A review by alyssabookrecs
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

5.0

This is a fantastic debut. Katouh really brings Salama, Homs as her hometown, Layla, Khawf, Kenan, and more to life. Salama and Kenan’s love story is so bittersweet and sad and hopeful. This book doesn’t shy away from showing the hopelessness and brutality of war on everyday people. It also doesn’t try to “fix” anything or make Salama and others out to be the sole heroes of the plot. Rather, it shows the reality of revolution and the part everyone plays in it, whether they mean to or not. This was not easy to read from its vast descriptions to Salama’s hallucinations of Khawf, but it was definitely a necessary one. My heart broke so many times knowing how what happens within these pages is also reality for many Syrians. I think a book like this should be required reading.