Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

39 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

mr_cain's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

I love the fig tree as a narrator!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Alcohol, Grief, Animal death, Child death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Homophobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism and Torture

neela's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

hmmm it’s hard to review cos i read a good bit then took a break for other books 🤭
once you get used to the points of view ( you know who i mean ;)) this is a lovely lovely book so well thought out and didn’t realise how well thought until reading the real life sources 
such a cool way for me to learn a bit about cypriot history
also the writing style is so descriptive in a really thoughtful way idk 
she just really thought about how to write this story u guys!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Xenophobia

nineinchnails's review against another edition

with everything going on right now the last thing i want to read is coloniser sympathising. there’s something especially disturbing to me abt revisionism favoring the oppressors in historical fiction specifically - it had potential but left a really bad taste in my mouth

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment

Partition/Segregation

pamc_1996's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Child death, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide and Suicidal thoughts

jenlovesbooksandcoffee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing 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

5.0

Sometimes, what you call the perpetrator was just another name for an unacknowledged victim.

The audio is so good!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Genocide, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, War, Abortion, Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia

cassielaj's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I finished this book with tears in my eyes, and that wasn’t the first time it brought me to tears. This story is as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming. The characters go through so much and their stories are told with such reverence. I loved the multi-timeline, multi-narrator style of storytelling, and the writing itself was stunning — I highlighted so many passages! The unique perspective of the tree and the attention paid to the natural world throughout made this book absolutely fascinating to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, War, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

bethancy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I was a bit intimidated by this book at first, but once I got into the story I couldn't put it down. This books is so beautiful and is packed with powerful images, revelations, and emotion. I really loved it, and the story will remain with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Xenophobia, and Abortion

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Rape

mraddd's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, War, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Islamophobia

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, and Animal death

sarabookshelf's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

4.75

For someone like me who comes from a war-torn country, whose parents are of different ethnicities and religions, one of whom recently passed away, this book might have hit a bit too close to home. 
It is beautiful, emotional, thought provoking book which touches on a myriad of topics such as migration, displacement, war, love, religion, generational trauma and has a lot of history woven throughout the story. The choice of the narrator and book structure is unusual, and the characters are all well-rounded and persons in their own right, even minor storylines are thought out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Death of parent

Moderate: Xenophobia, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism