Review by yourbookishbff - As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

yourbookishbff 's review for:

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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: No

A stunning book that I waited entirely too long to read. As Long As The Lemon Trees Go captures all that I love in young adult fiction - a clear and urgent voice, a broadening focus on self and community, and an insistence on hope and survival that celebrates youth (even in genocide). This is a dark read that examines deep psychological trauma, but it is carefully threaded with new love and partnership. I was so grateful for the grace the author gives her main character throughout, and the ways in which she can find self-acceptance, even while navigating morally impossible scenarios.

Reading this now, as we witness Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza, is particularly challenging. Sieges on hospitals, sniper attacks targeting children and other civilians, collapsed medical infrastructure, forced starvation - and the world, once again, standing by. Knowing, too, that Syria's fight for freedom spanned more than a decade following the events of this story, and that we have now witnessed the horrific conditions of liberated prisoners, this is hard to read. Through it all, though, the author insists on hope as necessary to our humanity and justice as a north star. The moment that will stay with me from this particular story is drawn from our reality, when we see the echoes of another Syrian boy facing death:

"I pray for his soul and recite Quran verses in a whisper. 'Auntie -- don't cry -- when I go to Heaven -- I'll tell God -- everything...'"

Content Warnings