Madonna in a Fur Coat: Sabahattin Ali (PENGUIN CLASSICS)

Great book.

This is a slow, precise account of one man, Raif Efendi as told by one of his colleagues. If the quality of a novel is based on the quality of the characterisation, then this is certainly a sure-fire hit. Raif is seemingly a nondescript man who makes no attempt to make friends or court popularity. Mocked by shallow juniors at work and derided by many members of his family, he barely seems to exist. Turkish life of the period enhances the bleak descriptions of the period. The story is told by a colleague who barely knows Raif, and that too adds a cold irony to the storytelling.Yet when Raif dies in poverty-stricken circumstances surrounded by bickering family, his diary comes to light. At this point, we have an elegiac flashback told in Raif's own words: sadness, pain and longing infuse this tale of a seemingly soulless man. A book to haunt the reader long after the last page.

This is not a happy feel-good book but it is a book that deals with the marrow of life. The power of love and the ineffable fragility of life. To write like this requires an artist author: an observer of the essence of life. An unforgettable book - recommended to me by an 18 year old hotel concierge in Istanbul who wanted to converse so that he could practise his English and I could get insight into Turkish culture = serendipity

Underwhelming & of its time & culture. Two lovers are kept apart by their own reticence, flaws & accident. One endures to live a miserable life of inertia & self pity. Intended to be heart wrenching the main character’s choices make him largely unsympathetic & the author of his own fate.

Madonna in a Fur Coat is a beautiful gender role flipped tragic romance about a woman who says she's 'like a man' and the soft, emotional man who adores her.I really loved this book and read it in a day, hurrying to get to the end to find out what happened to Raif and Maria.I so enjoyed the book I listened to the audiobook too. Philip Arditti invests the text with pitch perfect emotion from Maria's fierce speeches to Raif's anxiety, even an audible smile of delight a key moment without ever overwhelming the text. I'd love to hear Arditti narrate more audiobooks.

the story conveyns the depth and complexity of human mind and feelings, mystery of love, doubts and loneliness.Wonderful description of life in Berlin at that time and also of what Turkey was like at that period. Still the reader .left with many questions: Why Raif Efendi, a clever man, is so indecisive and shy? Why his eyes filled with tears every time he is unhappy or somebody is kind to him?

the book arrived earlier than expected and was in great condition. It's an interesting story of a man who dedicates himself entirely to the addictive and masochistic side of 'love'.

Lesson in love and life. Great story telling that made a slow reader like me finish this book over this weekend. Vivid characters and having lived in both Germany and Turkey, the people seem so authentic.