Memed, My Hawk

by Yaşar Kemal and Yashar Kemal

Book Overview

A tale of high adventure and lyrical celebration, tenderness and violence, generosity and ruthlessness, Memed, My Hawk is the defining achievement of one of the greatest and most beloved of living... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159017139X
• ISBN13: 9781590171394
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: New York Review of Books
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Breathtaking

This book is certainly an exhilarating page-turner! But not merely this: Lush descriptions of the Turkish countryside as it existed at the time, a cast of characters Tolstoyan in their sweep, and, above all, an epic story of a downtrodden hero---In short, the book is a Romance. It is not, though, the simple-minded, pat story that one sometimes associates with this term. It is a Romance in the sense that War and Peace and Don Quixote are Romances. The author goes to some pains in the introduction to explain why he has written this sort of book, instead of something dry and dispiriting as many of the works of, say, V. S .Naipaul are. If I could sum up these arguments, it would be that such a work as Memed, My Hawk touches on what is written in every human heart. And it does. It is ribald, comic, sad, distressing, heartbreaking---all the emotions, which, blended together, make up a human life. It is also, of course, more specifically, about a particular human named Memed, who embodies these traits in an heroic fashion. - I don't think that it belittles this book a jot to compare it to the movie Braveheart. I found myself reminded of this cinematic work more than anything else throughout the book---There are so many thematic and plot similarities. Let's put it this way, if you love Braveheart, you will love this book. But also, if you love War and Peace or Don Quixote, you will love this book. And I say, good and well, let's have the old pathos and lyricism back that made literature what it is. Let's not leave it to the dry hacks who warn us, like so many bloodless Jeremiahs, of the perils of following our hearts. Let's let literature be literature! ---But never mind me. Let's let Kemal have the last word: "No matter how limited a man's field of vision, his imagination knows no bounds. A man who has never been outside his village of Deyirmenoluk can still create a whole imaginary world that can reach as far as the stars. Without travelling, a man can penetrate to the other end of the world. Even without much imagination the place where he dwells can become different in his dreams, a true paradise." P.77 So, go. Read and Dream!

studying in turkey this fall, discovering the literature

I was mesmerized by this book. It looked like a dusty old classic on the libary shelf, and, being insanely motivated by all things Turkish in my excitement to study there, I picked it up and started to read anyway.PLEASE read this book!! It is beautiful!! The descriptions of the plains reminds me of rural Ohio, making me feel some ease at the prospect of my new local. However, the eye for the Turkish countryside could belong only to a native like Kemal!! And the story is fast-paced and brilliant, never, ever leaving the reader bored. Such a joy to read, inspiring, makes one happy to be human-being, somewhere capable of great feats or the ability to recognize them.... AMAZING!!

Once Upon a Time in Turkey

Down in that fertile part of southern Anatolia called the Chukurova, where crops yielded forty-fold and deer, birds, and beetles throve, the feudal landlords, who owned entire villages, oppressed the peasants mightily. They took whatever share of the crops they desired and could beat the villagers on any whim, or even drive them from their homes. Justice was an undreamt-of luxury. For rebels, or for those who had incurred the landlords' wrath, the only alternative-besides joining the Army---was to become a bandit in the mountains. The life of a bandit, though, however free, was usually short. Yashar Kemal, who grew up in this area, wrote this novel back in the 1950s; his first major work, which by now has been translated into nearly every major language and has become a modern classic. Kemal introduces the life and traditions of the inhabitants of the Chukurova, a region unknown in most parts of the world. At least, he gives us a picture of the life they had in the 1920s or `30s. The novel describes the social conditions then existing there, introduces dozens of interesting, colorful characters, and also focusses on the natural environment, which by our times, has mostly disappeared. All this is done through the medium of a fast-moving, action-packed story which could be the script of a film (and may well have been, though I never saw it anywhere). Memed, a slim young man, wishes to marry Hatche, a beautiful village girl. The nasty landlord has other ideas---he wants her to marry his ugly nephew. The young lovers elope into the forest, but are surrounded by the landlord's minions. Memed draws his pistol and shoots the nephew dead, wounding the landlord. Memed winds up as a bandit, Hatche winds up in jail, and the rotten landlord has Memed's mother beaten to death. Her son swears revenge. Nomads, trackers, crazy bandit chiefs, tough peasant women, village farmers, policemen---the number of lifelike characters is endless. Memed not only turns bandit, but he becomes a Robin Hood character, a legend in his own time, who defies the prevailing feudal order and even re-distributes the landlord's fields to the tillers at one point. No wonder they loved him ! Perhaps some of Kemal's later work is deeper psychologically, perhaps his palette of colors got wider, but MEMED MY HAWK stands out as a great story written in masterful style. It is a novel about justice, a novel that treats basic human emotions in any time or place. It heralded the arrival of a major author on the world scene. I recently read it again. I liked it just as much.

Prose-poetry

What I remember about this book is how passionately each chapter starts, usually with a description of nature before plunging "in medias res" into the action. The vivid description of colours, sounds and smells is meant to convey the intensity with which the bandits live their lives - lives which unstable and may be brief. Memed packs as much experience and sensation into his existence as possible, while possible. This mood is what makes the book great, not the commonplace plot.

You will not be able to put this down!!

I started book on a Friday night and ended up reading until the first lights of day. I had to get an early breakfast to continue reading. Such is the captivity of the story of "Memed the Skinny"."Memed My Hawk" is Yasar Kemal's most famous novel, and is followed by 3 sequels. It's the story of a rebellious young boy in Southern Turkey in 1930s versus the tyranny of the feudal lord. However, please do not pick up this book expecting a locally consticted fairy tale. Mr Kemal, a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, has always written about universal struggles against opression in with substantial depth and successful clarity.Mr Kemal is known for his detailed descriptions of the natural and political environment around the Taurus mountains - which incidentally happen to be the birthplace of this reviewer - with a rich, colorful language. Unfortunately, I am unable to comment on the (English) translation since I have read the book in its original Turkish edition only. But I must advise the (English) reader to look for the best translation of the work if at all possible. Please do not consider me biased because we share the same hometown with Mr Kemal(which is a very important aspect of Turkish friendships). But I can easily say that this is the first thing you must read if you are entering the world of Yasar Kemal and Turkish Literature. And you must follow this by Orhan Pamuk's "Black Book"...