Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

29 reviews

mwaskom's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

beautiful. I learned so much about Cyprus and it was so engaging. Though it is rooted in many specific places and times, it's truly about the experiences, connections, and desires we all have. Only reason it's not a 5 star read is that the tree metaphors and very heavy handed, like this book was made for a 10th grade English essay about symbolism (and would be an amazing assigned reading) but I thought it would benefit from a little more subtlety. 🌳

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Abortion

sylda's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

If I had to summarize this book in one word, it would have to be inconsistent. It flutters between "subtext is for cowards and "that came out of nowhere" and the different time periods that are explored are sometimes really interesting and sometimes boring.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Colonisation

toomanydresses's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Colonisation

bouebooks's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

graciexpratt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Abortion, Death of parent, and Colonisation

mermaidstears's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

I really loved this book. The writing is gorgeous and the story itself is completely compelling. I throughly enjoyed the amount of nature featured in this and the narration from the fig tree were some of my favourite parts. Not too mention the amount of loveable characters and the love they have between their own relationships and their relationships with each other. This taught me so much about Cyprus, Greek and Turkish Cypriots and the conflict and history as well as the culture. Highly recommend 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Suicide, Torture, and Alcohol

gendavis's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

rieviolet'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I did not mind the peculiar narrator, aka the fig tree, but I think that its narration was maybe given a bit too much space at the expense of the human characters. They felt a bit surface level, I would have liked for the author to delve more into their characterizations and relationships.

Also, the final revelation left me a bit perplexed, I was not expecting it and I think that it added an ulterior element of magical realism that felt a bit like too much.

Still, the writing style was really good, maybe just at times it felt a bit overdone, that is overly sentimental for my taste or going a bit overboard with the metaphors.

Overall it was a nice reading experience, that taught me a lot about the natural world and about a time and place that I knew nothing about. 
Also, please give me an entire book on Yiorgos and Yusuf's backstory (*crying in extreme sadness*). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Abortion, Murder, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, and Torture

katievh's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Pregnancy