Madonna in a Fur Coat Paperback – March 4, 2021

I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I bought this book for the cover. I've also heard good things about it

Until recently I'd never heard of this book .Somewhere I read about it and rather capriciously downloaded it.I'm glad I did .It's a fascinating book which I suspect many readers misinterpret.The first quarter of the book is a setup for what is to come. In 1940 Ankara a young would be writer who's down on his luck gets a job where he meets an older, mousy clerk .They become as close to being friends as the the extremely withdrawn older man is capable of being.The older man becomes seriously ill and the younger comes into possession of notebook he wrote some years earlier.This note book becomes the main section of the novel.Raif is an aimless young man who grows up in rural Turkey without any real ambition .He is profoundly disconnected from others. His father decides to send him to Germany so he can learn about the soap business.In Berlin he meets Maria and forms the deepest connection he's ever formed with another human being.This is where some readers lose the thread.If this is a romance novel ,it's a very unconventional one.Raif and Maria's relationship has a sexual element but it's not primary.Nor is it some high flying pure spiritual love.Raif and Maria are pretty strange birds and the key is they recognize one another. You know this isn't going to go well and it doesn't but not for the reason I anticipated. When the relationship crashes ,Raif is shattered and withdraws into a shell from which he never escapes.This is a sharp insightful book depicting a complex aspect of human feeling and interaction that is difficult to depict. It's not a simple love story.

has a page torn:/

I gave this an enthusiastic 5 stars. This is not a happy fluffy novel, it is more akin to a great Shakespearean tragedy. Love against great odds, love lost and true love that conquers all. I can see why this is has been a classic for so many decades.The characters are all seriously flawed but they find love, respect and salvation at least for a time.I read an article in the BBC magazine which prompted me to read this book [...]... In the article they confirm that the story may be autobiographical to some extent. The author did meet a woman for whom he had a great passion while he was in Germany. The letters he wrote to her from prison were discovered amongst his effects.I have to say the characters and their story have stayed with me. I come back to the story over and over through out my day even several days later after having finished reading the book.

I heard quotes from this book in a Turkish show I’m watching and was very intrigued into reading itI’m glad I found a translated versionFor me this was a page turner I was so Possessed and kept on reading till my eyes gave out to sleepThe book in its 200 pages has such rich and profound meaning it’s amazing I really wanted to hug Raif as my heart broke progressing into his storyI wish the writer’s other work will be translated for more people to enjoy his stories

A brief love affair in post WWI Berlin between a shy, young Turkish student and a Jewish-German woman painter defines his life forever. Reminds me of E. M. Remarque’s. Three Friends

Beautifully written with so many descriptive elements of pathos I felt I had witnessed two people who .missed their forever joy be wise they each had self imposed blinders on their souls.

i am a reader from turkey, like the author who had a tragic life story. i had been hearing about the book here and there. when i saw it published in digital format, i just grabbed it.i can not really say it was my kind of story which i found very simple. the plot involves basically two people. one sided love story? i guess a deep obsession that is in question at one side of the parties. again partial east-west cultural issues here and there. little bit of germany after the world war.i dont think there are the elements that would fascinate todays readers