Blood Tie

BLOOD TIE

by Mary Lee Settle

 

Award: National Book Winner 1978

 

Date Read: September 27, 2020

 

The bloody hand print on the cover belies the depth and intricacy of this novel. I thought it would be about a simple murder, however, Settle’s insight into Turkish culture and the behavior of ex-pats made for a rich and engaging novel.

 

Essentially, Blood Tie is about a disparate group of ex-pats who descend on a small seaside town in Turkey and the impact their behavior has on the land and locals. This is a tale told globally as places that were once charming and serene are developed into unrecognizable money-making machines. The sum of these characters is unlikable; their behavior towards the locals and one another is appalling.

 

The American and European ex-pats all seem bored with the lives they have left behind and are searching for some way to fulfill themselves that lies anywhere but in themselves. They look to Ceramos to entertain and divert their privilege, considering themselves more worldly and exotic for simply arriving. 

 

Life runs cheap here, where the depths of despair and loss never really hit home. Losing the students in the shipwreck, the suicide of a husband who has caught his wife cheating and the demise of Timur were all tragedies but I am still unclear as to how the expats contributed to the latter’s death. The only despair I truly felt was in the exhaustion of Munci, the diver tasked  with bringing them ashore.

 

Although I found this novel engaging and was surprised by Settle’s insight into Turkish culture, I kept hoping the various vignettes would merge into something more recognizable, which never materialized for me.