Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

12 reviews

mraddd's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, War, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Islamophobia

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, and Animal death

gingerbiscuit's review

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book feels like a song, heartbreak, and therapy all at once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, Hate crime, War, Death of parent, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying

watermelleon's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I need to have another cry and talk about this at book club before writing a review here.... I read a huge chunk of this today and it has been nothing but crying my eyes out with little water breaks. my library copy now has mascara smudges on it, nothing I can do about that I guess :s

in short - best book I have read in a long time. it is beautifully written, surprisingly close to home and relatable, generally so informative on topics I new nothing about (that I probably should have!). it has changed my outlook on many perspectives in my life. this is a lifechanging book that I will be recommending to everyone. there are some tough, tough topics but so much hope and nostalgia as well.

on a personal note: This book has allowed me to reflect on my own recently-uprooted family history, and has helped me reflect on that as well the now clear impact of this on my family moving down through the generations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Abortion, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Death of parent, Bullying, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Terminal illness

War Imagery throughout and discussion of death of multiple characters in detail (not graphic in terms of gore, but explains how they died). Colonisation: discussion throughout of colonisation in relation to cyprus and the effects of this, more focussed on the cultural impact than graphic/gore detail. Pregnancy and Children:

Spoiler

a child dies at a young age of malaria, child is assumed for a while to be an abortion.

Terminal Illness:

Spoiler

Main Character's grand parents died as a result of cancer- they were poisoned by asbestos from some overalls used for working in the mines

Sucide / alcohol / drug use:

Spoiler

the main character's mother is revealed to have killed herself, was an alcoholic and took pills to end her life

Mental Illness: many themes of mental illness throughout, especially a big theme of inheriting generational trauma (war related) and how this impacts younger generations the most. Bullying

Spoiler

short scene of bullying in a british school at the beginning of the book

Panic Attacks

Spoiler

short scene of bullying in a british school at the beginning of the book. The main character has a panic attack and screams during her class, an incident which is later discussed.

Homophobia

Spoiler

an interracial gay couple (two men) are kidnapped and killed within context of a war, it is suggested that their sexuality is a part of the attack as well as their conflicting cutural backgrounds

Kidnapping

Spoiler

an interracial gay couple are kidnapped and killed within context of a war, suggested that their sexuality is a part of the attack as well as their conflicting cutural backgrounds

achingallover's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Bullying

feebles640's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Child death, Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Bullying and Murder

graciexpratt's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, and Death of parent

romyreads_'s review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Alcohol, Abortion, Death of parent, Mental illness, War, Violence, Addiction, and Death

Minor: Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicide, Drug use, Animal death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Bullying, Animal cruelty, and Abandonment

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I did not mind the peculiar narrator, aka the fig tree, but I think that its narration was maybe given a bit too much space at the expense of the human characters. They felt a bit surface level, I would have liked for the author to delve more into their characterizations and relationships.

Also, the final revelation left me a bit perplexed, I was not expecting it and I think that it added an ulterior element of magical realism that felt a bit like too much.

Still, the writing style was really good, maybe just at times it felt a bit overdone, that is overly sentimental for my taste or going a bit overboard with the metaphors.

Overall it was a nice reading experience, that taught me a lot about the natural world and about a time and place that I knew nothing about. 
Also, please give me an entire book on Yiorgos and Yusuf's backstory (*crying in extreme sadness*). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Gun violence, Death, War, Abortion, and Violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Sexism, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Child death, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Infidelity, Cancer, Torture, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicide

rosalind's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders

mimina's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, War, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism and Homophobia

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, and Abortion