The Island of Missing Trees: A Novel

From the first page this book casts an enchantment. It is not a fantasy despite some parts told to us through the eyes of a tree. Instead it is a drama, a romance, a retelling of a terrible time on a beautiful island, a story about war, about people both young and old and a book that gives insight into cultural differences carried too far. How can it do all this? I don’t know. Maybe it is magic, magic created by an author with a lyrical bent and a desire to talk about a time on Cyprus when differences broke hearts and mayhap still do. You might also ask how can a tree have such an effect on our reader hearts and souls and again I don’t know. Perhaps that is what a true story teller is supposed to do. You can’t help but admire an author who can step aside and allow her story to be told by something that has lived and seen our human behaviour with neutrality. After all Elif Shabaka does the rest with such wonderful emotion that we realise differences are something to be revered and not used against each other.

Very Richly Narrated interspersed with memorable proverbs and anecdotes. The comparisons between humanity, and all living creatures thought provoking. Enjoyable.Read.

I truly believe Ms Shafak is one of the most gifted writers I've ever read. She has a way of telling story with simplicity, complexion, beauty, tragedy, sadness, and joy all at the same time. I went into this book with vague knowledge of such a difficult time in Cyprus and know much more now. I love how she weaved other country's tragic genocides and wars into this story by way of her characters and those they worked with. I especially loved how in depth and natural each character was. This is a book I will reread many times throughout my life. I am grateful for Elif Shafak.

This is a different type of story where one of the Central Characters is a Fig Tree, and is relationship with the humans. I found this very intriguing and may try to look at plants & trees differently. The ending is soothing. I highly recommend this book to all

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.

Bringing the Cypriot war to life. Perspective of Cyprus from 1974. who knew the transition that shaped the trauma, immigration, and love torn apart by a civil war. Enlightening!

Excelente escritora. Nunca me decepciona. Felicidades a Elif Shafak

One of the best books I’ve read. Learned about an era of history I didn’t know about. The story intertwines with the life of trees.

Opent nieuwe visie op thema's die mij aanspreken

A beautiful story from one of my favorite authors, Elif Shafak. When I heard that she was publishing a new book, I was overwhelmed with joy. To say that I adore this author would be an understatement. I read many of her works, including “The Forty Rules of Love”, “The Three Daughters of Eve”, and “Black Milk”. She is a great writer, who approaches difficult and emotional topics with delicate sensitivity, and her new book was a genuine pleasure to read. Kostas and Defne are two teenagers who are madly in love with each other. Kostas is a Greek Cypriot, while Defne is a Turkish Cypriot – this difference threatens their love. They meet in a taverna and their forbidden love grows with each day that passes. In the middle of the taverna, there is a fig tree, which bears witness to their encounters and a myriad of other things. War breaks out and things change, for the both of them. Decades later, Kostas returns to the island, in search of his lost love. Will he find it? And what will happen next? You will have to read the book to find out. The story will also introduce you to Ada, a young girl who is trying to figure out who she is and whose only connection to the far island of Cyprus is a tree growing in her garden. This story is moving and beautifully written. The sublime storytelling draws you from the first page and you can easily sense the motivation behind the book, the author’s intense desire for equality and peace. She explores so many different themes but I think the one that spoke to me the most was the emigrant life, and how we are always carrying a piece of our home wherever we go. Our homeland is part of our identity, no matter where we might find ourselves. What were the things I loved most about the book? • It reminded me about my home and the fact that I carry it in my heart wherever I go. As you will see, a large part is narrated by a fig tree. She remembers her life back in Cyprus, her roots so to say. “I still carry the island with me, though. The places where we were born are the shape of our lives, even when we are away from them. Especially then. Now and again in my sleep I find myself in Nicosia, standing under a familiar sun, my shadow falling against the rocks, reaching towards the prickly broom bushes that burst with blossoms, each as perfect and as bright as the golden coins in a children’s fable.” • It spoke of how we must let go of who we used to be in order to make room for the current self. Elif Shafak speaks about migration not only as a process but also as an influencing factor on our identity. “Because that is what migrations and relocations do to us: when you leave your home for unknown shores, you don’t simply carry on as before; a part of you dies inside so that another part can start all over again.” • Reference to the poems of C.P. Cavafy, one of the most distinguished poets of the 20th century. “Arriving there is what you are destined for/But do not hurry the journey at all…” • Story of forbidden love – I was rooting hard for Defne and Kostas to remain together. Their love story is beautiful and sad at the same time, and reminded me of the old cliché, true love never dies. “You know what I’ve been thinking since? I’ve been thinking that you are my country. Is that a strange thing to say? Without you, I don’t have a home in this world; I am a felled tree, my roots severed all round; you can topple me with the touch of a finger.” • Countless references to nature, and especially to trees. The author skillfully reminds us we are all connected, and that both trees and humans grow roots, which shape our identity. The key to happiness is being able to leave those roots behind and form new ones, discovering a new part of ourselves. “The Island of Missing Trees” is a beautiful novel, one that will definitely stir a lot of emotions inside. It will cause you to ask a lot of questions about who you are, especially if you are living far away from your homeland. Rich in descriptions and with numerous mentions of cultural differences and traditions, it inspires and delights at the same time. One of the best reads of 2021!

The writing was truly beautiful and offered me a much deeper understanding of Cyprus’s history. Elif Shafak is an incredibly talented writer, and her ability to weave history, emotion, and narrative together is remarkable.