Toronto Star – February 9, 2007
“Sex and religion, faith and skepticism... all these elements come together in The Bastard of Istanbul. Set mostly in Instanbul, it is a lively book, full of powerful, talkative women, who are full of superstitions, folk tales, vengeful schemes and codes of behaviour they resent and subscribe to at the same time.”

The Seattle Times – February 2, 2007
By itself, The Bastard of Istanbul is a rich and satisfying journey; placed in the context of Shafak's trial, and the recent murder of a Turkish newspaper editor who wrote about the Armenian massacres, it's a vital reminder of history's hold on us, of how the past can still control the present. Filled with the aromas and textures of traditional Turkish food, The Bastard of Istanbul mingles past and present, blending the voices of its many characters in a balance as delicate as any savory dish. Shafak's prose is rife with telling detail... and witty description.” – Moira Macdonald

Star Tribune – February 2, 2007
“It is unfortunate that the first thing readers might know about this bold and raggedly beautiful new novel is that writing it nearly cost Elif Shafak her freedom. Shafak was acquitted, however, and now U.S. readers can pick up this still vibrating book with newfound appreciation. It meditates on the power of memory and the way time tends to bend the rules about killing.
Although this book is crowded with characters, its most vivid one is… Istanbul itself.” – John Freeman

Los Angeles Times – January 21, 2007
“A serious novel of ideas… The past is a contested landscape in Shafak's writing. If a novel can be reduced to an argument, The Bastard of Istanbul is an attack on the very notion underlying the controversy surrounding its publication: the idea of a stable national and cultural identity, of a history that can be neatly comprehended and possessed. In the end… Shafak resists a tidy wrap-up. The point here - and of the ugly fuss that greeted the book's publication - is that the past is never finished, never neat and never ours.” – Ben Ehrenreich

San Francisco Chronicle – January 21, 2007
Shafak possesses the courage to acknowledge the truth…The Bastard of Istanbul details the process of two families, and two pasts, drawing closer together, with the sins of the family standing in for the collective sins of a country… forced to stay silent about the past for the sake of an illusory unity. Shafak is incapable of bringing harmony to such unsettled matters, even in the pages of a fictional narrative. All she can do, and does, is shine a light on the past, and keep it shining so that everyone — Turkish, Armenian, and otherwise — must look.” – Saul Austerlitz

Pittsburg Post Gazette – January 14, 2007
“Rich and intense… Through an artfully cast, intertangled web of characters, Elif Shafak shows how Armenians abroad remember the Armenian genocide in what is now modern-day Turkey compared to those generations that remained behind…This is an important book about forgetting, about retelling stories, about denial (which isn't always a bad thing), about not knowing your past, about knowing your past, and about choosing (again and again) to start over. Shafak's writing is beautiful and meaningful and will astound you as you find the many ways to claim the story as, also, your own.” – Sherrie Flick

St. Louis Post Dispatch – January 14 2007
“More than a news topic… the novel, a best-seller in Turkey, is a fast-paced story of love, loss and coincidence. Shafak writes powerfully of war (cultural and familial), of peace and of the meaning of moral fortitude. She possesses a steady hand when it comes to creating strong female characters, and her vivid descriptions of the charms of Istanbul serve to lure the traveler better than any pitch from a tour company. Shafak's characters linger in the mind days after finishing the book, and for that (among other reasons, of course) we are grateful that she is safe at home with her baby and not in jail.” – Patricia Corrigan

The Economist – January 11, 2007
“This is a deftly spun tale of two families...who are burdened by dark secrets and historical tragedies rooted in a common Istanbul past. Subtly, yet firmly, Ms Shafak sets the record straight.”

Publishers Weekly – November 13, 2006
“In her second novel written in English, Turkish novelist Shafak tackles Turkish national identity and the Armenian "question" in her signature style. In a novel that overflows with a kitchen sink's worth of zany characters, women are front and center. Shafak... incorporates a political taboo into an entertaining and insightful ensemble novel, one that posits the universality of family, culture and coincidence.”

Kirkus (Starred Review) – November 1, 2006
“An astonishingly rich and lively story of an Istanbul family whose mixed up heritage mirrors the complexity of Turkish society. Shafak, whom the Turkish government has put on trial for ‘denigrating Turkishness,’ writes here about the 1915 massacre of Armenians. Shafak handles her large cast of characters and plotting with finesse.”