As soon as the sun broke through the clouds and peeked through them, the drug pushers propped up the facades of the houses with one shoulder, lest they collapse, and started talking sweetly with the car mechanics, the carpenters, the turners. They talked and at the same time rolled up the heroin tubes tightly so that the craftsmen could snort more easily so that their hands wouldn't shake when they did the welding. Frightened by the stories of their men, the peasant women hung like prisoners from the windows and did not let them out of their sight…
Simultaneously enticing and repulsive, cynical-naturalistic and poetic, the novel " Ulica Cholera" by Metin Kachan takes us back to Istanbul in The 1970s in a vicious world of depravity, violence, gambling, drug addicts and prostitutes. And amidst all this foam of life, we witness the most sublime human feelings, devoted friendship, self-sacrifice, unforgettable love and all-consuming passion.
The inveterate thief collects coins for an injured child, the gangster is worshiped by the poor because he protects them, the Christians share their sorrows with the Muslims, and the gypsies make everyone cry with their darbukes and clarinets.
At the center of this seething street life with a strange name is the story of a pure-hearted, inquisitive and uncorrupted boy who becomes a cruel yet compassionate gangster.
The presentable and attractive Ali has been running a barber shop on Cholera Street for years, where he lives with his wife Imine. With his sophistication and firmness, he quickly managed to establish himself as a respected person even among the most feared lords of the street. Scared to death by her husband's stories of robberies and murders, Imine has not dared to leave her home for years. At the same time, Ali constantly falls into the love networks of street women, often visits the Greek Eleni in the neighboring house, experiencing unforgettable passionate moments. One day, a new inhabitant arrives in the neighborhood in her pimp's luxury car - the beautiful prostitute Tina, who lives on rent in the barber's house. From the first moment, Ali Salih's young son falls in love with her, who, after the death of the ferocious street thug Arab Sado, succeeds him as the new street thug…
About the author
Metin Kachan is among the brightest and most talented Turkish postmodernist writers. Cholera Street is his most significant novel. The book has been a huge success and has been reprinted dozens of times in Turkey and abroad.
In 1996, Metin Kachan was accused of rape. And despite the ambiguities in the case, he goes to prison. He committed suicide on January 6, 2013, by jumping into the sea from a Bosphorus bridge.
