Reviews

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

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vighnesh's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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? No

4.25

This is not just a love story, but also a story of war, the trauma it inflicts on generations. It is also an ode to nature and how we need to protect and preserve our environments. However, that doesn’t nearly encapsulate everything that The Island of Missing Trees is.

It is compelling and makes you ponder.

The writing is lyrical, the world is painted with deep, rich colours, the image is fully formed in your head.

The most intriguing aspect of this book was its choice to use a fig tree as a narrator. I found it to be such an intelligent choice because it allows for Shafak to share her thoughts on humans, nature, war and life in general in a creative way.

Cyprus breathes through the book. You can almost feel it with the descriptions.

While I felt that the book dragged at times, I was engaged for most parts and I found it hard to put down.

The Island of Missing Trees is a brilliantly crafted story that tells us to love the world we inhabit, the people in it, the ground we walk on and the (fig) trees around us.

amaka_efadk's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

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

5.0

grace_loves_lizards's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Parts of this book felt like a warm hug and other parts made me want to ball up and cry. There is so much grief and sadness in this book, but there is also so much love that swallows you whole. Would definitely recommend.

Content Warnings

j9theshort's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

denisever's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

thecolourblue's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

“Cartography is another name for stories told by winners. For stories told by those who have lost, there isn’t one.”

The "island" in The Island of Missing Trees is Cyprus, and the "tree" is a fig tree, the presence of which spans across the story - observing and narrating many of the events. The tree, and the ecology and history of the island itself, as characters are vivid as any of the humans in the book - the main narrative is intercut with historical accounts of politics, ecology, lepidoterology (Cyprus is a stopping point for butterfly migration!) as well as myth and folklore. And food. Of course, food.

The core story happens between the 1970s and 2010s, following initially the young lovers Kostas and Defne, and later their teenage daughter Ada (a name which itself means "island" in Turkish). Kostas is a Greek Cypriot, Defne is a Turkish Cypriot. They have known each other - and loved each other - since childhood. However, the 70s brings a escalating violence between Cyprus' Turkish and Greek communities, separating the couple.

They do not reunite for nearly 16 years, at which point Kostas is an ecologist relocated to London. Despite all odds, they re-kindle their relationship and Defne leaves Cyprus with Kostas - essentially losing all contact with her family (who will not forgive him for her choice in partner) in the process.

“That is what migrations and relocations do to us: 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.”

Kostas and Defne, trying and failing to leave the past behind, opt not to tell their daughter much of there past, leaving her desperately searching for answers - especially after her mother passes away and her long-estranged aunt Meryam arrives to visit from Cyprus.

Throughout this all, the fig tree that Defne and Kostas played and loved under as children has followed them - in the form of a cutting that Kostas smuggled to London and has lovingly tended ever since.

It's a really beautiful, heart-breaking novel which sometimes feels more allegorical than real. There's a sense of the magical and wondrous in the story of the star-crossed lovers and the tree, despite the brutality and senseless cruelty of the true events they are situated in.

“I wish I could have told him that loneliness is a human invention. Trees are never lonely. Humans think they know with certainty where there being ends and someone else's starts. With there roots tangled and caught up underground, linked to fungi and bacteria, trees harbour no such illusions. For us, everything is interconnected.”