Customer Reviews

Turkish Tapestry: A Traveller's Portrait of Turkey

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While preparing for a trip to Turkey several years ago I was fortunate to come across Turkish Tapestry. From the very first page I was captivated by Ms Chase's description of everyday life in Turkey. It was exciting for me to read a book that was written by a woman who had begun her travels to Turkey as a tourist but ended up living there. This book is not your typical travel log and gives the reader insight into the Turkish people and their culture. I read the book again upon my return from Turkey and found that Ms Chase captured the true essence of this wonderful country and its people. I have since given this book to all of my friends who are traveling to Turkey and they have agreed that it is a worthwhile and enjoyable book.

Ms. Chase has traveled extensively in Turkey for many years, beginning as a student in the early 1970s and in the years since then. She portrays the fascinating mix of cultures, the archeology, the food and the endless variety of visual impressions with wit, vivacity and charm...I consider this book an essential preparation for anyone planning an actual visit to Turkey, and a joy to read for the vicarious experience of a trip to this colorful Near Eastern country.

One of the beauties of a Kindle publication is that publishers may update texts and make corrections quite easily.

Readers should be aware that text formatted for Kindle may not be able to display some diacriticals in non-English alphabets. The original 1993 text had the Turkish diacriticals added manually! The Kindle edition contains a note informing readers that they may email the publisher if they would like to receive the book's glossary WITH the missing diacritical details.

Email: turkishtapestry (at) hollychase (dot) com

Though it includes-- and explains-- many Turkish words, the book is written in English, with several British spellings.

Turkish Tapestry is not a guidebook and has never been promoted as one. It was the author's intention that it would stand as a collection of personal observations and insights, reflections on a complex society in a rapidly changing part of the world.

The author invites a reader to sample Turkish culture through a series of vignettes that may be selected at random, much the way one samples the myriad meze, the savory appetizers Turks share at the beginning of a convivial evening.

With two five star reviews, I did not expect an almost unreadable book. While the kindle sample was interesting and promising, the remainder quickly devolved to off-hand musings that jump around from place to place, time to time, and topic to topic. I have been to Turkey and I'm preparing to go again, so I hoped for either useful information or a helpful account of the author's travels. But this book is useless either as a travelogue or memoir. It is so highly personal as to resemble mere musings.

Kindle readers should be prepared for a great many misspellings and punctuation errors that make for tough going.