The Bastard of Istanbul

Written By Tanya Ahmed
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The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak 🇹🇷
Reviewed by Tanya
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Elif is such a great storyteller; she really brings her characters to life and you truly get the feeling of being in Istanbul, with all of its flavours and smells. The Bastard of Istanbul follows the lives of two teenage girls and their families, one Turkish, one Armenian and how their lives intertwine. Asya Kazanci is the bastard daughter of Zeliha, raised by a weird group of aunts and a grandmother in Istanbul; she spends most of her time listening to Johnny Cash records and spending time with group of older, sarcastic political outcasts at the Cafe Kundera. In Arizona, 19 year old Armanoush "Amy" Tchakhmakhchian jumps between her over-protective American mother Rose, quiet Turkish step-father Mustafa, and her father in a large Armenian family in San Francisco. Struggling to understand herself and what it means to be Armenian, she decides to journey to Turkey and stay with her stepfather's family, the Kazanci's.

Tanya Ahmed

Soy Tanya. I’m the youngest of the group...and I don’t really know what to say except that I find these things really awkward. When Linda first came to me with this idea of an online bookclub/review page I was 100% down, although I was a little worried and felt like backing out on many occasions as I felt like my reviews were awful - I’m not good with words at all. If anyone was to ask me a year ago how I found a book, I’d reply: “good” - that’s my review done. But being part of this club with such amazing girls has really made me a lot more confident and comfortable. So I’ll forever be grateful. It’s always a laugh when we’re together, we are guaranteed to get side-tracked but our meetings are always productive and a lot of fun. This is just the beginning for us. I like reading all kinds of books from different genres but prefer romance/YA. With work being full on I like feel-good books that are light and easy. I’m currently in the middle of reading a few books lol but sticking to The Zanzibar Wife by Rebecca Rodriquez. Reading for me is a form of escapism, just getting away from the stress of real life and getting lost in book and falling in love with characters. I can’t list my top 5 or even top 10 so here are a few of my all-time favourites: The Sicilian by Mario Puzo To all the boys I’ve loved before by Jenny Han, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hoseeini, The Forty Rules of Love by Shafa Kelif Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith and Moonlight Over Manhattan by Sarah Morgan.

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