"Bird and tree conjoin in us," wrote René Char in "Recherche de la Base et du Sommet." The urge to take flight and the need to root down and take hold are fundamental human polarities. This double need for grounding and transcendence lies at the very heart of "Seagull" [published in Britain as "The Saga of a Seagull"], Yashar Kemal's latest novel, and is reflected in all its curious images of children attempting to tie flying things to themselves—the paper kites, the bees and hornets on strings, the efforts to tame seabirds and attach them….

Political currency is not the great strength of the book; its relevance is timeless rather than narrowly contemporary. This is an archetypal story, the fiercely moving account of a young boy's coming of age.

The season is spring; the place: an impoverished town on the Black Sea coast. Salih—the hero of...