RaveThe Christian Science MonitorWhile My Name Is Red has a many-layered plot — including a murder mystery and a love story — its thematic value is threefold: to provide a glimpse into an Islamic society, to understand the global tensions that exist when one empire waxes while another wanes, and to point out the cyclical nature of history … In addition to addressing the artistic, cultural, and political differences between the Ottomans and the Venetians, Pamuk also distinguishes between Turkish, Arab, Persian, and Chinese thought, philosophy, and art … The twist is that the story unfolds as each chapter is narrated by a different character or object — the murder victim, the murderer, the lovers, the town gossip, a dog, the color red.
