Book summary

MY NAME IS RED is perhaps the apotheosis of Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk's long contemplation of the relationship between Eastern and Western cultures, and the illusive nature of art and identity. Set in 16th-century Istanbul, the novel revolves around an artistic commission by the Sultan Murat III: a scandalous book that uses Western artistic techniques rather than the Islamic-sanctioned ancient art of purely flat and decorative miniatures. One of the Sultan's four primary artists has been murdered, and each chapter uses a different narrator to illuminate the motives for his death, motives that are intrinsically tied to Turkish history, religion, and humanity's understanding of reality through art. Full of his trademark inventiveness, Pamuk's narrators are far from ordinary--they include the corpse of the murdered man, a coin, and even the color crimson itself. Though the conceptual framework of the novel--in the tradition of James Joyce or William Faulkner--is ingeniously conceived, Pamuk's book overflows with profound feeling and lush description, and represents a brilliant fusion of the intellectual and emotional powers of literature.

Media reviews

"[A] whimsical but provocative exploration of the nature of art in an Islamic society....A rich feast of ideas, images, and lore."