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The Bastard of Istanbul

Book by Elif Shafak · 24 quotes · Love, Istanbul, City

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The Bastard of Istanbul Quotes

“It is so demanding to be born into a house full of women, where everyone loves you so overwhelmingly that they end up suffocating with their love; a house where you, as the only child, have to be more mature than all the adults around.... But the problem is that they want me to become everything they themselves couldn't accomplish in life..... As a result, I had to work my butt off to fulfill all their dreams at the same time.”

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“Нефритенозелените ѝ очи, обикновено широко отворени и изпълнени с пламенна интелигентност, от време на време се присвиваха и се превръщаха в две резки на пълно безразличие, присъщо само на три вида хора: безнадеждно лековерните, безнадеждно отчуждените и безнадеждно обнадеждените. Тъй като Зелиха не спадаше към никой от тях, безразличието ѝ - колкото и мимолетно да бе - бе трудно обяснимо. То прикриваше като с балдахин душата ѝ, за да я направи безчувствена като след упойка, но след миг се изпаряваше, оставайки Зелиха сама в тялото ѝ.”

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“To the one in the skies, this city must look like a scintillating pattern of speckled glows in all directions, like a firecracker going off amid thick darkness. Right now the urban pattern glowing here is in hues of orange, ginger, and ochre. It is a configuration of sparkles, each dot a light lit by someone awake at this hour. From where the Celestial Gaze is situated, from that high above, all these sporadically lit bulbs must seem in perfect harmony, constantly flickering, as if coding a cryptic message to God.”

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“Armanoush le guardò una per una una, confusa. Era sollevata nel vedere che non avevano preso male la storia, ma a quel punto cominciava a dubitare che l'avessero davvero compresa. Certo, non si erano rifiutate di crederle e neppure l'avevano attaccata con argomentazioni contrarie: anzi, l'avevano ascoltata con grande attenzione e sembravano colpite, Ma era tutta lì la loro commiserazione? E, di preciso, lei cosa si era spettata da loro? Armanoush non sapeva cosa pensare, e si chiedeva se parlandone con un gruppo di intellettuali avrebbe ottenuto una reazione diversa. Lentamente si rese conto che forse si era aspettata un'ammissione di colpa, se non addirittura delle scuse. Però quelle scuse non erano venute, e non perché le sue ospiti non fossero partecipi, ma perché non vedevano nessun collegamento fra loro e il crimine che era stato perpetrato. Come armena, Armanoush incarnava lo spirito della propria gente da generazioni e generazioni, mentre a quanto pareva il popolo turco non possedeva la stessa nozione di continuità con la propria ascendenza. Armeni e turchi vivevano in ordinamenti temporali diversi. Per i primi, il tempo era un continuum in cui il passato viveva nel presente e il presente generava il futuro. Per i secondi, invece, il tempo sembrava essere una linea spezzata: a un certo punto il passato finiva, e da quel punto cominciava il presente, e in mezzo non c'era altro che uno strappo.”

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“Through the range of the months of the year, every month knows the particular season it belongs to and behaves accordingly. Every month but one. March. March is most unbalanced in Istanbul, both psychologically and physically. March might decide she belongs to the spring season, warm and fragrant, only to change her mind the very next day, turning into winter sending chilly winds and sleet all around.”

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“That was the problem with all these butterfly-life-spanned girlfriends the scenarist brought with him. Driven by an impulse to become friends with everyone in the group, they asked too many personal questions and made too many personal comments, miserably failing to acknowledge that it was precisely the opposite, the lack of any serious and sincere interest in each other's privacy, which drew the group members to one another.”

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