"Three daughters of Eve" by Elif Shafak- Eve is not a character!
This book was published by Penguin in 2017 and has 384 pages.
Perry, 35, an ideal mother, wife is a citizen of Istanbul. One day she chases a thief and puts her life in danger to retrieve her stolen purse. A black and white Polaroid tumbles out of her purse that takes her to Oxford.
Who's in that Polaroid picture? Why is it so important? What does Perry do?
Perry's family consists of Mansoor and Salma Nalbantolou, the parents and Umut and Hakan, the brothers. She is much younger than her brothers. Her mother is orthodox Muslim and her father doesn't believe in religion, he's a secular. So she has a very peculiar upbringing. Her father sends her to Oxford. There Perry becomes friends with Shireen, an outspoken, rebellious British girl of Iranian origin and Mona, a headscarf wearing Egyptian-American. Shireen, Mona and Perry, the sinner, the believer and the confused. They all attend seminar of Professor Azur on God.
Present day Perry is smart, beautiful housewife, married to a man 16 years older. Good marriage. She has a daughter Denise, a typical teenager. Then there are people from Turkish upper class society. And terrorist.
The story goes back and forth between present Times 2016 and Perry's past in years 1980s and 1990s and 2000s.
When I started reading the book, I thought it holds a lot of promise. There were infinite possibilities. Anything was possible. However the story takes an uncomplicated path. As a result it becomes insipid. List opportunity!
Professor Azur's seminar and discussion about God is very interesting.
End of the book is also curious. It opens possibilities and let's the reader imagine what happens at the end.
Eve is not a character. Daughters of Eve means three women.
Why did I read this book? Author.
What I didn't like? Lost opportunity.
What did I like? Discussion about God.
Not a must read.
