The museum of innocence. Orhan Pamuk

(audiobook) Because of the topic, not a book that I would recommend. While the book has some very interesting depictions of Istambul's society, 80% of the narrative is about the character's obsession with a girl called Fussan.

The first few chapters read like a love story, it starts on a beautiful tone when he describes one evening making love with Fussan in his apartment, noise of kids playing coming from an open window. "That was the happiest moment of my life" he says describing the moment when he penetrates her from behind, kisses her on the shoulder and she looses an earring.

So, he has a fiance (Sibelle) who is a cultivated, european style society woman, and he has this beautiful young lover. He he loves them both and for a while sounds like a man really in love. I entertained long monologues about his bliss... But then it gets to the obsessive part, and I cringed page after page, skipping some sections. Since I was so ready to sympathize with the character, it took me a while to turn against him. Part of me still has lingering doubts about Pamuk's intention: does the author believes that he is a man really in love with valid feelings and expectations? But part of me says it can't be true, the character is such a creepy, sickly obsessed looser that the author must have planned all along to make you cringe by first make you like him, and then (by telling the story from his perspective), and then slowly turns things around until you realize that you simply can not feel any sympathy for the guy. As an exercise on the author playing with the reader very successful, you feel suffocated by the character's obsession and feel compelled to shake him by the shoulders and slap him  back into reason.

The parts where he describes Istanbul society, the obsession with virginity, the difference between the haves and have nots, the endless talks at cafes about making movies where really entertaining and I found many similarities with Guadalajara. Other than the creep factor, it was nice to hear the depictions of day to day life in the characters homes (like the chapter titled "sometimes". In the audiobook, I feel in love with the pronunciation of Beyoglu. Well written, I wouldn't have read it had I known what the topic was.