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Snow
by Orhan Pamuk


7.4

based on 21 reviews
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based on 13 votes
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Istanbul

Official Publisher Site

The Istanbul-based author of 'My Name Is Red' offers this tale of a Turkish poet who, after years in exile, returns to his homeland, where a snowstorm and a confluence of political, religious and personal events leaves him to face a world both familiar and strangely foreign to him.

Knopf, 448 pages
08/17/2004
$26.00

ISBN: 0375406972

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction

NOTES:
Translated into English by Maureen Freely.

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Daily Telegraph Tom Payne

The author's high artistry and fierce politics take our minds further into the age's crisis than any commentator could, and convince us of every character's intensity, making Snow a vital book in both senses of the word.

Publishers Weekly

A detached tone and some dogmatic abstractions make for tough reading, but Ka's rediscovery of God and poetry in a desolate place makes the novel's sadness profound and moving. [19 Jul 2004, p.144]

The Independent Paul Bailey

[A] complex and ambitious novel.

The New York Times Book Review Margaret Atwood

Not only an engrossing feat of tale-spinning, but essential reading for our times.

The Spectator John de Falbe

What makes it a brilliant novel is its artistry.

New York Review Of Books Christian Caryl

Pamuk... illuminates his country's quandaries of identity, and the crisis of confidence between Islam and the West, with an imaginative depth we had not known before.

Daily Telegraph David Robson

To a Western reader, the logic of events will be as foreign as the cock-fights which seem to be the main after-dark entertainment in Kars. But in the excellent, sardonic Pamuk, they have a first-rate guide to the social tensions of provincial Turkey.

Village Voice John Freeman

The book's compelling side drama of a writer struggling to remain apolitical is nearly occluded in the blizzard of themes.

The New York Times Richard Eder

It is a novel of lesser scope than its grand and magical predecessor and more narrowly focused, although it is enriched by the author's same mesmerizing mixes: cruelty and farce, poetry and violence, and a voice whose timbres range from a storyteller's playfulness to the dark torment of an explorer, lost.

San Francisco Chronicle Laurel Maury

Pamuk has written a book to make readers uncomfortable on both sides of the Bosphorus. "Snow," despite its flaws, is an excellent work.

The Economist

One of his most accessible [novels].

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Thomas Meaney

A novel so tightly managed it seems at any point ready to rupture.

The Guardian James Buchan

The result is large and expansive, but, even at 436 pages, neither grand nor heavy.

Entertainment Weekly Gilbert Cruz

Snow abounds with political intrigue while remaining lushly tragic at heart. [17 Sep 2004]

Kirkus Reviews

An astonishingly complex, disturbing view of a world we owe it to ourselves to better understand. [1 Jun 2004, p.512]

Library Journal Marc Kloszewski

Ultimately is a worthwhile read for those interested in a closer look at the hot topics of religion, its devout followers, and what arises from such passions. [Jul 2004, p.73]

Los Angeles Times Michael McGaha

In Maureen Freely, Pamuk seems at last to have found his ideal English translator. [15 Aug 2004, p.R4]

Atlantic Monthly Christopher Hitchens

Prolix and often clumsy as it is, Pamuk's new novel should be taken as a cultural warning.

Booklist Joanne Wilkinson

A nearly impenetrable political novel. [1 Jun 2004, p.1704]

Washington Post Ruth Franklin

Snow has none of the tautness of My Name Is Red; its action moves thickly, at times impenetrably. Clarity is not enhanced by a tone that at times jerks wildly from knowing sophistication to faux naiveté.

The New Yorker John Updike

Pamuk's conscience-ridden and carefully wrought novel, tonic in its scope, candor, and humor, does not incite us, even in our imaginations, to overthrow existing conditions in Turkey.

The average user rating for this book is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Carlos F gave it a9:
This great novel deals with the complexity of human feelings and difficulties in the dialogue between eastern and western cultures.

Michael K gave it a10:
This postmodern political thriller by Nobel laureate Pamuk, selected by the NY Times editors as one of the 10 best books of 2004, is among my all-time favorites. This level of creative genius will not appeal to everyone, but the idea that this is a one-star book is laughable.

John E gave it a1:
The most incoherent story I have ever read, unrelated topics all merged together with a meaningless plot. Written by a writer who spent 2 years out of his home country and does not have any genuine depth just a nuch romantic words put together.

Dan B. gave it a5:
It's not bad, but it's mostly humorless, and too ruminative for its own good. Very self-conciously literary. The plot is intricate but doesn't much move. When I bought a copy of this book in Istanbul, two clerks in separate bookstores mentioned it's not Pamuk's best.

Massoud J gave it a9:
This book, for those determined enough to trudge through its pages, bestows grand returns. Many times I thought I might give up, but as with the ascent of a great peak, the effort is ultimately given a glowing reward. The novel will echo on through your days, and its intricate plot and finely crafted characters will reverberate in your soul.

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Snow by Orhan Pamuk

Snow
by Orhan Pamuk