I am a great admirer of Pamuk, but this one though bought with great expectations, disappoints. Firstly, book is too long (728 pages) and there are no such page turning incidents as expected from a large work of fiction.
Half of it is spent in describing Kemal's desire for Fusun and on getting repeated accounts, it turns out boring. Consequently, the image of Kemal generated is as a foolish rich kid who is trapped by a women's beauty and wastes his life (all the other characters think so too).
We feel no sympathy for Fusun; she is obstinate and can never wash her hands off from Kemal's suffering. Why did she take eight years for the divorce? As he says,"It was not long before it occurred to me that if her dream came true and she became a star, she would take to abusing not just me but Feridun too, possibly even leaving us both".
But this is Kemal's part of the story, and can be questioned. He also refers the tortures that Fusun undergoes as a child by males; but she is no damsel in distress. As in the driving licence incident, she does not bend when the suppression comes on account of being a woman.
Feridun is to be pitied, as a victim trapped between these lovers - at least he does well in his world.
The interesting part is the life in Turkey interwoven with the story - the aristocratic class striving hard to be modern, hotels in Bosphorus, military dictatorship of 1980s, the films and T.V. programmes - which unfortunately is not that stressed.
Perhaps I must not be a judge of Kemal. He has lived his life for what he desired and as his name signified "completeness", he strives for it. It is to be noted that Ataturk, the founder and first President of Republic of Turkey is also named as Mustafa Kemal. I like the last lines and share it here:
"My last words in the book are these, Orhan Bay, please don't forget them..."
"I wont". . .
"Let everyone know, I lived a very happy life."