# The Gaze

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/elif-shafak/the-gaze/9780141961385

![The Gaze](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/elif-shafak/the-gaze_978-01-4196-138-5.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2001%3A53%3A18)

- Book: [The Gaze](https://www.bookquiver.com/elif-shafak/the-gaze) ([The Gaze.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/elif-shafak/the-gaze.md))
- Authors: [Elif Shafak](https://www.bookquiver.com/elif-shafak)
- Publisher: Penguin
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-01-4196-138-5
- Published: 2012-10-25
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

An obese woman and her lover, a dwarf, are sick of being stared at wherever they go, and so decide to reverse roles. The man goes out wearing make-up and the woman draws a moustache on her face. But while the woman wants to hide away from the world, the man meets the stares from passers-by head on, compiling his 'Dictionary of Gazes' to explore the boundaries between appearance and reality. Intertwined with the story of a bizarre freak-show organized in Istanbul in the 1880s, The Gaze is a humorous and carnivalesque exploration of what it means to look and be looked at...