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katko123 's review for:
Summer Heat
by Defne Suman
Defne Suman like nobody else writes about horrible and difficult things with such warmth and care, that you don´t want to stop reading her stories.
Summer Heat is not a fun read. It´s about people unwillingly entangled in a cruel history vortex. Turkey never liked Christians or any other infidels. The last hundred and fifty years are marked by blood. The Ottoman Empire had a mission of spreading Islam far and wide. When they failed to conquer Europe, they continued their mission closer to home. They slaughtered over a million people, which is known today as the Pontic Genocide. This didn´t end there, the systematic harassment, discrimination and occasional violence keeps continuing today. Do you know why Cyprus is divided in half? How did it happen? I knew something, but not a lot. This book clarified the matter. Just remember that this is a work of fiction, not a historical account.
When history happens, when big guys quarrel between themselves (tsars, kings, sultans etc) it´s the ordinary people who suffer the most. Always. When two very different cultures clash there are no victors, only losers and victims. Defne writes about suffering. Because people in Turkey and their neighbors have been suffering for centuries. This affects generations of people who cannot overcome their trauma.
So we see the turbulent history of one particular family. They are Greek Christians, which means they´re a very unwanted part of society. Three generations of this family have been affected by the history and cultural conflict, but each in a different way. Every person seems to be having a secret, a shadowy episode in the past. Everyone loved and lost. The dynamics between family members are troublesome. Nothing is clear. There is a lot of love but it´s very difficult, broken love. It´s this type of bond, that requires a lot of care and patience to be repaired. But what if someone doesn´t care enough?
The most enjoyable part of this book is the historical aspect of the conflict. The family's story is touching and well-presented. However, Melike, the main character, and the youngest family member is somehow frustrating. Her emotional and irrational behavior and inner thoughts don´t make her very likeable. Maybe Defne has made her character this way on purpose, to show that even though Melike never experienced personally any violence, she is still affected by her family's trauma. This is why she is the way she is.
Let´s look at this story as a warning. The fighters of Islam aren´t friendly. Two years ago 50 people died in a fire of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The firefighters weren´t in a rush to come over and help despite being only two blocks away. Last year we saw another ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, a land taken from Armenia by Azerbaijan. Armenia and Georgia are the only Christian countries in the region and they don´t have any allies around. There are countless examples. Thank goodness we have Defne who tells the world about crimes committed by Turkey. This is a part of history that today's Turkiye desperately tries to erase.
Summer Heat is not a fun read. It´s about people unwillingly entangled in a cruel history vortex. Turkey never liked Christians or any other infidels. The last hundred and fifty years are marked by blood. The Ottoman Empire had a mission of spreading Islam far and wide. When they failed to conquer Europe, they continued their mission closer to home. They slaughtered over a million people, which is known today as the Pontic Genocide. This didn´t end there, the systematic harassment, discrimination and occasional violence keeps continuing today. Do you know why Cyprus is divided in half? How did it happen? I knew something, but not a lot. This book clarified the matter. Just remember that this is a work of fiction, not a historical account.
When history happens, when big guys quarrel between themselves (tsars, kings, sultans etc) it´s the ordinary people who suffer the most. Always. When two very different cultures clash there are no victors, only losers and victims. Defne writes about suffering. Because people in Turkey and their neighbors have been suffering for centuries. This affects generations of people who cannot overcome their trauma.
So we see the turbulent history of one particular family. They are Greek Christians, which means they´re a very unwanted part of society. Three generations of this family have been affected by the history and cultural conflict, but each in a different way. Every person seems to be having a secret, a shadowy episode in the past. Everyone loved and lost. The dynamics between family members are troublesome. Nothing is clear. There is a lot of love but it´s very difficult, broken love. It´s this type of bond, that requires a lot of care and patience to be repaired. But what if someone doesn´t care enough?
The most enjoyable part of this book is the historical aspect of the conflict. The family's story is touching and well-presented. However, Melike, the main character, and the youngest family member is somehow frustrating. Her emotional and irrational behavior and inner thoughts don´t make her very likeable. Maybe Defne has made her character this way on purpose, to show that even though Melike never experienced personally any violence, she is still affected by her family's trauma. This is why she is the way she is.
Let´s look at this story as a warning. The fighters of Islam aren´t friendly. Two years ago 50 people died in a fire of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The firefighters weren´t in a rush to come over and help despite being only two blocks away. Last year we saw another ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, a land taken from Armenia by Azerbaijan. Armenia and Georgia are the only Christian countries in the region and they don´t have any allies around. There are countless examples. Thank goodness we have Defne who tells the world about crimes committed by Turkey. This is a part of history that today's Turkiye desperately tries to erase.