"The White Castle" by Orhan Pamuk is a first novel that shows cleverness and sparks of the Nobel Prize winning author's future promise but suffers from an amateur style, a predictable plot, and dull pacing. Like many 'postcolonial' novels, "The White Castle" deals with many of the familiar tropes concerning the divides between East and West and the fear/desire of becoming the Other. However, other books do those themes much better and with more artistry and nuance. This is the fourth book by Pamuk I have read ("Istanbul: Memories of a City," "Snow," "My Name Is Read") and feel that this was the weakest out of the four-interesting but unenjoyable, short but a chore to get through. If you like Pamuk's other works, "The White Castle" is worth a look but otherwise, go for his later works.