This was slow and a bit boring. I put it down before I could finish it.

I thought that this novel was quite interesting. Peri's character takes us on a journey into the past and the present through alternating chapters. In this way, the reader gets to understand Istanbul, the country of her birth, and what it means to be Muslim. I really liked the time the author spent explaining Peri's experiences to the reader; it gave me a new perspective to consider. This novel also talks about tensions in the family, and how secrets and frustrations can upset family dynamics. I will admit, I was more interested in the past than in the present events, but I found Peri's grown-up character (during the present) to be wonderfully mature in her views on politics, religion, and the role of females. I also loved watching Peri grow up and become confused about her views and identity, especially once she attends Oxford. I wish there had been more tension in the events that occurred in the past, and wish certain things had been explained in more detail because they seemed to happen out of nowhere and caught me off-guard. After all the lovely explanations about Islam and the cultural mosaic in Istanbul, I wanted the author to help me understand more of Peri's actions. I also wish there had been some tie-in to explain how Peri got to where she was in the present time, as that would have been a good transition. Overall, I found this novel to be thought-provoking and insightful, but not a thriller in any sense. This is a slower novel but it is beautifully written and I would recommend it to anyone interested in philosophy and religion, and the way these 2 aspects can shape a person's identity. 3/5 stars from me!

My review appeared in the Nov. 1st issue of Library Journal.

hree Daughters of Eve is a new novel by Elif Shafak, an acclaimed Turkish author whose writing is very poetic and who is not afraid to tackle difficult issues. The novel alternates between two timelines: Istanbul in 2016 and Oxford in 2000-2002. The main character is Peri, a thirty-six year-old Turkish housewife and a mother of three. She and her teenage daughter are in the car on their way to a lavish party at a seaside mansion, when her purse is snatched from the backseat by a pair of street kids. Peri impulsively leaves the car and gives chase to the kids, ending up in a dark alley where she almost gets raped. I must mention that she acts very out of character – she is normally very timid and reserved. Somehow, at that moment she snaps and what follows makes her think back to her years at Oxford, when young and impressionable, she became infatuated with a college professor.

Overall, the storyline was ok. Shafak does a great job building up tension with foreshadowing and expectation of a big reveal. However, the reveal itself was a bit disappointing. It did not go the way I had expected and I thought it was unreasonable to blame Peri for Professor Azur’s demise when she clearly had nothing to do with it. She did not testify against him, she just never showed up for the hearing. She was also very fragile and mentally unstable at that point, so equating failure to show up with admittance of inappropriate relationship is quite a leap here.

The pacing of the novel was also uneven. We spend a lot of time in Peri’s head, with her musings about God, and detailed accounts of childhood memories. The narrative for 90% of the book is from her point of view. Then quite unexpectedly the perspective shifts at the very end to Professor Azur, and the floodgates burst open with a torrent of information about him and his personal life.

Finally, I was not sure about the title. It sort of leads one to believe that it is about three women, whereas in reality it is all about Peri. Shirin and Mona (especially the latter) do not have much of a role in the novel. They just represent the polar opposites of what a modern Muslim woman is like. Shirin is ultra liberal and anti-religious while Mona is a practicing Muslim. Peri falls somewhere in between. She is cautiously agnostic, but chooses to call herself confused. She never really comes to terms with being agnostic. When we meet her in 2016, she is just as uncomfortable in her skin as she was in her early 20s. And perhaps, Shafak gives us a glimpse of how a Muslim woman feels nowadays: guilty about not practicing her religion and yet always striving to be modern and free.

This leads me to the one thing that I really liked about this book. I thought the discussion of religion, its role in the modern-day Turkey as well as the overall perspective of Turks on the EU, democracy, gender roles and Islam were excellent. This was the strongest aspect of the novel in my opinion. Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I liked it, but it could have been better.

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley. The book is officially out in the US tomorrow, December 5, 2017.

As a freshman in college, I boldly took the senior seminar on Miguel de Unamuno, reading San Manuel Bueno, Martír and Del sentimiento tragíco de la vida as well as his other works. It was one of my favorite classes because the subject matter was so fascinating. Unamuno struggled with the conflict between doubt and faith, the inner conflict that is the unifying theme of Elif Shafak’s Three Daughters of Eve.

Three Daughters of Eve is a novel of ideas and how they can tear a family and even a person apart. Peri’s father is a secular Turk, an admirer of Ataturk and nominally Muslim, contemptuous of superstition and the oppressive traditions. Her mother is increasingly devout, increasingly fundamentalist. Her older brothers are equally divided and the family is broken by these divisions, or so it seems to Peri.

Her father pushes Peri to free herself by going to Oxford where she finds a professor who teaches God – not religion, God. In a way, he’s teaching Unamuno’s lesson, faith and doubt go together, uncertainty is the way. In Unamuno’s words, “Without doubt, there is no faith.” She thinks he is the teacher she needs, but his teaching methods are risky, pushing students into conflict.

The “three daughters” seem to be Peri and her two roommates, Shirin and Mona. Shirin is doubt, Mona is faith, and Peri is uncertainty. The perfect experiment for the professor’s theory–an experiment that ends in scandal. However, Mona and Shirin are secondary characters. This is about Peri and focuses on three stages of her life, childhood, college, and maturity. In a sense, she is also the three daughters of Eve.



I liked Three Daughters of Eve. It would be obvious to focus on how Shafak is writing about the Muslim dilemma, the conflict between fundamentalism and modernity. But that’s a shallow understanding of her book. Fundamentalism is rigid in all religions. It is in conflict with modernity in all religions. The conflict between faith and doubt is universal. It’s nothing special about Islam and neither is terrorism. After all, what is the difference between Eric Rudolph and Richard Reid? Congressman Rick Allen says gays deserve to die. Please let’s stop pretending that Islam is so backward when we have people excusing child molesting because Mary was a teenager.

If you read Three Daughters of Eve as about Islam and not about the universal dilemma of faith and doubt, then you will miss the real lesson that professor risked so much to teach.

Three Daughters of Eve will be published on December 5th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Three Daughters of Eve at Bloomsbury USA
Elif Shafak author site

Interesting insights into religion and beliefs here, but too plodding and slow for my tastes.

This book required me to really focus! The thesis of book is the struggle between East and West, belief, religious orthodoxy, skepticism and cynicism. All of this is embodied in a well crafted story of three young college women, their interrelationships and an odd but brilliant philosophy professor. One feels the struggles, manipulations and doubts intensely. It's definitely not a light read but it is a very good read.

While the story started off at a slow pace, it quickly added layers of intrigue, culminating in an abrupt ending that fit the underlying theme of the book perfectly. Shafak is a master storyteller.

An extremely moving and wonderful story that explores what friendship is and rediscovering one's self amidst a religious, extremist and political repressed environment. An extremely gifted writer----this book left me thinking long after the last word was read. Thank you for having given me the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.

This was especially notable for the opportunity to experience a Turkish novelist writing about a modern Turkish woman and her journey from adolescence to adulthood. Peri is assaulted on her way to a party, leading to her reflection on her time in Oxford and her friends from that time. Shirin, Mona, and Peri, as well as their professor Azur all are muslim but reflect different perspectives of the religion based on their own backgrounds and experience. The time line and perspectives shift. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This for those who are interested in world literature.

Middle-aged Peri, a woman born and now living in Turkey, relives her college years at Oxford. I absolutely adored the lyrical writing, but the plot left me wanting.

When an act of violence disturbs the life of Peri, a housewife in Istanbul, on the way to a fancy dinner party, she is confronted with her past. While this book took me a little while to get into the rhythm of, with alternating timelines and a somewhat disconnected "present" narration, I loved--- loved--- Peri's "past" timeline in this novel which mainly deals with the writing of her "God-diary" and her balancing act between the mindsets of her adherent-Muslim mother and her secular father. Stuck in a world between, Peri leaves for college unbalanced and unsure and stumbles upon three people who will change her life: the three people she considers on the night of her mugging years later.
The past plot read like a continuous, compelling storyline, while the current plot felt like half-commentary and half plot device to move the past narrative along and forebode something important. Still, the device works well and once I hit the halfway point of the novel I had a very hard time putting it down. Strong, compelling female characters and extremely relevant debate about the place of religion, love, and democracy in modern life.

Nazperi Nalbantoglu is at the center of a novel about life in Turkey, as a young girl in 2001, and a married woman in 2016. The fictional character of Peri is a symbol of life in Turkey. Selma, Peri's mother, is an observant Muslim, very religious. Mensur, the father, is secular and openly disdains religion, especially that of his wife. Peri grows up caught in the middle. She listens to frequent fighting between her parents but looks to her father and strives academically to achieve the highest honors.

<b>Three Daughters of Eve</b> illustrates the history of philosophers, theologians, historians, and poets who have influenced the thinking of people living in the countries that hold a place somewhere between the east and the west. Turkey, before its latest spates of violence and terrorism, could be all things to all people, religious and secular.

Peri studied and worked to achieve the goal her father set out for her, a place at Oxford. The trip to England and her position at the famous institution of higher learning was the dream of her life, and more importantly, that of her father. Peri tried to settle in and found a place in a seminar about God with a controversial tutor, Professor Azur. Peri thought her life at Oxford would end the constant pull she felt from her parents. Life at Oxford would be anything but, growing up in the west would prove to be arduous and painful for Peri.

Elif Shafak is a famous Turkish author, and I was excited to have the opportunity to read her work. I cannot possibly understand all the references to ancient written works and ideas presented in this novel. I can empathize with Peri's experience of meeting adulthood in a vastly different culture than her beloved Turkey. I understand the push and pull. Life in this complicated and dangerous world we now inhabit provided Peri with an opportunity to take stock and deal with the past, with the hope that she can accept the here and now. However, that turns out.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Bloomsbury, USA.

Publication date December 5, 2017.

This is probably the most important book I have ever read. I cannot think of another novel that so delicately made me question my beliefs about God, love, friendship, commitment, religion, and life in general. While I was reading I had actually to stop and ponder these issues as they came up. I’m not not even close to being done with this book. I read it on my Kindle but I’m pretty sure I have to buy the hard copy when it comes out because I need to highlight, bookmark, and make notes throughout. I’m not a re-reader but I have a feeling this is one novel I will read over and over again.

Three Daughters of Eve is a book told from Peri’s point of view as the main character, and the bulk of the plot alternates between flashbacks to 2001 and snippets of everyday upper-class Turkish life in 2016. There are also some chapters that show Peri’s family life and how that shaped her trajectory, which set the stage for what’s to come.

For a while, you’re not sure where the plot is building, other than Peri now lives in Turkey after leaving Oxford early, and you know that part of her leaving has something to do with a professor and a class she took. The book builds towards two climaxes – one in the 2001 timeline and one in the 2016 timeline.

While I liked this book and found it insightful, I disliked Peri as a character. I’m fine with unlikable characters, but I don’t enjoy characters who don’t take agency of their lives if given the opportunity. Some of her choices made no sense and perhaps can be chalked up to youth, but made her seem immature and underdeveloped. Additionally, there is a recurring but seemingly random mystical element that feels more distracting than revelatory, and when you find out the roots of this mystical plot device, you wonder why this was thrown in. It complicates relationships unnecessarily.

I loved how this book interlaced the present with the past in the main character's quest to find the meaning of God. The literary and philosophical references only enhanced the story. A book that exposes the reader to other perspectives while promoting an examination of one's own beliefs.

Copy provided by the Publisher

Gave me so much to think about. Lots of insight shared on being a modern woman from the Middle East.

I received early access to this book in exchange for writing a review. This was my first exposure to this author, although she is touted as being the most widely read female author in Turkey. While there were moments when I felt impatient with the book's shifting perspectives, it was an absorbing read.

The book presents three friends (the three daughters of the title) all originating in the Middle East and all studying at Oxford in England. The main focus of the story is Peri and on her homeland of Turkey. Moving back and forth in time, three periods of her life are slowly pieced together.
1. Her childhood in a dysfunctional family where most of the tension grew out of the struggle between traditional religious devotion versus interest in modernization and rational science.
2. Peri's college years where women from other parts of the Middle East come of age in the middle of that same struggle, and under the considerable influence of a charismatic professor trying to discover the true nature of God.
3. 24 hours in Peri's adult life, which begin with a mugging and end at a fancy dinner party, where again, the struggle between Eastern and Western values takes center stage.

Through Peri's story, Shafak sheds light on the struggles endemic within Turkey and the dual nature of so many of its citizens. The writing is distinctive, precise, and beautiful. I learned a lot about Shafak's country and culture and identified with many of the universal truths she considers-- about love, family, and the pressures inherent in being a female. This is an author who truly knows how to explore the complexities of our humanity.

Struggling through the clogged streets of Istanbul, Peri is driving through traffic to attend yet another stifling dinner party of the elite. With her almost teenage daughter in tow, she mistakenly throws her purse to the backseat, and with unlocked doors, someone from the outside grabs her personal belongings. Peri pulls the car over and runs. She confronts the beggar, but he divulges the contents of her purse to the ground. A photo slides out. A man, and three women. The distant memory of Oxford moves back into the present. Her daughter sees this picture. Does Peri have something to hide? At the soiree, conversations are unabashed and with policial and religious charge. Silently, Peri reminisces of her friendship with two other women in college, Shirin and Mona and the Oxford professor Azur. Together, the three women represented "the sinner, the believer and the confused." And the charismatic Azur, the teacher of the divinity.

I enjoyed many aspects of The Three Daughters of Eve but found myself lost in some of the political sarcasm and religious wrangling.

What is brilliant about this novel are the stories within the story. Shafak gives us a taste of the Istambul in past and present. She tells the story of growing up on the Asian side of the city. The people, homes, and towns bask in the smells, foods, and culture. It is a fantastic transport to another world. The stories of Mute Poet street are quaint. The narrative is juxtaposed with a modern Istambul that betrays its inhabitants "... Istanbul had grown uncontrollably and kept on expanding – a bloated goldfish, unaware of having gobbled more than it could digest, still searching around for more to eat." Shafak conjures up imagery that comes to life in sarcastic poetry.

Shafak offers a portrait of Peri's early years in the Nalbantog Lus household. Each member of her family is an opposing character. Selma, her mother, is a born again Muslim. Her father has a water downed version. The conflict between her parents is a source of comedy and sadness. When Peri's brother was sent to prison and tortured, she began to question her relationship with Allah. It ended up as a quarrel.

The weak aspect of the novel is an overshadowing of a social, political and religious agenda. These sentiments are profound but are used too liberally in the book. On a different perspective, the overstating of these ideas may be a part of growing up with a strict Muslim mother and nonconformist father in a changing world. Perhaps there is a larger story here. "All of that put Peri, the youngest child, in an awkward position.....her battleground between competing world views."

Elif Shakaf's powerful voice of the modern Muslim woman was a personal draw. Alongside Peri, I struggle to preserve my religious sentiments in a world full of inaccuracies, misnomers, and change. Overall, I give this 3.5 stars rounded to 4 for her poetic sarcasm, stories, and descriptions of the city and other places.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak is a story set in Turkey about a woman named Peri.  When we meet Peri, she is on her way to a dinner but at a stop light, her purse is snatched.  The novel both begins and ends with violence.  

Much like the country of Turkey itself, Peri's family is divided along religious lines.  Religious division is a theme throughout the story.  In the early timeline when Peri was in college she and friends have religious debates regularly.  As an adult, Peri is no more concrete in her convictions than she was when she was younger.  

This novel was written in alternating timelines, which I enjoyed.  The writing style was easy to read but that does not negate the depth of Shafak's writing.  This was not the type of book to race through but rather one to unpack slowly and give some thought to.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel.