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Istanbul
- Memories of a City
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
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Istanbul
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Summary
Istanbul is a shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world's great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in 2006, was born in Istanbul, in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy-or hüzün- that all Istanbullus share: the sadness that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost Ottoman Empire.
As he companionably guides us across the Bosphorus, through Istanbul's historical monuments and lost paradises, its dilapidated Ottoman villas, back streets and waterways, he also introduces us to the city's writers, artists and murderers.
Like the Dublin of Joyce and Jan Morris' Venice, Pamuk's Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.
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What listeners say about Istanbul
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jan
- 19-12-23
Fascinatingly interesting 😊
Told in an authentic way - memories from a family with lovely descriptive passages about old Istanbul
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Akin
- 04-04-21
Brilliant
Took me a few chapters to fully get into it but once I did, I really enjoyed and appreciated Pamuk’s genius. The translation and the narration are also very well done.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Miss F.
- 17-10-21
Worth the effort
Overall enjoyable but at times a hard listen. Full of facts and references not all relevant. Have read better books from this author.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Granny
- 02-03-16
Development of a writer
Apart from the excellent descriptions of a fascinating city, I found his struggle through painting and then a failed university diploma in architecture very moving. It is this part of the book that brought it alive for me. His eye for his beloved city may well have been aided by his 2 'failed' careers; it is full of lyricism and insight.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Hugh M. Clarke
- 15-03-19
Atmosphere
The writer describes Istanbul very evocatively, weaving aspects of his personal history with that of the city. Describing atmosphere is a challenging task, but Pamuk does so in a way which draws out many moods and tensions.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Spammy99
- 07-07-19
Brilliant
Great book , well read .
What's not to like?
Highly recommended . A must for those who intend to visit or have visited the city .
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Paul E T Henty
- 21-08-15
Self indulgent and random
Stuffed full of nostalgic and personal minutiae, it descended into a disorganised miscellany of this and that from times gone by, jumping around and failing to hold my attention
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5 people found this helpful