Elif Shafak

In some ways a strong, compelling story - I do like a lot about her storytelling style and her questions and insights. But in other ways this didn't quite work for me. I didn't really connect to the framing and felt a bit like I was tricked into a college coming-of-age tale (again). And there are some reveal dumps I felt jarring, I could have just known all along and would still have read. Finally the marketing copy is misleading, and I want to have more of the other 2/3 so that everyone gets dimension. Overall, questions worth asking but not wholly satisfying.
That said, I enjoy Elif Shafak, maybe my expectations for a specific type of story were too high. I'll still read the rest.… (mer)

I’ve visited Cyprus many times over the years and have always been curious about its history and its people, the bloodshed and displacement. Elif Shafak describes the course of events in heart-breaking detail and gave me a greater understanding of the crisis and the impact it had on the islanders.

The Island of the Missing Trees is narrated over three different timelines: divided Nicosia in 1974, Cyprus in the early 2000s and London in the late 2010s. It tells the moving story of Greek Cypriot Kostas and Turkish Cypriot Dephne who fall in love as teenagers and are forced to meet secretly in the back room of The Happy Fig, a tavern named after the fig tree that grows through its roof. Their future is shaped by the outbreak of war and family loyalties, their journey driven by buried memories and missing people.

I loved the way nature is brought to life, the shimmering clouds of butterflies, the multi-lingual Chico and the musings and memories of an ancient ficus carica. The prose is lyrical, the analogies sublime.

Roots, trunks and branches. Rooted, uprooted and re-rooted. Nationalism, alcoholism and depression. Forbidden love, enduring love and hidden love. Mythology, mysticism and djinns. Massacre, murder and mayhem. Archaeology, ecology and botany. Teenage angst, mouth-watering cuisine and home. Heart, body and soul. The Island of Missing Trees is a diverse and immersive read.

“Arriving there is what you are destined for,
But do not hurry the journey at all.”

Savoured from start to end.

Magical, mesmerising and moving… (mer)