10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
By Elif Shafak
Published Year: 2019 [Viking]
Page Count: 303 pages
Medium Used: Paperback
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Istanbul, Prostitution, 2025-read.
Rating : 2.5/5
I felt the story and narration get a tad boring at times in the middle of the book. I also felt that the author could have taken more time to establish an emotional connection between the main character and her reader. Things - unfortunate, abusive - are happening to her and there is only apathy from my side because Leila, the main character, comes off as detached - that she couldn't or wouldn't be bothered by those odious things. The political, anarchist/leftist angle that the author tried to briefly introduce with the husband of Leila felt superficial. It only felt like a interjection, that was made to fill the space and make more complicated, in an otherwise non-political book. And Leila doesn't act or think like a prostitute, the character she is supposed to espouse. She has too much dignity, presence of mind and even kindness. There are also a couple of loose ends .. like what happened to her matron after her end, how did she take to the news, and what happened with the police and her five friends after they dunk her into the giant sea? There was never a real reason for her to escape home and run off to the city at such a tender age .. just when she was about to get married. Did she think prostitution in the city is better than a safe, married life in her town? These remain a hollow in the vivid picture of the story.
Leila is a child born to her father and his second wife after his first wife turned out to be barren and the second one went through a string of miscarriages. She was much wanted and prayed for. But after she is born, her father donates her to his first wife. I don't know because it is not laid out by the author if there are no secret sharings between the women and the child or what .. that when she is sexually molested and abused by one of her uncles, she keeps mum. She bears it all with a stoic mind all the while feeling incredibly dirty. She has a friend too but she doesn't confide. She takes to cutting herself on her arms and thighs .. places which don't show. Then when she is seventeen, she becomes almost pregnant and runs away from her town to Istanbul. She gets sold to a licensed brothel and that becomes her new home. She didn't come off as saddened by the prospect or burdened by the fact that she has to service ten to fifteen different men each day. If anything, she seems to wear her tag of prostitute with pride and ease. How can that be, right?
She has made five friends in her course of life and they remain her companions when she is disowned by her family. A student becomes her regular visitor and they have a brief marriage. Then,unlike all fairy tales, it doesn't end well. He gets killed, trampled upon in a stampede on an International workers day. Her world shatters. What does she do? She goes back to the madam who is now setting her up for wealthy clients. One such trip costs her too much. Yes, her life. Brutalized and killed.. it is not even told if the police catch the perpetrators of not. I am unfulfilled with the book dished out. I wanted to DNf this one multiple times but I have liked Elif shafak very much in other works and I know this book got shortlisted for Booker Prize, so I resisted. The last few pages are a refreshing finish to the heavy and loaded topics dealt with!!
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