The Black Book

By: Orhan Pamuk

Narrated by: John Lee

From the Nobel Prize winner and acclaimed author of My Name is Red—a brilliantly unconventional mystery of a missing wife, and a provocative meditation on identity.

“A glorious flight of dark, fantastic invention.” —The Washington Post

Galip is a lawyer living in Istanbul. His wife, the detective novel–loving Ruya, has disappeared. Could she have left him for her ex-husband or Celâl, a popular newspaper columnist? But Celâl, too, seems to have vanished. As Galip investigates, he finds himself assuming the enviable Celâl's identity, wearing his clothes, answering his phone calls, even writing his columns. Galip pursues every conceivable clue, but the nature of the mystery keeps changing, and when he receives a death threat, he begins to fear the worst.

With its cascade of beguiling stories about Istanbul, The Black Book is a brilliantly unconventional mystery, and a provocative meditation on identity. For Turkish literary readers it is the cherished cult novel in which Orhan Pamuk found his original voice, but it has largely been neglected by English-language readers. Now, in Maureen Freely’s beautiful translation, they, too, may encounter all its riches.

A Translation and Afterword by Maureen Freely

Critic reviews

“A glorious flight of dark, fantastic invention.” —The Washington Post

"A splendid novel, as delicious to our mind's palate as a Turkish delight and as subtle ... in its design as a Persian rug." —San Francisco Chronicle

"An extraordinary, tantalizing novel." —The Nation

"An inventive and .... exuberant modern national epic." —Sunday Times (London)

Not Bamok's Best

I found his ability to captivate the reader with a simple plot and premise fascinating. He made of a simple plot a canvas to paint a picture of Turkey and Istanbul at one of the bleakest of its Times. His narrative is flowing like a waterfall. However I didn't get immersed in the character like I did in his other works like (Snow) or (Museum of Innocence)

Pamuk read by John Lee....

... can't get better than that. The book is not "easy," but what great book is? It's deep and mysterious and profound, as Pamuk so often can be.
John Lee, who always reads Pamuk, is one of the very best Audible performers; he seems to "get" the world of Pamuk, Istanbul and the rich history, Islamic metaphysics and wonderful tales of that world. "The Black Book" is, on one of its many levels, the "Thousand and One Nights" for smart, adventuresome readers. Listen to it!

Unbearable

Narrator's mid Atlantic accent is distracting to such a degree that it ruins the story. It sounds like a pretentious 1940"s movie. If the narrator had a Turkish or Anatolian accent, it would be easy on the ears, but listening to this affected narration is painful. He does not enunciate well, and some words drop off out of hearing range. I will avoid this narrator like the plague. I cannot finish this title, so I will read it in print I stead of listening to this narration.