Many and Many A Year Ago [Paperback]

Selcuk Altun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

Praise for Songs My Mother Never Taught Me:

“A deft, zinging whodunnit which is also a metaphysical puzzle worthy of the Oulipo group. Altun’s prose has a dreamlike urgency; his novel is a major achievement.”—John Ashbery

“This intelligent thriller from Altun, his first to be published in the U.S., nicely evokes modern Istanbul. . . . The lean prose and deft pacing make this more than a routine revenge tale.’”—Publishers Weekly

Kemal’s friend mysteriously disappears, leaving him a generous allowance and the use of his large house.

He discovers that his new dwelling involves an inheritance of $1.3 million, and a Russian nobleman’s missing son. Kemal embarks on a missing person case that will bring chaos and romance to his life.

Clues lead him from Istanbul to Buenos Aires, Boston, and eventually Baltimore, where Kemal visits the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum. There in the museum is a poster announcing the Nevar Foundation’s offer of $200,000 to the winner of a first novel competition.

Kemal buys paper and a pen. He has decided to enter the Nevar competition with his first mystery novel, called Many and Many a Year Ago.

Selçuk Altun was born in Artvin, Turkey, in 1950. Telegram published Songs My Mother Never Taught Me in 2008. He lives in Istanbul and is a retired banking executive and bibliophile.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Altun's second novel to be made available in the U.S. has a premise almost as intriguing as his first, Songs My Mother Never Taught Me, but the execution is less successful. Kemal Kuray's meteoric ascent to the top of the Turkish Air Force comes to an abrupt end after the engine of the plane he's piloting fails. Barely escaping serious injury, he's assigned to coordinate a secret translation project, during which he befriends Suat Altan, a technology consultant working on the project to complete his military service. Later, Kemal learns from Suat's identical twin, Fuat, that Suat, who's vanished, has left behind a cryptic note for Kemal and arranged for monthly payments to him of $5,000 a month after his retirement. Kemal spends the rest of the book seeking the purpose, as well as the true meaning, of Suat's message. If Poe's fans are meant to be enticed by the title, taken from Poe's poem Annabel Lee, they will find little to chew on. (Sept.)
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Review

Music-loving aesthete and Turkish air-force pilot, Kemal enters a weird twilight existence in Istanbul after his plane crashes and a secret benefactor sets him up in a grand house in the haunted streets of old Balat. There follows an entertaining, somewhat absurd Hitchcockian comedy-mystery, rich in dropped names and arty jokes. It sends Kemal to the US on the trail of (of all McGuffins) Edgar Allan Poe. For readers here this cheeky romp, briskly translated by Clifford and Selhan Endres, may appeal most for its atmospheric glimpses of an inexhaustible city. Boyd Tonkin The Independent 27th November 2009 Praise for Songs My Mother Never Taught Me: 'A brilliantly edgy, witty thriller.' Maureen Freely 'Altun's prose has a dreamlike urgency; his novel is a major achievement.' John Ashbery

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: Telegram Books (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846590671
• ISBN-13: 978-1846590672
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting character tale, September 4, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Many and Many A Year Ago (Paperback)

Within the Turkish Air Force, Kemal Kuray's rapid rise has become legendary as does his even faster fall when a plane engine fails. He knows he is fortunate to be alive, but he has to heal from his injuries, Kemal detests desk duty.

Kemal is assigned to a top secret translation project team where he and technology expert Suat Altan meet and become friends; in spite of ironically Kemal being career military and Suat meeting his military obligation on the assignment. Not long afterward, Kemal learns from Suat's identical twin Fuat that his sibling vanished; but left behind a note for his new friend; provided him an expensive house to live in rent free, and set up a monthly allowance of $5,000 upon his retirement. Kemal struggles with what Suat has done while searching for him around the world and a greater guiding principle in his life.

This an interesting character tale with mystery elements that is more an inner search for being even though the quest takes Kemal into North and South America, Europe and Turkey. With irony, the story line is driven by Kemal's need to know. Although at times the tale seems too clever losing its innocent whimsical charm though regains it too, MANY AND MANY A YEAR AGO is a fine look at finding one's self.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, September 2, 2009

By 

Demir TOSUN "D." (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Many and Many A Year Ago (Paperback)

A voyage to the world of literature, a smart writer who knows hove to make us turn the pages by passion from the first page to the last... Another view to Turkish Istanbul Family Life after Orhan Pamuk's books.