Review: My Name is Red

With ‘My Name is Red’ Orhan Pamuk weaves a tale that becomes a metaphor for the clash of east and west. Pamuk delves in to the metaphysical realm to tell his tale. The story, a mystery is narrated by several of the cast of characters including a drawn tree and a street dog gives a snapshot in time in the lives of miniature painters in 15th Century Turkey, whose artistic style and way of life is threatened when the Sultan commissions a book in the style of increasingly popularity of ‘Frankish’ venetian masters. An inventive, innovative style of story telling grips the reader from the first page. Pamuk is a master, utterly adept at bringing the scenery around him to life- Culture, language, food even tastes, aromas and moods of the time are made tangible and vivid under his artistic wordmanship and characteristic attention to details. Homosexuality is an acceptable avocation, coffee is considered a devil’s brew, west with all its trappings is admired, feared, loathed. It depicts the stage of flux in the life of a civilization thousands of years old. Words flow like poetry without any of the tediousness as Pamuk delves deep in to the characters to give a 360 degree, panoramic view of their emotional journey, historical baggage and circumstantial upheaval. The narrative addresses the significance and necessity of religion and perpetuity of tradition at the time. It lights the fundamental differences of civilizations, the western need for distinctiveness and eastern predisposition for blending in and following footsteps. Individualism vs. collectivism. It’s an epic saga that traces what are possibly the beginnings of half a millennium worth of a dubious relationship.