. It does not matter that she is a poor shopgirl and a distant relative or that he is already engaged to marry the beautiful and accomplished Sibel. For the next three decades, Kemal tries to recapture the emotions of that brief affair, which he belatedly realizes marked the happiest time of his life. Set in Pamuk's native city of Istanbul, The Museum of Innocence explores one man's downward spiral as his obsession with one woman threatens to consume him.
Knopf. 535 pages. $28.95. ISBN: 9780307266767
Los Angeles Times
"The Museum of Innocence deeply and compellingly explores the interplay between erotic obsession and sentimentality--and never once slips into the sentimental. There is a master at work in this book." Tim Rutten
Washington Post
"Masterfully translated, spellbindingly told, it is resounding confirmation that Orhan Pamuk is one of the great novelists of his generation. With this book, he literally puts love into our hands." Marie Arana
Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Our guide into The Museum of Innocence is a liar, a drunk, a kleptomaniac and a spoiled Istanbul society boy named Kemal Basmaci. Yet I could hardly wait for his dissolute company." Karen R. Long
NY Times Book Review
"Part of the delight in The Museum of Innocence is in scouting out the serious games, yet giving oneself over to the charms of Pamuk's storytelling. ... Kemal's dogged endurance may try our patience, though his dead-end accounting provides a bleak comedy." Maureen Howard
Miami Herald
"The wistfulness simultaneously accounts for the novel's principal weakness. ... While some readers might appreciate the rueful nostalgia, the absence of any real urgency to the narrative renders The Museum of Innocence plodding." Andrew Furman
Critical Summary
Turkey's most prominent and best-selling novelist, Orhan Pamuk is the rare author who creates highly literary works that also enjoy popular appeal. The Museum of Innocence is no exception. Critics described it as a beautiful, moving love story--not only between Kemal and Füsun but also between Pamuk and his beloved Istanbul. And while the critic from the Cleveland Plain Dealer found Kemal's long-term devotion tedious at times, she also called the story "surprising" and "moving." The major complaint came from the Miami Herald, which cited a lack of momentum and of appealing characters. But without question, fans of star-crossed lovers and exotic locales will find much to delight in here.
Also by the Author
Istanbul (2008): Pamuk parallels painful, life-changing events in his younger days with those of his home, Istanbul.