Reviews

Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak

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literamoi's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

tsoutham's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

The book flips back and forth between 2002 and 2016, the main character a women from Turkey studying at Oxford and then back in Turkey with a husband and children. In her childhood, as a young woman, and later as a wife and mother she is visited by a jinni. Magic sustains her and is present for her biggest transformations.

She is afraid to share her jinni experiences with either her zealously religious mother or her science-minded father, and finally finds a professor to share them with. However neither he nor later her husband or daughter can help her with navigating a third path until the night of the party.

This is a close as I will get to a thriller because the subject matter is captivating, the character well-explored and authentic and the questions are of our time certainly.

Content Warnings

juliamason11's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

adinadwd's review against another edition

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5.0

I'm so glad I read this novel. I think it was really important for me given the current state of mind I was in when I read it.

"There's something about love that resembles faith. It's a kind of blind trust, isn't it? The sweetest euphoria. The magic of connecting with a being beyond our limited, familiar selves. But if we get away by love - or by our faith - it turns into a dogma, a fixation. The sweetness becomes sour. We suffer in the hands of the gods that we ourselves created."