Reviews
"A memorably phantasmagoric evocation of political and social disorientation." - The New Yorker " Shadowless is a knotty, postmodern tale. The quicksilver narrative slips between dream, memory and reality, alternating between a barbershop in Istanbul and a timeless village 'forgotten by God and the government' . . . A beguiling enigma." - Financial Times " Shadowless is a postmodern work that can only be described as an enigma . . . Blending dream, reality, and memory seamlessly, Shadowless weaves a narrative that can be interpreted in many ways . . . The hallucinogenic, uncertain, and mysterious quality of the narrative . . . serves to drive the reader forward in the story, adamant in untangling the knot of the plot to discover what really happened to Guvercin . . . As with many postmodernist works and works of poetry which this novel curiously resembles, the choice is the reader's to make." - New York Journal of Books "A poetic masterpiece of world literature . . . An oriental Kafka, enriched with the literary achievements of Islamic mysticism" - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Toptas seems to me Orhan Pamuk's equal . . . He strikes me as just as gifted a writer " - Sydney Morning Herald "A wonderful and gripping story . . . This is news and history made intimate. I am deeply grateful to Hasan Ali Toptas for having told me this story" - Nadeem Aslam on RECKLESS "Challenging, innovative, deeply humane . . . [He has] a wise and ageless economy reminiscent of J. M. Coetzee" - Times Literary Supplement "An extraordinary tale . . . A strange, troubling but compelling ride of a novel" - Toronto Star "An extraordinary writer" - Hrriyet, "A memorably phantasmagoric evocation of political and social disorientation." - The New Yorker " Shadowless is a knotty, postmodern tale. The quicksilver narrative slips between dream, memory and reality, alternating between a barbershop in Istanbul and a timeless village 'forgotten by God and the government' . . . A beguiling enigma." - Financial Times " Shadowless is a postmodern work that can only be described as an enigma . . . Blending dream, reality, and memory seamlessly, Shadowless weaves a narrative that can be interpreted in many ways . . . The hallucinogenic, uncertain, and mysterious quality of the narrative . . . serves to drive the reader forward in the story, adamant in untangling the knot of the plot to discover what really happened to Guvercin . . . As with many postmodernist works and works of poetry which this novel curiously resembles, the choice is the reader's to make." - New York Journal of Books "A poetic masterpiece of world literature . . . An oriental Kafka, enriched with the literary achievements of Islamic mysticism" - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Toptas seems to me Orhan Pamuk's equal . . . He strikes me as just as gifted a writer " - Sydney Morning Herald "A wonderful and gripping story . . . This is news and history made intimate. I am deeply grateful to Hasan Ali Toptas for having told me this story" - Nadeem Aslam on RECKLESS "The troubles of a village muhtar (elected head), on the lowest rung of Turkey's administrative state, are at the centre of Shadowless by Hasan Ali Toptas, one of the country's most celebrated contemporary novelists . . . At times the descriptions of a community's collective, unspoken guilt bring to mind Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold . . . Focused and sure-footed . . . Shadowless leaves behind as many questions as answers. Hasan Ali Toptas constructs an alluring framework and leaves the reader space to join the dots." - Times Literary Supplement "An extraordinary tale . . . A strange, troubling but compelling ride of a novel" - Toronto Star "An extraordinary writer" - Hrriyet, " Shadowless is a knotty, postmodern tale. The quicksilver narrative slips between dream, memory and reality, alternating between a barbershop in Istanbul and a timeless village 'forgotten by God and the government' . . . A beguiling enigma." - Financial Times "A poetic masterpiece of world literature . . . An oriental Kafka, enriched with the literary achievements of Islamic mysticism" - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Toptas seems to me Orhan Pamuk's equal . . . He strikes me as just as gifted a writer " - Sydney Morning Herald "A wonderful and gripping story . . . This is news and history made intimate. I am deeply grateful to Hasan Ali Toptas for having told me this story" - Nadeem Aslam on RECKLESS "Challenging, innovative, deeply humane . . . [He has] a wise and ageless economy reminiscent of J. M. Coetzee" - Times Literary Supplement "An extraordinary tale . . . A strange, troubling but compelling ride of a novel" - Toronto Star "An extraordinary writer" - Hrriyet, "A poetic masterpiece of world literature . . . An oriental Kafka, enriched with the literary achievements of Islamic mysticism" - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Toptas seems to me Orhan Pamuk's equal . . . He strikes me as just as gifted a writer " - Sydney Morning Herald "A wonderful and gripping story . . . This is news and history made intimate. I am deeply grateful to Hasan Ali Toptas for having told me this story" - Nadeem Aslam on RECKLESS "Challenging, innovative, deeply humane . . . [He has] a wise and ageless economy reminiscent of J. M. Coetzee" - Times Literary Supplement "An extraordinary tale . . . A strange, troubling but compelling ride of a novel" - Toronto Star "An extraordinary writer" - Hrriyet, "A memorably phantasmagoric evocation of political and social disorientation." - The New Yorker " Shadowless is a knotty, postmodern tale. The quicksilver narrative slips between dream, memory and reality, alternating between a barbershop in Istanbul and a timeless village 'forgotten by God and the government' . . . A beguiling enigma." - Financial Times " Shadowless is a postmodern work that can only be described as an enigma . . . Blending dream, reality, and memory seamlessly, Shadowless weaves a narrative that can be interpreted in many ways . . . The hallucinogenic, uncertain, and mysterious quality of the narrative . . . serves to drive the reader forward in the story, adamant in untangling the knot of the plot to discover what really happened to Guvercin . . . As with many postmodernist works and works of poetry which this novel curiously resembles, the choice is the reader's to make." - New York Journal of Books "A poetic masterpiece of world literature . . . An oriental Kafka, enriched with the literary achievements of Islamic mysticism" - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Toptas seems to me Orhan Pamuk's equal . . . He strikes me as just as gifted a writer " - Sydney Morning Herald "A wonderful and gripping story . . . This is news and history made intimate. I am deeply grateful to Hasan Ali Toptas for having told me this story" - Nadeem Aslam on RECKLESS "The troubles of a village muhtar (elected head), on the lowest rung of Turkey's administrative state, are at the centre of Shadowless by Hasan Ali Toptas, one of the country's most celebrated contemporary novelists . . . At times the descriptions of a community's collective, unspoken guilt bring to mind Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold . . . Focused and sure-footed . . . Shadowless leaves behind as many questions as answers. Hasan Ali Toptas constructs an alluring framework and leaves the reader space to join the dots." - Times Literary Supplement "An extraordinary tale . . . A strange, troubling but compelling ride of a novel" - Toronto Star "An extraordinary writer" - Hürriyet, A poetic masterpiece of world literature ... An oriental Kafka , enriched with the literary achievements of Islamic mysticism
