The Museum of Innocence

Time for a further attempt to revive this blog and overcome my past laziness in updating it. And while there is a lot to tell about the time between my last entry and now I will skip all that for now and start with a book review.

The Museum of Innocence

Set in the Turkey of the seventies (but written in 2009), The Museum of Innocence, describes a few years in the life of Kemal, wealthy heir of his fathers factory and member of the rich and "westernized" social circles of Istanbul. Westernized is an ill-defined term here, because even though this small group of friends tries to appear more open and free than the traditional Turkish society of these days, they are still bound by many of the same morals. It is still a great exception that Sibel and Kemal slept together, even though their relationship has lasted for years. Indeed, Kemal once recalls an instance of a relationship that broke apart because of this: After sleeping multiple times together before marriage the man decided that his girlfriend was obviously immoral and left her.

But Sibel and Kemal are happy together, and their engagement party is scheduled to be soon and it has to be in western style in a big hotel with illegally imported whisky. A true party for the elite of Istanbul. But then Füsun appears, a shopgirl and old childhood acquaintance of Kemal. And slowly but surly his life breaks down. They begin to hopelessly fall in love, a love going so far that he starts collecting little items out of her possession. Each cigarette stub she leaves in the empty apartment where they meet, maps of their other meeting places, every little item he can somehow attach a meaning to.

Within this rapidly changing Turkish society the struggle between the imported Western values and the old Turkish morals is always present. In the end their lives unravel, hopes are destroyed, friends alienated and lost, dreams broken. Kemal is left wandering through the world visiting museums and meeting collectors. The Museum of Innocence, exhibiting the items he collected from Füsun is founded in her old house, reminding every visitor of their struggle and also of Kemals admission that, after all, he lived a happy life.

Written by Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, the book takes us on a expedition into Kemals mind, explaining his motivations and his impressions of the people around him, bringing the microcosmos of the upperclass society of Istanbul to life.