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Snow
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Snow (2002) (edit title/settings)

by Orhan Pamuk (Author) (edit contributors)

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Dread, yearning, identity, intrigue, the lethal chemistry between secular doubt and Islamic fanaticism–these are the elements that Orhan Pamuk anneals in this masterful, disquieting novel. An exiled poet named Ka returns to Turkey and travels to the forlorn city of Kars. His ostensible purpose... read more

Summary edit see section history

A famous Turkish poet comes home and can't decide what government philosophy he wants to support, writes poetry to an old girlfriend who is married, and witnesses a massacre.

Characters edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “There are two kinds of men. The first kind does not fall in love until he’s seen how the girl eats a sandwich, how she combs her hair, what sort of nonsense she cares about, why she’s angry with her father, and what stories people tell about her. The second type of man – and I am in this category – can fall in love with a woman only if he knows next to nothing about her.”
    Ka
  • “It might not happen in the first instant, but within ten minutes of meeting a man, a woman has clear idea of who he is, or at least he might be, and her heart has already told her whether she’s going to fall in love with him. But her head needs time to decide what her heart has decided.”
    Kadife
  • “But there’s not a coward in the world who doesn’t dream of the day when he might find himself capable of great courage…”
    Sunay
  • “…people who seek only happiness never find it.”
    Blue
  • “A woman doesn’t commit suicide because she’s lost her pride; she does it to show her pride”
    Kadife
  • “Women kill themselves because they hope to gain something. Men kill themselves because they have lost all hope of gaining anything.”
    Kadife
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Here, perhaps, we have arrived at the heart of our story. How much can we ever know about the love and pain in another’s heart? How much can we hope to understand those who have suffered deeper anguish, greater deprivation, and more crushing disappointments than we ourselves have known?
    Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers
  • Ka, you see, was one of those moralists who believe that the greatest happiness comes from never doing anything for the sake of personal happiness.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • Ka knew very well that life was a meaningless string of random incidents.
    Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers
  • The sight of snow made her think how beautiful and short life is and how, in spite of all their enmities, people have so very much in common; measured against eternity and the greatness of creation, the world in which they lived was narrow. That’s why snow drew people together. It was as if snow cast a veil over hatreds, greed, and wrath and made everyone feel close to one another.
    Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers
  • It’s because we failed to find happiness in poetry that we find ourselves longing for the shadow of politics.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • “The snow reminded me of God,” said Ka. “The snow reminded me of the beauty and mystery of creation, of the essential joy that is life.”
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • These sights spoke of a strange and powerful loneliness. It was as if he were in a place that the whole world had forgotten, as if it were snowing at the end of the world.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • It was the Communists and their Tiflis Radio who spread tribal pride, and they did it because they wanted to divide and destroy Turkey. Now everyone is prouder—and poorer.”
    Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers
  • “If I were an author and Ka were a character in a book, I’d say, ‘Snow reminds Ka of God!’ But I’m not sure it would be accurate. What brings me close to God is the silence of snow.”
    Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
  • He was a poet and, as he himself had written—in an early poem still largely unknown to Turkish readers—it snows only once in our dreams.
    Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers
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First Sentence edit see section history

The silence of snow, thought the man sitting just behind the bus driver.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 19 of 100 in Top 100 Books That Defined The Noughties (Telegraph). (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Kite Runner, and followed by Schott's Original Miscellany.

This book is in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This book is in Outstanding books by Nobel Prizes in Literature. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Orhan Pamuk (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Maureen Freely (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: Turkish
Publisher: İletişim
Country: Turkey
Publication Date: 2002
ISBN: 0571220657
Page Count: 436

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk: All about the book and its author - a synopsis of Snow,discussion, and commentary by Diana Grant

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