Elif Shafak. Istanbul Bastard (№ 424522)

For this Asia loved the cafe: for the sleepy numbness and absolute disharmony. It seemed to be somewhere outside of time and space. Istanbul was always in a rush, and apathy reigned in the Kundera cafe. The people outside clung to each other; to hide their loneliness, they pretended to be closer to each other than they really were. And here everything was the other way around, here everyone pretended to be much more detached than in reality. This place seemed to deny the existence of the entire city.