Product Description

A story of Irfan Orga's family's survival.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34977 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 316 pages

Review
"This book is a little masterpiece" Robert Fox, Daily Telegraph

Peter Quennell, The Daily Mail
An unusually convincing autobiographical sketch. The entire portrait is good.

Harold Nicolson, The Observer
it gives a rare insight into the psychological transformation which has come over the unchanging East... A wholly delightful book

Customer Reviews

A haunting evocation of despair and dogged survival
A haunting evocation of a childhood in late Ottoman/early Republican Turkey where the abrupt collapse of a single family's fortunes mirrors the disintegration of the old state and a dogged determination to rebuild a new life from, literally, the ashes of the old. The depth of detail in Orga's recollection of his early childhood is quite astonishing. Yet the book is as much about his mother as himself; and what he doesn't he do or say -- perhaps, as his grandmother says, couldn't do or say -- to prevent her decline from effervescent teenage bride into a deranged middle-aged widow. I stayed up until 2 am, mesmerised as the heady flow of his childhood memories gave way to fragmented anecdotes of adolescence and early adulthood and his mother's sanity too began to fracture and then collapse completely, leaving Orga as burnt-out a shell as the ruins of his childhhod home. Extraordinary to think that he should name his son Ates (Fire) when it was a fire that triggered such material and psychological devastation in his family.

Refreshing Realism
This open, vivid biography shows how ordinary Turkish people suffered great family and economic losses during the First World War. A fresh well written account which is enlightening as much as it is educational.

Portrait of a Turkish Family
An interesting book and I enjoyed reading it. Sadness goes through most of the pages, Irfan Orga leading us through the tragic events of his life, of his family and of his country during the first half of the 20th century.
The english is not very good ! Many mistakes and errors,but I would still recommend it.