10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is a book consisting of three parts in which Elif Shafak explores the consciousness of a woman named Leila, known as “Tequila Leila.” Leila’s heart has stopped beating, her skin has gone pale, and she is no longer breathing, yet her mind and her soul are still active. The book rests on the concept that, after the body stops responding, the mind and soul continue working for approximately 10 minutes and 38 seconds.
Leila’s mind continues to function for these final 10 minutes and 38 seconds. Physically, she has been murdered and dumped inside a municipal bin as a final form of humiliation. As she lies there, she recalls memories that she could not access during her lifetime, extending all the way back to her birth.
A Life Shaped by Trauma and Escape
Leila was born into a polygamous family, with her father having two wives. After Leila’s birth, her father requested her biological mother to give the baby over to his childless first wife. Begrudgingly, Leila’s mother agreed, and Leila grew up believing her aunt was her mother.
Leila experiences sexual abuse from a close family member from a very young age, an experience that significantly shapes her character and subsequent interactions. When her father discovers the abuse, he arranges her marriage to her cousin as a way to protect the family’s “honour.”
Escaping this environment, Leila runs away to Istanbul, where she works as a sex worker. In the city, Leila eventually makes “odd” friends who accept her as she is — people who are ostracised and looked down upon in the streets of Istanbul, collectively known as “The Five.”
Memory, Mortality, and the Cemetery of the Companionless
Shafak writes Leila’s character beautifully, imbuing her with remarkable emotional depth. Her evocative prose allows the reader to imagine themselves directly in Leila’s shoes. (Shafak has faced significant backlash in Turkey for addressing sexuality and taboo subjects in her literature.) Leila’s story reminds us that, no matter how much society looks down upon an individual, love can still be found in unexpected places. Her life narrative is as tragic as it is beautiful.
Once Leila’s final mental processes conclude, her body is taken for an autopsy. Her biological family refuses to claim the body. Here, Shafak introduces a real-life location into the narrative: the Cemetery of the Companionless, an actual site located on the outskirts of Istanbul reserved for the burial of the unclaimed and marginalized. There are no proper funerals or tombstones there; bodies are marked merely with numbers.
However, “The Five” are determined to give Leila a proper burial. They are initially denied custody of the body because they are not her legal family. Undeterred, her five friends go to the extreme length of exhuming her body at night to rebury her properly next to her departed love, D/Ali.
A Tragic Sanctuary
Overall, this book is deeply moving and profoundly tragic. Though Leila’s life was filled with grief and social stigma, she managed to create a sanctuary for herself. She is exiled from her own family, loses the love of her life, and is brutally murdered due to the work she was involved in. Yet, in the end, her community of fellow misfits makes the ultimate effort to ensure her final dignity.
While the narrative highlights specific cultural and misogynistic dynamics that portray certain Muslim characters in a harsh light, the overarching emotional resonance of the book remains undeniable.
I would give this book a four-star rating. It is brutal, deeply emotional, and a highly recommended read.