Book Review – Songs My Mother Never Taught Me by Selçuk Altun

Author: Selçuk Altun
Translation: Ruth Christie & Selçuk Berilgen
Publisher: Telegram
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: April 2009

Usually I don’t read a lot of mystery or crime novels. The last novels I read in the genre I remember as really interesting, were the Sjöwall & Wahlöö books I read in the 1990s. I need to reread those sometime, even if they are a bit dated by now. Once in a while I come across a book outside my comfort zone (which mostly includes science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction and a selection of Dutch literature) I just have to try. Songs My Mother Never Taught Me is one such book. The setting, the fact is is being translated for a market that is not really known for a huge number of translations and the synopsis all played a part in that. After reading it I must say it is an interesting work but I don’t think it will find a lot of readers in the English speaking world.

Altun introduces us to two main characters. The first is Arda, son of a successful mathematics professor who is murdered on Arda’s fourteenth birthday, for reasons and under circumstances that are never quite cleared up. His mother is quite overbearing mother (to put it mildly) and controls every little detail of his life. Only when she dies does Adra take control of his life. Elsewhere in Instanbul Bedirhan, who has made a fortune as a successful assassin, decides to get out of his trade. This is of course not quite as easy as it sounds, no is not an option when you are a hired assassin.

While Bedirhan tries to make peace with his past Arda starts the search for his father’s assassin. A friendship developers between the two, while Adra gets closer to uncovering the killer of his father. With the help of the banker and friend of the family Selçuk Altun, Arda pursues the clues to his father’s murder though the streets of Istanbul. A search that will take him.. well, you should have figured out that part by now.

Altun writes alternating chapters about each of the characters, aptly named A and B. Through their eyes we get to see the city in very different ways. Arda is the son of an intellectual, even more intelligent and well-read than his father, even if he tries to hide that fact from the world. He is very much a cosmopolitan, with wide ranging interests in music and literature (the title of the novel is taken from a composition by Dvořák for instance). Bedirhan, although equally bookish, seems to have confined his interests a bit more in philosophy and history. He he also reads a lot of crime novels. Bedirhan seems to long back to a more traditional Turkey, often noting historical features of the city and seeing out an Ottoman quarter to live in. He uses his religious beliefs to justify his killing.

The author, and his characters obviously know the city very well. He takes us all over Istanbul, something that must be quite interesting if you know the city. For the reader who is not, and my guess is that that will be the majority of the readers of this translation, the descriptions of the neighbourhoods, shops, restaurants etc. may be a bit too much. You have to pay close attention or the whole thing will blur into a string of Turkish names. That would be a shame, the author uses these sights and the memories attached to them as a window into the character’s past. Especially for Arda, who spends most of the novel looking back on events concerning his father, these hints can be quite important.

The style and atmosphere of the novel are something very different from what we’re used to. There’s a cultural difference of course but I think a lot of readers will be surprised by the difference between how they see Turkey and the way the characters themselves see country. The west seems the be confused about whether Turkey is Europe or the Middle East and this books provides us with lots of arguments for either view. Being set in Istanbul, that is no more than fitting I suppose. One such element in the book is role of the army and compulsory military service in Turkey. The military has a large influence on Bedirhan in the story. It also has a large influence in Turkish politics, guarding the principles of the state as laid out by Atatürk after the first world war. For the west the Turkish military balances on the undemocratic. On the other hand they keep the Islamic fundamentalists out but ensuring a separation of religion and state. A very tricky situation for the EU in particular. The novel is full of such things if you care to look for them.

The one thing I didn’t like about the novel is the way in which the author presents himself as a character. Early in the novel his role is quite minor but he turns out the be of vital importance to the story.He is disliked by both his main characters and not entirely without reason, if fact Arda usually refers to him as the repulsive Selçuk Altun. The whole thing gives me the impression Altun likes playing puppet master a bit too much by not only pulling the strings an the author but also guiding Arda on his search for his father’s killer as a character. He also frequently refers to the fact he has written other novels. Something I though was plain annoying.

Songs My Mother Never Taught Me is an interesting quick read, personally I think a bit more background knowledge than I poses on the city of Istanbul, and Turkey in general may be required to fully appreciate it. Still, I quite enjoyed reading this novel. I’d say check it out to see you like this kind of thing. Should the publisher decide to translate more of Altun’s work I might be tempted to try that one as well.

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