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4.5
“Red Dress in Black & White”, by Elliot Ackerman, is the story of five characters entwined in a push-pull relationship that only one fully understands.Set in Istanbul in 2013, the novel is structured around a November day when American Catherine, and her seven year old son, William, attempt to flee her Turkish husband Murat, with the help of her lover, an American photographer named Peter, and their friend Deniz. Another character, Kristin, who is part of the US consulate, has introduced these people to each other.The novel is about the nature of dualities/pairs, and the tensions between them:Light and dark (black and white)Male and femaleStrength and weaknessFreedom and controlWhat is apparent and what is hiddenIstanbul as a setting is the perfect duality metaphor as it is part Asia and part Europe. The back-story includes the Gezi Park demonstrations/riots, which I looked up to try to figure out the byzantine reasons attributed to the clash.I am not a reader who normally needs to like the characters in a novel, or to feel sympathy with any of them. None of these five characters are good or sympathetic; Catherine with her self-acknowledged “moral hollowness”, Murat’s paralyzing fear, Peter’s lack of agency, Deniz’ secrets, Kristin’s cold selfishness. But if Ackerman intends to build suspense and mystery in order to have me to care about will happen to them, I have to care at least a little: I didn’t. But I still enjoyed the journey because the story is so well written and the ending is so tight.
