The Museum Of Innocence

By Orhan Pamuk

It’s not that I don’t believe in true love. I do, but not the kind that lasts forever. Am sure most of us have loved someone truely, for a day/ month even a few years. But I am the sort that believes that when you cannot maintain the same mood throughout the day, how can you love someone forever? And why, it’s proven that we cannot maintain the same mood throughout the day, ‘normal’ in the human being remaining constant i.e.

Therefore, while the book is very realistic, it’s easy to say that it is, in fact, fiction. Because it is about true love that lasts forever.

However, Orhan Pamuk is a favourite to many for a reason. His writing is so beautiful in its depth and details that it’s hard to put the book down. Even when it gets frustrating at times and you start to wonder where the story is headed. The book is paced well most of the time and the details are sometimes overwhelming. As is in most of his books, Istanbul is the hero. This time it’s the Istanbul of neo-modern times where smoking Malboro among the men and women are considered upmarket, where the parties are pristine, where the women folk are aware of Parisian fashion and yet in their minds virginity is still considered a virtue. We Indians can relate to the Istanbul of that time.

Then of course a crash course on the museums of the world is a definite take away. The style of writing also where Orhan Pamuk himself is part of the story is something I have not read before and is quite a nice touch.

You will love the characters in the book (if not forever, at least for a while), especially Fusun, Sibel, Kemal, and driver Efendi, the story telling and finally the story itself.

Read it, the book is for keepsake, afterall, it is the museum of innocence.

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