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A review by nickartrip102
Summerhouse by Yiğit Karaahmet
4.0
Ladies in Lavender meets Poison Ivy or The Babysitter, but make it gay.
I requested and received an eARC of Summerhouse by Yiğit Karaahmet via NetGalley. Fehmi and Şener have recently celebrated their fortieth anniversary, which is no small accomplishment for a gay couple in Turkey. When a family moves into the home next door for the summer, Fehmi is immediately struck by the beauty of troubled teenage son, Deniz. Despite knowing Deniz would never reciprocate the much older Fehmi's crush, Şener finds himself troubled. As one betrayal leads to another, Deniz formulates a plan that will test the strength of the couple's relationship like never before.
From the overture that opens Summerhouse I was hooked. The suspense, the atmosphere, and the unease successfully seduced me and I couldn’t wait to discover what secrets the novel had to offer. Karaahmet does a masterful job of capturing such a real and nuanced dynamic between Fehmi and Şener. From their first interactions on the page I felt like I had an understanding of their relationship and I really couldn’t wait to see what twists and turns the novel might bring them. There’s a lot of humor to be found in this novel, but what I was most impressed with were the feelings of despair and jealousy that permeate throughout Şener’s scenes as he tortures himself imagining what Fehmi is thinking.
Thematically, there’s this focus on “raging against aging” that feels both real and very camp, making both Fehmi and Şener somewhat sympathetic, but also gloriously entertaining and vicious, like a regular George and Martha. Through his characters Karaahmet offers accurate and wickedly humorous observations about gender roles in gay relationships and the resulting friction. I wish there were more opportunities to share space with Deniz, but I also found him very well-written as the angry teenager and scheming temptress. This was a terrific read, I wanted to rush through it, but found greater satisfaction in lingering and enjoying the mounting tension and paranoia along with a few genuine chuckles on the way.
I requested and received an eARC of Summerhouse by Yiğit Karaahmet via NetGalley. Fehmi and Şener have recently celebrated their fortieth anniversary, which is no small accomplishment for a gay couple in Turkey. When a family moves into the home next door for the summer, Fehmi is immediately struck by the beauty of troubled teenage son, Deniz. Despite knowing Deniz would never reciprocate the much older Fehmi's crush, Şener finds himself troubled. As one betrayal leads to another, Deniz formulates a plan that will test the strength of the couple's relationship like never before.
From the overture that opens Summerhouse I was hooked. The suspense, the atmosphere, and the unease successfully seduced me and I couldn’t wait to discover what secrets the novel had to offer. Karaahmet does a masterful job of capturing such a real and nuanced dynamic between Fehmi and Şener. From their first interactions on the page I felt like I had an understanding of their relationship and I really couldn’t wait to see what twists and turns the novel might bring them. There’s a lot of humor to be found in this novel, but what I was most impressed with were the feelings of despair and jealousy that permeate throughout Şener’s scenes as he tortures himself imagining what Fehmi is thinking.
Thematically, there’s this focus on “raging against aging” that feels both real and very camp, making both Fehmi and Şener somewhat sympathetic, but also gloriously entertaining and vicious, like a regular George and Martha. Through his characters Karaahmet offers accurate and wickedly humorous observations about gender roles in gay relationships and the resulting friction. I wish there were more opportunities to share space with Deniz, but I also found him very well-written as the angry teenager and scheming temptress. This was a terrific read, I wanted to rush through it, but found greater satisfaction in lingering and enjoying the mounting tension and paranoia along with a few genuine chuckles on the way.