The Red-Haired Woman by Orhan Pamuk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My first novel that's from Turkey and incidentally also my first Orhan Pamuk. Trust me, I really wanted to love it! The blurb looked like I would and there were bits in between that did feel like, I had met my next favourite author but...

Yes, there's a but-a BUG but at that! The story, although it starts powerfully, becomes weaker and weaker as it unfolds. This is perhaps the first book I have read in a very long time where nothing really caught my eye-not a line, not a dialogue or a word- that made me want to reread it or mark it. The characters are entirely forgettable as well. Blame it on the translator but Cem looked like nothing but a vain, proud and silly man, who gets hung up on something then tries to escape the consequences of what he has done.

The Red-Haired woman comes across as someone equally unsure of herself. Even the epilogue doesn't explain what she does and why she does it. Enver: don't even get me started. How could he have written all this the way its been written seeing as he is the least involved in the story?

No, for me there were a lot of unconvincing loopholes in the plot that the author simply doesn't care to wind up. Just linking life to myth doesn't make something poetic or poignant. It was almost as if there was a story, perfectly conceived, with a lot of potential, but the author lost all conviction somewhere, halfway. Or maybe it was the translator's fault more than the author.

Not my perfect September read but definitely fast paced.

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