Re: Discuss Bliss: A Novel
I quite enjoyed the novel. An aspect which I quite liked was Livaneli’s writing style. While the issue of honour killings, the various hardships faced by women in Turkey’s rural villages, and the overall premise of the novel were interesting, I was a bit wary initially. Given the subject matter, the novel had the potential to turn into a heavy-handed melodrama, which I’ve seen numerous times with novels which deal with the issues faced by women in developing countries (well, Turkey isn’t a developing country but the rural setting of Meryem’s village is similar to many developing countries). I was pleasantly surprised to find that Livaneli writes with a disarming lightness and directness. This lightness and candor makes the story engaging without being melodramatic or sensational.
The plot examines the strong social divide which exists on many levels of contemporary Turkish society. I thought Livaneli did this in an interesting manner. He explores these issues through Meryem, Kemal and Irfan as each have their own internal conflicts, which seem to mirror the issues faced by Turkey as a nation. These include conflicts such as, religion versus secularism, the cosmopolitan elite versus the poor, tradition versus Westernization, and ignorance versus education.
As far as the characters, I found them a bit clichéd and undeveloped. Meryem rather annoyed me with her naivety. While I understand that girls raised in rural villages are likely to be quite sheltered and not terribly worldly, I find it very difficult to believe that she did not know what happened to the girls who “went to Istanbul.” Based on what I have read about cultures which practice honour killings, such killings are not only supported out of cultural notions of “honour,” but also because they serve as cautionary tales to warn society, particularly women, of the consequences of indiscretion. It seems rather unlikely that Meryem would not even have the slightest suspicion about the fate of those girls.
The character of Irfan, was interesting and complex but, at the same time, a bit unsettling. I found his strange fascination and treatment of Meryem rather awkward and disquieting. I suppose Livaneli was trying to emphasise that Irfan’s lifestyle was quite different from Meryem’s and that he had never met anyone like her, but it came across as a bit condescending and rather creepy. At one point, I almost thought he and Meryem would become romantically involved, which would have been the ultimate cliché of “poor, naïve village girl is rescued by older, cosmopolitan hero.” If the plot had gone in that direction, it would have irritated me to no end.
Cemal interested me less than the other two protagonists as he did not seem to change or grow throughout the novel. He seems just as confused at the end of the novel as he did in the beginning. He was traumatised by his experiences fighting a war and that such experiences would affect a person deeply on an emotional level and cause one to question things but I think this could have been executed differently. It also would have been nice to see Cemal's acceptance of his feelings for Meryem explored further. As is, his breakthrough in accepting his feelings for her seems a bit abrupt.
Overall, I enjoyed the novel and found that Livaneli wrapped it up quite nicely, with most of the characters coming to terms with their internal conflicts and finding a place where they fit. However, I think it would have been quite interesting to see certain characters developed further.