Finally finished this huge epic novel by the master of literary fiction, Orhan Pamuk. The novel is a horrific narrative of the plague epidemic that besets the fictional Island of Mingeria in the 1900s. Mingeria is the 29th state of the Ottoman Empire (now in its waning days) and is comprised of Greek and Muslim population. When the plague hits, the doctors and the administration vainly try to control it through a series of quarantine measures with futile and at times catastrophic consequences. The result is political strife, inter-religious strife, regime change and a general sense of unrest. Those who have lived through the covid lockdown measures will totally empathise.
The novel is a work of historical fiction but portions of it read a lot like non-fiction. Gives a lot of insight into the Ottoman Empire and geopolitics of the time. I loved the main characters especially the Princess Pakizeh and her husband Dr. Nuri. Spanning over 700 pages the novel does tend to be repetitive in parts and is a gargantuan read. However it is well worth the effort if you are a fan of history and literary fiction.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

I adore Orhan Pamuk in general. This one, however, was not my favorite. It should have been captivating, given its very timely topic. It got stuck for me, however, in an excessively long storyline.

If you want a quick, easy read, Orhan Pamuk’s Nights of Plague is not for you. If you love a multi-layered mystery that reads like a combination of history and politics, pick up a copy today.

Author of such earlier books as My Name is Red, Snow, Istanbul, and The Red-Haired Woman, Nobel Prize winner Pamuk has set his latest novel in 1901 on the fictional Mediterranean island of Mingheria--the 29th state of the Ottoman Empire--during the Empire’s waning years.

In the Preface, dated 2017, Mina Mingher, a native Mingherian and the book’s purported author, explains the necessity of incorporating the art of the novel as she writes this six-month history. She calls her final product “both a historical novel and a history written in the form of a novel.” Originally assigned the task of annotating a series of letters from Princess Pakize, the third daughter of an Ottoman sultan, to her older sister Hatice, Mingher is unable to limit herself to writing only an introduction to the collected letters and the annotations, themselves. Instead, she researches for years and writes the lengthy book readers are about to begin.

On April 22, 1901, a ship bound for China docks in Mingheria. It carries not only Princess Pakize and her new husband headed to China, but also the Ottoman Empire’s Chief Inspector of Public Health and Sanitation, chemist and pharmacist Bonkowski Pasha. With experience stopping plagues, the Royal Chemist faces a new challenge. He has been dispatched to stop a plague on Mingheria.

When Bonkowski Pasha is murdered while on the island, Prince Consort Doctor Nuri Effendi, the Ottomans’ other epidemic disease expert, and wife Princess Pakize are sent back to Mingheria. With a plague to end, a murder case to solve, and major corruption on the island, they have their work cut out for them.

Telling a story that is new yet surprisingly familiar to today’s readers, Mina Mingher fills the pages with a large cast of characters, back story after back story, and subplot after subplot. Turkish Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians cannot see eye to eye. The government is rife with corruption and political intrigue. Individuals cannot agree on how to handle the plague. Some people deny its very existence.

With a prologue, 79 chapters, a long epilogue, and a total of 700-plus pages, Nights of Plague is not popular escapist fiction. Instead, it’s packed with descriptive detail, complex history, conflicting medical and political outlooks, and a host of surprises. Although a story of the dying Ottoman Empire more than a century ago, the book is relevant to life today, perhaps especially in Turkey. but elsewhere as well. Many readers will be surprised to learn that Pamuk began to write about the plague on fictional Mingheria before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Patient, attentive readers with time on their hands will find Nights of Plague a rare literary accomplishment and a fulfilling experience. I particularly liked Pamuk's creation of Mina Mingher. By setting her up as the author of Mingheria's plague history and returning to her in the extensive epilogue, Pamuk created an illusion of reality.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf/Knopf Doubleday for an advance reader copy of Orhan Pamuk’s latest achievement.

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I thought I won't be able to read a book about another pandemic, but Nights of Plague, here I come! Since it was set during the Ottoman decline, when the throne was more important than anything else for men in power, I was curious to see what shortcuts my "beloved" ancestors were willing to take to stop the pandemic from spreading.

Thinking how some of the basic things that we take granted today were part of quarantine rules is making me appreciate such basic necessities (let's not talk about war on toilet paper and Clorox wipes at the beginning of the 2020) and modern medicine one more time. This pandemic in this tiny Ottoman island was also airborne, so thank God / all the power out there for not making Ms. Rona airborne. Whole island had been decimated over the course of few months, so imagine what it could be for us today...

Enough with rambling... I don't have much to say about writing style and language of my fellow HS alumnus: it was delicious. Especially the take on historical fiction being told by another fictional character and hearing her voice here and there during the story was beautiful. Was it long? Of course! That's what Orhan Pamuk does! Was it worth the trouble? Hell yes

Nights of Plague is set on the imaginary island of Mingheria. An epistolary novel, told through letters outlining Princess Pakize and her husband's fight to survive a plague outbreak. This is an engaging and well-written historical thriller.

I'm really proud of myself that I finished reading this book and did not abandon it in the middle, though many times I did feel the crazy urge to do so. This book, only 700+ pages long(58 hours of audio book), feels like an epic story of a small Mediterranean island called Mingheria. Though its a fictional tale set during the year of 1901, at no point in this novel you'd believe that its fiction, so detailed and thoroughly researched this book is. In the very beginning we are told that this historical narration of the events that unfolded on the island of Mingheria is based upon Princess Pakize's personal letters to her sister Hatice. So essentially its non-fictional account but also a fictional tale 😁😜

Mingheria is a small island under the Ottoman rule, which has been infected by the bubonic plague and the Mingherian people, a mix of Muslim and orthodox Greek population, refuse to accept the quarantine rules. When the governor of Mingheria isn't able to control the epidemic, the world powers, the British and French government, along with the Ottoman empire, decide to blockade the island, causing a feeling of hopelessness and seclusion in Mingherians.

Basically I felt this book was like a 101 on what not to do when faced with a pandemic of colossal proportions. The Sultan, Abdul Hamid, sends his quarantine expert, Bonkowski Pasha to the island to take charge of the situation. But matters worsen when Bonkowski Pasha is murdered and the death rate in the island increases in an exponential rate. The Sultan sends, Princess Pakize and her husband Doctor Nuri, to expose Bankowski's murderer and control the epidemic. But along with battling the plague, the island is also on the brink of a political revolution and the power of the island's government changes hands so often, you'll be left baffled.

This was my first Orhan Pamuk novel and despite the length and complexities in the story, I cannot but marvel at the brilliance of his writing. This is what made me stick to the book despite taking more than two months to finish it. You just cannot leave it without knowing the fate of the island and it's people. I would love to read another of Pamuk's novel for sure, but one that has lesser pages and maybe fewer characters. I'm glad that I have read this book and discovered Pamuk.

A slow and sprawling tale. Ultimately, I wasn’t ready to revisit the world of pandemics and the winking references that came with it.

This long historical novel, an intriguing mix of fact and fiction, is a challenging, but ultimately worthwhile and satisfying read. It took me a while to settle into it, but once I had I found myself more and more compelled by the narrative in spite of the demands it makes. Slow, often repetitive, sprawling and complex it needs concentration, not least because of the large cast of characters, and some background knowledge is helpful, but overall I found it a truly immersive read. It’s set on the fictional Mediterranean island of Mingheria, part of the Ottoman Empire, during the dying days of that Empire in 1901. A plague comes to the island and the focus of the story is the attempt to control the outbreak. This contemporary resonance adds to the novel’s power, especially with the attempts to impose quarantine on the inhabitants. Half of the population are Muslims, the other half Greek Orthodox. Some are enlightened and educated, and approach the plague scientifically; some are more traditional and look to ancient ways of healing. Existing conflicts between the various groups are already leading to revolution and the plague only accelerates this. A lot happens over the course of the novel, often dramatic events such as death and executions, political intrigue, murder and family tragedy, but the narrative tone remains calm and measured and deliberately undramatic. It’s hard to believe that Mingheria isn’t a real place, so clever is the author’s world-building, and the historical facts are cleverly intertwined with the fictional aspects, allowing the reader to work out what is real and what isn’t. A narrative tour de force.

Nights of Plague, by Orhan Pamuk and faithfully translated by Ekin Oklap, transports us more than a century into the past, to a country that never existed but one that feels every bit as real as the Ottoman Empire. Pamuk manages this by giving his invented history the pacing and vocabulary of a nineteenth-century novel, full of old-fashioned etiquette, dungeons, sudden reversals, and plenty of Romance. Even though this book could be read as a recreation of hundred-plus-year-old epic novels à la Dickens or Tolstoy, one doesn’t have to look very hard to see the parallels to our present. The over-arcing plot of this novel shows us a country faced with a lethal plague, a population reluctant to take precautions, and a headlong tumble into nationalism.

Pamuk blends history and fiction together very tightly in this book and has such an eye for detail that I was really disappointed to discover that Mingheria, the Mediterranean island where much of this book is set, doesn’t actually exist. Instead, Pamuk adds another daughter to the progeny of an actual deposed Ottoman emperor, Murad V, and had Murad’s brother, Abdul Hamid II, dispatch that daughter and her husband on a diplomatic mission to China at the opening of Nights of Plague. Princess Pakize and her husband, Doctor Nuri, stop at Mingheria in the spring of 1901 on the first leg of their journey to the Far East. But what was intended as a short stop turns into a long, tumultuous quarantine when it becomes clear that Yersinia pestis has broken out on the island and that the Sultan’s designated plague officer has been assassinated before he can really implement any anti-plague measures. While Pakize documents what happens outside of Mingheria’s State Hall, her husband ends up advising the Ottoman government on stopping the plague. Meanwhile, they both try to puzzle out who murdered the doctor first sent to deal with Mingheria’s plague epidemic.

We get the story of what happens through at least two frame layers (sometimes more). Our narrator is actually a present-day historian named Mîna, using Pakize’s correspondence and “historical” documents. Instead of writing a straightforward history, Mîna gives us a story in the style of the nineteenth century. There is little dialogue. Most of the novel consists of exposition about the geography of Mingheria and its capital, Arkaz; biographies of the major characters; and occasionally repetitive summaries of the different stages of the plague and the secession of Mingheria from the Ottoman Empire. There is far, far too much to sum up in this review. Seriously. Mingheria goes through five governments in less than a year, once of which is a brief monarchy helmed by Pakize for about 100 days, and that’s on top of a devastating outbreak of plague.

It’s hard not to see the parallels between the fictional 1901 Mingherian plague and the 2019-2020 COVID pandemic, accompanied by concurrent and subsequent nationalist movements around the world. Deadly plagues don’t just cause massive disruption through the loss of life; the fear of whatever disease can also provoke populations to fragment into Us versus Them as different factions argue that they have the answer to the contagion. In Nights of Plague, scientists like Doctor Nuri face off against inert government officials who find it too difficult to change the status quo as both groups square up against sectarians who dole out amulets and cliches about the will of god. People resist quarantine and disinfection requirements in this story just as much as people in my country pushed back against mask mandates, vaccines, and lockdowns. We never seem to learn, in spite of actual historical examples and fictional accounts of plague outbreaks. Just as troubling are the swells of nationalism that grow in response to fear and chaos. One can only hope, like Pakize and Nuri, that time will eventually heal all wounds.

Although Nights of Plague raises interesting questions, I found the novel heavy going. It took me more than a month and a half to finish it. Thankfully, it was easy to dip in and out of the book since there are many smaller plot arcs within the larger narrative. I could’ve wished for a faster, more focused plot, but this might be Pamuk’s style. (This is the first of his books that I’ve read.) Readers who like slow-burn historical fiction—especially fiction that accurately recreates the feel of nineteenth-century fiction—will enjoy Nights of Plague.

A spell-binding historical murder-mystery, Orhan Pamuk's Nights of Plague explores the impact of imperial dreams on ordinary citizens. While the plague theme is almost cliche in a COVID world, Pamuk's political acuity and wit prevents it from, being a mere ripped from a headlines and told with a twist tragedy.

Nights of Plague is an utterly captivating historical fiction story. Like all my favorite historical fiction books, it is built on an intricate scaffold of compelling details that transport the reader to another time and place, and I'm amazed by the literary feat of architecture that Pamul pulled off here. This is a book that rewards careful attention and patience, and it is probably one of my favorite books of the year.

Plaque hit and break Mingheria island. This jewel of Mediterranean is run high with all political, cultural and religions tension. With all those unfortunate event Ottoman Sultan tried so hard to prevent this plaque and all the issue
to spreading with sent his trusted epidemiologist and also his own niece.

Nights of Plaque isnt the easiest book to read for me. This is actually my first read from the author although his name is well known at my country. The prose is rich with details and sometime make me struggling over descriptions and backgroundstories. Author truly capable to mixed many rich topic at one book, until it feel almost real and for my experience is overwhelming. The imaginary details for the setting and real history background are blended wonderfully until I cant separate between two. The idea and story premise is massive and thoughtful provoking because so close with our own pandemic situation.

The English translation is smooth and the book will appeal readers who love novel with complicated plots, multilayer theme, alot characters and brimming with historical background.

Thank you Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for provided my copy. My thoughts are my own.

In 'Nights of Plague' Pamuk creates a whole new island in the most minute detail. The year is 1901 and the Ottoman Empire is slowly falling apart. The plague breaks out on one of its prized possessions: the imagined island of Mingheria, 'the pearl of the Mediterranean'.

In an effort to prevent the plague from spreading further west, the Ottoman sultan, keen to avoid yet another embarrassing episode vis-à-vis the Great Powers (UK, FR, DE, RU), dispatches the Empire's foremost epidemiologist as well as his niece, Princess Pakize, and her husband, Doctor Nuri to try and stop impose quarantine regulations that both the island's Greek and Muslim population will adhere to.

In the claustrophobic atmosphere of the locked-down island a power struggle breaks out. There are murders, secret agents, coups-d'état and poisonings. There are religious leaders and secular career-diplomats playing political games. There are pharmacists, telegraphists, carriage drivers, hoteliers and the reader is transported back to the 1901 Mediterranean. And then there are the more personal backstories of the main characters.

While I am in awe Pamuk’s imagination and the extraordinary achievement of creating this world in all its detail, on an emotional level, it did not really move me. What I felt was more admiration than the immersive reading experience I was hoping for (and which I had when I read 'Snow' over 10 years ago).

And that also meant that it was simply too long for me.

The English translation reads very well by the way (better than the Dutch version which I kept at my side as well).

Just the fact this book took me 2+ weeks to get through says something! It is a remarkable history of a fictional island in the Ottoman Empire around 1900. It is also way too long with too much extraneous detail that adds nothing to the narrative. The author’s talent at creating this world, its geography, history, commerce, religions, language, government, and inhabitants, is amazing. It reads and feels like nonfiction. The novel’s premise is unique. If only the great story wasn’t buried in so many nonessential pages, especially the final chapter!

Thanks to NetGalley and Alfred A Knopf Publishing for the ARC to read and review.

My thanks to the publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Nights of Plague’ by Orhan Pamuk. It was translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap, who has translated a number of his previous novels.

Six years ago Orhan Pamuk, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, began writing this novel about the effect in 1901 of an outbreak of the bubonic plague on a fictional island. The history of the plague has been a long time interest for him. Then, by the time of this novel’s 2021 publication in Turkey, the reality of a global pandemic, including quarantine protocols and accompanying political controversies, had become reality.

In the Preface Mîna Mingher, the fictional author of this epic literary novel, writes: “This is both a historical novel and a history written in the form of a novel. In this story of what took place during the most eventful and momentous six months in the life of the island of Mingheria, pearl of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, I have also included many tales from the history of this country I love so dearly.”

The island of Mingheria, the twenty-ninth state of the Ottoman Empire, is located in the eastern Mediterranean between Crete and Cyprus. Here religious and cultural tensions run high as half the population is Muslim, while the other half are Orthodox Greeks. Then the bubonic plague arrives on the island. Its origins are unclear- it may have been brought by Muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca or by merchant vessels coming from Alexandria. Whatever the source, this uncertainty increases the civil unrest.

Given the length of the novel, it’s impossible to say much about the plot apart from finding that many of the events and attitudes about the plague itself and the measures taken to control it on the island echo the events in recent years linked to the global pandemic.

As I have read a couple of Pamuk’s earlier novels, I was aware of his style and was prepared to immerse myself in the narrative. It was a surprise to have the novel framed as an account by Mîna Mingher with her deep links to Mingheria and I was very impressed with Orhan Pamuk’s world building throughout. There were times when I was convinced that I was reading a work of history.

Overall, on all counts of plot, characters, and setting I found this an incredible novel infused with Pamuk’s exquisite writing. Given its high quality and the topicality of its themes, I expect that ‘Nights of Plague’ will be a strong contender for the 2023 International Booker Prize.

On publication, I purchased both its print and unabridged audiobook editions as it is a novel that I expect I shall revisit to appreciate its multiple layers and themes.

I am not really sure how to review this book, so I am just going to go with a bunch of thoughts I currently have now that I have finished the book and leave it at that. Hopefully you will get where I am once I am done.

1. This is a L O N G book. Several times, it feels longer than the 704 pages it is. Mostly at the end, which was pretty snooze-worthy IMO.

2. The last chapter is TWO HOURS [by audio] and is what took this from a very enthusiastic 4 star read to a WTH 3 star read. For me, the story ended at chapter 79 and the whole 2 hours "Many Years Later" section didn't need to exist. It was so boring and tedious and really was nothing about the story I had just read [and mostly enjoyed]. It was a huge disappointing way to end a book.

3. I am so glad I listened to this on audiobook. There is absolutely no way I would have even been close to done by now if I had read read it, and to be honest, as much as I love HF and how much this reads like NF at times [more on that later], I am not sure I would have even finished it and I would certainly be a lot more angry about the ending THAT is for sure. The narrator is really good, very passionate and really conveys a lot of emotion when reading some of the tougher parts. She was one of the best parts of this whole experience.

4. There are a BAZILLION characters. Who all have the same name or a similar name OR have Pasha in their name. I was pretty confused early on [this is where read reading it would have been beneficial, but not much] and had to just let all that go and work to just enjoy the story as a whole because it would have made me crazy to try and remember everyone and what role they played and where they belonged etc etc etc.

5. This was very interesting HF that often reads like nonfiction. I can tell there was a lot of research that went into this book and the Ottoman empire at that time and even though the little country this takes place in is fictional, at no time does it NOT feel like a real place and that is a huge plus for me. I often had to remind myself that it WAS fictional when I was really caught up in the story and wanted to look it up on the map. That is a sign of excellent writing. I can see how people would get totally bogged down by the history aspect of it though, as that is where the NF feel comes though the most. For me, it just added to the story and made it more alive.

6. I have read the author before [My Name is Red <--THIS is an excellent read and I highly recommend it] and typically love his writing. If you have not read him, I suggest you NOT start with this one. It is a lot of a lot and I would never want to turn someone off of the brilliance that is Orhan Pamuk.

7. This book is about plague and all its gruesomeness. It is also about power and greed and jealousy and all their gruesomeness as well, but that is totally underlying to the whole plague story. There are pretty descriptive passages concerning this and it is not for the weak at heart or anyone who is squeamish. Having read multiple books now about plague, this didn't bother me at all [though I DID try and make sure I wasn't reading this while eating a meal], but it is a lot of a lot so it might be too much for some. Also, we are still in a pandemic and well, after all we have been through in the past 2 years, this might not be the book for you simply for that reason alone. This book really mirrors all that has happened during the past two years with denial and disbelief and refusal to comply and the anger from the people that DO comply and still get sick because of the careless people; there were real moments of flashback for me at some of the things that have happened in the past two years and what is continuing to happen to those who continue to follow protocols for their own [and those they love] safety. There were moments where I felt genuine anger at the characters because I remembered just months ago the same sort of scenario playing out here and well, like I said, it is a lot of a lot and will be too much for many.

I am not unhappy that I read this [even with the crap ending] as I found much of it fascinating and it made me want to find some good NF books about the whole Ottoman Empire. Probably cannot ask for anymore from a book! ;-)

Thank you to NetGalley, Orhan Pamuk, Ekin Oklap - Translator, and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars rounded up.
I have not read this author before, though I have wanted to for a long time. I received an ARC from NetGalley of this title. The print version is supposedly 700 pages, but installed on my tablet it totalled 1600+. I really need to check the length of books before requesting them because very few novels are good enough to merit that number of pages. IMO, this one definitely was not.
I have some background knowledge of Turkish history and language and have read several works of historical fiction about plagues. I was interested in this book for these reasons.
This thing was so long, drawn out, and boring. The author provided a lot of detail to establish the setting, situation, and atmosphere. However, he also went off on tangents. Maybe this style of writing works better in Turkish or appeals to a Turkish audience. For me, it wandered too much. There could be an interesting story buried among all of this extraneous detail, but it was just too tedious to try to wade through it.
I read about 40% of the book (well, I skimmed it) and still had ~1000 pages to go. I decided to skip to the last chapter and then read the epilogue, which took place years after the main story. I hoped the epilogue would summarize the novel and bring it to a meaningful conclusion. The epilogue itself was over 100 pages and full of the same types of boring tangents as the rest of the book.
I am giving this book 1.5 stars and rounding it up because I think the book may appeal to people who love historical detail. Although well-researched, I found the novel unenjoyable.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Too soon? I’m interested to see how this brilliant novel does, not because anyone will question that it’s a well-crafted story but because it’s definitely less escapist in the wake of the COVID pandemic. Ordinarily, it would have all the emotional distance of historical fiction. However, here we have a novel set around the turn of the twentieth century, and it features the conspiracy theorists, the science deniers, the pandemic opportunists, and those prone to whistle through the graveyard as a disease eats their community alive – i.e. characters with whom we are now all too familiar.

The novel takes place on the fictional island of Mingheria in the Aegean (Mediterranean) Sea between Turkey and Greece during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Given its geography, Mingheria is a potential powder keg under the best of circumstances, being about half Greek Christian and half Turkish Muslim, both of whom overwhelm a group who identify primarily as Mingherian and who want to establish their own state, reflecting a primacy of Mingherian identity. (Not unlike those Kashmiris who want an independent Kashmir because they see their problem not as being a Muslim – Hindu one, but rather an India – Pakistan one.) While the story is full of both Mingherian domestic and international politics, it’s the plague that drives everything, or – more accurately – fearful (and often ill-advised) responses to the plague.

At the heart of the story are Princess Pakize and her husband, Doctor Nuri. The couple is diverted to Mingheria while sailing to China. The reason the Sultan changes their itinerary is two-fold: first, to fight a worsening outbreak of bubonic plague, and, second, to learn who killed the last doctor sent to lead the quarantine response, Dr. Bonkowski. (Bonkowski was a well-regarded medical expert who is killed by unknown perpetrators in the early chapters of the book.) As Nuri is engaged in public health matters and the Princess is occupied by writing letters to her sister and contemplating Bonkowski’s demise, they are swept up in events that will ultimately lead to a revolution and coup d'état. When those who oppose the public health measures (e.g. prohibition of Muslim funerary bath rituals) gain control, the epidemic swells to horrific proportions. As in Pamuk’s excellent novel, "Snow," the tension between modern / progressive forces and religious traditionalists is ever present (not unexpected given Turkey’s long history of conflict between reformers and fundamentalists.)

This book is compelling and, in the wake of the COVID pandemic, makes a profound commentary on how far we haven’t come.

Although I haven't read any of the author's previous works, I usually love this kind of speculative historical fiction. I thought the premise of exploring an outbreak of a plague through the lens of history and in an imagined state was a fascinating way of examining and commenting on current affairs whilst maintaining a certain distance.

The fictionalised Mediterranean Island of Mingheria was brilliantly realised. The level of detail into the descriptions and history, geography, ethnography and socio-political make-up is absolutely convincing. However, I really struggled to get into this book. I didnt engage enough with the characters and wasnt interested enough in the pages describing the processes and events or miriad of digressions. I know that is my taste rather than a fault of the book. This book is evidently extremely intelligently written and I know will appeal to lots of readers, it just wasn't one that I connected with enough to love and pass on the reccomendation.

While this is categorized as a novel and the main setting is fictional this book feels very non-fiction. The author, an obviously prolific storyteller, manages to imbue this tale with enough anecdotes and “fiction” to make it readable and fascinating as opposed to a strictly educational or informational text. It is still, however, a challenge to get through since it is just interesting enough to want to finish but long and slow enough to feel like a chore.