For fans of Elif Shafak, Defne Suman's latest read - At the Breakfast Table - is an incredible ode to Turkish families. With descriptive, beautiful writing, I was transported to a Turkish breakfast spread, lush with family drama, delectable food and enough tension to fill an island.

AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE captures the family of Shirin Saka as they gather for her 100th birthday in Buyukada, Turkey. They've invited celebrated journalist, Burak, to document her life, which takes incredible turns in all directions. The story is told through the ever changing lens of her grandchildren, Nur and Fikret, her great-grandaughter, Celine and her butler - the truth of her roots are slowly unveiled.

Much like Shafak, Suman has a beautiful way with words - her descriptions of the landscapes, food, and emotions of a scene were beautiful (and never too much, which I find a tough balance to strike). Her love of the Turkish culture and community is clear in her writing - I adored this story. While there is certainly a plot driven element to it, there was deep character exploration that I found enthralling, and definitely encouragement to read her other novel, The Silence of Scheherazade. Such a beautiful story - I will treasure this one!

A deeply involving and absorbing read, told from four different perspectives from family members of the great artist Shirin Saka who has gathered the family to celebrate her 100th birthday.

There are secrets that each character is keeping, emotional damage and attachments, heart-breaking accounts of a broken past, and inspirational creativity that affects them all.

As the present unravels and the past unfolds, we see the impact of history and also personal action that causes events and emotions that are unpredictable and untameable.

An in-depth exploration of family and feelings, there is so much to explore in this novel and so much to enjoy.

The book is set in current day Turkiye (2017) on Prinkipo Island. Artist Shirin Saka is turning 100 years old. Her two grandchildren and great grandchild are there to celebrate this milestone with her. Along with them is their journalist friend who plans to interview Shirin about her long and illustrious career. But Shirin has a past that she has never spoken about, which gradually unfolds as the story progresses. Faithful to Shirin for untold years is Sadik Ustad, her longtime servant, who is so much more than a servant - confidante, companion and keeper of secrets. I liked the basis for this storyline - Turkey is not a homogenous country. It’s a country made up of people of many ancestries and faiths. Over the years as a vital crossroads, groups of people flocked to the region now known as Turkiye and settled there. But as always, when political upheaval occurs, the powers that be pit people against each other and dastardly acts occur. This book takes us there. The storyline itself was okay, although I though it could have been more solid and the writing could have been much tighter. Running through the book is the premise of inter-generational trauma - transmission of oppressive or traumatic effects of a historical event that is passed down through generations. At least that is what Shirin’s two adult grandchildren especially Fikret, appear to be grappling with. Readers can draw their own conclusions. While I liked the concept of the story being told from four perspectives, I didn’t think it enhanced the story, and at times detracted from it. My favorite character was Sadik Ustad, the devoted servant and informal companion to Shirin. Overall this was an okay read based on important historical events that must never be forgotten. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

An enjoyable, family saga told from 4 different perspectives. I found it a little slow at times, but found how all the hidden secrets and stories came together satisfying.

Rating: 3.5

I was looking forward to this book after reading and loving The Silence of Scheherazade. While the writing was really good and the sense of place so beautifully done the story itself wasn't as engaging as The Silence of Sheherazade. Lots of POV and characters to remember so it took some time to get everyone straight in my head. I read the eARC so I'm hoping for future readers there is a family tree at the start of the story, that would help a lot. As in The Silence of Sheherazade I learned about historical events of which I was not aware.

Overall, a good read despite the sometimes confusing list of characters and if you love a book with a great sense of place, this one fits that bill.

This might be Shirin's story but it's actually bigger than that. Told from four perspectives, it's an immersive experience that's different from the usual elderly-person-reflecting-on-life tale. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC>. For fans of world fiction.

Thank you to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for this advance copy.

I love Turkish literature. I have a deep connection to Turkey (thank you to my wonderful Turkish boyfriend), and the stories that emerge from Turkey are always vivid and wonderful. This book is no exception. I did find it slow (and dramatic) at times, but I think that's more me being stumped with my dissertation rn and not being as into a slow burn. I immensely enjoyed the switching narratives and the story as a whole. I'll be reading more Suman!

I was really excited for this multi POV book set in Turkey! It sounded like the exact type of book I would enjoy, about family secrets and learning new parts of history, but I couldn’t get through it. I DNFd at 20% because the writing is confusing and slow. Each chapter features a different character’s POV and they continue jumping back and forth through time, leading me to be both confused and bored.

I fell in love with this book since the first chapters: a mix of family and personal story mixed with Turkish and European history.
Different POV that creat a coloured and detailed tapestry, an artist and her past.
The author is an excellent storyteller and I loved this story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Enjoyable quick read! I really enjoyed the various perspectives and getting to know the hidden parts of the famous artist’s past! Changing timeline, family drama, chaos in general and a bit of spice! It was interesting, highlighting Turkish customs as well.

This is a family saga based in Turkey, partly in Istanbul and partly on an island the family uses. The story is slow moving and there are no highlights or exciting moments. It is presumably well researched and it is certainly carefully written. The family does not seem to offer any particular reason why it should be the subject of a novel.

This is a glorious book, world! The second novel I’ve read by Defne Sunam and it exceeded my expectations - a new favourite. This is a multigenerational tale of one family living in Istanbul, from the great grandmother, Shirin Saka, a celebrated painter, through her grandchildren Nur and Fikret, to her half-Scandinavian great grandchild Celine - all of the family are together on the island of Buyukada to celebrate the one hundredth birthday or their matriarch, Shirin. Sat around the breakfast table a day or so before the birthday tea, they listen to Shirin Saka being interviewed by Nur’s childhood sweetheart Burak, now a renowned journalist, about her life. But the mysteries of Shirin’s early life set various tensions between the family members and Burak alight - is their family under a generic curse from some kind of hidden secret in Shirin’s past? Fikret thinks so and disappears following a comment at the table. Celine and Nur are in states of emotional agitation of their own, while Shirin herself is finally ready to tell her story, in the best way she knows - paint. As the story comes to light, so too does a buried history that extends well beyond the family. This is such a beautifully crafted story, cleverly put together - for example the way the painting seems to come to life as Celine is looking at it, and other really nice details.

My thanks to #NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Defne Suman’s At the Breakfast Table is set in contemporary Turkey, precisely in the summer of 2017 on the island of Büyükada. Sirin Saka, once a prominent Paris-trained painter and alleged lover of Jean-Paul Sartre, is approaching her hundredth birthday, and her family converges onto her summer residence to celebrate this event. However, her grandson Fikret, son of Sirin Saka’s now-deceased daughter Suheyla, has plans of his own. He is obsessed with discovering the history of his great-grandfather, Sirin Saka’s father Nuri, who remains a shadowy figure in his family’s past. Partly for this reason, he invites a close family friend, investigative journalist Burak, to interview Sirin Saka, in the hope that this will uncover secrets buried for generations – secrets intertwined with momentous happenings in 20th Century Turkish history.

At the Breakfast Table is based on the concept of collective memory, the idea that traumatic events in the past can affect not only the direct participants, but also their descendants and entire communities. Although this theory may verge on the esoteric, it certainly provides much narrative scope. Suman uses it as a basis for a generational saga in reverse in which layers of recent history are peeled away to revel the sore at the source of contemporary ills.

This story is presented through the point of view of four characters, whose perspectives alternate throughout the book. Suman does a very good job of differentiating between the voices of her narrators, which are convincingly rendered in Betsy Göksel’s flowing translation. There’s Burak – intelligent, confident but quite narcissistic. There’s his on-and-off lover Nur, Fikret’s sister, who comes across as principled, passionate, and emphatic with the plights of others, but also somewhat conflicted and hesitant. Celine, Fikret’s daughter, brims with youthful and somewhat naïve enthusiasm. And then there’s the dependable, ancient butler Sadik, faithful servant and companion of Sirin Saka, depositary of uncomfortable secrets and memories. The different viewpoints generally work and complement each other well, although admittedly at some points the strategy becomes rather clunky, particularly when Suman needs to involve other characters (such as Sirin Saka or the tragic figure of Suheyla) who do not have their own “voice” and whose storylines therefore have to be incorporated in the narratives of one or more of the other actors in the saga.

The pace of the novel is quite leisurely – sometimes possibly too much so – with the latter part of the book suddenly picking up as revelations are made. The occasional longueurs, however, are compensated for by the sheer sensuality of the narration. While its basis is a philosophical, quasi-mystical one, this novel engulfs the senses in a celebration of “earthy” pleasures. There are copious descriptions of the taste, smell and texture of food; references to music and dance (from Albinoni to folk music to Massive Attack); evocations of the fragrance of the sea, of herbs, of incense, of pine; the vibrant colours of nature and of Sirin Saka’s art, and; last but not least, erotic but tasteful lovemaking scenes.

This is a poignant exploration of a painful and sometimes controversial historical subject, done in an ultimately hopeful and life-affirming way.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2022/08/at-breakfast-table-by-defne-suman.html

While at their vacation home on an island in Turkey, a family breaks open it's cache of secrets at the celebration of their oldest member's 100th birthday.

An eye-opening story set in Turkey and told from the point of view of 4 characters in the days before a matriarch’s 100th birthday. I learned a lot about Turkish culture and history, of which I am/was woefully ignorant.

This is a beautiful novel set in Turkey. Although on the face of it the book is about what happens over one or two summer days leading up to a matriarch's 100th birthday, four different narrators each give the reader their own version of events, including a backstory, which is slightly confusing at the beginning of the book.  The final chapter is one of the narrator's tale of what happened next.

The author's descriptions of sights, sounds and smells are wonderfully vivid, and the translator is to be congratulated on making this book so readable in English. I enjoyed reading about traditional Turkish life, and, together with some of the characters in the book, learning important facts about the relatively recent history of Turkey.

Delighted to have been guided to this novel by the publishers and for Netgalley to offer it for review.
Translated novels can be confused and literally 'lost in translation'. But this was wonderfully done because the writing was top class. Literary style overcame what firstly seemed to be just a family saga set in Turkey. Based mostly on the island of Buyukada, 'the Big Island' is in the Sea of Marmara. Its landscape, smells and tastes of the wonderful local cuisine is evocatively described. Much family discussion/argument/revelations are taken over a plate of bread/feta/olives or glass of raki and added to the reality of the plot.
The characters were well established although as the dramatic conclusion approached the 'family' became a much wider reality.
Seemingly the romance between Celine and Burak clearly became a side line to Nur, and subsequent intricacies of relationships were both passionate and believable. My favourite character for the whole story was 'servant'/housekeeper Sadik Usta and he bloomed and became integral to the whole story - much more than even I had anticipated.
"We were like a Renaissance painting" was one quote from a character reflecting on the family dynamic and the title reflected much that grew from the very first breakfast scene. The 100 year old Madam Shirin used all her best brushes to portray the finale too.
The politics and history of Turkey including links with Greece/Ottoman Empire and violent unrest were often new to me and were the reasons for secrets and the continuing differences between secular and Moslem religions.
Overall a wonderful novel inspired originally from a short story. I felt immersed in this family and in their places of residence in Turkey.

At the Breakfast Table follows the perspectives of 2 members of Shirin Saka's family and 2 family friends. The main premise of the plot is that one of the family friends, Burak, is attempting to write a piece on Shirin's early background; an interest that the reader shares as we learn more about Shirin's life. Ironically, it is Shirin's perspective on things that we crave but cannot get.

The book offers a unique look into Turkish culture and history, set alongside complicated romance and generational trauma. I thought the writing was fresh and rich, you really get a sense of the smells, sights and music described in each scene.

My favourite character by far was Sadik as I felt he had the most interesting insight into the family and typically the most compassion. Burak was something of a villain to me. His creepy sexualisation of Celine and frankly disturbing actions against Nur meant I had little interest in his arc or happiness. Celine's character, on the other hand, fell down not because I disliked her personality (which I can forgive in a work of fiction) but because of the unrealistic way she was portrayed. At 21 in 2017, there is little chance of her viewing a world before smartphones as 'another planet' considering it was only 2007 when the first iPhone was released. She also thought and acted incredibly younger than her age, more like a 13 year old than 21. Perhaps that is her personality but it made the thoughts of orgasms and drugs fairly uncomfortable in comparison.

Overall, however, I was invested in learning about each character's life and the overall history of the family. The writing was pleasant to read and I was satisfied with the conclusion. 3.5 Stars.

This novel eventually became somewhat enjoyable.

This novel’s writing style was very difficult to get into and the characters are written in a way where you are following one person and it becomes so difficult to know if it is still their storyline. Plus, it is told through a few different points of views.

If it had of been less confusing to follow and more structured. Perhaps there will be a rewrite before it is officially released.