A memorably phantasmagoric evocation of political and social disorientation. - The New Yorker
Shadowless is a knotty, postmodern tale. The quicksilver narrative slips between dream, memory and reality, alternating between a barbershop in Istanbul and a timeless village 'forgotten by God and the government' . . . A beguiling enigma. -
Financial Times Shadowless is a postmodern work that can only be described as an enigma . . . Blending dream, reality, and memory seamlessly, Shadowless weaves a narrative that can be interpreted in many ways . . . The hallucinogenic, uncertain, and mysterious quality of the narrative . . . serves to drive the reader forward in the story, adamant in untangling the knot of the plot to discover what really happened to Guvercin . . . As with many postmodernist works and works of poetry which this novel curiously resembles, the choice is the reader's to make. -
New York Journal of Books A poetic masterpiece of world literature . . . An oriental Kafka, enriched with the literary achievements of Islamic mysticism -
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Toptas seems to me Orhan Pamuk's equal . . . He strikes me as just as
gifted a writer -
Sydney Morning Herald A wonderful and gripping story . . . This is news and history made intimate. I am deeply grateful to Hasan Ali Toptas for having told me this story - Nadeem Aslam on RECKLESS
The troubles of a village
muhtar (elected head), on the lowest rung of Turkey's administrative state, are at the centre of
Shadowless by Hasan Ali Toptas, one of the country's most celebrated contemporary novelists . . . At times the descriptions of a community's collective, unspoken guilt bring to mind Gabriel Garcia Marquez's
Chronicle of a Death Foretold . . . Focused and sure-footed . . .
Shadowless leaves behind as many questions as answers. Hasan Ali Toptas constructs an alluring framework and leaves the reader space to join the dots. -
Times Literary Supplement An
extraordinary tale . . . A strange, troubling but
compelling ride of a novel -
Toronto Star An
extraordinary writer -
Hürriyet
