Book description
A beautiful and compelling novel, Elif Shafak's The Gaze
considers the damage which can be inflicted by our simple desire to
look at others
"I didn't say anything. I didn't return his smiles. I looked at
him in the wide mirror in front of where I was sitting. He grew
uncomfortable and avoided my eyes. I hate those who think fat people
are stupid.'
An obese woman and her lover, a dwarf, are sick of being stared at
wherever they go, and so decide to reverse roles. The man goes out
wearing make up and the woman draws a moustache on her face. But while
the woman wants to hide away from the world, the man meets the stares
from passers-by head on, compiling his 'Dictionary of Gazes' to
explore the boundaries between appearance and reality.
Intertwined with the story of a bizarre freak-show organised in
Istanbul in the 1880s, The Gaze considers the damage which can
be inflicted by our simple desire to look at others.
"Beautifully evoked" - The Times
"Original and Compelling" - TLS
"Plays with ideas of beauty and ugliness like they're Rubik's
cubes" - Helen Oyeyemi
"Entertaining and affecting" - Publishers' Weekly
Elif Shafak is the acclaimed author of The Bastard of
Istanbul and The Forty Rules of Love and is the most widely
read female novelist in Turkey. Her work has been translated into more
than thirty languages. She is a contributor for The Telegraph,
Guardian and the New York Times and her TED talk on
the politics of fiction has received 500 000 viewers since July 2010.
She is married with two children and divides her time between Istanbul
and London.
Elif Shafak is the acclaimed author of
The Bastard of Istanbul
and
The Forty Rules of Love
and is the most widely read female novelist in Turkey. Her work has
been translated into more than thirty languages. She is a contributor
for
The Telegraph
,
Guardian
and the
New York Times
and her TED talk on the politics of fiction has received 500 000
viewers since July 2010. She is married with two children and divides
her time between Istanbul and London.
