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I finally read this after it sat on my shelf for several years. I used to live in Cyprus in the 90s and remember a period of tension, incidents on the Green Line, Turkish fighter planes buzzing my city, car bombs. I was aware at the time of the basic story of how the island came to be partitioned and the grievances of the Greek and Turkish communities, had visited the Green Line in Nicosia, but this was the first time I read about it in depth.

For some reason I expected to have a strong reaction to this one- either deep love or utter hatred. Instead all I could think was “meh.” Even the polarizing fig tree narrator who passes on information that they learn from bees and mosquitoes did nothing for me either way. There was some lovely writing and important ideas but otherwise I felt underwhelmed. #24in2024
#fourfoursin24 #fuzzybuzzy (for the bee who talks to the fig tree)

Does this book want to be a fictional account of the Greek / Turkish civil war in Cyprus or a Natural World non fiction by David Attenborough? It's seems to be both.

We primarily follow a young couple in Cyprus during the civil war. Defne is Turkish, Kostas is Greek, a dangerous combination during those times. We also follow a Fig Tree who wants to harp on about the natural world in all it's elements over and over again.

Not for me.

Really enjoyed this book - Interesting in so many ways - the connections with nature were touching and not over sentimental. Love , war and intolerances , death and the fig tree - just a lovely read .

This is the 2nd book I‘ve read by this author. It was very good!I like how it was told from two perspectives,one of which was a fig tree.I like when I learn while reading.I learned a lot about nature and trees with this book.This story tells that there is prejudice in all cultures.The characters had to fight to overcome prejudice in order to stay together.Unfortunately, this book also told of intolerance that didn‘t end well.I recommend this book

Told from an interesting perspective, this book beautifully describes the very real and damaging effects of conflict experienced by nature and humans. Really enjoyed reading and learning more about Cyprus 🇨🇾 #pick

Me and not the book? Hmm. Told from multiple POVs—including one that was so annoying I had to skip those chapters—this book about human connection, conflict, borders & the ways we cross/do not cross them, & trauma is occasionally lyrical & sometimes even profound but…BUT…ultimately it didn‘t quite connect for me. I‘ve read several books by Shafak that I really enjoyed & while I really liked sections of this one, on the whole it didn‘t work for me.