The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

Author:Elif Shafak [Shafak, Elif]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780143112716
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Published: 2008-02-05T06:00:00+00:00

That night when all the Kazanci women had gone to sleep, Armanoush slipped out of her bed in pajamas, turned on the frail desk lamp, and doing her very best not to make any noise, turned on her laptop. Never before had she realized how distressingly noisy it could be to get online. She dialed the telephone number, found the

IgI

ELIF SHAFAK

network node, and typed in her password to log on to Cafe Constantinopolis.

Where have U been? We were so sick worried! 'How R U?

Questions began to come in from everyone.

I'm okay, wrote Madame My-Exiled-Soul. But I've not been able to find grandma's house. In its place there is an ugly modern building. It's gone. No traces left behind ... There are no traces, no records, no reminiscences of the Armenian family who lived in that building at the beginning of the century.

I am so sorry dear, Lady Peacock/Siramark wrote. When R U coming back?

I'll stay till the end of the week, Madame My-Exiled-Soul replied. It is quite an adventure here. The city is beautiful. It resembles San Francisco in some ways, the hilly streets, the constant fog and sea breeze, and the bohemian faces in places least expected. It is an urban maze here. More than one single city, it is like cities within a city. By the way, the cuisine is fantastic. Every Armenian would be in heaven here.

Armanoush halted, realizing in panic what she had just written. I mean, in terms of food, she added quickly.

Yo Madame My-Exiled-Soul, you were our war reporter and now you sound like a Turk! You have not been Turkified, have you? It was AntiKhavurma.

Armanoush took a deep breath.

The opposite. I have never felt more Armenian in my life. You see, for me to fully experience my Armenianness, I had to come to Turkey and meet the Turks.

-The family I am living with is quite interesting, a bit crazy but perhaps all families are. But there is something surreal here. Irrationality is part of the everyday rationale. I feel like I am in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. One of the sisters is a tattoo artist; another sister is a clairvoyant; one other is a national history teacher; and the fourth is an eccentric wallflower, or a full-time cuckoo, as Asya would say.

Who is Asya? Lady Peacock/Siramark typed instantly.

182

THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL

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