The Island of Missing Trees: A Reese's Book Club Pick

I loved this story! I was first dubious of the fig as narrator, but the writing, the depth and breadth of the content and storytelling put those doubts aside. The history the story told was heartbreaking and maybe even moreso today as parts of our world are at war again. This was mostly a love story, resilience, despair, terror, renewal.I loved how Kostas explained the way we look at a tree, what we see first, will tell us a lot of what makes our hearts sing, or break. And perhaps most of all, I loved the acknowledgement of and reflection on the experiences of our ancestors living within us far after they’ve left this world. I loved the ending and it filled me with a knowingness of the richness that comes with recognizing all beings, all species, all of creation is interconnected and interdependent—just as our Creator (whoever/whatever your belief) intended - that we all enrich each other and are part of each other, if we would only look.

Can a tree or a kitchen be a character? That’s a question you will answer when you read this lovely book. Told from the perspective of many characters you will delight in all of them, human and otherwise. You won’t have to dig too deep to feel the emotions conveyed by all. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

This book was an unexpected find. The author brilliantly weaves together a tragic love story on a divided island full of its own tragedies. She is Turkish and he is Greek and the people on the island are at war. The story is full of complex characters, beautifully written prose, so stunning that some paragraphs need to be read over and over again. But the real storyteller is a Fig Tree! This book educated me about the horrific history of this tiny Mediterranean island, and is a book I shall never forget. I can’t wait to see what this authors writes next - a truly gifted writer.

This novel is very complex. It covers relationships, love grief, conflict, inter generational differences, nature and much more. I had a bit of difficulty getting into it. Briefly thought of abandoning it. But very glad that I read it. A book that I may read again.

Wow !! I really enjoyed this authors style of writing. I can’t wait to read more of their work. This a story of love, loss, war, family and truly history that shapes us.

The author magically blends a story of love with sorrow, while teaching us the evil that occurs when humans allow their religion & heritage to override our common humanity. Her prose paints gorgeous scenes but also unspeakable tragedy. Will recommend to all my friends.

The fig tree has an unexpectedly big role in this story, and it is written with such love and feeling. I still feel as though I was resisting the tree’s chapters, not willing to accept its contribution. Often there would be a piece of those words that meant so much…so acceptance was given.

one of the most beautiful books i’ve ever read :3

I did not expect to like this book (I read it for a book club) and I fell in love with it. The writing is beautiful and the story both sad and hopeful. I ordered it after I had read it because I wanted to have my own copy to reread.

This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve read in years.It’s one of those books to be read slowly and tasted rather than devoured quickly.It’s a love story that encompasses many people, nature, and different cultures. The writing is exquisite, the feelings it evokes are deep and sometimes painful. I’ve thanked the person who recommended it to me many times, and now I’m recommending it to you.

An interesting story told by several characters. Based in Cypress during their war. Such rich characters! Especially good if you have visited Greece or thereabouts.

Excellent book, excellent writing. Besides the story being good, I learned so much about trees and animals. The author’s writing is magical and actually makes you feel something.

Elif work has a nature of its own. In this beautiful, subtle book you will find an interesting essay about human nature, different personality traits and how love can overcome the worst times and survive through war and hate, yet in the end it can not scape the briefness of our time on this planet.

I had to choose a book to read for school. The concept of a fig tree as a narrator is what made me choose this one. I was so drawn into this book. If you’re questioning it, I would say it’s a must read.

I TRULY LOVED THIS BOOK. IT WAS LIKE READING POETRY. I CAN”t wait for others to read it so that we can discuss the so many topics the author has included in the novel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I love books which help me change how I look at the world. I will forever look at trees differently.

It took a bit to get into the book, but then needed to keep reading to find out what happened next.

Elif Shafak is an enormously talented writer, which is well known. This novel is a love story embedded in two ecosystems: the endlessly variable underpinnings of wild nature, and the sadly unvarying ecosystem of human conflict. In this case, the physical settings are London and Nicosia, Cyprus. The humans are Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The time frame from the mid-1970s to present day. It's a worthwhile read and a worthy reminder of divided Cyprus and its denizens. I would have liked to visit the tavern with the Happy Fig.Without rehearsing the many interesting elements of the novel, I'm sure some readers will find the fig tree as narrator to be charming and valuable. I couldn't see the merit of a fig tree narrator over a human one, as the voice seems utterly human (except for some fig trivia) and obliged to convey the usual context behind the action. The fig does change the time scale and does introduce nature as an agent in human life, instead of assuming a human-centered story altogether. There's a lot of merit in that. However, the fig -- and the ants and butterflies and birds and mice, etc. -- are personified in ways that disarm the uniqueness of their voices, making them intelligible but silly. To speak of a butterfly's children or of motherhood or a queen ant's mission in life is anthropocentric to the extreme. And there's a lot of this in the novel.The Island of Missing Trees demonstrates great care and research by the author, but it often is too didactic. I felt at times like I was watching a nature documentary with a terribly serious narrator.I also found the love story tedious - a kind of clichéd romance that has appeared and reappeared forever. I liked the protagonists but not their scripts. I can't spoil the plot by saying too much about the denouement of the love story, but it seemed a little improbable. I was expecting more of a diaspora motif, but I suppose that's blaming the author for not writing the book I wanted to read.The forensic anthropology that provides a backdrop to the discovery of the novel's core mystery is powerful and rings true, not only in Cyprus but throughout the world.

At its heart, this book is a tale about an enduring love between a Greek Cypriot boy and a Turkish Cypriot girl at a time such a relationship was not just impossible but mortally dangerous—a love which is pursued, then lost and pursued again. Another important player in their relationship is their daughter, who is introduced early on, born and raised in London, who, with her father, is suffering from the rent untimely death of her mother, his wife. The dual storylines of the couple’s love, and their daughter’s life in contemporary London, is frequently interrupted by a lengthy interlude narrated by a fig tree in the garden of the London home where the father and daughter live. It proved to me to be a literary device that I found ridiculous and distracting, although the historical and botanical information provided by the fig tree’s narration was usually interesting and often fascinating—it was just too hard to suspend disbelief to not find the tree’s narration jarring. Despite my problem with a tree as a narrator, I found the author’s language to be beautiful and strongly evocative of the scenery, climate and society of that gorgeous and troubled island. And her characters were so vividly drawn you felt like you knew them personally. If you can suspend disbelief and accept a fig tree as a narrator, this book is highly recommended.

I never thought I would enjoy a story of how trees view humanity with our foibles, squabbles, quarrels, wars, hatreds, loves…. But this was amazing. Part historical novel about the partition of Cyprus and the violence around that, part coming of age story in a time of grief, part nature study about trees and fauna and how intertwined they are with our culture and existence, this book was an exploration of what it means to be a survivor that bears the marks of past trauma and what it means to keep moving forward.This novel focuses on the love story of Kostas and Defne, star-crossed Greek and Turkish Cypriot lovers whose devotion to each other is tested by the violent conflict that emerges in 1974. Despite their commitment to putting the past behind them and moving forward, years later, their teen daughter Ada’s breakdown in the middle of a history class brings past traumas once again to the fore.This is my first book by this author and I’m not sure how she accomplished a book that was simultaneously heartbreaking and healing, how she managed to make the reader feel part of the story even though we were jumping timelines and perspectives between the tree, the characters, the plot versus the tree’s commentary…. It was brilliant and incredibly well-executed. I think the thing that makes this a little less than 4 stars for me is the inevitable fact that I could have done with a little more character development and a little more connective plot… I wanted more Ada, more Meryem, more Kostas… even more Defne… this was a very introspective sort of book where the characters often felt very isolated and the story mainly existed in their thoughts and reflections. For a book such as this that speaks to the interconnectedness and community of Cypriot people and more broadly of the interconnectedness of humanity and nature, the characters had little dialogue with each other and for me that would have been an opportunity to get to know them better. I recognize and the author points out (through the omniscient fig tree) that in reality unlike in fiction, we rarely know everything about characters or have the complete tale with all plot holes filled, rather we have bits and pieces of story, hints and allusions, gaps we have to fill in ourselves and information we have to content ourselves with never knowing, and this book feels very much like that. And I can accept this argument, but that left so much unsaid in the book (as it often is in life, but in a book you want to see it said- tangent: I also find it difficult to accept that Meryem came to stay in Kostas’ house and they never have a proper conversation that we can observe).That said this is so beautifully written. The proverbs and aphorisms are so apt, the reflections on human experiences of conflict, survival, migration, trauma, healing and what it means to be far from home spoke for anyone who has ever experienced the out-of-body feeling of trying to feel at home and at peace in a situation which is far from that. I found myself highlighting swathes of this book and I know it’s one I won’t forget soon. I plan to check out more books by this author.