10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

By: Elif Shafak

Narrated by: Alix Dunmore

Bloomsbury presents 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak, read by Alix Dunmore.

Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize
Named a Best Book of the Year by Bookpage, NPR, Washington Post, and The Economist

A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak.

In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness. Her heart has stopped beating but her brain is still active—for 10 minutes 38 seconds. While the Turkish sun rises and her friends sleep soundly nearby, she remembers her life—and the lives of others, outcasts like her.

Tequila Leila’s memories bring us back to her childhood in the provinces, a highly oppressive milieu with religion and traditions, shaped by a polygamous family with two mothers and an increasingly authoritarian father. Escaping to Istanbul, Leila makes her way into the sordid industry of sex trafficking, finding a home in the city’s historic Street of Brothels. This is a dark, violent world, but Leila is tough and open to beauty, light, and the essential bonds of friendship.

In Tequila Leila’s death, the secrets and wonders of modern Istanbul come to life, painted vividly by the captivating tales of how Leila came to know and be loved by her friends. As her epic journey to the afterlife comes to an end, it is her chosen family who brings her story to a buoyant and breathtaking conclusion.

©2019 Elif Shafak (P)2019 Penguin Random House Audio

A Love Letter to Istanbul

Dr. Elif Shafak has truly done magic in this novel. It is an absolutely honest narrative by a person who genuinely loves her city, her people, and all the women in the world anywhere they might be and however they might live. She portrays her pure love for Istanbul, The City on Seven Hills, with all her flaws and all her beauty, just as if this book is a love letter to Istanbul. In this novel, Shafak has written about the LOVE for humanity. I really enjoyed her smooth, fluent, and tangible narrative and I leaned so much about the politics and history of Turkey and the world between 1960s and 1990s. I hight recommend this novel especially those who want to learn more about the complexities of being a woman in an Islamic environment.

The end was great

The beginning was captivating, the middle was pretty slow but the end was great. I was definitely looking forward to it being over. I don’t love the authors writing style either. There was a lot of: “[so and so] said” then “[this person] said” and it got quite boring. The ending was very eye opening though, I don’t regret reading it.

Catching from the start!

This book was brilliant, loved listening to the reader, great voice, the storyline was catching from the start as I could imagine all the sights and scenes. I highly recommend a listen!

A word of caution before purchasing or listening

Although I was captivated by the story, I do want to caution you. If you have been a victim of molestation or rape, this story may bring back memories of your own personal trauma that you may not want to mentally revisit. I think it is very important to mention this before you purchase this title.

Great narration and heartbreaking story

I really enjoyed the narrators voice and thought she did a great job at differentiating the characters and giving them life. I thought the story was eye opening and while heart breaking, it didn’t feel like a depressing book. There’s humor and joy sprinkled throughout and I definitely recommend the book!

Feminist theme in magical confounding settings

I am a huge fan of the author and this book did not disappoint me. Let yourself be transported over many decades to a world of struggle but resilience. All the characters are brilliantly portrayed. Great reader.

Brilliant

Especially enjoyed the first part of the story.
Somehow the author made the middle caper work bringing tears to my eyes and the end was absolutely soulful.

More gruesome than I prefer- but a great story

Celebrating Arab American Heritage Month is important to me. Peace and respect comes from understanding. I have a huge stack for women' s history and black history month, I have selections now owned for Latinx Heritage Month. But for Arab American Heritage Month I could think of nothing, not even any famous role models I wanted to learn more about. Only two books that I'd seen all year (besides ones I'd finished) came to mind and this is the only one I was able to find on audible. I couldn't remember the title or author. The title references how long brain activity extends post-mortem - an unusual statistic, an unusual point of view, which is why I remembered this book 9 months after seeing it on a library shelf. It tells the story of the lives of women in Islamabad, a series of circumstances which drive women to life on the street. It is interesting and well written. Only very small portions of it are rather gruesome. There are lighter comedic moments. I value learning more about this culture. But still prefer Jane Austen to prostitutes and murder.

Beguiling

Beautiful immersion into an unknown culture, with characters that are unfailingly appealing, The characters are recognizable in their humanity with their foibles, dreams and struggles that may be superficially diverse from the lens of a Western reader but are elegantly portrayed as concerns more deeply and universally shared by everyone.

Brilliant!

This is a captivating book! Found it really hard to put down. It’s a great story based in a time and a place and so evocative of a fabulous city.