Wednesday, 29 December 2021

The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak


When reading this novel, a soothing balm is cast over the reader. Something not at all new for the literature written by Elif Shafak. To my mind, this is a guarantee for the last two novels she wrote – 10 minutes 38 seconds in ThisStrange World, being the other one. These novels are far more healing, melancholic than the others, and this balm is far more soothing.

I hate to give details about the plot of a novel, but I can tell you this – you will relive the magic from The Arabian Nights. And the author’s voice is so gentle while carrying the reader from one character to the other.

I leave below two paragraphs that I find amazing:

‘… Adam and Eve yielded to the allure of a fig, the fruit of temptation, desire and passion, not some crunchy apple. I don’t mean to belittle a fellow plant, but what chance does a bland apple have next to a luscious fig that still today, aeons after the original sin, tastes like lost paradise? ...’

‘Because the past is a dark, distorted mirror. You look at it, you only see your own pain. There is no room in there for someone else’s pain. ...’

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