My Name Is Red

By: Orhan Pamuk, Erdag Goknar - translator

Narrated by: John Lee

The Nobel Prize winner and one of today's most prominent contemporary Turkish writers delivers a novel that is a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, a brilliant symposium on the power of art, and a “modern classic … rich and essential” (Los Angeles Times Book Review)—set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul.

The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style. But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition indeed. The ruling elite therefore mustn’t know the full scope or nature of the project, and panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery—or crime?—lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex and power.

Translated from the Turkish by Erda M Göknar

A good choice

I really enjoyed this slightly unconventional book. The narration was also excellent. there were 2 things that I didn't like about it. it was a little long and repetitive and it was confusing in parts.

Interesting and Exhausting in it’s attention to detail

Not for the faint of heart
I loved the way different perspectives were used in this very cerebral homage to history and artistry rolled in there was a “who done it” that for me was anticlimactic by the time it was answered. Not without it’s merits I wouldn’t be quick to recommend or reread this. The narrator’s voice was lovely.

A Nobel, Bravura Performance

A hysterically funny, sardonic, classic work by a magnificent writer. It's historical, moving, and wonderfully performed by the great John Lee. I read the book and listened to it twice on Audible. Gets better every time.

Poor performance

The narrator pronounces almost all the names totally wrong and with difficulty. He struggles with the Persian and Arabic words so bad that ruins the experience of listening. His sense of timing and choices of intonations are inconsistent and predictable. The performance does not elevate the text but degrades it.

Good story, but fairly repetitive.

Story is pretty fascinating, and gives a good peek at the period -- but there are a lot of very repetitive lines - gets tedious occasionally.