Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

79 reviews

deluna's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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: Grief, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Racism, Death of parent, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, and War

dearbhlanoonan's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, War, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Murder, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Violence

dany_casimiro's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

The care that goes behind every word in The Island of Missing Trees is astonishing. It is a very nuanced story, not only for its deep concern with diaspora, history, and memory, but also because it is at all moments aware of the natural world and how it relates to humans. Without ever crossing into annoyance, the fig tree provides a very curious point of view that adds newer meanings to the pre-existing multiplicity of narrative layers.
The idea of memory intertwined with nature is absolutely brilliant. In this case, the fig constitutes a surprisingly refreshing metaphor from roots to branches, perfectly encapsulating the nostalgia for one's past and land.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Genocide, Xenophobia, Violence, Alcoholism, War, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Grief, and Death

ekern1991's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Violence, War, Suicide, and Death

honnhi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I cannot stop thinking about this book. From the first page, I fell in love with the writing style. It’s beautiful and poignant without being difficult to understand.
I feel like the perspective of the fig tree and meditations on nature so perfectly captured these very relatable human emotions and experiences.
The parents’ story gripped me so much that I found myself wishing the chapters on Ada were shorter at times, but I do think the Ada chapters were important in their own way. It added a dimension to the parents’ narrative especially.
This is the exact type of story I yearn for when I read magical realism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, and Hate crime

Minor: Abortion

leontyna's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Hate crime

arshiya_amreen90786's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Hate crime, Death of parent, Racism, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

this did not quite live up to the hype for me. i thought it was good but not great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, and Abortion

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

challenging informative 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, War, Xenophobia, Animal death, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, and Violence

wwsimon93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Abortion, Alcoholism, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pregnancy, War, and Violence