Pamuk is Turkey's most famous novelist, and so this account of the country's largest city seemed only appropriate ahead of a trip to Istanbul. I sense, however, that the title is somewhat misleading. The emphasis in this work is much more on "memories", and less on the city. Think of Istanbul: Memories and the City as a glorified autobiography of someone from a privileged background (albeit one of fading grandeur) who eventually settled on a career as a writer. Istanbul, the city rather than the title, is merely the backdrop. The photographs (sadly in black and white) in Istanbul: Memories and the City are lovely, and Pamuk makes valid observations, contrasting East with West, religious with secular, old with new, European with Asian. Readers can form a good "impression" of Istanbul, but never really penetrate its soul. Maybe my expectations were misaligned at the outset, but this book over-indexes on philosophy, literature (especially Benjamin and Flaubert), and under-indexes on social history.
By Orhan Pamuk