review
Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç’s debut novel ‘Son of a Dog’, is a lyrical, atmospheric meditation on memory, desire, identity, and longing. Its poetic style and emotional depth make it a strong candidate for English-language publication, and will appeal especially to readers of Ocean Vuong, Garth Greenwell, and Édouard Louis.
Told from the perspective of Zeko, a gay, Muslim man living in Berlin, this novel elegantly blurs the line between past and present, reality and dream, charting the emotional terrain of a man reckoning with the ghosts of his youth, and the run-up to reunion he both dreads and desires.
Structured around a countdown – ‘In nine days I will see Hassan again’ – the novel traces Zeko’s daily life in Berlin while building toward a meeting with his childhood friend and former love, Hassan, in Adana, Türkiye. Zeko participates in therapy sessions, has flings with men he meets via dating apps, enjoys intense philosophical talks with his punk best friend Pari, and loses himself in dreamlike memories of hazy summers in Türkiye. He remembers Hassan’s charm and volatility, and the complicated closeness they shared, as well as the chilling moment when Hassan accidentally killed a stray dog: a symbol of power and fragility that reverberates throughout the novel.
The countdown eventually ends not in reunion, but in release, when Pari surprises Zeko with a ticket to Marseilles, sensing what Zeko cannot admit: he does not truly want to see Hassan. In Marseilles, Zeko finds unexpected clarity. The narrative turns from longing to liberation, culminating in a tender, freeing hook-up with a trans man, a moment that closes the novel with quiet triumph.
Keskinkılıç’s writing is poetic and contemporary, blending present-tense introspection with experimental fragments, second-person narration, and recurring motifs. The prose moves fluidly between German, Turkish, and English, offering a rich, multilingual texture that reflects the complexity of diasporic identity. Zeko’s voice is intimate and wryly reflective; his thoughts on queerness, masculinity, and cultural belonging feel raw and precise.
‘Son of a Dog’ resists narrative convention and easy resolution. It is a meditation on desire; rather than a coming-of-age story, it is a reckoning with the impossibility of returning to the self you once were. Keskinkılıç has written a powerful, slow burn of a novel that captures the ache of missed connections and the joy of redemption.
Find out more: https://www.suhrkamp.de/rights/book/ozan-zakariya-keskinkilic-son-of-a-dog-fr-9783518432549
All recommendations from Autumn 2025