The past is a foreign country

The past of a foreign country doubly so. I've been reading My Name is Red and the characters are even more unnatural and unrelatable than aliens in the science fiction novels I enjoy. The part where Shekure casually refers to her universal desirability as a twelve-year-old, the ongoing plotline about how depicting objects in a realistic manner inevitably leads to idol worship . . . I'm having trouble relating to the book.