Summer Heat, Defne Suman
Defne Suman’s Summer Heat is, as the title suggests, a sun-soaked novel made for dipping into between dips in the sea. It features all the typical elements of a beach read: scorched flagstones, salty skin, drowsy sunset dinners, an illicit affair (featuring plenty of salacious references to broad chests and muscular shoulders), and even an existential submergence in the ocean – can the protagonist surrender to the flow of life? Or will they drown, overwhelmed by their fate?
Beginning in Istanbul, the story follows Melike, a Turkish woman in her forties whose idyllic relationship can’t quite satiate her craving for acknowledgement and acceptance – a craving rooted in childhood abandonment. Having already had several affairs, Melike is about to embark on another, unaware that this affair will unearth revelations that will force him to confront her turbulent family history that was tragically influenced by the 1970s Aegean dispute. As Melike delves into her past, there are flashbacks to 1974, the year of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, which serves as a catalyst for the disintegration of Melike’s family.
Melike’s search for the truth takes her from Istanbul, Buyukada, Athens, and eventually, Cyprus. The expansive setting and vivid sense of place will inspire you to travel, serving as a delicious escapism from a rainy English summer. The question is whether a book about such a challenging history should feel like escapism. Suman’s intention may be to honour the miraculous beauty of both Turkey and Greece, despite their troubled collective past; however, the gravity of the socio-political backdrop is undermined by cheesy love scenes, tourist frivolity and romantic clichés.
The book’s greatest strength lies in its flawed female characters. Melike’s wandering eye may be the symptom of a deeply embedded insecurity, but it is also inherited from a long legacy of firecracker women who defy societal expectations to pursue their desires. In this sense, Melike’s polygamy is more a feminist loyalty to her authentic self than an attempt at self-destruction. Whilst Summer Heat may be confused in its attempt to wed serious subject matter with more commercial literary tropes, it does succeed as a homage to the self-willed woman.
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