Dead Male Birds

1991 (Novel) 1992 Yunus Nadi Novel Prize

Inside Suna live two women: ‘Su’ is her accommodating and domesticated half, conditioned to become a good wife and mother, whilst ‘Na’ is her rebellious and intrepid side, ready to oppose any system she finds lacking. Beset with internal dilemma, Suna finds herself in even deeper water when she falls in love with Onur, her husband Ayhan’s best friend. Dead Male Birds relates the torrid vacillation of a woman caught between her passion and deeply rooted ties of marriage. The novel examines how prejudices, conditioning and rules throughout their upbringing affected these three characters. It reveals the transformation of relationships between the sexes into an exhausting lack of communication and solution, dictated by the violence of social taboos and prejudices as well as the prevailing atmosphere of oppression.