Key themes
- The Armenian genocide as the suppressed truth in a Turkish family's history
- What nations do with their own atrocities — official memory versus family memory
- The Istanbul that is also a character — cosmopolitan, ancient, full of suppressed history
About this book
Asya, a young Turkish woman, and Armanoush, an Armenian-American, discover that their families are connected through the Armenian genocide — a history that Turkey officially denies and Asya's family has suppressed. Shafak's novel was put on trial in Turkey under the law against insulting Turkishness and became a global symbol of literary freedom.
Published in Turkish in 2006, The Bastard of Istanbul was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalises insulting Turkishness. The charges were eventually dropped. The novel was already a bestseller in Turkey before the trial, and became a phenomenon internationally afterward.
Discussion questions
- The novel was prosecuted in Turkey for 'insulting Turkishness.' How does Shafak handle the Armenian genocide — directly, obliquely, or in a way that deliberately tests what can be said?
- The two families — Turkish Kazancı and Armenian-American Tchakhmakhchian — discover a connection that neither had known. How does Shafak use this coincidence — as melodrama or as structural argument?
- Asya and Armanoush are both products of different forms of historical suppression. How does Shafak develop their friendship — and what does it say about what young people can do with what their families cannot say?
- Istanbul is rendered with great love and specificity. How does the city function — as backdrop, as protagonist, or as the space where suppressed history can finally surface?
- The novel was a global bestseller partly because of the trial. How do you read it separately from that context — and does the legal threat change how you assess what Shafak achieved?
Get the book
Links open an Amazon search. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Read together or read next
Books that make a good pairing or natural follow-up.
Reading it with your group?
Get The Bastard of Istanbul
As an Amazon Associate and Bookshop.org affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases.