Mondays Book Talk - The Architect's Apprentice

Written by Sylwia 

The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak 

I enjoyed every moment spent with Elif Shafak’s imagination and I am her faithful reader. The fame of this modern Turkish writer has spread worldwide and her name is mentioned next to the great Orhan Pamuk (the Nobel Prize Winner), when talking about Turkish literature. This brave feminine writer is called the advocate of women’s rights, minority rights, subcultures, immigrants and freedom of expression. 

There are stories with secrets that can wait centuries to be discovered. Elif Shafak was stuck in a traffic jam in Istanbul when she became mesmerized by a mosque built by Sinan, the chief architect of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and one of the greatest in the world’s architectural heritage. Later she saw a portrait of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and behind him stood a large elephant with its mahout. The story found her. This is how a marvellous novel about great men, their servants, apprentices and the city itself was conceived. The architect´s Apprentice takes us to the heart of 16th century Istanbul, full of intrigue, passion and a merciless struggle for power and survival. 

In a small village in Hindustan, an unusual animal is born - the white elephant Chota (alias `a little one´). Twelve year old Jahan is his caretaker, his mahout, and has the task of taking the elephant as a gift for the Sultan. They set out on a long overseas journey and soon the boy becomes one of the guardians of the menagerie at the Sultan´s Court. But destiny had other plans for him and Jahan meets Sinan (the real historical figure), who during his long and legendary life was famous for the construction of almost three hundred buildings in the reign of three different Sultans. Jahan - first a stowaway, then a petty thief and finally a disciple of the master, is caught in a vortex of intricate lies and monumental buildings. He witnesses the construction of breath-taking mosques, aqueducts, palaces and bridges that remained and formed an inseparable part of the city until the present time. The story of Jahan and his best friend – the elephant, is linked forever with the story of the rising of Istanbul. It is a real pleasure to follow the author into the labyrinth of medieval streets full of oriental aromas and depictions of vivid images. We watch the gallery of characters from all over the world: eunuchs, war strategists, Christians, Muslims, merchants, gypsies, prostitutes, witch doctors and they all find their home in Istanbul, the city of mosaics. Their multicultural background becomes the heart of the city.

Under the guidance of the master, Jahan learns about himself and the human effort of creation and destruction, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, sacrifice and envy. His master teaches him that there are three most important elements in architecture and life and that one should never choose among them, as only together they form the wholeness: strength, beauty and utility. As the master believes that nothing or anyone is perfect, he always leaves a hidden flaw in all of his creations. The boy rebuilds the city and learns how to rebuild himself. His favourite constructions are bridges – and so does metaphorically Elif Shafak builds bridges between the West and the East. In this novel we meet the real historical characters like the ambassador of Venice, Michelangelo Buonarotti, European painters from that period along with the social classes and different religions. 

This novel is a multi-layered story; there is love of Jahan for the Sultan’s daughter, the Sultan’s military battles, mysterious harems, and the common people’s life whose dreams, emotions and desires were no different from us, almost 600 years later. The real historical references, characters and buildings make the reading more interesting. 

I recommend this historical novel to everyone who is interested in the tales from the past, like stories of Scheherazade (legendary Queen), with its magic and a touch of melancholy of the passing times, like the great novel of Salman Rushdie: The Enchantress of Florence, the novel set in the same timeframe, but on the court of Akbar the Great in India. I couldn’t stop comparing it also with a novel of Ildefonso Falcones: Cathedral of the Sea, an occidental version of human’s unique creation. 

##