The Bastard of Istanbul

Review

Author: Elif Shafak

Published: 2006

Genre: Historical Fiction, Drama

“Past is anything but bygone.” –Elif Shafak

Every nation has a history that, no matter how much we are oblivious to, influences the present generations. The Bastard of Istanbul is a captivating story that exhibits the connection between one’s past and present, through a Turkish and an Armenian family. Asya Kazanci, born a bastard, past was another country for her for the reason that she didn’t want her future to be overshadowed by it. Thus, she remains ignorant deliberately. Asya leads her life with a nihilistic point of view mainly because she lived in a house surrounded by an aunt-like mother and three mothers like aunts. All Kazanci men died around the age of 40 as prey to an unknown family curse. Amidst all this, an American cousin arrives in search of answers for the past of her family linked to Turkey’s tumultuous history.

The author has shown two contrasting personalities; a girl who is clueless about her past and remains so, and the other digging through for her satisfaction, which is a treat to read. Elif Shafak is applauded for her layered characters and their development. Likewise in this novel, each character has been elaborated in such a manner that the reader is not kept guessing the reason behind their actions and speech. Moreover, the Turkish culture has been interwoven in the story with such accuracy and fineness that you live in the moment. The author being a Muslim touched different aspects of Islam, although slightly, to infuse the Islamic spirit in the story.

Through this novel, we learn that it is very important for today’s generation to be aware of their nation’s history so that they can acknowledge the nationalistic sentiments of others with respect. And they shouldn’t only be aware of the history but search for it from credible and multiple sources, including biased and unbiased because there is no doubt that every country censors its history. This censored history gives rise to severe conflicts and the people tend to continue living like this in the name of nationalism without knowing the truth. We can term it as toxic nationalism; irrationally defending the wrongdoing of your state and abusing the other. Be patriotic about your nation but accept the mistake. We should also employ this practice on an individual level by accepting our errors and misapprehensions without being a nuisance about it and avoid repeating them. The world will become a much better place.

Following are my two favorite lines from this book:

“For love loves power. That is why we can suicidally fall in love with others but can rarely reciprocate the love of those suicidally in love with us.”

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“Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.”