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.

The stunning, timely new novel from the acclaimed, internationally bestselling author of The Architect’s Apprentice and The Bastard of Istanbul.

Peri, a wealthy mother and housewife living in Istanbul is on her way to a dinner party when her purse is stolen. In the melee that ensues a long-forgotten photograph drops from her wallet. The photograph hearkens back to her days as a student at Oxford, days she has desperately tried to forget.

The photograph bears the image of Peri, her two best friends Shirin and Mona, and the controversial Professor Azur. As the three students take his life-changing course on God, their own conflicting beliefs are magnified and they quickly become embroiled in a scandal that will change their lives forever.

Elif Shafak is one of the well-known and accomplished writers I have always heard about but whose books have always flown under the radar for me. The name is recognizable but I’m hard-pressed to name any titles. So I picked up this book so that could change and I am so glad I can now say I have read her work.

The main character Peri has grown up in a home in Turkey with a liberal, not religious father, an ultra-religious mother prone to depression and two brothers, one of whom is a communist who is arrested and tortured by the state. Peri isn’t sure where she stands on religion, she questions if God is real and where He is. Her parents live separate lives and grow further apart over time.

Peri’s father strongly believes that his daughter should attend university abroad and spends his life working toward this goal. When she arrives at Oxford, she is inclined to keep to herself but she befriends two girls - Mona, a devout Muslim and Shirin, a committed non-believer. The girls disagree on a lot but are connected by their outsider status. But it is an enigmatic professor that will ultimately tear them apart.

The book goes back and forth between the present time in Istanbul and the two decades earlier at Oxford, while also covering Peri’s childhood. The focus is not so much about one big story but all the little moments that make it up. Religion, class, society, geography, this book shows how all of these things influence our way of thinking, but through all of it, our emotions can play the biggest role.

I was totally caught up in this book. Everything in this book was a learning experience for me and to combine this with themes of coming of age, love, and authority had me hooked until the very last page. At times though, it did feel as though there was too much build-up. The beginning sets a great tone for the shock elements to come but ultimately the incidents that happened at Oxford aren’t explored until the last quarter of the books. While the book is about the little moments that get you to the big moment, the suspense doesn’t build throughout, it explodes at the beginning and leaves you hanging. This is a book that is about the journey, not the destination.

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.

This novel challenged one to question a great deal of philosophy while keeping the reader engaged in a captivating tale. Suspense built throughout and came to a meaningful climax with its ending.