3.5/5

It could have been four stars if I didn't get bored by the end of it. I don't know what to think of this book, it was brilliant but some parts at the end felt useless or maybe they were essential but i was too eager to know how the story ends. My favorite part is Leila's childhood, the environment she grew up in set her for an inevitable life of heartbreaks and tragedies. From her birth, her refusal to cry, showed the resilience she'll carry through her life. The backstories of the five were also as striking, Elif Shafak captured their uniqueness, their vulnerabilities and edges. And the most important character of all: Istanbul. Away from touristic brochures and idealistic images conveyed by the turkish media. Istanbul was uncovered, the city was raw and rotten and full of life and colors at once. Elif Shafak made the city anchored in reality, and focused on the lives of the outcast and their constant struggle to prevent Istanbul from swallowing them, while trying to leave a trace. Then there's friendship in all its glory: kind, loving, supportive... A band of society rejects that found each other and stood against life together. That was the beauty of this fabulous book, even if The Bastard of Istanbul remains unparalleled...