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Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates: A Woman's Trek Through Turkey [Paperback]

Üstün Bilgen-Reinart
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Book Description

Jan 1 2007

For millennia, the land now called Turkey has been at the crossroads of history. A bridge between Europe and Asia, between West and East, between Christianity and Islam, the peninsula also known as Anatolia, the place where the sun rises, is one of the oldest continually inhabited regions on the planet.

In this unique blend of memoir and travel literature, Üstün Bilgen-Reinart explores the people, politics, and passions of her native country, whisking the reader on a journey through time, memory, and space. She searches deep into the roots of her own ancestry and uncovers a family secret, breaks taboos in a nation that still takes tradition very seriously, and navigates through dangerous territory that sees her investigating brothels in Ankara, probing honour murders in Sanliurfa, encountering Kurds in the remote southeast, and witnessing the rape of the earth by a gold mining company in Bergama.


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Review

Bilgen-Reinart's observations are rich in sensory detail: inhaling warm winds that smell of thyme, the sweet, greasy feel of rose oil from the hamam, eating juicy apricots as big as eggs, swimming in creamy seas; the memories of her past are sweet, as they are those of a child.

(Kisha Ferguson The Globe and Mail 2007-03-10)

... beautifully written and filled with captivating stories.

(Julie Kentner Winnipeg Free Press 2007-02-04)

A compelling narrative.

(Nicholas Maes Books in Canada 2007-06-30)

About the Author

Üstün Bilgen-Reinart was born in Ankara, Turkey, came to Canada as a teenager, and recently returned to her native land. As a television journalist at the CBC, she covered aboriginal and social issues. Her first book, Night Spirits, was published in 1997. Currently she teaches at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.


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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Sharing the heart of the Turkish people Sep 5 2009
Format:Paperback
Ustun Bilgen-Reinart has written a "must read" and "must own" book about her native country. I picked up the book because I wanted to visit Turkey, and since I'd be traveling on my own, I thought that this would be a good travel advice book for the solo female traveller. It ended up being so much more. Her years working as a Canadian journalist for the CBC show through in the voice she lends to her writing. We see the people, the places and we feel let in the private conversations that only happen when there is complete trust and honesty. She takes you to sites all over Turkey and describes their beauty, their scars, their history and the stories of the people who have populated these sites overs thousands of years. She is generous in her portrayal of people from prostitutes, poets, activists, farmers, soldiers and merchants, but it is not sugar coated. We meet women of every walk of life. We see them as real and we hear their stories as they would have them told. I learned about the political history and current disputes but it is done so artfully that I am not given a prejudice for one side over the other. It always comes down to how it affects the lives of the people who are the heart of the country. This is no easy feat for a writer.
Best of all it is so thoroughly engaging I didn't want to finish the book. Whirling dirvishes and temple priestesses, as well as turquoise waters and apricot trees are some of the images that remain after reading. It is magical and masterfully written. I originally took this book out of the library but after reading it I have to own it. I will be travelling to Turkey soon and I can't wait.
Thanks so much Ustun. This book will be one of my favourites. Please write more.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.7 out of 5 stars  3 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful journey Sep 27 2007
By Christy R. Smiley - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I have read this book twice now and plan on reading it again in about 2 months. It is well written and a delightful journey of enlightenment. I have traveled Turkey many times and now find that I understand more about the ways societies can change and how we all relate to them.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A journey through history, culture and memory July 12 2012
By Turklish - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I have read many books about Turkish history, culture and lifestyle - but this one is hands down the best I have read thus far. It is not only a book for those interested in Turkey, but for anyone with an interest in environmental change, women's rights, as well as Middle Eastern history and politics. Bilgen-Reinart (the author) weaves memoir with journalism to portray a nation and a people that have been through radical transformations since World War I, and which continue to change, both willingly and unwillingly, at the hands of Western power, politics and media.

While some of the topics covered are rather dark, they are real. Bilgen does not try to hide the dark side of Turkey, instead she balances the darkness with images of beauty and peace from her own life in Turkey. I finished this book with a smile on my face and thinking - I'm going to have to read this again and share it with all of the Turks I know.

So if you want to get to know a different side of Turkey - one not told in travel narratives by expats and tourists - read Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates and experience the depths of Turkish culture and history.
4.0 out of 5 stars A Turkish Woman's View of Her Country May 13 2013
By judith day - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This writer grew up in her homeland and left for Canada at age 18. She came back to visit many times over the years, and when she and her husband returned to Ankara to live she used her time to travel the whole country meeting women. In this unique and excellent book, written in a skilled and readable personal style, we see firsthand how women experience their lives. She tells about the shame of her own grandmother for her Greek heritage, the lives of prostitutes in Ankara, the views of women Islamic fundamentalists. Kurdish women survive the deaths of their husbands, fathers, brothers in the ongoing civil war over resources and rights. Village women march to protest the devastation of land by a developing gold mine. Tradition dictates the murder of women, many of them teenagers, whose virginity or fidelity to husbands is suspect. Throughout, the author connects the ways of women to their earliest origins in this ancient land. The book is broad in scope and deep in its honesty and caring, coming from her conviction that "...breaking taboos and shedding light on forgotten memories is an act of hope."
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