Ms. Hen reviews The White Castle

The White Castle

Orhan Pamuk

Vintage International

1985

Translated from Turkish by Victoria Holbrook 1990

Ms. Hen picked up this book at the Little Free Library near where she lives. She had never heard of the book or the author, but she liked the title and the cover so she took it home. It was free, so the price was right. She has learned in seminars about writing that publishing companies give attractive covers to books they think are worth it. So, a person can judge a book by its cover, contrary to popular belief.

Ms. Hen didn’t know what to make of this novel at first. The tone is quiet and unassuming. It takes place in what is supposed to be 17^th century Istanbul, but that is not explained in the novel. That was written on the back of the book. The setting of this novel reminded Ms. Hen of Dorne, the fictional country in GAME OF THRONES, which Ms. Hen learned is supposed to be based on Spain. Ms. Hen thinks that both Dorne and the Istanbul of this novel are places that have darkness hidden underneath them, but are bright, sunny, dry locations, which can be deceiving. She read that the description of Istanbul is not historically accurate.

Ms. Hen decided this novel is allegorical. It’s about a man meeting someone who looks just like him, and that tortures his soul. It’s about the dark side of us all that we don’t usually have to face. The protagonist does not like that he gets to know his double and that fact between them is not discussed.

A young scholar travels from Venice, and is captured by the Turkish, taken back to Istanbul and sold as a slave. He eventually comes in the possession of a man who looks just like him. No explanation is offered as to why they look exactly alike. They study together and Hoja, the master, asked the slave to teach him everything he knows about science. They sit at a table, which is not part of the Turkish culture, and write together. They also tell each other their life stories.

This novel reminded Ms. Hen of WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS by J. M. Coetzee, in the way that it’s slow, atmospheric, and can have multiple meanings. Ms. Hen had to read that novel twice when she was in college, and she didn’t love it, and she doesn’t remember it that well, but she remembers the feelings it gave her, of uncertainty and disgust.

There were a few mentions of chickens in THE WHITE CASTLE, which Ms. Hen appreciated. The plague hit the city, and people were dying, and, “A bricklayer who quarreled with all the neighbors about their chickens getting in through his wall, had died screaming with fever one week ago.” And also Hoja developed a weapon that he believed would destroy their enemies, “Hoja would describe to me the devastation his red rooster would wreak upon his enemies.” Hoja called his weapon the red rooster. Ms. Hen thinks it’s appropriate that a weapon would be called a rooster because they’re tough.

Ms. Hen liked this novel, but it wasn’t the best book she has read recently. She thinks that it was a little too slow for her taste, and too masculine. Few women appear in this novel, which Ms. Hen didn’t enjoy. Women are background characters and are not significant, which is historically accurate, but that doesn’t mean Ms. Hen has to like it. Ms. Hen is sure that there were interesting women in that era, though this novel doesn’t recognize that. This novel is about a man finding himself and losing himself and ultimately becoming someone else.