10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

by

Elif Shafak

The young gay man is Leila’s final client, their encounter arranged by his wealthy father in an attempt to “convert” his son’s sexual orientation. He is portrayed as hesitant and uncomfortable, clearly struggling with the dissonance between his father’s expectations and his true identity. When Leila arrives at his Intercontinental Hotel suite, she urges him to invite his romantic partner to the room instead, and the young man is immensely grateful. He thinks highly of Leila, and when he later reads about her death in the newspaper, he angrily confronts his father, assuming he is somehow responsible for her murder—as well as the murders of three other sex workers he previously hired for his son.
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The Young Gay Man Character Timeline in 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

The timeline below shows where the character The Young Gay Man appears in 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 17: Ten Minutes Thirty Seconds
...drink she ever had. In November 1990, Bitter Ma informs Leila about a new client— a gay man whose father has arranged for his marriage to a woman. Leila’s task is to “convert”... (full context)
...décor to mask the horrors of its past. When she enters the penthouse, she meets her client —drunk and tearful. Leila pities this man, unable to openly love who he chooses. They... (full context)
...and Leila looks forward to the money she’ll soon receive from both these men and the gay customer ’s father. But as she enters the vehicle and it speeds away, she senses that... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 8: The View from Above
Following her murder, Leila’s last official client—the young gay man from the penthouse at the Intercontinental—storms into his father’s office in a brand-new luxury high... (full context)
...a lifelong celibate, who orchestrates the killings. Tasked with procuring sex workers for his boss’s gay son , he seizes the opportunity to embark on what he sees as a holy mission—to... (full context)