Snow

A Novel

By: Orhan Pamuk

Narrated by: John Lee

Following years of lonely political exile in Western Europe, Ka, a middle-aged poet, returns to Istanbul to attend his mother's funeral. Only partly recognizing this place of his cultured, middle-class youth, he is even more disoriented by news of strange events in the wider country: a wave of suicides among girls forbidden to wear their head scarves at school. An apparent thaw of his writer's curiosity - a frozen sea these many years - leads him to Kars, a far-off town near the Russian border and the epicenter of the suicides.

No sooner has he arrived, however, than we discover that Ka's motivations are not purely journalistic; for in Kars, once a province of Ottoman and then Russian glory, and now a cultural gray-zone of poverty and paralysis, there is also Ipek, a radiant friend of Ka's youth, lately divorced, whom he has never forgotten. As a snowstorm, the fiercest in memory, descends on the town and seals it off from the modern, Westernized world that has always been Ka's frame of reference, he finds himself drawn in unexpected directions: not only headlong toward the unknowable Ipek and the desperate hope for love, or at least a wife, that she embodies, but also into the maelstrom of a military coup staged to restrain the local Islamist radicals, and even toward God, whose existence Ka has never before allowed himself to contemplate.

In this surreal confluence of emotion and spectacle, Ka begins to tap his dormant creative powers, producing poem after poem in untimely, irresistible bursts of inspiration. But not until the snows have melted and the political violence has run its bloody course will Ka discover the fate of his bid to seize a last chance for happiness.

©2007 Orhan Pamuk (P)2007 Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

• Wiinner, 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature

"Ka's rediscovery of God and poetry in a desolate place makes the novel's sadness profound and moving." (Publishers Weekly)
"Pamuk's gift for the evocative image remains one of this novel's great pleasures: Long after I finished this book, in the blaze of the Washington summer, my thoughts kept returning to Ka and Ipek in the hotel room, looking out at the falling snow." (Ruth Franklin, Washington Post Book World)

Easy voice to listen to

I enjoyed listening to this audio version of Snow while I read along in my library book. Having an audio book available for this long book really helps the reader to understand what is happening and keep up with this long and complex story. John Lee’s voice is very easy to listen to and the audio quality is excellent.

the mood of Kars

part Kafka, part Dostoevsky, it is more than the sum of its parts. This is a great novel that is easily the rival of any great novel from now or the past. it was stupendous, and we will never forget Kars, Snow, Ipek, Blue and Ka.

Excellent Insight into the Melancholy of Love Lost

Orhan Pamuk masterfully illustrates the fate of one whom misses his last chance for love. This tragedy is set in a polarized political and religious climate, that lends excitement and illumination to the underlying character analysis.

The book is not one you can turn up to 3x speed and breeze through. I struggled a little with some of the themes, but at the end of the day I really enjoyed this unique world presented in Snow. The story twists and turns and finds truth along the way!

bruceagain

the literary value is great but the subject is maudlin. Good political commentary mixed with human situation.

The Mystery of the Turkish Mind

I found the book to be a window into the mystery of the Turkish mind as it wrestles with Islam. Set in a snow storm, it is haunting and surreal throughout. It may take a couple chapters to get into so be patient.

Snow - A novel exploring the struggle for the soul

A great novel by Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.

Nobel Prize

Perhaps because I have listen recently to books concerning the middle east that the theme fell short or was repetitious.The subtle undertones of fear and boredom within a restricted life style are a prevalent tone in the book. Yet at the same time the freedom of the women to explore sexual territories surprise me in this rigid framework. The narration was in line with the author's voice and captured the emotions of the main character.

love, religion, and literature

A beautiful book read with similar beauty.
I never wanted to stop listening.
There is a hypnotic quality to the reading, but reality is never far away as the events of the story continually force their way into the literary music and dreamy descriptions.
Politics, religion, love, and literature manage to communicate with each other in the snowy border city of Kars.

Charlotte's Take

SNOW was a very challenging read for me. I had to constantly replay parts of it in order to follow the thread of the plot.

Interesting Vignette of Turkish politics

Where does Snow rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Favorite so far

What was one of the most memorable moments of Snow?

The political meetings with Blue

What aspect of John Lee’s performance would you have changed?

I would not have John Lee narrate