One of the few pleasures to which I still dedicate myself with constancy is reading. I've never read anything about Pamuk and my book as a "Baptism" was this "Red-haired woman". I must admit that I have never been disappointed and will soon read everything I find of this author. The red-haired woman is not a trivial love story is the story of a life, of a relationship, of fathers and sons and in the middle of an infatuation. The protagonist begins by describing his childhood in his father's pharmacy, a communist political activist. A father who disappears following the coup of the 80s in Turkey, this father leave in him a deep wound and many questions. He and his mother are brave and the woman while having a grudge against her husband for reasons a Curiosity and intuitive vagabond takes charge of herself and his son, not making him miss a good education. Cem, this is his name, arranges himself, does some little jobs until he finds a job with a better salary than the others, the digger of wells!
The work is not simple and not without dangers, but the boy finds a guide and a teacher who accompanies him to discover this new profession. His new mentor camps with him and follows his apprenticeship, sharing experiences and stories with him and becoming a steadfast reference point for the boy, a father. The two exchange stories of fathers and sons drawn from ancient texts, L 'Oedipus, Jacob, Isaac and characters from Persian mythology. They sink into the earth and their experience. The part of the work is described in a detailed and meticulous manner and catapults the reader into a slow atmosphere, a return to another time. What disturbs Cem 's soul is the chance encounter with the beautiful red - haired woman, twice the age of him but with a disturbing charm. The boy remains fascinated enough to make her the protagonist of all his fantasies. Infatuated with her he follows all her moves and the evening passes in front of her house hoping to see the red hair in the windows. Thus began a courting between the two made of looks culminating in the loss of virginity of the young man, seduced by the most experienced woman. Actress and married woman seduces him easily and Cem loses his head. Distracted by sensual and amorous fantasies during an excavation, he makes a fatal mistake by dropping a bucket weight inadvertently into the well where the master stood at the bottom. Did he kill him? He does not know and in doubt runs away, does not seek for help, does not control if the master it's fine or not , runs away with the first train home, intent on never coming back. The rest of the book follows with the story of his life, the university, work, marriage, the desperate search for a child that does not arrive and the inevitable feelings of guilt. Search for stories and paintings on fathers and sons, I forget about his coming back when the time is ripe. The end will take you away. An interesting book on the black points in the relationship between father and son, the absence of a father and how much this absence affects the life and thoughts of a man, on the guilt for the presumed murder of the teacher / father, perhaps a metaphor of other and on a hard sensuality.
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