This novel begins with the main character, Leila, having
been murdered and thrown in a dumpster in Istanbul. Before her brain completely dies, she thinks
back on her short life—as a sexually abused teenager, as a prostitute, as a
friend, and as a wife. The second half
of the book focuses on her five special friends who proceed to honor Leila in
death. Several themes are at work here,
but the one that struck me the most was that of the contradictions within any
religion’s set of beliefs. Hypocrisy
among religious zealots apparently is common there as well. For example, Leila’s father has two wives,
but Islam prohibits polygamy. In Turkey,
corruption and reactionary laws reinforce the limitations placed on the lives
of Leila and her misfit friends, including a transgender woman and a dwarf. A character who surfaces near the end of the
book is a gay young man being forced into an arranged marriage. His outcome is one of the few bright spots in
this novel, and, although it is beautifully written, this novel does not offer
hope for Turkey’s progress. Leila’s
friends mount sort of a minor rebellion against the treatment of Leila’s
corpse, but it will have no impact on the country’s modus operandi, in which
the deaths of prostitutes are not really cause for concern by law enforcement
or by the general public. When it
becomes clear that a serial killer is on the loose, targeting prostitutes, the
authorities advise “normal” women not to panic.
If a society is judged by its treatment of women, this novel indicates
that Turkey has much room for improvement.
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