The novel is made of different stories of the members of the same Turkish family. They moved to Germany, in an imaginary Rheinstadt - allusion to the use of Turkish workforce in the once industrial area around the Rhine river - in the 1970s. The story starts at the end of the 1990s, when the patriarch of the family, Hüseyn dies of a heart attack in his apartment in Istanbul, his dream made up with the money he earned in Germany.
The rest of the story gives voice on different levels to his wife and children, although slightly different in terms of identity. Women are rather playing the role of voiceless participants, similarly to the djins, terms used in the Middle East for ghosts.
The author manages perfectly to calibrate the story, the personal testimonies with the socio-historical context and the references to the Fremdfeindlichkeit - or simply said, xenophobia. It is admirably played on multiple voices and levels, unique not only for the topic addressed - inter-generational stories of Turkish families in Germany - but also from the point of view of the literary dynamic itself.
The success of Dschinns is a good news not only for the representatives of the Turkish-German society, rarely represented in literature and arts in general until now, but also for the German society itself. After more than a generation, it finally acknowledges the ´Otherness´ of their own society, other than by dismissing as ´primitive´ everything who does not look like themselves. It is a positive step towards, maybe, a more open society, aware and eventually proud of its diversity.
The novel was on the short list of the Deutsche Buchpreis 2022 and personally I put on my bets on it. I am sure the winner is equally outstanding - and on my TBR as well - but I can only wish that there will be more and more authors like Aydemir on the lists - longs or shorts - of the German literary prizes.
Rating: 5 stars
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