Ohmar Pamuk’s The New Life is one of those books that plays out on several levels. First would be story of a 23 year old going through the trials of obsessive love while attempting to find his path in the world. His journey begins with a special book that is known for radically changing the life of anyone who may read its pages, an infatuation over a beautiful woman and then their road trip adventure that results after embarking on a search for the woman’s former love. This is the main story that is sold on the book’s jacket, and probably the reason why this was a huge seller in Pamuk’s native country of Turkey.

While that sounds like a clear enough narrative plot, Pamuk interjects the text with too many blind alleys, false identities and storylines that simply fade rather than come to any conclusion. With this, the novel can be read as a work of meta fiction which explores the concepts which are understood to provide the appropriate structures for fiction. Kafkaesque would be apropos, especially when the mystery behind the magical book brings in a cast of assassins and various characters who may or may not be who they say they are. And towards the end, Pamuk tips his hat to other authors such as Jules Verne, Rilke and Dante to bring in an exploration that doesn’t just deconstruct traditional narrative, but brings to light the reasons why people are drawn to literature. Just what are they seeking? And, after one seeks, what is there actually to be found in books? Do angels really exist for poets? For the imagination?

The third major level at which The New Life could be read involves the main character being a stand in for Turkey itself. While Turkey’s culture and history is anything but new, its placement in the modern world is and like a 23 year old, no one knows for sure which direction might be taken. At the center of the matter would be the tension between Western and Eastern cultures and various characters are used to embody the social groups that arise from this ongoing conflict: modern progressives, Islamic fundamentalists, national militants, student radicals, etc. But its not just world view differences, but modern progress itself. Centuries old traditions meat Coca-Cola, hamburgers and bus accidents.

Many, many bus accidents for that matter. From which characters stumble out only to take on the identity of the dead person that was once their lively seat mate. Would that be considered the new life? Would such a new life be internal or external? Both? Such are the questions Pamuk asks his readers to consider.