Snow  (English, Paperback, Pamuk Orhan)

Snow, written by Orhan Pamuk, chronicles the story of Ka, a poet and journalist who returns to Turkey to investigate the rampant suicide cases among teenage girls.

Summary Of The Book

Ka embarks on a journey to uncover the truth behind a string of suicides among teenage girls and in the process once again reconnect with a woman he once loved. Snow effectively lays bare the political struggles, ideological tension and mystic influences that shaped Turkey at the time.

The suicide of a young teenage girl called Teslime sets off the events in Snow. Ka arrives at Kars for his mother’s funeral and reunites with Ipek, the woman who had once held sway over his heart. He is hired to cover the municipal elections by a local newspaper, while investigating the suicide cases. Ka and Ipek witness the shooting of a local director of the Institution of Education, who banned headscarves in school, which supposedly drives Teslime and the other teenagers to take the extreme step of suicide.

Protesting the ban are the headscarf girls led by Kadife, Ipek’s younger sister. Islamic feminist sentiment is portrayed through these headscarf girls, especially Kadife. Blue is another important character that Ka encounters. The former is a radical muslim who is a charismatic person eliciting the loyalty of many followers. The growing tension between the radicals and traditionalists is portrayed in a televised play at the National Theatre. The stage becomes a central platform for both metaphorical and literal emancipation.

Snow plays an important part in the novel, almost like another character. The town is cut off from the rest of the world due to incessant snow, thus providing for a tense and potentially lethal environment. Each character represents the struggles of a divided society that is trying to form an identity and the sacrifices that occur along the way of this tumultuous journey.

About Orhan Pamuk

Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist and academician who received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. His novels include Cevdet Bey and His Sons, The Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name is Red and The Museum of Innocence. His non-fiction works include Other Colors: Essays and a Story, Istanbul: Memories and the City, My Father’s Suitcase, Manzaradan Parcalar, The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist and The Innocence of Objects.

Pamuk initially studied architecture as he had a passion for painting. However, he soon shifted to full time writing after graduating from the University of Istanbul in journalism in 1976. He is also an accomplished screenwriter. The Secret Face is a screenplay written by Pamuk. Currently, he is a professor of Comparative Literature and Writing in the humanities department at Columbia University. He was married to Aylin Türegün, with whom he has a daughter named Rüya.