This Is How It Is (Book)

This Is How It Is is a long short story written by Turkish storyteller Mustafa Kutlu. The work explores the individual’s inner questioning, longing for the past, and the transience of the modern world through a metaphorical amusement park allegory, using the author’s distinctive narrative style.

Plot

The story begins with the main character, Süleyman, and his wife Zinnure, visiting an amusement park, where they experience flashbacks to earlier periods of their lives. Süleyman’s pivotal life moments—from his childhood as a memorizer to his career as a civil servant, from his marriage to his disappointments—are narrated as interwoven sections unfolding within a single day at the park. The story symbolically portrays the world as a temporary, deceptive, and glittering place like an amusement park, where this illusion intoxicates people and makes finding an exit difficult. The work consists of eight independent yet thematically connected sections:

This Is How It Is: The introductory section presenting Süleyman’s first impressions of his childhood and years as a memorizer.

The Star of My Fortune: Zinnure’s youth and her meeting with Süleyman are recounted.

Süleyman’s Choice: Süleyman’s internal conflict between choosing a career as a memorizer or becoming a civil servant is emphasized.

The Front of Refusal: The stance of Hafız Yaşar against urbanization and moral decay, along with his philosophy of living in harmony with nature, is highlighted.

Textiles: The contradiction between Uncle Rafet’s religious sensitivities and his material ambitions is depicted.

The Flower of Laughter: The unresolved inner world and spiritual confinement of philosophy teacher Şinasi Bey are explored.

The Sound of Water: The life and place in society of Sabahat, a solitary clerk, are narrated.

End: The family wins a bakery in a park raffle but cannot find the exit. This situation symbolizes the deceptive nature of the world and the difficulty of finding a way out.

Visual Representing Süleyman and His Wife Zinnure’s Journey into Their Inner Worlds at the Amusement Park (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

Characters

Süleyman: The main character; a man yearning for the past, questioning his life, and engaged in a spiritual search.

Zinnure: Süleyman’s wife; a figure who has relinquished her youthful dreams and made peace with the realities of life.

Hafız Yaşar: Süleyman’s memorizer teacher; a symbolic figure representing devotion to nature and spirituality.

Rafet: Süleyman’s uncle; a tradesman caught between religious values and material desires.

Şinasi: Philosophy teacher; although well-versed in academic knowledge, he is unable to resolve his own personal problems.

Sabahat: A woman who exists on the margins of society, rich in inner life but profoundly alone.

Themes

The Transience and Deceptiveness of the World: The amusement park symbolizes the glittering yet fleeting and misleading nature of reality.

Inner Questioning: The characters engage in profound reflections on life’s meaning by evaluating their past and present.

East-West and Spirituality-Materialism Conflict: The defense of traditional values is articulated through criticism of modernization and urbanization.

The Boundary Between Reality and Illusion: Süleyman’s perception of the world as a game space prompts a questioning of the nature of reality itself.