Reviews with content warning for Suicide - L'isola degli alberi scomparsi

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

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romyreads_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

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meggles's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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gendavis's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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archytas's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.5

This is a surprisingly gentle book about crimes against humanity: one which focuses on a love story and is largely told by a resilient and reflective tree. Shafik interweaves the story of human-on-human violence with reflections on ecological violence. She also weaves through the story of love - fierce love - both of humans for each other and for the nature that surrounds us. Shafik's style is to celebrate defiance in the face of violence, and love in the face of persecution. That she does so while acknowledging the losses is significant. This is a book which manages not to say that love negates trauma, but rather that love and trauma co-exist.
All of which makes it sound more like a book about ideas than it is: this is a book strongly anchored by strong characters. Especially the gentle, mournful Kostas, the indomitable Defne and their passionate, frustrated daughter Ada. Minor characters impress quickly - Meryam, the extraverted aunt whose loudness and physical affection belie her own vulnerability and unsureness; Yiorgas and Yusef are seen largely through the eyes of those they shelter. They are perhaps the most symbolic of entities, and it is notable that their generosity comes from their own decisions to live precariously in order to live well.
I knew nothing going into this book, except that a couple of friends I really trust loved both this book and Shafik's work in general. I know little of Cyprus or the Turkish invasion and massacres that this text centres around. The book was accessible for the ignorant and left me keen to know more. At the end, it is clear that Shafik has been influenced by many of the same natural science books I have been reading lately, which certainly partly explained why I loved so much the twinned themes of human/nature and human/human interactions. I've added pretty much everything else she's written to my tbr now.

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