RaveThe GuardianMy Name is Red is itself constructed around the individualising perspective; each chapter offers the varying first-person truths experienced by the characters. Pamuk achieves by narrative alchemy the empathetic understanding of both worlds, the dying and the emergent. Death is a subject, and is given its own chapter as a character, stalking the streets of windy Istanbul … This is a profound work with deep roots. Far from being a mere ‘historical novel,’ it has unforgettable narrative drive that unites past and present, as well as the high art with popular appeal that has made Pamuk into Turkey's greatest writer.
