The Virgin's Knot

Rating:
Summary: Needs research
Review: As a retired librarian whose hobby is weaving, I looked forward to reading The Virgin's Knot and found the book to be very readable. Payne gives the reader valuable insights into Muslim society and its treatment of women while deftly avoiding a trite "hollywood" ending. This having been said, there are several reasons that I did not rate this novel higher.
First, there are many inaccuracies regarding textiles. For example, she refers to "woven socks". Turkey is noted for its intricately patterned and vividly colored knitted socks, which are, in some cases, collectors' items. The rugs woven in Turkey at that time would not have used merino wool, but wool from native sheep such as fat tailed sheep. It is also questionable that pile rugs would be wedding rugs, kilim rugs which are flat woven were used for this in Turkey.
Finally, while Payne has an admirable writing style and can be quite lyrical in her descriptions, there are a number of descriptions that should have been picked up by her editor. For example, in describing the landscape, olive trees with dustly leaves lend the aspect of "sequins" to the topography; "shiny" and "dusty" seem antonymic in my mind. In another section shadows cast on the weaver's face from her loom are described as net like. While this description certainly serves to reenforce the trapped nature of the weaver's situation, the actual shadow would have cast stripes of shadow since the woven portion would have been solid.
As a first effort, Payne has written an interesting book and I will read her second.


Rating:
Summary: A beautiful world in a flawed book
Review: Holly Payne weaves a beautiful world of mountains, sky, light, and art in the beginning of this novel about a polio-stricken young weaver. At some point about halfway through the middle of the book, after having been swept up in the language, the character of Nurdane, and the depictions of village life, I started to feel increasingly frustrated with her writing. While the character of Nurdane is beautifully realized, the other characters, especially the men, are flat, even caricature-like. Their motivations, although central to the unfolding of the plot, remain opaque at best. Secrets, deceptions, and secondary plots are hinted at then abandoned. The anthropologist on his goddess quest--unlikely in any academic setting, especially in the 1950s--appears to be included in the story mainly to provide comic relief. The most compelling element in this story is Nurdane--her faith and her strength. Her disability has apparently made her ineligible for marriage, but as a respected artist she is allowed more freedom than most unmarried women. However Payne uses language that obscures more than it illuminates, so the reader is often confused about what Nurdane is really feeling or thinking.
Payne rushes into an inexplicably violent ending that destroys the mood of the book. Nurdane's actions are completely out of character, they violate her faith, her sense of self, and the complicated love she and her father share. Instead of illuminating the world of a Moslem woman in a little-known part, of the world Payne has ended up with an unevenly written book with a grim, sensationalist conclusion that would keep me from recommending it to anyone. I can't help but think that thoughtful critiques by other readers, including Moslem readers, and a thorough job of editing, might have saved this book, and let Payne express the beauty and strength of the Turkish village people and their artistic traditions as well as the restrictions faced by village women. Payne obviously means to show that patriarchal traditions are repressive for women, but she has also created a strong female character whose faith is an integral part of her. The ending obscures any kind of complexity in the relationship Nurdane has with her religion, with the men in her life, and with her own gifts.

Rating:
Summary: BEWARE--BAD BOOK--BEWARE--LEAVE IMMEDIATELY
Review: I read this book over a long trip to Austria for a business trip. The plot seemed interesting and I was hopiing that it would give me a good insight into the feminist viewpoint in Turkey.
By the time I reached page 70, I began to wonder where was that all I hoped for. It took so long to actually understand what this book is about that if it weren't for the jacket cover, I still wouldn't what the plot of this book is.
If it were up to me, I would give the jacket writer a book deal rather than give one to Holly Payne. The jacket writer obviously was able make sense of whatever was written and put it into a coherent plot line. That's the sign of a good writer, not the writing of Holly Payne.
The dialogue in her book is very bad and almost at a level of being elementary. Characters answer each other in one word responses and continue to repeat themselves to no end.
I noticed that there is another book of hers coming out and if The Virgin's Knot is of any indication of what is to come, I surely won't buy it. Maybe, if it was a cold day and I needed something to start a fire with.
Main point: Stay away from this book.

Rating:
Summary: BEWARE--BAD BOOK--BEWARE--LEAVE IMMEDIATELY
Review: Nurdane, is a weaver living high in the remote mountain village of Mavisu. Disabled in early childhood, she cannot hope to be a bride like those for whom she weaves her astonishing rugs. But she dreams, comforted by the knowledge that as long as long as her hands remain pure, her skill, a gift from Allah, will remain.
Fathers in her village compete with one another, convinced their sin of bearing daughters will be expiated by the arrival of grandsons, if only marriages can be consummated on one of Nurdane's mystical rugs.

When American physical anthropologist, John Hennessey arrives, eager to find proof of Cybelle the ancient Goddess whom he believes will free the women from their male-imposed Islamic shackles, Nurdane is drawn to him.
Femininity lost, suppressed and denied by centuries of tradition and religious observance the warp, interlaced with a weft of emerging independence through forbidden education and societal change.
Holly Payne's first novel is set in 1950's Turkey amongst the people and the land she loves. With a richness and beauty like the hand-woven rugs themselves, she ties us, knot by knot into village life and beliefs, some of which endure to this day.

As Nurdane weaves and dreams of one day lying on her own dowry rug, she knows she must sacrifice something to Allah: her skill as a renowned weaver of healing rugs, or her womanhood.

The emergence of women and matriarchal power in society has been a theme in literature for centuries and Holly Payne adds to that library with this delicate, magical book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Idea - Poorly Written
Review: This is a spectacularly beautiful story andthe characters have the potential to become memorable. The setting is exotic and fascinating. HOWEVER, the book is poorly written in the sense that the characters, though endearing, are not well-developed and are rather flat. The plot, though full of potential, is inconsistent in its movement. The research is incredible, but is not incorporated very well into the story: it's like reading a story with an academic essay mixed in at odd parts. I was just disappointed because the book showed so much promise, but was poorly written and developed.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful story, beautifully written
Review: This is one of those books that grabs you by the heart and doesn't let go. The story of Nurdane, her rugs, her heart(aches), the people in her village, etc., etc., etc., kept me reading. I loved the characters, and I loved the history of the rugs. This is a keeper, and I'm looking forward to this authors next book.
Enjoy, Debbi :)

Rating:
Summary: Remember the Gordian Knot
Review: True, the book is not perfect --- honestly speaking, it could have been better. But albeit it being a fiction, it provided an insight to the past (& maybe still present to this very day for some) of Moslem women where life was strictly governed by a patriarchal society & the Koran. In a way, the Virgin's Knot is similar to Paolo Coehlle's the Alchemist, due to Santiago & Nurdane's constant search for truth & happiness. Unfortunately, Nurdane did not share Santiago's good fortune. Despite her questioning & being able to know the truth, her years of suppression & submission made her fail to believe and accept in what she finally discovered. Hence, the abrupt & tragic ending.

All in all, the Virgin's Knot is worth reading - if not for its exquisite plot - then, at least for the insight it offers on a unique society.