Snow #2

After kind of forcing myself to read the first forty pages of Snow, I finally became interested in the novel. I'm sad to say that I do not understand a lot of what is going on in the story. I can't seem to understand what the "political Islamists" want and what the secularists want. However, I do know that this book can be considered political writing, but I am unsure whether Orhan Pamuk is writing this story based on real life events or if he is just making this up as a metaphor of something else. It sounds very real and convincing, so I guess the suicide girls and the struggle between secularists and religious Muslims are real.

The parts that really bore me are the "history lesson" segments of the novel. It only confuses me more. Often times I end up rereading the same paragraph trying to understand what is going on. Usually I end up without any answers.

I noticed that snow is mentioned A LOT in this book. No surprise here. Usually when snow is mentioned, it is described as thick or full. It reminds me of a blanket. Maybe the snow in Kars is covering up the truth because many people come up to Ka and tell him that people are not telling him the truth. Now I do not know what the truth is anymore. Are the suicide girls dying because of political reasons or because of a broken heart? Is the struggle between the Muslims and the secularists really what they say it is about? Is Blue a terrorist or is he just hiding to save himself from harassment?

Page 65:

"...I'd say, 'Snow reminds Ka of God!' But I'm not sure it would be accurate. What brings me close to God is the silence of snow."

I liked this quote a lot when I read it. Snow is a silent killer, unlike rain. When rain falls, we can hear it, but snow falls and seems to land softly on the earth.

The color blue. Blue is used to describe so many things in this novel. The color of the police car's lights. The color of the snow. Blue is even a character in this novel! When I found out that the man in hiding was named Blue, I freaked. Blue's eyes are even blue. A very dark blue, to be more precise.

What is the meaning of all this blue...?