“Occidentals will never understand what happened” says Fazil at the end of the book. Spot on, my man.
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Let me get this straight : >!a woman cheats on her husband with an islamist radical because she finds him charming and intelligent, unlike her husband. People throughout the novel say the guy commandeers murders and it’s certain that his group of followers are prone to islamist murders. I mean hell, they murder the main character. But, she defends him by saying he’s incredibly kind, “like a child”. Strangely, the only people who defend the terrorist seem to be his followers or his girlfriends. !<
Okay, strange but not uncommon for a book about love. Forbidden love, and all that, I can understand.
>!The terrorist cheats on her with her younger sister. The younger sister entertains the double infidelity. When the older sister finds out, they both lick their wounds together and forgive each other and the older sister helps hide the relationship between the terrorist and the little sister. Also the little sister is much more devout (except the marriage part of the Coran, but oh well God will surely understand), and wears the headscarf so she appeals to the terrorist more. The two women continue to watch out for the terrorist and try to protect him.!< Uh… okay. Rocky developments but I understand, it’s a story about passion.
>!So. The main character (not a great guy either to be honest, he deserves his own post) comes back and falls in love with the woman in the course of 2 days. She wants to flee with him back to Germany “to be happy and, perhaps, hopefully fall in love with him”. She hides the whole terrorist thing and when he finds out, she doesn’t explain at all why she hid this from her partner. It’s been 4 years since she had an affair with the terrorist, you’d think she doesn’t care anymore. !<
>!So the terrorist (grrrreat guy I swear) suddenly keeps at his new home ANOTHER headscarf girl without telling the little sister and it’s clear it’s the start of a relationship by their demeanor. They both get gunned down by cops and UNTIL THE END OF THE NOVEL YEARS LATER both sisters mourn the loss of the terrorist, despite everything everyone knows. Until the last time we see her, every time the main woman mentions the terrorist she basically bites her lip. !<
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The whole story is sold as poetic and beautiful and sad but… I don’t see it. I don’t see any beauty in any of this, just self-convincing and betrayal. I can’t be the only one to be repulsed by all of these behaviors, right? I’m not even a diehard moralist, I enjoyed 100 Years of Solitude and Like Water for Chocolate for what they were.
When I look up reviews about Snow, critics mostly talk about the headscarf and the politics, and yes, those themes blanket the whole novel and you gotta see things through a specific cultural prism. But I just don’t feel moved by ANY of the interpersonal intrigue, like AT ALL.
Anyone who has read it, what did you think ?
by Dontevenwannacomment