I very much enjoyed this look at 1980s Turkey. There was so much content to sink my teeth into - from westernization/secularization, religion, nationalism vs. liberalism, generational differences, etc. And it felt like Pamuk handled each of these subjects very thoughtfully and considerately. All of the characters are unlikeable but that doesn't mean they aren't fascinating people to read about. Each of them felt so well drawn and each of the perspectives had such different voices as well. I also liked how Pamuk would often blur time by interrupting a character's thinking about their past with dialogue from the present. One complaint I had was that these inner monologues sometimes felt too long, which made the book slow going at times. Also, I first started reading this book in 2017, but I was put off by what I perceived as a poor translation and didn't pick it back up until last December. While this translation didn't annoy me as much when I picked it up again, I do think the translation is inconsistent in its strengths. The writing style very skillfully depicts a character's thought process, but its descriptions of character's actions felt much plainer and more basic. Of course, I cannot pinpoint whether this is a problem of the translation or with Pamuk's writing style (this is one of his earliest novels as well), but it didn't bother me quite as much this time.

Overall, this book was a very thought-provoking snapshot of a moment in Turkish history and has made me really excited to pick up more Pamuk.