The New Life
by Orhan Pamuk
List Price:
Our Price: $6.85
You Save: $8.10 (54%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.75 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Orhan PamukEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-03-31
ISBN: 0375701710
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of The New Life
Book Review: An inspired metaphysical journey
Summary: 5 Stars
"The New Life" can be read on many levels. In its simplest form, it is the story of a young man (Osman) who falls in love with a young woman (her name is Janin; Osman feels that their names rhyme, which either makes sense in Turkish or otherwise it's a hint that his love has really made him lose it a bit); he loses her, searches for her, finds her, loses her again and so on. But immediately it becomes clear that much more is going on. We are quickly led to read this novel the way that Osman sees his search for Janin: as a metaphysical quest for the meaning of life. But then again, we can also read this book as a critique of the changes occurring in society.
One of the main themes of "The New Life" is coincidences. The protagonist is fooled several times believing something is coincidental when in fact it was all planned (and so are we, the readers). But at the same time, some very unlikely coincidences do occur, as when Janan joins Osman in the bus wreckage after he just sat down in "his" seat. Bus accidents, by the way, are frequently occurring central points in this book, and serve to signify the themes of randomness, fate, coincidence, and also, the way that a destructive event can be the starting point for new creation.
At many points in the story there are anomalies. Early in the story Osman mentions an "Angel" and he himself wonders where he got this from - but later we find out that the angel is a major theme in the book that Osman had just been reading when he said "angel" (which is the beginning of the story). And why, the reader might wonder, is Osman's name kept a secret for the reader until his rival Mehmet has chosen that very same name for himself as an alias? In many ways, this book belongs firmly in the category of the "magical realism" in Dutch/Flemish literature of the 1960's and 70's, examplified by authors such as W.F. Hermans and H. Lampo.
Reading this book one is made to wonder if, by including so many peculiar motives, double-entendres, irregularities, and convergences, the author is trying to convene a deeper message, or if he is simply trying to "be interesting". But then again, perhaps his point with the book is that life itself presents us many times with that very same question: is there a deeper meaning to life, or is it just, well, interesting?
Among the most touching parts of this book are those dealing with the profound changes that have occurred in Turkish society during the protagonist's lifetime. Bus-travel, described in great detail at several points in the story, changes enormously and although one would reflexively consider the changes positive: better hygiene, better illumination, better entertainment, greater safety; the tone of these narratives and the mood emerging are also nostalgic and a bit sad, conveying the sense of something lost while much was gained. At a more general level, similar observations and a similar feeling are conveyed about the change in Turkish society over the past several decades. I cannot know if this is an accurate representation of the changes in that country, but I can testify that I have personally witnessed changes of the same type, and invoking the same feelings, in another country.
The ending of the book was deeply moving to me... but only upon reading the book for a second time. While not wanting to give away too much, let me say that it succeeds in unifying some of the themes of this book in a compelling and satisfactory, if rather sad, manner.
I have great admiration for the translators of literature, and translating a work such as this, with all its symbolism, thematic names, and mystic constructions, must be a nearly superhuman task. Nonetheless, in some places this translation was probably a bit wanting, some sentences being quite elliptic or even nonsensical.
In summary, this is a complex book with many layers of (suggested) meaning underneath a simple story. Not an easy read if you want to get everything out of it. For some, this will be mighty annoying. For lovers of more serious literature, who are willing to spend some time on it, it's a must-read.
Summary of The New Life
The protagonist of Orhan Pamuk's fiendishly engaging novel is launched into a world of hypnotic texts and (literally) Byzantine conspiracies that whirl across the steppes and forlorn frontier towns of Turkey. And with The New Life, Pamuk himself vaults from the forefront of his country's writers into the arena of world literature. Through the single act of reading a book, a young student is uprooted from his old life and identity. Within days he has fallen in love with the luminous and elusive Janan; witnessed the attempted assassination of a rival suitor; and forsaken his family to travel aimlessly through a nocturnal landscape of traveler's cafes and apocalyptic bus wrecks. As imagined by Pamuk, the result is a wondrous marriage of the intellectual thriller and high romance. Translated from the Turkish by Guneli Gun."[A] weird, hypnotic new novel...It veers from intellectual conundrums in the Borges vein to rapturous lyricism reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez."--Wall Street Journal
In his native Turkey, author Orhan Pamuk's novel The New Life is a huge hit. Now English-language readers have an opportunity to sample this unusual book for themselves. The New Life begins with the sentence "I read a book one day and my whole life was changed." That book leads the narrator, a young man named Osman, on a wild journey in the company of Janan, a mysterious young woman in search of her lover, Mehmet. He had actually managed to enter--and escape--the world of the book. In the course of their travels, Osman and Janan are involved in a bloody bus wreck from which they emerge with new identities; they meet several "false" Mehmets; Janan mysteriously vanishes; and Osman eventually encounters a family friend who may or may not be the author of the life-changing book and possibly of The New Life itself.
In case you hadn't already guessed, The New Life is strictly postmodernist fare, where plot and character are minimal and time and space tend to bend and warp in unexpected ways. The author's vision is certainly original, his descriptions of violence and Turkish culture particularly strong.
World Literature Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in World Literature Books
A Hero of Our Time (Penguin Classics)by Mikhail Lermontov
Penguin Classics; Published: 1966-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.61
Price in other shops:
El amor en los tiempos del cóleraby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1996-02-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.50
Price in other shops:
Waiting for the Barbarians: A Novelby J.M. Coetzee
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1982-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.13
Price in other shops:
Scar Tissueby Michael Ignatieff
Vintage; Published: 1994; Paperback; Book
Grass Crownby Colleen McCullough
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2008-11-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops:
Sacred Games: A Novelby Vikram Chandra
Harper; Published: 2006-12-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.94
Price in other shops:
Thanks for the Memories: A Novelby Cecelia Ahern
Harper Perennial; Published: 2010-02-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.32
Price in other shops:
Forever Flowingby Vasily Grossman
Harpercollins; Published: 1986-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $111.38
The Adventures of Maqroll: Four Novellas : Amirbar/ the Tramp Steamer's Last Port of Call/ Abdul Bashur, Dreamer of Ships/ Triptych on Sea and Landby Alvaro Mutis
Harpercollins; Published: 1995-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.99
Similar Books and other products
The Absent Cityby Ricardo Piglia
Duke University Press Books; Published: 2000-11-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
The Committee (Middle East Literature in Translation)by Sun' Allah Ibrahim
Syracuse University Press; Published: 2001-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
Other Colors: Essays and a Story (Vintage International)by Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2008-11-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Snowby Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2005-07-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
The Museum of Innocence (Vintage International)by Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
The White Castle: A Novelby Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 1998-03-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.66
Price in other shops:
The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist (Vintage International)by Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2011-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.69
Price in other shops:
The Black Bookby Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2006-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
Istanbul: Memories and the Cityby Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2006-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
My Name Is Redby Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2002-08-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops: