The Museum of Innocence

Orhan Pamuk · b. 1952 · Turkey

Originally Masumiyet Müzesi (Turkish) · translated by Maureen Freely

Why it matters

A wealthy Istanbul man's obsession with a poor young relative curdles into decades of hoarding every object she's touched, assembled at last into a literal museum. Pamuk's vast, aching study of love as collection and captivity.

At a glance

A slow-accumulating, obsessive narration over decades rewards patience more than pace.