Middle East/North African Lit discussion

This thread is to discuss Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak!

I couldn't wait until October and read this earlier this year.
Elif Shafak is one of my favourite authors, however I liked this book less than Honor and The Architect's Apprentice.
Regardless Three Daughters of Eve is still good and definitely worth reading!

Anyone else read it?

Who is planing on reading?

I’m in the midst of it. Hope to write a bit about it soon!

I read it earlier in the year also. I liked it, it doesn't have much in common with other Elif Shafak books except some scenes (the encounter with the man on the street, the professor, etc). I think it's a good book about migrating and coming in contact with other cultures for the first time as a woman from the region. I would say some characters lack depth but overall it's descriptive and has a nice narrative

Jalilah wrote: "I couldn't wait until October and read this earlier this year.
Elif Shafak is one of my favourite authors, however I liked this book less than Honor

Anyone else read it?"

I read it a few months ago and reviewed it recently. I'm waiting for the conversation to start, wanting to be a follower rather than an initiator this time.

I also read it a few months ago and reviewed it. I thought it was ok. I had some issues with it mainly with character portrayals. I preferred The Architect's Apprentice.

I'll be like Steve. I'll wait for the discussion to get going before I throw in my two cents.

Inji wrote: "I read it earlier in the year also. I liked it, it doesn't have much in common with other Elif Shafak books except some scenes (the encounter with the man on the street, the professor, etc). I thin..."

I agree! It's very different from her other books. I felt like this one was much more a direct comentary as well as exploration of modern Turkish and Muslim societies, as well as the state of Middle Eastern politics and the position of women.

It's also a coming of age story. For me it was sad to read about Peri's experience at Oxford. She was so young and inexperienced! What could have become a very positive experience became something shameful for her.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I felt her character portrayals was weak.

From my review:

While Peri is depicted as well-rounded, confused, and conflicted, the remaining characters emerge as venues or mouthpieces for different perspectives on religion, philosophy, and politics. They spout their views, presenting one side or another in a manner that feels obviously constructed. They talk at each other instead of to each other and are reduced to little more than mouthpieces for a particular point of view. As a result, the story suffers.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Tamara wrote: "As I mentioned in a previous post, I felt her character portrayals was weak.

From my review:

"They spout their views, presenting one side or another in a manner that feels obviously constructed. They talk at each other instead of to each other and are reduced to little more than mouthpieces for a particular point of view. As a result, the story suffers."

I agree with you Tamara. The whole thing feels "obviously constructed." We have a family: a devout Muslim mother, a secular non-believing husband and the daughter who's not sure. It's set in modern Istanbul, Turkey a country that has struggled with the same issue: secularism vs an Islamic state, going through coup after coup as the military tries to hold back the forces of Islam. The daughter has two brothers, one a believer, one a secularist. She grows in this repressive society but gets accepted to Cambridge. Her two best friends at college are feminist Iranian girl and a devout Muslim woman who wears her head scarf as a badge of courage and who finds strength in her religion. Our heroine is.... undecided. They meet in a course called the philosophy of God. With that construction, it's no wonder that as you say "the characters are reduced to little more than mouthpieces for a particular point of view."

I enjoyed the book very much while I was reading it. I did not become aware of the "structure" until after I finished the book (I'm excellent at suspension of disbelief) and started analyzing it, and didn't take on Tamara's judgement on that 'construction' until just now.

I’m not quite done reading yet, but I’m in general agreement with you all!

Tamara wrote: "As I mentioned in a previous post, I felt her character portrayals was weak.
From my review:
While Peri is depicted as well-rounded, confused, and conflicted, the remaining characters emerge as v..."


I agree that it felt somewhat constructed because Shafak presents Peri, Sherin and Mona as archetypes of the different types of Muslim women today. However to me the other characters Sherin and Mona did not seem like only mouthpieces
I read an interview https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/17/bo... with Shafak where she said:
"Initially I was thinking of these three girls at Oxford as completely separate personalities. But I started to perceive them as three different stages that the same person can go through in their life; stages where they feel more faithful, or more doubtful"
It's interesting to know that when asked in an interview which woman she identified the most with, Shafak replied that it was in the professor she tried to hide a little bit of herself!

Ok, I've finished reading. I've read two other books by Shafak: The Forty Rules of Love and Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within. So far, my favorite is still the latter (non-fiction). Drawing on that book, I'd say that in fact ALL the characters in Three Daughters of Eve reflect parts of the author.

In fact, this is the greatest strength of this novel: it represents a range of personalities and positions while retaining a coherent view of reality. It is the variety of the three girls that makes it relatable.

The second strength of this novel (in agreement with Inji, above) is its depiction of a girl's experience as an international student, migrating and alone.

I did enjoy the teaching scenes and the attention that Shafak put into creating the course syllabus - If I had the chance to attend a class by Elif Shafak, I would take it!

Melanie wrote: "Ok, I've finished reading. I've read two other books by Shafak: The Forty Rules of Love and Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within. So far, my favori..."

Even though it's been decades since I attended a university class I'd love to attend one with Elif Shafak too!
As I read I felt there were parts of her the other characters, in particular Peri and Shirin. Less do with Mona. But I was surprised when in the interview she said she identified with the professor!
I have not read Black Milk.

Jalilah wrote:
I read an interview https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/17/bo... with Shafak where she said:."

Thanks Jalilah for the reference to the interview. This expands my appreciation for this book when I hear Shafak talk about the young girls' aspirations in present day Turkey. I am struck by the meeting of the minds metaphor between author and reader; both come from different places with different antecedents and objectives. We get one meeting through the novel and quite a different one from the interview. And still more "fleshing out" from this discussion.

Shafak says she wrote this book in an intuitive, not a paternalistic way, that she didn't know where the characters were going to end up. That seems so at odds with several of our perceptions that the outline was "constructed" beforehand. I've had the thought that authors are half writer and half salesman, I wonder which half to believe. But then an author as popular as Shafak would have hundreds of interviews. For each one she re-examines her motivations and each time needs to come up with something snappy to say. I guess we all do this when examining our conscience.

I started reading the book this week and am two-thirds through. I've read a number of Elif Shafak's books and have had mixed feelings about them, about her writing style. I like this one more than others, it seems smoother and bound together better.

After reading the NY Times interview, I appreciate the book even more, having her perspective to consider. I'm thinking about the idea of the three characters being various stages in a spiritual life, I really saw Shirin as being the rebellious teenager who needs to go to extremes against her upbringing. Whether Mona or Peri would be the pre-teen or the post-rebel stage depends on the individual. As a woman raised Catholic and rebelling Hard as a teenager, I can relate to Shirin. But I think that post-rebellion, I relate more to the stage of Peri than Mona.

I'm at the part in the book where each student in the "God" class introduces themselves. It does seem contrived, either by the professor, as Peri wonders, or by the author (who in the interview says she relates to being the professor in the book more than any of the three young women). I'm willing to accept this seeming contrivance to hear her story. I guess it really is pretty obvious what Shafak is doing to set it up but I still find it interesting in such a way that I want to read more about the characters' perspectives.

I finished the book. Though I enjoyed it, I also think it was too easy to see what the author meant to do. It might have been more interesting it there was more discussion among less different (and MORE) characters, if the main characters hadn't been so archetypical (Is that a word?).

Interesting ending, she steps out of the closet but is it when it's safe to emerge?

Kate wrote: "I finished the book. Though I enjoyed it, I also think it was too easy to see what the author meant to do. It might have been more interesting it there was more discussion among less different (and..."


I agree with you Kate about it being too easy seeing what the author meant to do.
Over all this is one of the less memorable books by Shafak, who I count as one of my favourite authors.