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The Trojan War Museum: and Other Stories Hardcover – August 20, 2019

by Ayse Papatya Bucak (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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Winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award and a Finalist for the 2020 PEN America Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection

A debut story collection of spectacular imaginative range and lyricism from a Pushcart Prize–winning author.

In Ayse Papatya Bucak’s dreamlike narratives, dead girls recount the effects of an earthquake and a chess-playing automaton falls in love. A student stops eating and no one knows whether her act is personal or political. A Turkish wrestler, a hero in the East, is seen as a brute in the West. The anguish of an Armenian refugee is “performed” at an American fund-raiser. An Ottoman ambassador in Paris amasses a tantalizing collection of erotic art. And in the masterful title story, the Greek god Apollo confronts his personal history and bewails his Homeric reputation as he tries to memorialize, and make sense of, generations of war.

A joy and a provocation, Bucak’s stories confront the nature of historical memory with humor and humanity. Surreal and poignant, they examine the tension between myth and history, cultural categories and personal identity, performance and authenticity.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    August 20, 2019
  5. Dimensions
    5.9 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1324002972
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1324002970
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

From the Publisher

trojan war museum

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bucak's luminous debut taps folklore and real life to flesh out complex characters with an agile, inventive hand."
― O, The Oprah Magazine

"A surrealist wunderkammer in which the lines between history and myth, reality and performance, and the cultural and personal are blurred and redrawn."
― The Millions

"Ayse Papatya Bucak shares with Jhumpa Lahiri the gift of fusing distinctive subject matter with an unusually restrained and elegant voice. This marvelous debut collection is truly rare in its range and depth, its deft mastery of history and myth, and its fearless storytelling."
― Andrea Barrett, author of Archangel

"The author astutely deploys a range of styles and techniques that create a cerebral, multifarious collection. Bucak's remarkable, inventive, and humane debut marks her as a writer to watch."
― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Bucak’s stories are wide-ranging and capacious, formally playful, and moving. They speak on behalf of women who are subject to fate and the tides of history. They convey history’s full force, but also the individual’s willfulness, cunning, and compassion. These stories are entirely contemporary and unique."
― Joshua Ferris, author of The Dinner Party

"Cerebral yet high-spirited."
― Kirkus Reviews

"One of the best and most surprising collections I’ve read in a long time. This is a wonder cabinet of stories so singular and marvelous that I spent a long time after each, wanting to linger in the space it had created."
― Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

"This is a truly lovely, truly surprising book. Ayse Papatya Bucak’s stories are narratively precise, and they are also beautiful vignettes on human culture, deftly probing the fissures and pressure points of history and bringing up new forms like the sponge divers in one of her stories. This collection absolutely glows with life."
― Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State

"What a beautiful, wildly imagined book. The Trojan War Museum gives us stories with branching paths, and they resemble fairy tales, historical accounts, news reports, and dreams. This is fiction of great originality and great delight."
― Joan Silber, author of Improvement

About the Author

Ayse Papatya Bucak’s short fiction has been selected for the O. Henry and Pushcart prizes. She lives in Delray, Florida, where she is an associate professor in the MFA program at Florida Atlantic University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (August 20, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324002972
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1324002970
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.47 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

About the author

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Ayse Papatya Bucak

Ayse Papatya Bucak

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Ayşe Papatya Bucak was born in Istanbul, Turkey, but grew up outside of Philadelphia. She is the author of THE TROJAN WAR MUSEUM AND OTHER STORIES and is an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University. Her stories have been reprinted in the O.Henry and Pushcart Prize anthologies, and THE TROJAN WAR MUSEUM was awarded the Spotlight Award by the Story Prize and was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for a Debut Story Collection in 2020.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Katie
5.0 out of 5 stars Strange, luminous, evocative
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2020
Verified Purchase
I saw this book listed on a year end Best Of list and was intrigued. Each story takes place in a different place and time, and I was repeatedly delighted at the author's refreshing choices of context and conflict. I read this book before bed and every story kept me turning pages long after I was supposed to be asleep. Great book to wrap up my 2019 reading. Highly recommend!
One person found this helpful
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S. Deniz Bucak
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2019
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Highly entertaining and smart. A mixture of Turkish fairy tales and post modern fiction. Often sad but uplifting stories. Wonderful.
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Cariola
4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Reaction
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2019
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book on the strength of the opening story, which I read as an excerpt online. It's absolutely stunning. Set in a Turkish girl's school that has been demolished by a kitchen explosion in the middle of the night, it is a conversation among those buried in the rubble awaiting rescue, those who have died, and those who are in the midst of crossing over. The girls try to comfort one another as they wait, recall their happier memories, and recount their dreams for a future that may no longer exist. Unfortunately, most of the other stories in the collection don't come close to this one. A coed stops eating and talking while others try to assign a motive to her actions. A man's collection of supposedly pornographic paintings is discussed, including his memories of the artists, models, and former owners. An older girl bonds with a "little sister." The history of a series of Trojan War museums. Only the last story, "The Gathering of Desire," stands out. A young Quaker, recently widowed, is encouraged by her children to challenge a mechanical chess player. The narrative shifts between her and the hidden man who controls The Turk, both of them expressing regrets and desires. On the strength of the opening and closing stories, I rated this collection as four stars, but the stories in between are not particularly memorable.
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Mary Ann
2.0 out of 5 stars Not recommended
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2019
Verified Purchase
This was a selection of my small 6 person book club. It generated discussion because nobody in the group liked the book and everyone was baffled by the excellent reviews. We read a variety of genres and are open to new writing styles and ideas, however this book left everyone wondering what we all couldn't comprehend that other
reviewers found so noteworthy.
One person found this helpful
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Bob Bacheler
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Debut Collection- Imaginative Stories Told in Vivid Language
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2019
Ayse Papatya Bucak's debut story collection is filled with touching, poignant stories that chronicle the underlying themes of identity, history, and memory. Bucak's characters struggle with universal themes such as balancing their everyday lives among conflicting cultural norms, distinguishing whether individual actions should be construed as personal or political, and what debts (if any), need to be paid to our ancestors. The author's evocative prose left me with a deep sense of awe and hope that humans in this century might actually be able to FIGURE THINGS OUT.
One person found this helpful
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Jennifer
2.0 out of 5 stars Hard to follow; might be better in audio
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2023
I wanted so much to like this book! The stories have potential to be engrossing, but it's easy to lose both message and direction, as well as who the author is talking about from one paragraph of hazy "dreamlike" prose to the next. It reminded me of an avante guard coffee shop on open mic night. I might enjoy the story telling as an audio book or seeing it plotted out on stage, especially the second piece. Not without merit, just not my cup of tea.
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