Before long, the reshuffling begins, and people who considered themselves Ottomans, are recategorised by the whim of the higher ups, and ripped bodily from the community. Then WWII takes all the able bodied men, and later, the new Turkish government decides to remove all the Greeks, even though they have not lived in Greece for many generations.
The story progresses in a series of short, choppy chapters, told from the points of view of the townsfolk, and also from the author's pulpit. Interwoven is the story of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), who develops through the book into the founding father of modern day Turkey.
The slow, methodical building up of characters is tedious to begin with, but you understand the purpose when you get to the war scenes. What seemed like a big deal to these people in their lives before the war, suddenly pales into insignificance. The juxtaposition is heartbreaking, but illustrates the complex and fragile intricacy of the fabric of any society. It also makes you appreciate the oddballs in your own community. Everybody has a place.
I will leave you with this quote, which seems to sum up the main message of the book:
"It is curious that the Russians, calling themselves Christians, and like so many other nominal Christians throughout history, took no notice whatsoever of the key parable of Jesus Christ himself, which taught that you shall love your neighbour as yourself, and that even those you have despised and hated are your neighbours. This has never made any difference to Christians, since the primary ephiphenomena of any religion's foundation are the production and flourishment of hypocricy, megalomania and psychopathy, and the first causalties of a religion's establishment are the intentions of its founder. One can imagine Jesus and Mohammed glumly comparing notes in paradise, scratching their heads and bemoaning their vain expense of effort and suffering, which resulted only in the construction of two monumental whited sepulchres."
