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Istanbul: Memories and the City Audiobook
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A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy–or hüzün– that all Istanbullus share: the sadness that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost empire.With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappy parents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to the writers and painters–both Turkish and foreign–who would shape his consciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ Buenos Aires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.
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“Far from a conventional appreciation of the city’s naturaland architectural splendors, Istanbultells of an invisible melancholy and the way it acts on an imaginative youngman, aggrieving him but pricking his creativity.”
— New York Times
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“Brilliantly constructed…Pamuk has remained faithful to his opulent muse. This quietly instructive and enchanting elegy to a redeemed childhood and to Istanbul itself will bring the world to his feet.”
— Observer (London) -
“Istanbul is equal parts autobiography, travel essay, sociology, and criticism…As evocative as Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”
— Miami Herald -
“Fascinating…A deeply inward memoir of a city.”
— Sun -
“Essential reading for devoted fans of his novels.”
— Independent (London) -
“A fascinating literary adventure…Rich in details and research.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“With Istanbul, Orhan Pamuk may have written the most haunting, heartbreaking, gorgeous book ever about a city.”
— San Diego Union-Tribune -
“Entrancing…Brilliant…Pamuk will be identified with Istanbul as Lawrence Durrell is with Alexandria and James Joyce with Dublin.”
— San Jose Mercury News -
“Remarkable…Even those of us who have never set foot in [Istanbul] will be transformed by reading Pamuk’s extraordinary and moving book.”
— Financial Times -
“Delightful, profound, marvelously original…Pamuk tells the story of the city through the eyes of memory.”
— Washington Post Book World -
“Insightful, eclectic, whimsical…Pamuk is not writing Istanbul, he’s painting it.”
— Boston Globe -
“A fascinating read for anyone who has even the slightest acquaintance with this fabled bridge between east and west.”
— Economist -
“Brilliant…Pamuk insistently describes a dizzingly gorgeous, historically vibrant metropolis.”
— Newsday -
“A portrait of one of the world’s great cities by its foremost literary resident.”
— Barnes & Noble, editorial review -
“This is a powerful, sometimes disturbing literary journey through the soul of a great city told by one of its great writers.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“[A] well-written account.”
— Library Journal -
“An engrossing tale.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Masterful…A three-pronged book: an anatomy of the city’s body and soul; a compelling account of family politics, war, and diplomacy; and a study of the youthful writer’s gropings through the dark towards his true vocation.”
— Guardian (London) -
“Engaging…A rich and quirkily faceted portrait of a city.”
— Los Angeles Times Book Review
Awards
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A 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Best Book for Nonfiction
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A 2005 Financial Times Best Book of the Year
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A 2005 Washington Post Best Book for Nonfiction
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A 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
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About Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk is a prominent literary author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. His novel My Name Is Red won the 2003 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and his numerous novels have been translated into more than sixty languages. He lives in Instanbul.
About John Lee
John Lee is the winner of numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. He has twice won acclaim as AudioFile’s Best Voice in Fiction & Classics. He also narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays. He is an accomplished stage actor and has written and coproduced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit. He played Alydon in the 1963–64 Doctor Who serial The Daleks.