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littlewishling's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, War, and Racism
kshertz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Minor: Violence, Racism, War, and Homophobia
biancadubois's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racism and War
Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, Mental illness, Abortion, and Alcoholism
Minor: Suicide
alexhaydon's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Racism, War, and Murder
profdevochka's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Abortion, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Death, Violence, War, Drug use, Hate crime, Mental illness, Child death, Grief, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia
lena_loves_reading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“A map is a two-dimensional representation with arbitrary symbols and incised lines that decide who is to be our enemy and who is to be our friend, who deserves our love and who deserves our hatred and who, our sheer indifference. Cartography is another name for stories told by winners. For stories told by those who have lost, there isn’t one.”
I have a deep respect for Elif Shafak, her work and opinions, even if I don't agree with all of them. I could see her beliefs and love/ appreciation of culture in this novel. Me being a biology nerd, I loved the wonderful facts about nature, especially trees. While I thought it weird at first for this novel to be told from the first-person POVs of a fig tree, I fell in love with the descriptions of her tree life.
I have to admit, I didn't know much about Cyprus before reading this novel. I knew it's an island between Europe and the middle east with Greek and Turkish inhabitants, yes, but I didn't know that it once belonged to the British Empire or about the bloody civil war. I didn't know that it remains divided to this day. I love learning about other countries through books so I loved how much culture, sayings and superstitions can be found in this novel.
Why rate it 4 stars then? Important, nuanced books always make my brain feel like it has to work when reading a book (it did: to keep track of the timelines, to remember all the characters, to understand what was going on in Cyprus,...) and that always makes me thinks “Urgh, I don't want to adult, give me a YA contemporary right now!” Furthermore, the pace is quite slow and made the book feel longer than it is.
Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Child death, and Murder
lollyreads's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Minor: Suicide and Animal death
internationalreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
elossa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Homophobia, and Bullying