10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

By: Elif Shafak

Narrated by: Alix Dunmore

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak, read by Alix Dunmore.

Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize

A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak.

In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness. Her heart has stopped beating, but her brain is still active - for 10 minutes 38 seconds. While the Turkish sun rises and her friends sleep soundly nearby, she remembers her life - and the lives of others, outcasts like her.

Tequila Leila’s memories bring us back to her childhood in the provinces, a highly oppressive milieu with religion and traditions, shaped by a polygamous family with two mothers and an increasingly authoritarian father. Escaping to Istanbul, Leila makes her way into the sordid industry of sex trafficking, finding a home in the city’s historic Street of Brothels. This is a dark, violent world, but Leila is tough and open to beauty, light and the essential bonds of friendship.

In Tequila Leila’s death, the secrets and wonders of modern Istanbul come to life, painted vividly by the captivating tales of how Leila came to know and be loved by her friends. As her epic journey to the afterlife comes to an end, it is her chosen family who brings her story to a buoyant and breathtaking conclusion.

©2019 Elif Shafak (P)2019 Penguin Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A deeply humane story about the cruel effects of Turkey’s intolerant sexual attitudes...Shafak is a master of captivating moments that provide a sprawling and intimate vision of Istanbul.... Ultimately, 10 Minutes isn’t really about death, but the persistence of love...Leila’s ragtag friends, scorned and mocked by polite society, can’t possibly triumph over the forces of religious and political corruption, but they - and Shafak - manage to create something truly subversive: a community of devotion beyond the reach of state or mosque." (The Washington Post)

"Extraordinary...a piercing, unflinching look at the trauma women’s minds and bodies are subjected to in a social system defined by patriarchal codes." (The Guardian)

"Lyrical and often magical...a love-letter to Istanbul." (The Economist)

Elif Shafak is Exceptional

This is such a good book. I cried and learned a lot about humanity and it has made me a lot more empathetic to other people’s lives, views, decisions and predicaments. I am so grateful I read this book and I’m a better person for it.

likable and unique characters

The title of this novel comes from the idea (research?) that says the “observed persistent brain activity in people who had died …. for as much as ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds.”

Shafak uses this time table to tell us what her character is thinking about and remembering during those 10 plus minutes. The convention isn't really necessary to tell a story of reflection, but it works well. And I loved that Shafak periodically reminds us of how much time is left before her character's brain stops working and we must exit the story of her life.

We know from the first words that our main character is dead.

In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila’s consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away. One last reserve of energy activated countless neurons, connecting them as though for the first time. Although her heart had stopped beating, her brain was resisting, a fighter till the end. It entered a state of heightened awareness, observing the demise of her body but not ready to accept its own end. Her memory surged forth, eager and diligent, collecting pieces of a life that she was speeding to a close. She recalled things she did not even know she was capable of remembering, things she believed to be lost forever. Time became fluid, a fast flow of recollections seeping into one another, the past and present inseparable.

We do not know how she died or whether the death will be solved. The book is a character portrait in the most unique way, and I loved it. I liked Leila from the start. I had compassion for her as a child. I liked her spunky nature as an adult. I liked the people she chose for friends and family. I was completely wrapped up in her life. And the fact that I knew she was dead, and that something terrible must have happened, only made me like her, and her five friends, more.

The book is intricate... chapters begin with tastes and smells that Leila associates with the particular scene she is revisiting. Her five friends have equally complex stories which we explore. And those 10 plus minutes provide structure, but only to the first half of the book. We get to see how the friends respond to her death in the second half.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved the quirky characters. It worked for me that they were each so unique and odd because it lightened the sadness of their stories.

I loved this book

great characters and story. A page turner I couldn't put tot down. well written and interesting.

More gruesome than I prefer- but a great story

Celebrating Arab American Heritage Month is important to me. Peace and respect comes from understanding. I have a huge stack for women' s history and black history month, I have selections now owned for Latinx Heritage Month. But for Arab American Heritage Month I could think of nothing, not even any famous role models I wanted to learn more about. Only two books that I'd seen all year (besides ones I'd finished) came to mind and this is the only one I was able to find on audible. I couldn't remember the title or author. The title references how long brain activity extends post-mortem - an unusual statistic, an unusual point of view, which is why I remembered this book 9 months after seeing it on a library shelf. It tells the story of the lives of women in Islamabad, a series of circumstances which drive women to life on the street. It is interesting and well written. Only very small portions of it are rather gruesome. There are lighter comedic moments. I value learning more about this culture. But still prefer Jane Austen to prostitutes and murder.

Beguiling

Beautiful immersion into an unknown culture, with characters that are unfailingly appealing, The characters are recognizable in their humanity with their foibles, dreams and struggles that may be superficially diverse from the lens of a Western reader but are elegantly portrayed as concerns more deeply and universally shared by everyone.

Eye opening and unforgettable

Another remarkable book by Elif Shafak. Breathtakingly beautiful, triumphant and enlightening. Read perfectly by Alix Dunmore, capturing each characters arresting personality and heart.

A Love Letter to Istanbul

Dr. Elif Shafak has truly done magic in this novel. It is an absolutely honest narrative by a person who genuinely loves her city, her people, and all the women in the world anywhere they might be and however they might live. She portrays her pure love for Istanbul, The City on Seven Hills, with all her flaws and all her beauty, just as if this book is a love letter to Istanbul. In this novel, Shafak has written about the LOVE for humanity. I really enjoyed her smooth, fluent, and tangible narrative and I leaned so much about the politics and history of Turkey and the world between 1960s and 1990s. I hight recommend this novel especially those who want to learn more about the complexities of being a woman in an Islamic environment.

Catching from the start!

This book was brilliant, loved listening to the reader, great voice, the storyline was catching from the start as I could imagine all the sights and scenes. I highly recommend a listen!

Great narration and heartbreaking story

I really enjoyed the narrators voice and thought she did a great job at differentiating the characters and giving them life. I thought the story was eye opening and while heart breaking, it didn’t feel like a depressing book. There’s humor and joy sprinkled throughout and I definitely recommend the book!

A word of caution before purchasing or listening

Although I was captivated by the story, I do want to caution you. If you have been a victim of molestation or rape, this story may bring back memories of your own personal trauma that you may not want to mentally revisit. I think it is very important to mention this before you purchase this title.