The Island of Missing Trees

Elif Shafak has a brilliant writing style that combines commitment to justice and delicacy. Through the fig tree, she takes us on a journey through the history of a family that has been affected by civil war, through the many memories and pains they carry, and through their everlasting love despite everything. Much more than a tree, it symbolizes roots and traditions, the life they were unable to live - the connection with the past they left behind. The fig tree reminds us how brutal migrations can be, and how important it is to create connections that make us feel at home - while reinforcing the pain wars are resposible for.

It was a beautiful and sad book, I loved the historical facts and learning more about Cyprus’ history. The way trauma can tear someone down was depicted really well here. This book definitely motivated me to do some research about ecology and the cultures in Cyprus. I’m also deeply touched by the suffering and resilience of the islanders, and will definitely not forget the stories I have read. I liked the fig tree, but in some of the chapters I thought that she was doing too much and that she played too major a roll.

This novel gave me so much pain in its interrogation of intergenerational trauma, the intense yearning for love between Kostas anf Defne and the simultaneous tragedy and beauty of finding love at a time where rationally it should be avoided at all costs. But anyone who 'expects love to be sensible has perhaps never loved.' As someone who is part of a diaspora, I found the idea of my nation following me like a shadow particularly resonant.

One of the best books I’ve read, no doubt. So rich in historical facts and events, these fictional characters tell a story of dark years in Cyprus. The effects of civil war. The never ending light of hope. And my favorite part… nature. 🌳

Loved. Ripped through it in a few days. I appreciate her neutrality as a Turk in writing about the politics between Greek and Turkey.

This is a beautifully written story about relationships between complex family dynamics including dealing with sudden loss, and grief, stories about star-crossed lovers of opposite faith and religion, the futility of war and its aftermath and consequences (intergenerational trauma), and a motherly-toned education piece on climate change and poor handling of, ignorance and its impact on flora and fauna and the entire chain of ecology, and not to forget the role of social media. It all began when Ada went viral after an odd and humiliating incident at school. To make matters worse, it was the final day before a long school break. Ada and her friends left school with an assignment to interview a family member to learn more about family backgrounds and have a presentation on it once school reopens. On top of all of that, Ada's mom has recently passed, and to lose a mother at any age… Let's just say this might be one of the eye-opening, heart-opening, healing, and most important school assignments of her life.  The author tells this story by allowing multiple timelines to develop, with a help from a fig tree as a storyteller. I think it is a structure that was well built up. It provided all the necessary information that is relevant to the whole (of the story) and it all made sense, leaving no stones unturned. I was engaged every time I started on the book- pausing and Googling on certain historical facts (summer of 1974 civil war in Cyprus), certain ecology terms: I went down the 'fruit bats' rabbit hole that one time, for hours.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I loved that the experience the book took me through via the surprising facts, through different ideas from what I already know and did not know before and I believe the author conveyed her concerns on the themes mentioned above beautifully with an air of magical realism, historical fiction and intelligent prose. The ending did not 100% surprise me as I sort of caught the clues along the way (I noticed similar usage of terms and phrases ping-ponging in the dialogues) but it left an impact afterwards which made me reflect and felt bittersweet and extreme sympathy for Kostas, Ada and Meryem afterwards.

I liked this book, sometimes it was a little bit boring, but I continued and I’m glad for it. I loved the character of Kostas, he was so sweet. I also liked that the book deals with topics like killing birds (my heart hurts) and ecology, it added some value for me.

The story flips between points of views - one being that of the fig tree. At some points you lose touch with the voice of the fig tree but it does give another perspective that the other characters aren’t able to give - especially towards the end which I enjoyed. A story about Cyprus and the war between its people, food, and love that grows strong and divided - even when pulled apart from home roots. It was a slow burn but a nice way to share what feels like a family history/tree.

Oh my GOODNESS! I 100% recommend this book, it’s so beautiful and the way it explains mental health through the trees and the way the storm relates with Ada’s personal life! it’s just so moving, the ending was so unexpected, I never imagined myself crying over a tree!!! As well as this, the way the characters relationships re-form throughout this book is so sweet and brings out such a soft spot in me… This book reminds us about how our pasts shape our futures but also how we can become strong and overcome certain traumas! BEAUTIFUL, WHOLESOME, PERFECT!

Loved it...especially the observations by the fig tree....

Overall nice read, but not the best of the best. Fig tree is a nice metaphor, but I feel like it was a bit too much at the end.

cried over a fig tree

Update on reflection: I am bumping this down because my issue with the book I think is fundamental to what the story is about. And I still feel bitter about my experience with it, months later. This is a sprawling book, both in its coverage of time and physical space, as well as perspective. There are quite a few characters, though some are more predominate than others. There’s the inclusion of an old tree that is predominately providing historical exposition. Overall, I liked this, but I really am adverse to prescriptive storytelling. And this is that. The conclusions you’re supposed to come to, you can’t help but do so, since there is so much repetition of the themes and allegory and metaphor. It is effective at showing the pain and growth from a literal transplant, both of the tree as well as the people who leave and live elsewhere. You consume the history in an easily digestible way, you see how grief and trauma and love are explored. That all worked for me. Where it stumbled somewhat (beyond the sort of sophomoric overuse of simile, metaphor, allegory, etc.), is the anthropomorphism of the tree. Our relationship with nature, at a cultural and scientific level, makes it clear that we do not understand creatures all that well, as much as we have fables and folklore about these things. And so, when people endow nature—especially trees, though—with these qualities where it’s more-or-less a person, but of course with a veeeery long memory, it feels kind of weird and fetishistic and incomplete in its thinking of the natural compared to humanity. I am all for natural creatures being endowed with qualities that allow them to participate in stories. But I am not interested in them sort of aping humanity at all. I think it’s denigrating and solipsistic in its own way, and a pet peeve of mine. This combined with the overuse of humanity directly learning from nature. Needing to rediscover our roots and entrench ourselves in the natural rather than the schizophrenic, cruel societies we have created, creates a kind of dissonance for me. I think it works at conveying the authors intent (many, many times over) but again, kind of reiterates this oversimplification of the natural world existing in a fetishistic quality to be made use of by people. We should pattern ourselves and society to form an equilibrium with nature, absolutely. But that doesn’t mean, in turn, that nature is understood by us. It feels like another sort of colonization of the natural world, basically. Unintentional though it may be. So, as you maybe can tell, in a very human story, I kept finding myself in the weeds, so to speak. I would settle into the live story or whatever else spiralling out into this multiple perspective piece, and then encounter, invariably, my pet peeves again. I wanted to like this a lot more than I did and I think it’s solely down to the above problems that It didn’t resonate with me as much as it did others. So it goes. edit: I also think the colonialism reflected in the tree's perspective and anthropomorphism that is antithetical to what the story is about--war, displacement, literally colonialism--in making the tree reflect humanity, rather than nature in most aspects, I think it creates a dissonance that makes it completely unsuccessful.

Book was not bad but, I expected a better story. The fig tree metaphor was good but was too centralised within the story. There was a great story of humans in this book but Shafak preferred to use fig tree metaphor to describe the book. There are many different themes and ideas within the story but most of the themes are under-developed. This made me feel like a Young Adult

A sharply-observed, beautifully-written and touching exploration of love, conflict, grief, migration, conservation and family relationships.

a beautiful and magical story about Cyprus, roots, love, family and grief