Welcome to Litsy!

Always love to be in the company of Elif Shafak‘s writing..She can craft a story so well, keeping it compelling but providing a great commentary on social issues. A coming-of-age story of a young Turkish girl that is caught between her mother‘s strong cultural beliefs and her father‘s beliefs on how education can be used as escapism from the dire political situation they are faced with in Istanbul.. beautiful and riveting!

There was a palpable sense of suspense throughout the first three quarters of this book. The characters were expertly crafted and I was eager to find out about the 'scandal' that had led the promising young academic to become a bored Istanbul housewife. The storyline was compelling in its strangeness - facing up to a mugger, student housemates and the nature of God - and I really enjoyed it. Ultimately, the 'scandal' was a damp squib, but nvm!

#NovemberNarrative Day 17: While I did not enjoy the pontificating tone of the story, I admired Shafak‘s beautiful turns of phrase, her evident love for words, the way she made Istanbul and Oxford come alive in my mind, the vivid portrayal of what it is like to be a woman in #Turkey, and the earnest attempts to untangle something complex in her mind through this story.

My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-km0

Enjoyable

First book I read from this author last year.
Love her. Her descriptions of food, sense of belonging and cultures, women's experiences and attention to detail. 🌙

A great first line: “It was an ordinary spring day in Istanbul, a long and leaden afternoon like so many others, when she discovered, with a hollowness in her stomach, that she was capable of killing someone“ (1).

Everything was too obvious and tendentious. Even tough i personally consider some of the the topics important and discussion-worthy, everything but the father-daughter bond, was a boomer.

I really enjoy her writing. A definite slow burner with excellent focus on characters.

I finished Bridgerton last night (amazing!) so today I can focus on reading. I haven't finished a book in 2021 yet and already feel behind!!

My reading goal for 2021 is 50 books and I'll kick it off with this one.

“Certainty is a very dangerous thing. I like it when faith and doubt talk to each other and challenge each other.” - Elif Shafak in an interview with Kati Piri.
✨
While this quote is from the interview and not the book, it perfectly sums-up what Three Daughters Of Eve is all about.
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#elifshafak #threedaughtersofeve #britishturkishnovelist

What a surprising book! I love slow burning, character centric stories and this one didn‘t disappoint on those points. Definitely glad I was “forced” to get through this right now by the #bookspin choice this month! @TheAromaofBooks

Starting my #bookspin for April. This is the book that has been sitting on my nightstand the longest, waiting for me to read down to it. So, its fitting to be "forced" to get through it!

This book brought to my mind the CS Lewis quote “we read so we know we are not alone.” I found myself relating in so many ways to Peri as she was nearing midlife and was thinking about, struggling with, and trying to analyze how she got to where she was in life. I also very much related to the feeling of being able to “fit in“ in many places, settings, and with almost anyone, but never feeling like I quite belong or am at home anywhere.

5 ⭐

Thanks @RachelO for choosing this book - definitely on the lookout for more by Shafak.

The man in the photo is Chris Mounsey, who I've written quite a bit about in the book, as Azur reminds me of him (but in good ways). There's also 4 loose postcards in the book as I didn't want to clog up the margins!

@jhod it will be sent sometime next week - I need to get more package envelopes! 🤣🤣🤣

@Cathythoughts

Sunday morning coffee & enjoying my #lmpbc read 👍🏻♥️ beautiful writing

Hi 👋🏻 guys @RachelO @jenniferw88 @jhod

This book is impressive and I was left wanting more. Solid literary fiction which alternates perspectives of one woman during three different times of her life. I think the three daughters is referring to her and her friends, but it could equally be referring to the 3 different Peri's or Peri, her mother and daughter. That's the joy of literary fiction though isn't it - the layers, the complexity, the confusion!

Prepping my mum for her first trip to #edbookfest next week. She'll get the german editions, me the english and then we get to meet the authors. And of course we wont have time to finish them because i was late in getting them.... 🙈 #edinburgh2019

Love this book. Outstanding book

This book starts with Peri, a married Turkish woman, going to a party at a home on the Bosporus,and ends at that home. Most of the book tells the story of Peri and her family, and Peri‘s time at Oxford University. There she becomes friends with two women, one Iranian and one Egyptian. And then there is the charismatic, male professor who influences all of them, but Peri in particular. I enjoyed the drama of the women‘s friendship and the culture.

For the #WomenReadWomen2019 Read Along Chat, I asked for a favourite quote from the book. Here is mine, sagely uttered by Professor Azur whose unorthodox ways proved to be too incendiary. I didn‘t like him at all despite his brilliance. I thought he exploited his students for his own purposes, and too convinced of his own smarts. What did you think of him? What‘s your fave quote from the book?

#WomenReadWomen2019 Read Along Chat is here with only four Qs. Do chime in if you have read the book, very eager to read your thoughts. This is a so-so for me. Found it borderline proselytizing, with the story taking a backseat to the heavy pontification. Tagging those who have expressed an interest previously.

“Ahead in the dark she noticed a figure illuminated by the sodium-yellow street lights: a bag lady pushing a rusty pram piled with clothes, cardboard, plastic bags- a perennial traveler from here to nowhere.”

#roadtonowhere #wanderingjune

“Why roots were rated so highly compared with branches or leaves, Peri had never understood. Trees had multiple shoots and filaments extending in every direction, under and above the ancient soils of the earth. If even roots refused to stay put, why expect the impossible from human beings?” 🤔

Books were liberating, full of life. She preferred being in Story-land to being in her motherland. #womenreadwomen2019

“She would rather stay home and in the witching hours, be immersed in a novel- reading being her way to connect with the universe.” #womenreadwomen2019

One of the millions of Syrian refugees who had fled the only life they knew, she first thought- though there was an equal chance that he was a local Turk, or a Kurd or a Gypsy or a bit of everything. #gypsyroad #wanderingjune

Starting a new book from the TBR shelves. It was a gift from my husband. #womenreadwomen2019

Repost for @GatheringBooks :
#WomenReadWomen2019 Schedule for Read Along Chat this June! Save the date. I came across this Guardian article this morning showing Elif Shafak under investigation in Turkey. Makes her novel even more interesting and worth reading in light of this. Everyone‘s welcome to join! Let me know if you wish to be tagged!

#WomenReadWomen2019 Schedule for Read Along Chat this June! Save the date. I came across this Guardian article this morning showing Elif Shafak under investigation in Turkey. Makes her novel even more interesting and worth reading in light of this. Everyone‘s welcome to join! Let me know if you wish to be tagged!

I am still not sure what Elif Shafak was trying to do with the novel. It was a patchy story and the@time shifts were not handled well. The general premise was great but it did not come off.

This book was so good! It dealt with number of serious issues - religion, politics, feminism, identity - and while it did not delve deeply into them all, I did not find it lacking. Rather I identified with the Peri's story and her struggle as she wondered if she would always be "somewhere in between" faith and doubt.

"She had been reading for almost three hours and her brain was saturated with ideas. She imagined her mind as a rambling house with many rooms in which she stored all the things she read, heard and saw, and where they were inspected, processed and registered by a little clerk, a homunculus entirely at her unconscious service. Yet it was possible, she believed, that one‘s thoughts could be hidden even from oneself."

#CurrentRead 📖👓

How does your Monday look like? Mine looks like this. Not too bad. Oreo mudpie and flat white paired with the #WomenReadWomen2019 Read Along Chat book pick for 30 June.

We are hosting guests from Germany - my sisters from another mother. My weather app says it is 4-10 degrees in Munich. In Singapore, it is a sweltering 32 but feels like 38. Pretty young things sweating it out with the humidity, but still looking glam. Easter Sunday Lunch with nasi lemak and banana bread and cassava and affogato and so much yummy-licious farm-grown goodness.
#WomenReadWomen2019 Read Along Chat pick for end of June. Happy Easter!

🕯 Book club by candlelight 🕯A power outage didn‘t stop our discussion of The Three Daughters of Eve!

Was just ordering books for my college daughter‘s English class. She told me we could rent this book instead of buying it. I told her we were buying it because it‘s on this mama‘s amazon wish list. She just shook her head. Sometimes I‘m not sure she‘s mine. 😜

Sehr spannendes Buch: von Anfang bis zum Schluss wird man in die Geschichte hineingezogen. Sie spiegelt die Gesellschaft der heutigen Türkei wider.

I loved the first Shafak book I read, The Architect‘s Apprentice, & had high hopes for this one. On the way to a party, Peri is mugged & a photograph falls out of her wallet forcing her to confront a past she had tried to, but ultimately couldn‘t, forget. The plot was predictable &, as Shafak revealed the why, rushed & events dealt with only at a surface level. Ultimately, it wasn‘t totally believable. The writing was excellent, the story ok.

Next up in the queue...

As I'm just a tiny bit in denial about the fact that it's #December, I'm going with #AllAboutEve for this one from my TBR. Very mixed reviews, and I have to admit, although I've read at least 1 of her other books, I barely remember them/it 🤦🏻‍♀️. BUT I love hearing Elif Shafak speak on things - I heard her at the London Book Fair a few years back - so I'm very happy to give her another go. #winterwonderland

I‘m feeling a bit like Scrooge because this was a #BahHumBug read for me. I‘ve seen so many glowing reviews but I found the book pretty trite and not overly stimulating. I thought the author was trying to explore more than she was capable of. Not a fan ☹️Another #MoreMehThanYeah @TrishB 2.5 stars/5 My appetizer from last night was too gorgeous not to share. It was filled with a spicy Yemenite ground meat & the pastry shell was sweet😋#Delish

#backpackEurope travelogue *fictional*
Country 17: Turkey is awesome. I spent time in Istanbul--I shopped til I dropped at the Grand Bazaar (LANDMARK) and gaped at the stunning former church-now-mosque of Hagia Sophia. Way bigger IRL.
This book was lovely. I loved Peri's character, seeing how her choices influenced her growth. It tackles big subjects like religion, feminism, terrorism, and more. Reminded me of Eugenides' The Marriage Plot. 4🌟

#BackPackEurope There‘s been a few references to Istanbul‘s famous #GrandBazaar 🎉🛍🍊🍇🍞🥩which sounds incredible!!!! #BucketList @JenP #AlmostHome

#BackPackEurope #Turkey My first novel by Elif Shafak apparently the Liane Moriarty of 🇹🇷 I first picked this up after reading @suvata glowing review and I‘ve seen lots of #LitsyLove since then 💕

"She always suspected that if chewing gum flavours were political regimes, peppermint would be Fascism- totalitarian, sterile, stern."

Started this highly anticipated book, just about now. Moisturizing the body and soul. Win win.

#ThreeDaughtersOfEve #ElifShafak #LetsSeeHowThisGoes

Pros: elegant writing, a protagonist wrestling with deep ideas, well-developed characters. Cons: the book tried to do a bit too much, with the storyline, flashbacks, and profound conversations about God. YMMV, this isn‘t for everyone, but I highly enjoyed it and recommend it!