Fatma Aydemir’s Dschinns is an extraordinary family saga that bridges continents, generations, and ghosts both literal and metaphorical. Set between Germany and Turkey in the late 1990s, it’s a sweeping, multi-voiced novel about migration, identity, grief, and the silent hauntings that shape a family’s history. Written with sharp emotional intelligence and lyrical precision, this novel cements Aydemir’s place as one of the most vital contemporary voices in German literature.
The Story
After thirty years of grueling labor in Germany, Hüseyin has finally fulfilled his lifelong dream: buying an apartment in Istanbul where he plans to retire with his wife, Emine. But just as he’s about to move in, tragedy strikes Hüseyin dies of a heart attack.
His death brings his family back together under one roof for the first time in years. As his widow and four children travel from Germany to Istanbul for the funeral, old tensions resurface. Each family member carries secrets, regrets, and a sense of alienation. In the silence of Hüseyin’s new apartment, they all feel an eerie presence the “Dschinns,” spirits that seem to embody their unspoken truths, their pain, and the invisible weight of the past.
A Multigenerational Portrait
Aydemir structures the novel in six interlocking chapters, each told from the perspective of a different family member. These distinct voices form a mosaic of experiences:
- Hüseyin, the patriarch whose story opens the book, embodies the hopes and heartbreaks of the Gastarbeiter generation Turkish migrant workers who came to Germany seeking opportunity but often found alienation.
- Emine, his wife, represents endurance and quiet suffering, trapped between duty and lost dreams.
- Sevda, the eldest daughter, wrestles with the restrictions of tradition while yearning for independence.
- Peri, the intellectual feminist, navigates the space between cultures and identities.
- Hakan, the troubled son, struggles with masculinity, violence, and self-destruction.
- Ümit, the youngest, faces his sexuality and the fear of being rejected by his own family.
Through them, Aydemir paints a complex picture of belonging and displacement of what it means to build a life between two worlds while feeling at home in neither.
Themes and Writing
The novel’s title, Dschinns, refers to supernatural beings in Islamic mythology, but Aydemir uses them metaphorically. Here, the “djinns” represent the buried emotions and unsaid truths that linger in a family the invisible forces of shame, loss, and memory that haunt generations.
Aydemir’s prose is fierce and poetic. She writes with clarity and compassion, weaving social critique into deeply human storytelling. Migration, racism, generational trauma, sexuality, religion, and the Kurdish-Turkish conflict all find space in her narrative, but the novel never feels overburdened. Each theme grows naturally out of the characters’ lived experiences.
Her portrayal of Germany’s migrant history is particularly powerful. Rather than romanticizing either homeland, she exposes the contradictions in both the Germany that offered work but little acceptance, and the Turkey that remained both beloved and estranged.
What Works
What makes Dschinns remarkable is its ability to be both intimate and political. The family’s personal struggles reflect larger questions about identity and belonging. Aydemir writes each perspective with deep empathy, and her use of language is both sharp and soulful.
The shifting viewpoints give the novel a rhythm that feels cinematic each chapter a lens zooming in on a new facet of the family’s collective tragedy. The result is emotionally raw, sometimes uncomfortable, but always honest.
A Few Imperfections
The novel’s ambition occasionally stretches thin toward the end, where one or two narrative threads feel rushed or overly symbolic. Yet even in its messier moments, Dschinns maintains its emotional power. The slight unevenness feels like a reflection of the family itself fragmented, flawed, yet inescapably bound together.
Final Thoughts
Dschinns is a brilliant and haunting exploration of what it means to live between identities, between generations, between worlds. Fatma Aydemir captures the quiet pain of dislocation and the universal longing for belonging with unmatched sensitivity and force.
For readers of multigenerational epics like Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie or The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, this novel offers a profound and unforgettable reading experience.
Get your copy of Dschinns here: https://amzn.to/3IPXZWG
