Explaining himself to himself and the boy he loves, Ziya tells Adam the stories of his life: A bilingual childhood and years in cosmopolitan Istanbul, city of the world's desire, and the Aegean resort of Bodrum. A bewildering trip by ship and train and jet across Europe and the Atlantic to college in America, that strange and terrifying country. Friendships, passionate affairs, one–night stands, rape—a richly dissatisfying erotic education. A wedding, a death, an act of inexplicable violence—a meeting. Intricate as Ottoman miniatures, Ziya's stories reveal a world unexpected: the world we live in.
Jeffers gives us a challenging but deeply enjoyable read!
bigbearphx wrote on 08/04/2011:
Sometimes one needs to relate personal experiences to a third party, in order to put them in proper perspective for one's own life. That seems to be the result from this book, in which Ziya, a bilingual young gay man raised in Istanbul, relates ten stories about his past life to his new lover, Adam. Since the stories are told chronologically, and build on each other to some extent, it reads more like a novel than a series of short stories. We learn about the formative experiences in his childhood, his relationship with his parents and siblings, his introspective attitude toward his sexuality, and his approach to relating to new acquaintances. By the end of the book, we know Ziya much better, as he seemingly seems to learn as well.
Jeffers is an excellent writer, who manages to include seemingly exhaustive detail in his stories without making it a distraction or burden for the reader. The pace is somewhat slow but concise, and the reader needs to fill in some gaps between the individual stories based assumptions that can be made based on what he learns in the readings. It makes you think, which perhaps isn't ideal for lazy readers who demand to be entertained, but is very rewarding to those who appreciate such writings. Four stars out of four.
Jeffers gives us a challenging but deeply enjoyable read!
