As far as I can tell, the original was in English; the Turkish version is actually a translation. At least, that's how they're treated bibliographically. Neither the English nor the Turkish edition makes mention of a translator, so I can only assume Şafak did the work herself, which then prompts one to ask how much of the writing was originally done in Turkish rather than English. (The Turkish edition did appear earlier, but there are all sorts of reasons which could explain that.)
There are some problems of diction which make it clear we're dealing with a non-native author. For instance, when the first protagonist's mother (ostensibly a monolingual American woman from Kentucky) is bothered by her daughter's silences on the phone, she says, "Why don't you respond?" There are also a couple typos and other errors which a good editor should've caught. (In particular, repeated references to "the First World War" within a flashback supposedly taking place in 1915 are jarring, to say the least.)
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2012-07-25 10:00 pm (UTC)There are some problems of diction which make it clear we're dealing with a non-native author. For instance, when the first protagonist's mother (ostensibly a monolingual American woman from Kentucky) is bothered by her daughter's silences on the phone, she says, "Why don't you respond?" There are also a couple typos and other errors which a good editor should've caught. (In particular, repeated references to "the First World War" within a flashback supposedly taking place in 1915 are jarring, to say the least.)