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This is a very cinematic book with the narrator acting like a camera, each chapter taking place in a different apartment inside this decrepit Instanbul building, plagued by bugs and the overpowering smell of garbage. The novel is a succession of quick chapters sweeping through all the tenants lives times and again, including that of the narrator, a divorced professor with a fondness for raki. Of course, there are surprises throughout the book, and of course at the very end... I was really impressed by Shafak's caring portrayals of women, the corner stones of the book and the building. It was also a very interesting window into Turkish society full of contrasts (religious fervor, marxist intellectuals, beauty and squalor, tradition and modernity). I will read more books by Shafak as soon as possible.