A nostalgic and powerfully honest memoir of growing up in eastern Turkey tells of a young boy's transforming encounter with a remarkable woman, left alone with her goats after her husband and sons are killed in a vendetta.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Dalokay (d. 1991), a one-time mayor of Ankara and an architect, offers his reminiscences about growing up as the grandson of the "landlord" of a small Turkish village. The translator, a friend of Dalokay's, mentions that this work received a number of literary awards in Turkey and adds that "the people seemed familiar to me, totally realistic. Yet the story was full of fantasy and poetry." Though Ener's smooth, melodic translation preserves the latter elements, these often cryptic vignettes will seem anything but familiar or realistic to American youngsters. Brief tales center on young Dalokay's friendship with Sister Shako, a reclusive, eccentric widow whose life revolves around caring for her seven goats, including the unusual, temperamental Kolo. The narrative is filled with sometimes obscure symbolism as well as references to local customs, expressions and lore (many of which are clarified by footnotes). Adults rather than young readers may well be this book's most appreciative audience. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-An English translation of a title originally published in Turkish in 1979. Memoir, legend, elegy, Sister Shako and Kolo the Goat describes village life in eastern Turkey during the early part of this century. Sister Shako, an old woman whose family was killed in a vendetta, tends goats, including the wily, near-human Kolo. Her exploits and her relationship with the young male narrator are recounted in short, independent chapters; the incidents are funny, clever, and heartbreaking in turn. Near the end of the book, when Sister Shako dies, Kolo and her herd disappear. A spring gushes forth to mark the spot where they were last seen. Then, as part of a modernization program, a dam is built, the area flooded, and the village itself disappears. The narrator, who has gone on to become the mayor of Ankara, recalls Sister Shako and ponders the significance of her life. Inevitably, this type of story tends toward sentimentality, but Dalokay-with the aid of his translator-saves it with the vividness of his memories and the lyricism of his language. Just as Gaye Hicyilmaz's Against the Storm (Little, 1992) presents an unforgettable slice of urban life in Turkey, so Sister Shako provides a picture of peasant culture, revealing its strength, its earthiness, its identification with all living things.
Ellen D. Warwick, Winchester Public Library, MA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ellen D. Warwick, Winchester Public Library, MA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A winsome tale!,
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This review is from: Sister Shako and Kolo the Goat (Hardcover)
The translation of this children's story is rough around the edges. In spite of that, Sister Shako and Kolo the Goat is a winsomely told tale. The author embroiders his memories of growing up in Turkey with mythology and folk wisdom. Readers clearly see how people, rooted in the soil and in an agrarian economy, learn about the interconnectedness of life. We need more children's books like this where mythology and "real life" blend into a charming and uplifting story.
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