cnannery19's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

3.5


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akyw's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0


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shadysands's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Loved everything about this book- from the way it was written in such a poetic and beautiful way, the depth of the characters, the exploration of trauma and how culture and religion can impact on this to the friendship of adversity and resilience. The trauma made me feel uncomfortable and triggered, but I felt the depth was a necessary part of her story. I also appreciated at the end showing that some parts of the story were derived from real things. Very real and sad story. 

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charlmolwil's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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matmatmatty's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

4.5

This is the story of Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul, who while dying is remembering her life and the moments that led up to her death.

This is a very emotional story, with Leila going through a lot on her childhood and a lot as an adult. Through the story, we learn about her closest friends she met along the way and all the characters felt so real and so complex.

Spoiler:
The second part of the story follows Leila's friends deciding to give her a proper burial and did feel a bit like a different story. I think it could've flowed a bit better but I am glad that we got a happy end. Once we hear about Leila's story, the book could have ended there and it would have been a sad story.  But with this, we know she is a peace and everyone is a little closer because of that.


Overall, I really loved this story, it was very emotional at times and I felt for Leila at every point. Beautiful story ❤️

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melina03's review against another edition

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

3.0


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terppsi's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

I really loved the first part, how the memories were evoked from smells and tastes.
Second part could have been shorter, that's the only reason I don't give it a 5.
Very curious about her other work

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vish2694's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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eva_lesemaus's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring sad fast-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? No

4.25


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katrinarose's review

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dark emotional 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

4.0

Shafak does such an a wonderful job of setting the scene in Istanbul and the other various settings in Turkey. Her way of bringing a character to life in just a chapter is amazing, and I felt so much for Leila that I became sadder each chapter knowing that she had died. The character study and friendship development is definitely the most important and impactful part of this book, not the plot. It’s a beautiful and tragic story.

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