Reviews

Such a fascinating novel. Skillfully crafted. Vivid storytelling. The portrayal of Asian cultures and clash between tradition and modernity is quite fascinating.

jouljet's review

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

q8popup's review against another edition

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5.0

I'm surprised this book's rating is a 3.95/5. It honestly deserves a 5/5. This being my second Elif Shafak novel, I can say I love her style of writing. I also love that you get a glimpse of different cultures and backgrounds while reading her novels. All in all, I'd recommend it.

mayankshah's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

If I had to describe this book in just one word, I would call it "sad". From the beginning, it is clear that the book is centred around a tragedy, we just don't quite know what the tragedy is. When the tragedy is revealed, we want nothing more than to understand how the tragedy came about and the author makes sure we understand every step along the way, starting from a very early stage.

The characters pop out of this book; as I was reading, I could imagine the characters in front of me, that is how vividly their characters are portrayed in the book. Each character is unique, has a different personality and is so well described by the author that we know exactly how they got to where they now are and why they behave in the way they do.

The book does an excellent job of tackling some complex and difficult themes, particularly around our views of ourselves and the internal conflict immigrants can have between their origins and their new lives. The author does an excellent job of showing how that conflict acts differently on different people, from the original immigrants to those around them. I was left impressed at how well thought out all of the characters were from all of these view points.

I could not rate the book higher however as I found the central tragedy, around which the whole book pivots, to be quite unbelievable. We are made to understand how the character came to making the decision but I feel that the action they took was disproportionate to the level of influence on them at the time. Maybe this is my inability to see the true impact on the character and my naivety, but once I understood what had happened, it shook my sense of immersion. There is also a "lucky" twist at the end that again took me out of the book and limited my enjoyment.

This is worth a read if you would like to learn more about how immigration can affect a range of characters and if you like reading books on the sadder side. The writing of the characters and their development is excellent with only a few caveats that others may not find so jarring.

hel14's review

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

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