It took me quite some time to finish this, and when I did, I was surprised by the amount of different opinions that circulate in the web on this particular book.
Maybe it's just because I'm very busy with other things, so I didn't have the time to appreciate reading as much, but I have to agree with most of the negative opinions.
Quick summary of this book: The protagonist, who is also the 'voice' that narrates the events, is a turkish university student, who finds his life is completely and ultimately changed after reading a book. The title of which is not said until the very end but the content is only hinted at.
He embarks on a journey with a fellow student, a girl with whom he is madly in love.
The book picks up interested around page 80 or so, and it follows the two student's endless search for the new life that is mentioned in the book.
What was interesting in Pamuk's novel is the descriptions between the clashes or fusions between the western and eastern cultures, but other than that, the protagonists continous search becomes tedious and repetitive.
The end was just so predictable that it really irked me!
I think I might have missed something crucial in this one because it seems that 'The New Life' was an exceptionally fast selling and successful novel in Turkey when it came out!
5/10
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