A World Worth Loving, A World Worth Mourning

The World has given me enough reasons to hope and enough reasons not to.

enigmatic visions — emile corsi

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They say it’s the survival of the fittest, but I wonder who is actually better equipped to survive, the optimist or the pessimist? That was the question driving me when I first picked up this book, drawn in by a single, unforgettable quote.

Excerpts from the Book

I exist somewhere in the middle, a strange blend of both sides. Sometimes it feels like an identity crisis, like belonging to two different worlds but never fully fitting into either. I can’t honestly claim one label over the other.

I simply know that things can change, constantly, for better or for worse.

I'm constantly stunned by how beautiful this world can be, a view, a stranger's warmth, a second that feels eternal. And underneath it all, I'm thankful that love and kindness exist, not just concepts, but real things I experience firsthand.

Yet, despite holding that gratitude, I probably come across to others as cynical, pessimistic, or constantly complaining. Maybe that’s because I don’t post gratitude journals or broadcast the beautiful things in my life on social media.

But I am deeply grateful that I've been able to experience them.

At the same time, I cannot look away from the uglier realities. They leave me wondering whether humanity will ever truly progress, or if we will become even more regressive. Surrounded by so much entitlement, I worry about how long we can preserve the beauty life has given us.

Excerpts from the Book

Ten Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is not a philosophical manifesto, it is a work of fiction.

The story follows Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul, and her five misfit friends.

There are moments that are genuinely heartbreaking. At first, I thought I was about to read something similar to A Thousand Splendid Suns. I couldn't have been more wrong.

It's a novel with real depth and unexpected turns at every corner. I knew from the first page that I was reading something entirely different.

The title had me bracing for aliens or parallel dimensions. But the "strange world" Elif Shafak writes about isn't an alien universe, it’s our own.

After her brutal murder, Leila's brain remains conscious for exactly ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds. In those final, fading moments, her mind journeys back through the scents, tastes, and memories that shaped her life.

I genuinely loved this book. I usually avoid giving star ratings unless something really falls flat, and this one absolutely did not.

If you are looking for a story that embraces the beautiful, tragic complexities of being human, I highly recommend picking this up.

I have successfully wrestled this review into a state of spoiler-free chaos, which was not easy because every fiber of my being wants to scream every twist from the rooftops, but no, I refuse, I absolutely refuse, because you deserve to walk into this book like a fool, stumbling through its pages with zero preparation, just raw, unprotected wonder, the way I did, and I will not rob you of that, even if it kills me (it might)

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