This is the first time I've read @shafakelif and I've mixed feelings about this book. I started this book while I was travelling in Turkey. The book is about Peri, a girl from Istanbul who grows up to go to the Oxford. Narrated in the present and the past, it talks about Peri's life as a house wife of a successful man and her past, her childhood and her youth at Oxford. The environment at her home shapes her into a demure girl who's life is altered at Oxford. A professor who changes her life shapes her into a completely different person. The book is extensively philosophical as it touches upon various ideas like God, faith, beliefs etc. The book is full of typical cliches about Muslims, and that's what irked me the most. Perhaps, the writer did want to create a sense of confusion in the mind of the reader, or maybe, that's just playing safe, it was this bit that put me off the most. The book did go about in circles and at one point, the protagonist felt like she just wanted sympathy. I honestly hate such characters who are constantly seeking pity and refusing to confront life and grow up! Overall a decent, if not an amazing read. If you like books that are talking about typical middle East culture and such, you may like it.

A wonderful story on woman's crisis and her identity. This also tackles the controversial topics like religion,capitalism,feminism.

I really loved this book. 

Peri, is on her way to a dinner party to meet her husband,when someone steals her handbag.  As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground -- an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor

This photograph is the main factor of the book and it evokes memories for Peri. 

It is an intricately told tale and set in the beautiful Istanbul it is a book that is descriptively wonderful.

recommended reading

From the beginning Three Daughters of Eve sucks you in and takes you on a journey from the Turkey of the protagonist’s childhood to the present day via some time spent in Oxford in the early 2000s. 

When her handbag is stolen and a precious photo lost, Peri is reminded of her time at Oxford University, her friends, Shirin and Mona, and their complicated relationships with Islam, feminism and each other and her enigmatic Professor. An experience which left some of their lives changed forever. 

Full of lyrical prose and thought-provoking and thoughtful ideas about the differences between religion and God and faith and culture, Three Daughters of Eve is a novel that gets under your skin and refuses to leave.

It's often the case that I hear a book being discussed on the radio or in a television interview and am disappointed that it doesn't live up to my expectations. Three Daughters of Eve was entirely the opposite: I loved it even more than I thought that I would! Peri's lives - both in Oxford and Istanbul were skilfully depicted  - completely transporting me to both locations and seeing things as Peri experienced them in these two very disparate worlds. Professor Azur is a fabulous character that walked right off the page for me and stayed with me long after finishing the book. An intelligent, thought-provoking and fascinating read that I'm so glad that I got a chance to read. Shafak has a densely descriptive style and vivid characterisation that I really loved, can't wait to see what she does next!

This is my first book by Elif Shafak but it won't be my last. I was drawn in by the stunning cover but it was the story that captivated me. It was thoughtful and informative, and the characters were extremely well-drawn. It was was a brilliant exploration of a very relevant modern conflict, and one I would like to learn more about. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This is my first time reading a book by Elif Shafak and I found her to be a very confident writer with the ability to tell a compelling story. Three Daughters of Eve follows a young Muslim woman's spiritual journey as she ventures from Istanbul to Oxford, learning about love, life and faith along the way.

The novel opens with Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife, and her teenage daughter Deniz stuck in a traffic jam in Istanbul in 2016 as they make their way to a dinner party. When a beggar comes onto the scene, Peri is subjected to a robbery and an attempted rape but, surprisingly, it is what comes out of the event that has the most significance here. During the struggle, a Polaroid photograph falls out of Peri's bag. The photo is of Peri with two other women and a man and, as her thoughts move to memory, we are drawn back into the past with her, back to Oxford University where Peri, as an eighteen-year-old, has been sent to live abroad for the first time. The novel dedicates itself to explaining the significance of that photo and the relationships between Peri and the people in it.

Three Daughters of Eve is a story about love, religion and spirituality. In its intentions it is certainly rich but, for me, at times, it failed to deliver in its execution. I found some of the language to be quite cliched. Some of the scenes described in the story fell flat, disrupting the pace of the novel for me. And my major issue was that for a book about love, I found the relationship between Peri and her teacher at Oxford unconvincing. 

While I find the author very brave in how she examines political and personal themes of today's world, I didn't find Peri - the vehicle for that exploration - engaging or likable enough for me. 2.5 stars.

There are writers and then there are storytellers. Elif Shafak would gracefully glide into the latter. A storyteller for sure and a captivating one at that! I had received this book for review by Penguin a few months ago and it has taken me a while to put my thoughts to paper. I suppose I was fearful of not being able to do justice to the sheer brilliance of this novel.

Full review on my blog, please follow the link below.

The Three Daughters of Eve is a soul-searching story about identity, relationships, love, and God. It is told from the perspective of Peri, a now middle-aged woman with a family of her own, but spans the years of her childhood in Turkey and as a student in Oxford. Peri's relationships with her two close friends with diametrically opposing world views and her beloved, but unconventional Professor shape the woman she becomes. Highly recommended. Thanks to Penguin Books UK (Viking) and NetGalley for the ARC.

I have heard so much about Elif Shafak, but this was my first read and it was disappointing, It felt like the agenda or political commentary was much more important than the story telling, so the story didn't shine. It was also quite unnecessarily wordy.

I have enjoyed previous books by Elif Shafak, but this one wasn't as good .... it started well, and I liked the descriptions of Istanbul life when Peri was a girl, and her (that is, the author's) comments on contemporary Turkish life. However, I found it hard to get through without skipping pages, and having made it to the end, found it a disappointment.
Review of a digital galley from the publishers.

Three Daughters of Eve starts in an Istanbul traffic jam.  Peri, a wealthy middle aged housewife is on her way to a dinner party accompanied by her grumpy teenage daughter.   A drug addled thief snatches her handbag from the backseat of the car, instead of doing the sensible thing of driving on, Peri goes in pursuit of the man and bag.  In the scuffle that ensues a polaroid picture of three young women and a man falls out of the handbag.  Once back safely in the car the daughter asks who the people in the photo are.  Now the story can begin.

We flit back and forth from Peri’s childhood and adolescence to the dinner party that she was driving too before her bag got snatched.  The photo is, of course, of Peri and two friends accompanied by their professor at Oxford University.  This puzzles the daughter as she had no idea her mother had been to Oxford.

Peri spent her childhood torn between an intensely religious mother and a secular father.  When at last she gets to Oxford her friends are the Shirin, the outgoing Iranian and Mona the devout Muslim Egyptian or as Elif Shafak has them the sinner, the saint and the confused.  They all revolve around their charismatic tutor Professor Azur.  The scene is set for an interesting exploration of what it is to be a muslim and what it is to be a woman.

Three Daughters of Eve made me think about religion, politics and power.  I stayed up late unable to put the book down.  And yet at the end I felt a bit unsatisfied.  All the ends tied up nicely, which I like, but I was left with all sorts of questions.   Most of all I didn’t really really like or dislike any of the characters.  I’m glad that I read the book but wish that I had known Peri better.

DISCLOSURE: I was sent an ARC by Penguin via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Elif Shafak is a popular Turkish author, and a Rumi scholar, raised by her mother and grandmother, experiencing a childhood and influences that fed a fertile imagination. Now based in London, this is her tenth novel. Since reading The Forty Rules of Love, the first of her novels to actively reference her Rumi knowledge and learnings, I've read the excellent The Bastard of Istanbul, Honour and her nonfiction essay The Happiness of Blond People. She is an interesting and unique author because of her ability to straddle the thinking of both East and West, captured through engaging characters and storytelling; she demonstrated that for all our supposed differences, we are grappling with similar issues.

Three Daughters of Eve is an interesting, quietly provocative, philosophical novel. Shafak brilliantly sets up a character study of Peri, our Turkish protagonist, who on her way to a dinner party to meet her husband, decides to abandon her car in the middle of a traffic jam, in pursuit of an opportunistic handbag thief.

There is a violent, unsettling altercation after which she will continue on her way, shaken, but in one piece and determined not to change her plans. However this episode and the memories it awakens, will over the course of the evening, reveal her conflicted self and cause her to consider her life and address a significant event of the past, as the present madness moves forward towards astonishing heights.

"Though easy to forget at times, the city was a stormy sea swollen with drifting icebergs of masculinity, and it was better to manoeuvre away from them, gingerly and smartly, for one never knew how much danger lay beneath the surface."

The three daughters are the three girls who appear in the photo that falls out of her handbag, referred to as the sinner, the believer and the confused. They are three young Muslim students at Oxford university, including Peri (the confused), who will all take the same class with Professor Azur and for a time they will live together. The girls all have different views, as do their fellow classmates, in the class about 'understanding God', a guided philosophical think-tank, where the handpicked students are forbidden to discuss religion, and must instead learn to express their opinions without the framework of doctrine.

Thus the novel is narrated across two timelines, the present day Istanbul (2016) en route to and at a bourgeoise dinner party and a period of time at the university in Oxford (2000).

Shirin is the liberal-minded sinner with no excuses or apologies for who she is, she loves to provoke reaction and is a willing accomplice come recruiter to the Professor's circle, it is she who brings the conservative believer Mona and Peri together.

Shafak's account of Peri's parents and family is brilliantly characterised and aptly portrays why she is given the label of 'confused', they are complete opposites and over time become even more so, her two brothers are also polar opposite while Peri, loaded with empathy, understands all their positions, but can not stand in either of their shoes. Her plan to study in England, supported by her father and a cause of concern for her mother, was more of an escape for her than the brilliant opportunity her father imagined.

Despite education, philosophical questions and new friends, Peri is a young, Turkish woman coming to live in a foreign country; as I was reading, I couldn't help but notice the synchronicity between this combination of time, space and circumstance that made Peri vulnerable to manipulative intent and the protagonist of Claire Fuller's excellent novel Swimming Lessons, a novel that chose not to explore the family background and cultural references of its young, female Norwegian university student, and rather focuses on the life that followed an equally significant turning point.

Here in Elif Shafak's novel is an attempt to provide an experience with its cultural context. They are both young impressionable women having life-changing experiences in a foreign culture, with little support or guidance, they are lost in an age-appropriate confusion of emotions, one that is not on the same wavelength as the object of their desire.

While I enjoyed the novel and love Elif Shafak's writing and philosophical questioning, there was a point very near the end, where events became too surreal for me to stay captured in the literary bubble of considering that evening dinner party in 2016 legitimate. It may be a satire of the Turkish elite, some of the things that happen and that are said are a mix of humorous and dramatic, however that's not the tone of the novel as a whole.

I don't know why the author chose to brings things together in the manner she did, for me personally it distracted from the thought process I'd spent the entire novel developing, and resulted in a suspension of belief, a kind of clocking out. I was waiting for the resolution, that's where it was heading, and it does attempt to do that, however, as she not so convincingly demonstrates, humans can be unpredictable, and their actions often make no sense at all.

An excellent and thought-provoking novel that I recommend, despite a somewhat less well executed ending.

Peri is a wealthy Turkish woman living a lie. Dressed in what others could conceive as her finest (because what others think is highly important), she is making her way by car to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul with her teenage and therefore grumpy and uncommunicative daughter. Distracted by the traffic jam and the heat, Peri throws her designer knock-off and yet highly coveted bag into the back seat where it is quickly stolen by operative thieves weaving through the traffic. Against her usual better and conservative judgement, Peri takes chase and ends up wounded and traumatised. When the contents of her bag falling to the ground reveal a long-lost polaroid of her days at Oxford University, Peri is thrown into disarray. By now, the reader is speculating that Peri’s real “self” died in Oxford, and what is left is a “designer copy” of the society wives that she and her husband circulate with. 

The over-arching theme of this tale, is the notion of God, the religious hypocrisy, segregation, illusion and deceit. This theme is woven through the tale with subtlety in some places, and a sledgehammer in others – well written prose and imagery, the reader is transported first to present day 2016 Istanbul and this pretentious dinner party which extends and weaves the length of the story and from where we are given flashbacks to Peri’s Oxford of 2000, with its chocolate box of students, vibrant pubs, neoclassical architecture and medieval passageways. The reader is also placed within a divided family, as well as a religiously eclectic seminar of students discussing God.  With traumatic and violent scenes, surreal and ethereal daydreams or visions, heaps of glitter and glamorous people and by contrast, gritty, persevering characters, resolute in their own values, Shafak casts her magical realism spell with reality to create a very credible story. 

The passages of Professor Azur’s seminars are heavily philosophical and full of artistry, as well as thought-provoking powerful prose. In this way, Shafak’s story is didactic and poetic, encompassing traditional morals as wells as progressive ideas. 

Elif Shafak has produced a realistic account of modern day Turkey with its kaleidescope and confusion as well as an astounding multifarious story of self-belief, self-discovery and self-love.

My first experience with Elif Shafak took the form of Three Daughters of Eve (2016) and left me somewhat disappointed. It is a well written book and I could easily recognise the author's talent and  her intelligent use of various narrative techniques, yet it could have been a splendid book had it not been for the few supernatural appearances, unrealistic experiences and some elements of the plot.
  It could have been a great book dealing with modern day problems like terrorism, religion and its place in the 21st century, feminism, Eastern and Western societies, democracy and so forth. Unfortunately, Shafak turned all these stringent problems into some sort of a classic professor-student love story.
  I could have happily written pages on feminism and motherhood; on how Peri evolved from a curious little girl who swore not to repeat her mother's mistakes into a brave, powerful and independent woman, who raised her three children in the spirit of feminism and globalization. I would have eagerly mentioned  Peri's promise to herself "not [to] live the life of her mother. She would not be inhibited, limited and reduced to something she was not". I would have bragged about a woman's power to overcome her condition, to surpass everyone's expectations, including hers, to succeed in a foreign land afraid of (Turkish) immigrants, to fight oppression and chauvinism. I would have proudly made Peri a spokesperson for Third World feminism.
  Sadly, Peri failed to become the woman of my imaginary essay on feminism. As her daughter comments, she chose to "drop out of Oxford, return to Istanbul, get married, give up your education, have three kids in a row and become a housewife. How original, bravo!" Through these choices, Peri proved her depressed and overly pious mother was right: "For Selma, Peri's education was less and intellectual awakening or the precursor to a promising career than a briefly interlude before her wedding."
  I loved Peri in the beginning of the novel. I loved her as she was chasing and fighting the thief that stole her purse. I loved her force and determination, as heedless as they were. But I ended up feeling disappointed. She lost all her dreams of being the only one in her family to graduate from college and of becoming a powerful woman with an important career. All because of her love for professor Azur.
  In short, the novel is an enjoyable book to read, yet it could have been better had it focused more on feminism, religion and Turkish society.

P.S. Alas, the open ending was so predictable!

Extremely thought provoking with a beautiful writing style. A perfect example of why it is so important to remain open minded in our reading and seek novels with diverse characters, ideas and themes. The action in the book was somewhat slow but this was a mental journey rather than a physical and I was easily swept into the main characters thoughts and world.

So, first things first - Three Daughters of Eve is the first book I've read by Elif Shafak but I am aware that this book, which examines themes such as the role of women in society, the clash between East and West, religion versus secularism, and the growing chasm between the haves and the have-nots, will seem familiar territory to many of her readers.

In this book, we follow Peri - a woman living in Istanbul with her daughter and her wealthy husband.-  who, in the course of one day, experiences a succession of events that will change her life.  But as these events unfold in the present, it causes Peri to reflect on moments from her childhood - torn between the secularism of her father and the devout religious adherence of her mother - and, specifically, on her years as a student at Oxford University where she was at the heart of a scandal, a source of wrongdoings, that she desperately wishes to rectify, even after all these years.

The split in timelines - with reminisces of past events tangled into Peri's present day - works well. And Istanbul just leaps off the page as a character in its own right - its sounds, its smells, and its personality. Complex and multi-layered. And certainly this book zips along. It's easy to read, Peri is a sympathetic character - a once bright young woman who seems to have lost her spark over the years. - and I enjoyed it. I definitely enjoyed this book.

However, I haven't given it more than three stars as, though reading Three Daughters of Eve is a pleasurable experience, a lot of the plot and its characters are not fully fleshed out or three=dimensional. 

Elif clearly had an intention in writing this book to examine the themes mentioned above. Every single element of this book is constructed to analyse it - the secularism vs. religious split in her parents is reflected again in her two best friends at Uni; two polar opposites with one a freewheeling spirit, the other a devout Muslim. And this need to examine this conflict is even hammered home in the lectures Peri attends with focus on a specific course that analyses God, religion and the role of philosophy. And the passages of these lectures did make me feel like I was reading Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World all over again where the ideas were just hammered home.

And this conflict is constantly brought in throughout the book, for example, in the dinner party Peri attends in the present day, the men are hard-nosed businessmen and the women are thrilled at the arrival of a fortune-teller, And even in the city itself - Istanbul a city torn between East and West, torn between its future and its past.

Nothing is subtle in this book, which is frustrating. It feels didactic and because there is such a need to examine the clash, supporting characters lack complexity - they exist solely to make a theoretical point. But we are all full of contradictions and the absence of these makes much of the story unbelievable. In order for the plot to move forward, certain characters take rather drastic action - to rather shoehorn in a climax - but given what we know of the characters, these actions do not seem truthful and it feels a rather transparent way to move the plot along.

So, look, this is a lovely read. It's easy and enjoyable. Dare I say it, one to take on holiday. But this isn't a book that stands out as one that i would recommend to all that you absolutely must read.

"I was always in that limbo between yes and no. No stranger to faith, no stranger to doubt..."

4.5*

I was really happy to receive Three Daughters of Eve on Netgalley, as I'd recently read an interview with the author and thought the book sounded fascinating. 

It certainly lived up to expectations. The book is set both in the past and the present, focusing on Peri as a student in Oxford, and as a wealthy wife (14 years later) in Istanbul. It starts with something of a red herring, focusing on Peri's attack (and almost rape) by a beggar, then develops into an exploration of her past, as a Turkish Muslim at Oxford University. 

She's flanked by Shirin, a non-believer, and Mona, a devout Muslim - making them 'the sinner, the believer and the confused'. They're united by a man called Professor Azur, who has a major influence in their lives, both positive and negative. 

The book is an intriguing exploration into religion, belief and culture-clash - and in particular, the scenes detailing Peri's past, with a non-believing father and a devout mother, worked particularly well. A few moments jarred slightly - for example, the sudden revelation about the twin brother towards the end, and the abrupt shift in perspective from Peri to Professor Azur (again, towards the end), but for the most part, this book was masterfully executed and beautifully sustained throughout. 

I think Shafak has a strong, resonant style, combined with a philosophical approach - which works really well. I'd definitely like to read more of her books.

In one sentence: A Turkish girl, divided by religion and haunted by a spirit, tries to find life and love in Oxford.

Full review: A Turkish girl, whose family is split down the same secular-traditional religion faultiness as the country as a whole, goes to Oxford University – but for some mysterious reason never completes her degree. Also – she keeps seeing visions of a baby, which may or may not be a demon-spirit. From the beginning this book hooked me – the writing is excellent, and the portrayal of Turkey as a melting pot between East and West was fascinating.

The main character walks religious tightropes of Turkish culture, and I was gripped by the Turkish parts. However, the religious debates in Oxford grew a little tiring, and I felt let down by the end third, where the plot petered out a little. But the writing is superb, and I would be interested to see what this author produces in the future. Recommended.