Orhan Pamuk's 'Red'). Thousands of anti-government demonstrators gathered initially to contest the urban development plan for Taksim Gezi Park. lol it did not even take me 5 minutes at all! Well written but not satisfying. ], Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2010. This particular version has been made into a movie with award-winning stars, so I was curious . The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Final Year. This novel is based on the last year of Leo Tolstoy's life. Everything is here for the screenplay - - which made a very good movie! No one is likeable and there’s not enough about Tolstoy himself. If you have an interest in history and literature this book is recommended. As you come out of it you see a few steps going down to the pier where a ferry takes you to the city. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Any time I would return to Haydar Pasha after school holidays, I would meet Istanbul through that curtain. Historical novels, such as this one, weave facts with fiction and in the Afterward to this book the author, Jay Parini, points out where his inspiration and fabrications originated. In this case, though I am a Parini fan, for some reason I skipped the book when it came out. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. There are some cities you don’t need to see in order to fall in love with. Orhan Pamuk's 'Red'). Hikmet (1902–1963) is regarded as the greatest poet of modern Turkish literature. I have come to that point in my third novel, Istanbul Istanbul. Once I saw the film, I was even less inclined as I found it flat and too involved with the lovelife of the minor character narrator, Tolstoy's young secretary. I picked this book up in the airport as I had forgotten my Kindle. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2020. That’s why people feel obliged to defend this city against greediness. The point of view shifts from one character to another as we look into the "diaries" of each one, but they all speak in the same. Interesting story of Leo Tolstoy's last year of life basically centering on the marital strife with his wife, Sonya, while dealing with his impending death. Refresh and try again. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. Istanbul is too real and at the same time too ambiguous. Leo Tolstoy was at the end of his life the most famous writer of his time and an extremely rich man. By combining fact an fiction, Jay Parini provides both an interesting novel and an interpretation of a fascinating man. The blaze that engulfed the roof of Istanbul’s historic Haydar Pasha train station in 2010.