Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (3144)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
    GeoNet GPS Navigator

    GeoNet GPS Navigator

    Navigation and Travel

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    GeoNet – The new-generation offline GPS navigator, which enables you to select and use maps from...

    Fitbit Coach

    Fitbit Coach

    Health & Fitness and Sports

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Fitbit Coach makes it easy to get and stay in shape with dynamic workouts that continually adjust to...

    Best Diet Foods!

    Best Diet Foods!

    Medical and Health & Fitness

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Best Diet Foods! Need to eat more healthy and lose some weight? Healthy living starts with...

40x40

Melanie Caldicott (6 KP) rated 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World in Books

Apr 29, 2021  
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
Elif Shafak | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
You can also read my review at my blog - https://roamingthroughbooks.wordpress.com

I saw this book reviewed on The Sky Arts Book Club and Shafak was interviewed and I think I fell a little in love. Shafak is a beautiful human being who is currently self-exiled from Turkey to the content of her novels being subject to investigation as part of a legal movement in which writers are frequently prosecuted. A passionate storyteller, who writes openly about human rights, her protagonists are often the fallen, forgotten and marginalised. Needless to say I have been looking forward to reading this ever since.

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World is a novel about a murdered street walker, Tequila Leila and the last moments of brain activity that is said to occur after the heart has stopped beating. The memories of her life flood back, often related to taste and smell and we start to learn about the story of her life.

Central to her memories and providing a backbone to her life were The Five, – five people with which she formed close, integral friendships and in the absence of her blood relatives, are Leila’s “family”.

The book is structured around three parts – the first, The Mind telling the stories of her post-mortem memories, the second, The Body about how she was murdered and the impact it has on The Five, and finally, The Soul which is a touching finale in which The Five determine to give Leila the send-off she deserves.

Shafak is such a clever storyteller and is able to illuminate aspects of humanity which is often avoided or ignored, which make us feel uncomfortable, and yet her tenderness and compassion shine through the portrayal of all her characters enabling the reader to walk a mile in the shoes of those who are often forgotten.

For a book centred around death, an issue that rarely sits comfortably with human beings, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World confronts it without fear. She skilfully takes a sex worker’s body which is disregarded in its anonymity by those that are responsible for sweeping up the detritus of the Istanbul streets, and reveals a story of a life, full of tragedy, joy and love.

I love how Elif Shafak takes the stories of all of The Five and transforms the insignificant to the significant through the love they have for Leila and each other. In a society which elevates the rich and famous and makes their voices the loudest and most significant in the world, I loved the truth which was affirmed in this book about what a life of substance really means.