For this reason I felt it was important to resist befriending her or taking too great an interest in her problems, her jokes, and her humanity.’ (i) Kemal notes early on: ‘ As I gazed out on the lights of Nisantasi, it would occasionally occur to me that if I was to continue my happy, beautiful life in the manner to which I was accustomed, it was essential that I not be in love with Fusun. NB these contain mild spoilers: How Kemal fakes his emotions Museum of Innocence the book: quotesĪ few examples of Kemal’s thoughts and actions follow. So: do the ghastly actions and self-justifications of Kemal depict a warped misogynistic monster? Or is author Orhan Pamuk simply laying bare with unprecedented honesty how all men really think – and act, if they are given the chance?ĭiscuss. But he may also be interpreted as a prototypical man.

I also wrote that “Kemal is beyond creepy”. These objects form the nucleus of the museum.” So he begins to steal items from her family. During that time, Kemal discovers that one way to salve the ache of loss when Fusun is not present is to handle objects associated with her. Kemal narrates the story of his obsession with Fusun, a younger woman, over a period of nine years. I wrote in my review of the Museum: “The story… is told in the first person by Kemal, a spoiled, wealthy 30-something year-old from Istanbul. The case containing 4,213 cigarette stubs in The Museum of Innocence (Photo: Robert Pimm) This house is the eponymous “Museum of Innocence”, to which I gave a rave 10/10 rating in an earlier review. The author also invites the reader to explore and even share in the obsession of the protagonist, Kemal, by filling a house with objects supposedly collected by Kemal and associated with the object of his obsession, Fusun.

Yet, at the end of the novel, the author invites the reader’s sympathy for his protagonist, making his last words in the book: “Let everyone know, I lived a very happy life.”

In the process he ruins her prospects for either marriage or a career and brings about a tragedy. In pursuit of his obsession with the young lover, he then displays over 728 pages (in my paperback edition) every one of the unpleasant male characteristics he decries, from jealousy to over-control. A book, and a museum, of innocenceĪ man repeatedly lies to and harasses both his fiancé and his young lover, while pontificating about the “unpalatable anthropological truths” which plague relations between the sexes. It offers a frightening and frank account of how men really think. The book “The Museum of Innocence” is an excellent read.

The museum of innocence book review