The First Line...

by Suzanne Buchert

Snow by Orhan Pamuk

“The silence of snow, thought the man sitting just behind the bus driver.  If this were the beginning of a poem, he would have called the thing he felt inside him the silence of snow.”

I once had a Turkish high school student living in my home for a few months.  My family had hosted two other high school students, a Belgian girl and a Mexican boy.  We all thought we were finished hosting students, and then a friend, who was involved with the American Field Service (AFS) program at our local high school, told me there was a student who needed a home for a short time.  She had come to Platteville in the fall and her first family situation hadn’t worked out.  At Christmas, she was taken to stay with another family who had previously had an AFS student.  They were unable to host her until the end of her year and my friend asked if we would consider having her stay with us.  I, anticipating having the family of our Belgian daughter, come for a first visit to the United States in the spring, said I would take her, but could not keep her until her return to Turkey in July.  Other arrangements would have to be made for her to finish up her year.  That is how I met Inci.  She moved into our home and eventually into our hearts, and we made room for her until July when she returned to Turkey.  Our Belgian guests came and knowing AFS personally, both through their own daughters participation in the program with a 10 month stay in our home, and through hosting two students themselves, were understanding of the little bit of doubling up at home.

Many years after Inci returned to Turkey, she sent me a copy of a book by Orhan Pamuk, “My Name is Red”, translated into English.  I believe she wanted me to know one of her countries authors, just as she had learned to know our authors, both when studying English in her country and while attending high school in our country.  I read the book, but was not really taken with it. 

However, I have seen Pamuk’s name and his books through the years since then and upon learning of his selection to receive the Nobel Prize , decided the time had come to give him another read.  His significant body of work led to his selection by the Nobel committee for the singular honor.  His work is wide ranging, but defined by his heritage as a Turk.  He is also distinguished as an author against whom charges were brought of defaming or insulting the Turkish government.  The charges were ultimately dismissed. 

I have been very interested in a nonfiction book he recently published called “Istanbul”, which has been offered by my book club, www.qpb.com, Quality Paperback Bookclub.  I have visited Inci and her family in Turkey, loved Istanbul, and thought I might like to read Pamuk’s memoir of life in the city.  However, I chose to read his novel, “Snow”.    

“Snow" is the story of a Turkish poet who sought a life of exile because of his political actions.  After a number of years in Germany, he returns home to Turkey in pursuit of lost love, both for a woman and for his country.  His arrival in Kars coincides with a political coup brought on by an upcoming election pitting candidates who are conservative (as in religious conservatives) against those who are more in tune with the modernist (as in secular) central government.  The question of Armenia and the treatment of Armenians by the Turkish government in the past, suicides of “head scarf” girls who are being forced by the government to abandon their scarves, and the pursuit of Ipak, the beautiful woman loved by the poet, intersect with the writing of a series of poem inspired by the place and the events surrounding the poet, Ka.

Keep reading…….happy spring, or at least promise of spring!

Suzanne Buchert and her husband, Keith, own several restaurants.
Her hobbies include cooking, reading, traveling, weight lifting,
and having coffee with her friends.

sbuchert@hotmail.com