Name: The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Rating: 4.162828947368421 (152 reviews)
ISBN: 9781984821218

Christy Lefteri

This unforgettable novel puts human faces on the Syrian war with the immigrant story of a beekeeper, his wife, and the triumph of spirit when the world becomes unrecognizable. "Courageous and provocative...a beautifully crafted novel of international significance that has the capacity to have us open our eyes and see."--Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.z.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Beatrix

…the tips of her fingers with the tiny cuts, where the ridges and valley patterns once were stained with blue or yellow or red paint. Her laughter was gold once, you would have seen as well as heard it Look at her. because I think she is disappearing.

When she laughed, she laughed so hard the house would shake. But when she was sad my world was dark. I didn't have a choice about this. She was more powerful than I. She cried like a child, laughed like bells ringing, and her smile was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. 

vyn 

Afra loved, she hated, and she inhaled the world like it was a rose. 

Heartbreaking and beautifully written 🥹

Ziyue

Colleen

3 Stars

*A potentially moving story overshadowed by the overly stylized writing*


The Beekeeper of Aleppo sounded like an amazing, poignant story. I had such high hopes for this book; maybe that was part of the problem. Hype is such a tough thing to deal with. 

Something about the story, particularly the writing style, reminded me of Warlight. That floating narrative that was sometimes poetic and other times crude. The unreliable narrator and non-chronological storyline. Although the content of those stories are nothing alike, nevertheless it felt like there were echoes in the writing.


  “Sometimes I think that if I keep walking, I will find some light, but I know that I can walk to the other side of the world and there will still be darkness. It's not like the darkness of the night, which also has white light from the stars, from the moon. This darkness is inside me and has nothing to do with the outside world.”

While I did initially like the writing of The Beekeeper of Aleppo, the non-chronological timeline removed all suspense from the plot. The twists were obvious from the very beginning. This would have been a much more impactful story if it had been told chronologically.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo had a highly stylized writing style. The chapters didn't all begin or end with full sentences. The ended mid-sentence. It was as if you are turning a radio on and off mid song. Or like that old Assumptions song we used to sing as kids. And while I understand what the author was going for symbolically and trying to portray psychologically, it was frustrating to read and cringe-worthy from a grammatical standpoint. It often felt like the concept overshadowed the rest of the book - particularly the character development. 

I was expecting something like The Kite Runner, so I was disappointed by how little emotion I felt with this story. Although the author's experience as the child of refugees and her own work in a refugee camp lent that aspect of the story credence, the Syrian culture aspects of the story felt too surface level. I was expecting something much more poignant and heart-wrenching. Unfortunately, the story just didn't make it to that point. The lack of cultural emersion combined with the fragmented storyline and overly-stylized writing combined into a tolerable but mostly disappointing story.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

One of my favourite books. Insight to a reality that seems like a story. Finding light in darkness is one of the beauties of this book 

ramen

Ben Jenkins

Super interesting story with some beautiful passages, but the weird time jumps and confusing, dream-like writing in some sections forces me to remove a star. Feels like a book that requires multiple readings but even then I'm not sure I'd know what's real.

Ana Paula

The time jumps took a little to get used to because sometimes I forgot where they were in their journey (but that might have been my fault because i started the first 50 pages back in april and only just seriously picked it up). 

I loved the symbolism Christy added on the book, the really smalls details that ended up making a lot of sense later in the book and how EVERYTHING had a purpose. I really don´t think there was ever an extra item / description that felt out of place

the book that got me into reading. wonderful, heartbreaking, human flaws, a book that everyone should read.

Esslam Ben Ramadan

A deep and profound story that depicts the resilience of humans when they face their darkest hour. Although I have never been in such saddening situations each word hit a note that resonated with me deeply. It has opened my eyes to a world that I'm sheltered from and a world that I would have otherwise not been aware of. I'm thankful for I have a new understanding of the world I live in.

What will you find from his story? Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees. As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all - and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face - they must journey to find each other again. Moving, powerful, compassionate and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. Told with deceptive simplicity, it is the kind of book that reminds us of the power of storytelling.

Sehr schön und sehr traurig gleichzeitig.. must read

Ann-Kathrin 

Rhiannon Jerrom

I loved this book. It was tragic and heartbreaking but also had such a lovely message of hope in the face of pure devastation. I can’t really go into all of my thoughts on the story without giving spoilers but this is an exceptionally good book, and Christy Lefteri tells this story so well. My initial rating is a four star but I will definitely be rereading this as a physical copy as I feel like it might be rated higher reading the story rather than listening to it.

Melany

Very emotional and important book. Everyone should read this for the importance of telling these stories

The International Number One Bestseller, for readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Kite Runner.

Charmaine

What a story. Nuri and Afra's journey was so harrowing and moving. I was interesting to read from Nuri's POV, where there's two linear plots on different timelines. His life has been so full of loss. But at the end of the book, Nuri finds his way back to love and hope and home.

Safs 🧸

Really sad, but moving, it really made me cry!

Rose Stanley

** spoiler alert **
           OK first off I do highly recommend checking out the organisations listed at the end of this book, which are as follows:
www.openculturalcenter.org
www.faros.org.gr
www.salusburyworld.org.uk
https://canalrivertrustwaterfront.org...

And now...on to the review!

So the issues most people who have given this book one or two stars seem to have had were 
1. the back-and-forth narrative is confusing and 
2. the writing itself isn't great

Well, not to be all I'm-not-like-other-girls but those weren't an issue for me at all...in fact I honestly appreciated the effort that must have gone into crafting chapters where the last sentence of the section in the present and the first sentence of the section in the past are linked by a single word, and I didn't have any trouble keeping track of what was happening when and to whom. 

The descriptions of Aleppo in particular (pre-and post-conflict) were also, IMO, beautifully done.

No, the issue I had with this book was you have 8 chapters in which it's already been made pretty clear that war is hell and being a refugee/asylum seeker is a desperate situation, the journey from unsafe country of origin to unwelcoming host country being equal parts danger and frustration.

Then the author decides heyyyyyy that's not awful enough, you know what we need? 
So people really get just how terrible being a refugee/asylum seeker is?
Children getting raped. 
First of all, just hint at it, but then lose that subtlety chapter by chapter.
Me: Why? What does this add exactly?
Author: (whispers) Character Development (but only for the narrator)

Anyway, so the author gives you a chapter to attempt to recover from that.

Then they go heyyyyyyyy what if his wife gets raped too, like, let's just chuck that in there, might as well, right?

Me: Um...O...K...will we ever really deal with her reaction to that?
Author: Heck no!
Me: Then why -
Author: (whispers) Character Development (but only for the narrator)

By this point there were only two chapters left (one and a bit really; Chapter 14 is super-short) so I read those for the sake of completeness, but yeah will not be reading this again...

The Beekeeper of Aleppo

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