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htoomanybooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Minor: Suicide attempt
tesslw's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Set across two timelines, between the drastically different but equally immersive cities of Oxford and Istanbul, Three Daughters of Eve offers the story of Peri; a now wealthy and comfortable mother and housewife, living in Turkey and raising her teenage daughter, whilst also reflecting back on her time studying at Oxford University, the revelations she experienced and life lessons she learned; both her triumphs and her regrets.
Three Daughters of Eve is beautifully woven with thick strands of philosophy, theism, faith and the fear of someone questioning them all. In our modern day narrative, Peri arrives late and disheveled to a dinner party thrown for Istanbul’s own aristocracy and most revered citizens, having been mugged and attacked on the streets en route to the party.
As a student in Oxford, some 20 years earlier, Peri takes an exclusive elective seminar simply titled ‘God’. Taught by an elusive and charismatic but notoriously hard to please Professor, the course is designed to test the robustness of students’ beliefs and teach them to question everything. However, for some it does even more than this.
Peri consistently struggles to balance her faith and identity with modern life - and this is also reflected in her two best friends; Shirin, who is bombastic, confident and modern, and Mona who is devout, reflective and modest. The three of them, all muslim but all with differing outlooks and approaches to their faith and lives, comprise the Three Daughters of Eve (or, in a fantastic turn of phrase by Shafak, ‘the sinner, the believer and the confused’).
Across both timelines, this book also has some really beautiful parent-daughter moments (both mother and father), and this is something that plays strongly into Peri’s unease with her identity. Trying to find a happy medium between her mother’s inflexible following of Islam, vs her father’s laissex-faire approach to religion leaves Peri roiling with uncertainty.
Three Daughters of Eve left me certain that I want to read more of Shafak’s novels (I already own The Bastard of Istanbul and The Island of Missing Trees so I am looking forward to picking one or both of those up soon!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Torture
schorlett's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
annxmcd's review against another edition
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
aseel_reads's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
the book was hard to get into at the beginning, the writing style is a stylistic choice that i don't really enjoy (says one sentence for the plot, next paragraph is some side tangent fact and then goes back to the plot), but then i got used to it and i enjoyed the story. was super intrigued about the scandal mentioned in the blurb. so the middle part was great and then the ending... very underwhelming and not at all what i expected. i didn't like how it ended at all. the reader was given expectations and they were definitely not met.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Rape
jaterry30's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Rape
northernzephyr's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Child death, Torture, and Suicide attempt
lghrndn's review against another edition
I made it about a third of the way through this book. I found the premise of three women from different backgrounds meeting in Oxford so charming, but the first third of the book is a slow walk through the childhood of the protagonist, Peri. I loved the first few chapters' descriptions of Istanbul and staging of the issues of the city and of Peri's upbringing, but the pacing was so slow, especially when the dynamic that hooked me in the book isn't introduced until nearly half way through. I love books that explore themes of religion and mysticism, but I felt like I was being hit over the head with the binary of Peri's mother, a pious Muslim, and her father, a nationalist skeptic. I was hopeful that my experience would turn around once she arrived at Oxford, but I found the chapter where she and her parents tour the university so insufferable that I decided to cut my losses. I think there was so much potential in that scene--a worldly young Iranian woman showing a new arrival around the city, with lots of interesting observations to be made about culture clashes, the history of faith in English universities, and the experience of leaving home for the first time. However, all of these thoughts came out through painfully expositional dialogue, with each character directly stating how their perspectives conflict with the others'. I was hopeful about this book, but in practice couldn't get into it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
myfriendthatcanread's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Islamophobia, and Medical trauma
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