Scan barcode
mel_s_bookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Death, Death of parent, War, Violence, and Abortion
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Sexism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual content
mermaidstears's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent, War, Murder, Animal death, Grief, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Torture, and Suicide
e11en's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, War, and Xenophobia
sydneybedell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence, War, Death of parent, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Homophobia, Police brutality, and Pregnancy
Minor: Alcoholism
meggles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: War, Child death, Murder, Hate crime, and Homophobia
Minor: Pregnancy and Suicide
atamano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Death, Death of parent, War, Animal death, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer and Child death
Minor: Pregnancy
leabhar_love's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: War, Murder, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Violence, Hate crime, Animal death, and Homophobia
Minor: Suicide
rosalind's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: War, Grief, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Homophobia, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Violence
Minor: Confinement, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders
rorikae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The story starts with Ada Kazantzakis, a teenager in the late 2010s who is grieving her mother's death and trying to find her place in the world. Her father is dealing with his own grief and pours his attention into their fig trees. Ada's story is interwoven with those of her parents, both when they were children in Cyprus, what happened to tear them apart, and what brought them back together again. Throughout these shifting stories, the fig tree tells its own understanding of events, including peeks into the world that its human companions never had the chance to see.
Elif Shafak's writing is so tender as she brings us along on the trials and tribulations of the Kazantzakis family. Through their narrative, we learn more about Cyprus and the tensions on the island as well as its beauty. This story sings in the minute details that Shafak touches on and her evocative prose. We care for each member of the Kazantzakis family, even amidst all of their faults that make them feel like real people. The use of the fig tree as a narrator weaves a little bit of magic into the prose that elevates the entire story. This is a story that will break your heart and then mend it right back up. I hope that this is on the shortlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction because it deserves to win. I will definitely be picking up more of Shafak's writing in the future because the emotions that she is able to convey through careful prose is heartrending and soothing all at once. Please read this book, you won't regret it.
Graphic: Mental illness, War, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy
katievh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Violence, Gun violence, Colonisation, Alcoholism, War, Hate crime, and Child death
Minor: Pregnancy