I felt disturbed and uneasy when I first read the short story ‘’Kuskus’’ . I even felt the need to stop for a while to think about what was disturbing me. The harsh exposure of the domestic spaces, the questioning of family structures, and the very intimate and ruined mother-daughter relation were not usual themes that I come across.

‘’Kuskus’’ is a story of domestic spaces: the kitchen of the main character (the ‘’mother’’), an indirect narration about the household of the ‘’daughter’’, and a little glimpse of the main character to the exterior (to the neighbour’s rubbish bin). This glimpse only aims to reveal a clue about what happens in the house of the ‘’neighbour’’ that the main character does not have access to. By doing so, Tomris Uyar plays with interiors, exteriors, and thresholds as in-between spaces of privacy.

It was unsettling to realize that the mother and the daughter not only accept and internalize the prescribed roles of women in the family unconditionally but also criticize each other on whether their roles are portrayed and responsibilities are fulfilled in a ‘’right’’ or ‘’acceptable’’ manner.