Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

135 reviews

hannasreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, and Homophobia

agnela's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I really, really would like to give this 3 stars, mainly because of that damn tree, and details that the author mixed up, like cultural view on doves and pigeons, mixing Greek and Roman mythology figures, making the tree almost all knowing and horny. This was a ride through ups and downs, but I loved the cultural background, the history of Cyprus and people who lived there. The main story wasn't that bad, neither was the characters. Besides the tree. Who made the believe it was a good idea? Sometimes it didn't even feel like it was written by the same author with how much it got wrong. You see, when you miss small details, like mixing Gaia and Jupiter together, or saying that a tree can hear bees in December, London, as an author you loose credibility. Do you mean your words or do you just shoot them out to fill the space? 
I don't trust this author, but it wasn't bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Homophobia, War, Death, Death of parent, and Child death

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

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

patroclusbro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

4.5 stars!

This is a beautiful book. Full of sensual images and emotional depth, Elif Shafak writes about remembrance, family trauma, reconnecting and - of course - trees.

I really enjoyed how Shafak weaves all the little timelines, perspectives and scenes together to create a mosaic! This novel worked wonders for me to get into a spring mood: slowly unearthing, discovering, feeling after sensations. The ending fell a little flat and simple for me, unfortunately. This is a book about the past, after all.

Big recommendation for fans of Madeline Miller's "Circe" and Zeyn Joukhadar's "The Thirty Names of Night".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime

sas_lk's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

Elif Shafak's writing is gorgeous, I underlined a lot of beautiful quotes. However, I just think this book was not necessarily for me, Ada frustrated me so much. She frustrated me so much that I ended up having barely any interest in the rest of the story and characters. 
I think I will try atleast one more book from Shafak because I do think she is talented. This one simply wasn't for me I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death, Alcoholism, War, Violence, and Hate crime

Minor: Suicide and Homophobia

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

dubious_little_creature's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Violence, and War

ambermariebee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Abortion and Homophobia

noiraet's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

A truly memorable book for me. 
1. Made me read up on the history of Cyprus and the Cypriot Civil War. 2. Excellent, compelling (heartbreaking) thematization of generational trauma, identity, family, love and moving forward
3. First book I’ve read in which one of the narrating voices is a tree - this was brilliantly realized.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Abortion, and Death of parent