Summerhouse is a queer noir gem written by Yiğit Karaahmet in Turkish and translated to English by Nicholas Glastonbury. It is the perfect summer read—ready to be packed into your suitcase for the next visit to any sandy beach destination.
Summerhouse is set on Büyükada, a quaint island off the coast of Turkey, near Istanbul. Readers are presented with an aging gay couple celebrating their fortieth anniversary with only their closest friends present. To most of the other residents on the island, Fehmi and Șener are just lifelong friends cohabitating to keep costs down and the loneliness away. But when a family rents the vacation property nearby, Fehmi becomes infatuated by Deniz, the family’s strikingly handsome and extremely troubled teenage son. Over time, this obsession threatens to shatter the couple’s long-term commitment and risks exposing their secret to their island neighbors. What happens next would be too much of a spoiler, but begins a wild and unexpected journey—for both the central couple and for the reader.
Yiğit Karaahmet is to be commended for tackling a topic not often discussed—in crime fiction or any genre literature really. Aging in the gay community. Readers are presented with a loving couple who have managed to avoid all the potential relationship pitfalls and have learned to ignore society’s judgement in order to live a happy and successful life in a committed partnership. Despite the struggles of aging (gracefully or not), their bond is such that they can weather just about any storm. But what happens when that stability is tested in a new way?
Summerhouse is a noir tale, but it’s one that never overlooks the humor that can exist even in the darkest moments. It’s a novel that never really takes itself too seriously, led by a unique couple who try their best to live a frivolous, in-the-moment lifestyle, even while their particular quirks try to intervene. Any reader in a relationship will connect to the act of ignoring tiny irritations because it’s simply easier in the long run to act oblivious rather than to start up an unnecessary disagreement that will only end in hurt feelings.
The way Yiğit Karaahmet introduces the subtle undercurrent of discord into the narrative is palpable and highly effective. Readers will know they are headed towards some type of collision, but few will anticipate where this storyline goes. The exotic setting and constant descriptions of food help to transport the reader and casts a hypnotic spell. In many ways, Karaahmet’s writing style (or at least the translation by Glastonbury) calls to mind classic novels of the past. There’s an extended metaphor involving the heating of milk early in the book that rivals any of the nature metaphors one expects to find in the works of Thomas Hardy and that ilk. Similarly, readers will not be surprised when a huge climatic moment in the plot occurs during a violent summer storm exactly at the halfway point of the novel. And, in yet another old-school nod, chapters are given titles that allude to the action contained therein.
By the time readers reach the unforgettable ending of Summerhouse, they will be anxiously hoping that more of Yiğit Karaahmet’s crime fiction quickly finds its way to our shores. This one is highly recommended.
BUY LINKS: Summerhouse by Yiğit Karaahmet
Disclaimer: A print galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
