Her name was Leila….
So begins the story of Tequila Leila. It is no spoiler for me to tell you that our main character dies.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World by Elif Shafak is written with an underlying sadness. A story that takes the reader on a journey through a life cut short by violence, a life lived on the fringes of an unaccepting society, yet offers glimpses of happiness. Glimpses into a life that could have taken a different path had our main character perhaps lived in a different time and place.
Written in 2019 and short listed for the booker prize, this story is set in 20th century Turkey. It is 1990 and Tequila Leila, a sex worker, has been brutally murdered and as a final insult, her body left in a dumpster. Research suggests that when we die our brain remains active for some minutes and Elif Shafak uses this theory to tell the first part of this story. As each minute passes, Leila re-counts different stages of her life.
From birth to death, we follow Tequila Leila’s life story. A life that is impacted from the very beginning by her devout father. We then see Leila’s life further impacted by her abusive uncle and as she comes of age she decides she can no longer withstand life as it is and decides to escape to Istanbul where she ends up working in a brothel.
As each minute ends, a new chapter begins. A new episode in Leila’s life juxtaposed with significant events in Istanbul’s recent history right up to the night of her death while on a routine job. As the story progresses Leila meets those who will later become her “water family” a group of 5 outcasts who form a strong bond and support each other emotionally.
Leila’s friends play a major role in the second part of the book. Shunned by her blood relatives, they take it upon themselves to give Leila a proper burial after the authorities write her murder off as just another statistic. They band together to retrieve her body from the Cemetery of the Companionless, a place that actually exists on the outskirts of Istanbul and is reserved for the unidentified, sex workers, members of the LGBTQ community and refugees. Graves are unmarked save for a number which is assigned to each one.
In this half the book takes on an almost comical tone, verging on slapstick. Some reviewers wrote that this change in direction had a negative impact on the story, and while i’ll admit that I was a bit thrown off at first I found myself just as engaged with this part of the book as with the first half, and for all it’s comedic sequences the story didn’t lose it’s sense of tragedy.
In 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Elif Shafak weaves an impactful tale of loss and hurt, but writes into her characters a resilience which allows them to face the prejudiced society they are sorrounded by and bravely claim “This is me”. Her prose is tinged with melancholy, not only for her characters but also for the city of Istanbul. set in an Istanbul that in the author’s words, “Was not the Istanbul that the Ministry of Tourism would have wanted foreigners to see,” we get a sense of the author’s longing for the city she cannot return to.
Elif Shafak has long been known for bravely speaking out against persecution of minorities within her country, violence against women and is a fierce champion of free speech. She has been accused of “insulting Turkishness” and put on trial for her fiction to the point where she was forced to leave her country. I highly recommend this interview she gave to the ABC for more insight.
What I love about fiction, and the many great writers who dedicate themselves to it, is the ability to place us in the shoes of characters we may never personally walk a mile in. More than just telling a story, great writers have the ability to evoke empathy. In 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Elif Shafak produced a moving piece of literature which made me sad, angry and even produced a couple of laughs along the way. Highly recommended.
Thanks for reading.
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