Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Renovation,' by Kenan Orhan
4/24/202643 min
Dilara, the heroine of Kenan Orhan’s debut novel, is a Turkish exile living in Italy and undergoing a routine bathroom renovation that turns out to be not so routine: When the contractors leave, she steps into the refurbished space and finds herself somehow transported to an actual cell in Istanbul’s infamous Silivri Prison.
Initially dismayed, she soon grows resigned and even magnetically attracted to the cell, which offers a connection in its way to the lost homeland where her father — now dying of Alzheimer’s disease — was labeled a dissident by the ruling government. Is this strange portal a retreat or a trap, a bridge to the country she misses or a gateway for the danger she fled? And what will she sacrifice for a taste of home?
On this episode of the Book Review Book Club, host MJ Franklin discusses “The Renovation” with fellow editors Joumana Khatib and Dave Kim.
Other books mentioned in this episode:
“Man of My Time,” by Dalia Sofer
“The Spare Room,” by Helen Garner
“The Trial,” by Franz Kafka
“The Disconnected” and “Waiting for the Fear,” by Oguz Atay
“The Anthropologists,” by Aysegul Savaş
“What We Can Know,” by Ian McEwan
“Exit West,” by Mohsin Hamid
“The Memory Police,” by Yoko Ogawa
“We Do Not Part,” by Han Kang
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Dave Kim· Panelist0:05
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Joumana Khatib· Panelist0:11
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MJ Franklin· Host0:16
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MJ Franklin· Host0:30
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to another book club episode of The Book Review. I'm MJ Franklin, I'm an editor here at the New York Times Book Review, and for Book Club this week, we're chatting about The Renovation by Canan Orhan. The Renovation is a bold, ambitious debut novel with an instantly intriguing conceit. It's about a woman who discovers that her bathroom has been transformed into a prison cell. And I read it on a whim just because I heard that conceit, I had a free weekend, and I wanted to get lost in something. But then I couldn't stop thinking about it. And then I was like, "I wanna talk to other people about it." And then I realized, "Wait a second, MJ, you run a book club. Just make it your book club pick, and you can force people to talk with you about it." So that's what we're here to do today. And joining me in that adventure are two of my esteemed colleagues, Jumana Khateeb. Hi, Jumana.
Joumana Khatib· Panelist1:20
Hi, MJ.
MJ Franklin· Host1:21
You are a fan favorite. You were here last week talking about On the Calculation of Volume.
Joumana Khatib· Panelist1:25
That's right. And also, the reading for last week's podcast did have the feeling of,