title: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by: Shafak, Elif published: 2019-06-06 read: 2020-06 preview

Tequila Leila, an Istanbul whore, has been murdered, and left in a dumpster. Her heart stopped beating, but her brain is still active, highly alert for… 10 minutes and 38 seconds.

This book gives you that brain, in that period of time.

The book has three parts. The first part, “The Mind,” covers Leila’s life in Istanbul, from her childhood to her years as a sex worker. Each minute after her death brings back a memory.

The second part, “The Body,” focuses on Leila’s five close friends. They learn about her death and come together to honour her memory.

The final part, “The Soul,” follows the friends as they try to give Leila a proper burial.

Central in the book is Istanbul, its beauty and its darker sides.

Beautifully written, for which it was Booker Prize shortlisted.  A wonderful, simple, enjoyable language, and one learns about Turkey at the same time, but mostly about solitude, and friends, parents, and such.  I can recommend this to anyone.  But, in the end, the book ends too happily, too sweet for me.  Well, not counting that she’s dead, of course.