As I approached the climax of the novel, I could not decide whether this was one of the worst novels I'd read or one of the finest. Throughout the entire novel I felt deppressed and nostalgic, and when I read the last sentence all the feelings I held inside while reading the book flourished and tears began to flow freely.
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Its something else, something touching and poetic, haunting and beautiful. Something tragic yet hopeful. Hope that love is the only thing in the world that goes beyond Time.
Link 02 Apr 2010, Ricardo Hernandez
This book enchanted me, even though the hero was aggravating, Pamuk's prose is just exquisite. My Name is Red was wonderful too; but this was the work of a more mature, more confident author. I think of it as a story of Istanbul or even a symbol of how circumstances rework what we thought we knew. One of my all time favorites is this.
Link 09 Mar 2010, Dora Truong
Alas, in The Museum of Innocence there is no greater story to be told. Instead, the selfish ambitions of the protagonist, Kemal Bey, are laid bare for the reader over roughly five hundred agonizing pages of obsession and self-pity. It is because of this that the story lacks complexity.
Continues... 08 Mar 2010, Luke Gill
When I finished the pivotal chapter, The Engagement Party, I flung the book down in disgust and vowed to return it to the library immediately.
Then, to my horror and shame, I realized that not reading the book was causing me even more pain than reading the book. My "manly immorality" had dissolved into a mysterious numbness.
Continues... 20 Feb 2010, Kevin Burke
Please select a rating for the novel, from a scale of one to ten (greater means better).
Average Rating: 7.6
Total Votes: 706
You may start with the Wikipedia article about Orhan Pamuk to get more information on the writer of this book.
Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. You may read his Nobel Lecture: My Father's Suitcase
The official site of the writer is located at www.orhanpamuk.net
The official site of “The Museum of Innocence” is located at www.masumiyetmuzesi.com (in Turkish).
Pamuk describes the relation between the novel and the museum as “The museum is not an illustration of the novel and the novel is not an explanation of the museum. They are two representations of one single story perhaps.” in an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Pamuk is writing a series of articles, discussing the literary, philosophical and personal backgrounds of the novel and his thoughts on other great novels about love. These articles will also be linked here.
This section will be updated as more resources are available about the book.
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