Notable International Crime Novel of the Year - Crime Reads / Lit
Hub
From a prize-winning Turkish novelist, a heady, political tale of one
man's search for identity and meaning in Istanbul after the loss of his
memory.
A blues singer, Boratin, attempts suicide by jumping off the Bosphorus
Bridge, but opens his eyes in the hospital. He has lost his memory, and
can't recall why he wished to end his life. He remembers only things
that are unrelated to himself, but confuses their timing. He knows that
the Ottoman Empire fell, and that the last sultan died, but has no idea
when. His mind falters when remembering civilizations, while life, like
a labyrinth, leads him down different paths.
From the confusion of his social and individual memory, he is faced with
two questions. Does physical recognition provide a sense of identity?
Which is more liberating for a man, or a society: knowing the past, or
forgetting it?
Embroidered with Borgesian micro-stories, Labyrinth flows smoothly on
the surface while traversing sharp bends beneath the current.