My Name is Ole

One of the new names in our story world, Şebnem Gürler Oakman, once again appears before us with genuine and sincere slices of life. She deepens the universe she created with her first book, and writes warm, familiar stories in which people of all ages will find themselves.

Although the stories can be read independently, their roots are connected to each other. Sometimes they flow from childhood to the present, and sometimes they trace back to old age. The productive writer, who narrates the characters, most of whom are children and women, in a crystal clear language, also offers us a realistic social portrait. And she makes us want to read again and again.

“Why then does my mother leave the room with her red face, swollen from crying. My father stays in the room for a long time. Cigarette after cigarette, the smoke filling the house burns my eyes. I run to the kitchen and sit on the floor. My brother, not caring about what is happening, eats the pastries in two bites, five in a row… He hugs my red-faced mother, says, ‘Well done, mother, the yeast ones are very nice,’ as if to spite me. My mother is smiling again, and if it weren’t for this boy…

I might be making this up now. It’s quite possible. People give new forms to their childhood memories. This subconscious loves to twist the truth! How else can we stand the weight of life? What’s done to us, what happens to us, what we find wrong with ourselves…”