Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

33 reviews

kaanda's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

So descriptive that I can clearly see the tavern and every character in it. A very beautiful and painful story with seamless flow. Loved it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Abortion, Addiction, War, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Abandonment, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Animal death, Suicide, and Racism

Minor: Classism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Gun violence

sammirosewater's review against another edition

emotional funny informative sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Blood, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Genocide

ariromi's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Child death, War, Murder, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Addiction

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Blood

yellowfleeces's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Minor: Child death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction

awilk23's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, War, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual content

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

There were a lot of things that i really enjoyed about this book and i do think it is very good but i think because i liked it, it frustrated me more at times
Like the bits from the fig tree: super interesting idea, love that as a way to tell history! But should have been edited down way more, and sometimes it felt too non fictiony for a fiction book
Also there were several different quotes i really liked but if that because sometimes it feels like she just keeps saying the say thing until she can get it across perfectly? Idk felt like it should have been edited more
So yeah would recommend, and it was v good and with a really interesting topic that ive not read about before but also why would a bee be able to read? Y’know?

‘People assume it's a matter of personality, the difference between optimists and pessimists. But I believe it all comes down to an inability to forget. The greater your powers of retention, the slimmer your chances at optimism.’

‘when you leave your home for unknown shores, you don't simply carry on as before; a part of you dies inside so that another part can start all over again.’

‘'Because the past is a dark, distorted mirror. You look at it, you only see your own pain. There is no room in there for someone else's pain.'’

‘sometimes what you called a perpetrator was just another name for an unacknowledged victim.’

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, War, Abortion, Death of parent, Gore, Blood, Addiction, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Hate crime, and Mental illness

mlkai's review against another edition

emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.0

i read it for the trees 🌳✨
writing to floral & detailed for my taste. the love story didn’t grab me. learning about the civil war felt heavy, timely, real. learned a lot about trees tho which i’m happy about

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Homophobia, Death of parent, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child death, Suicide, Animal death, and Mental illness

jayvdw's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the different perspectives whilst reading, especially the fig tree. The different perspectives really teach that everyone has their own struggles, past and emotions that shape that person. Furthermore, I loved reading the perspective of the fig tree, this really gave me a better appreciation of nature and all the intertwining forms of life. The book is also full of small life lessons, about how to deal with trauma, loss and love. One thing I was very happy to find out whilst reading, is the way Shafak talks about Cyprus, the fact that she speaks of the island and of it's inhabitants as islanders. I also learned more about the personal effects the civil war had on the residents of the island. A good friend of mine is from Cyprus and warned me that a lot of books about Cyprus get lost in the politics of the island and are almost always biased for one side, I was very happy to learn that this was not the case for this book.

Concerning the ending, 

I always had a suspicion that the fig tree might be more than it let on, but to find out that it was the spirit of Defne was a very nice ending. It really ties together the different themes of the book, about spiritualism from Meryem and the love for trees from Kostas. I also liked that some things in the book were left open-ended, such as the question Ada asks Meryem and the exact way that Defne dies.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed my reading of this book, sometimes it made me sad whilst at other moments it was very joyful. I loved learning about the different perspectives and about the island of Cyprus. Writing-wise, I really enjoyed the small chapters, it made the book way more accessible. Overall I give it a 4.75. For me, it's just barely not a full 5, the book just missed a certain spark that would keep me hooked to read it nonstop, but overall it's an amazing book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Colonisation, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Child death, Grief, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Hate crime

mathilda1998's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Murder

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Suicide

fairuce's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Really loved this book. The different pov from the fig tree and even from a bee once were beautifully written. I will definitely read more of Elif Shafak. Also really appreciated the plants trivia. I found myself googling all the different plants mentioned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Addiction, Death of parent, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Miscarriage