Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
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Happy City is the story of how the solutions to this century's problems lie in unlocking the secrets...
Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press
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Stories abound of immigrant Jews on the outside looking in, clambering up the ladder of social...
history
Let the Right One in
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Audiences can't get enough of fang fiction. Twilight, True Blood, Being Human, The Vampire Diaries,...
Humans of San Antonio
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Along with the movement Humans of New York, a project to share the stories of New Yorkers, Humans of...
Surface: Matters of Aesthetics, Materiality, and Media
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What is the place of materiality the expression or condition of physical substance in our visual age...
101 Gangster Movies: You Must See Before You Die
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From the early Prohibition-era classics of Mervyn LeRoy and William A. Wellman to the mean streets...
China and the Middle East: From Silk Road to Arab Spring
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China and the Middle East uniquely explores China's growing presence in the Middle East, and both...
LucyB (47 KP) rated Three Daughters of Eve in Books
Jul 23, 2017
It certainly lived up to expectations. The book is set both in the past and the present, focusing on Peri as a student in Oxford, and as a wealthy wife (14 years later) in Istanbul. It starts with something of a red herring, focusing on Peri's attack (and almost rape) by a beggar, then develops into an exploration of her past, as a Turkish Muslim at Oxford University.
She's flanked by Shirin, a non-believer, and Mona, a devout Muslim - making them 'the sinner, the believer and the confused'. They're united by a man called Professor Azur, who has a major influence in their lives, both positive and negative.
The book is an intriguing exploration into religion, belief and culture-clash - and in particular, the scenes detailing Peri's past, with a non-believing father and a devout mother, worked particularly well. A few moments jarred slightly - for example, the sudden revelation about the twin brother towards the end, and the abrupt shift in perspective from Peri to Professor Azur (again, towards the end), but for the most part, this book was masterfully executed and beautifully sustained throughout.
I think Shafak has a strong, resonant style, combined with a philosophical approach - which works really well. I'd definitely like to read more of her books
Jorge Semprun: The Spaniard Who Survived the Nazis & Conquered Paris
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Spanish by birth, Parisian by adoption, Semprun (1923-2011) was a legendary figure on the front...
The Comic Book Film Adaptation: Exploring Modern Hollywood's Leading Genre
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In the summer of 2000 X-Men surpassed all box office expectations and ushered in an era of...