Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Beekeeper of Aleppo

This is one of those books that feels so real that it makes you feel all of the things the characters are feeling. It draws you in. I love the authors choice to write a bit of the present and a bit of the past in each chapter. It helps us to see so much of how these characters change. All of the terrible things that happen are written in such an open and honest way that makes them and the story even more real. This is the kind of book that you remember for a very long time.

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yourlocaldealer's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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aaminak's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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etl's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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syafiqha's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad slow-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

5.0

The Beekeeper of Aleppo start with telling the grieving of Syrian people during war. In fact, almost every page forwards keep written the same thing. War really did suffering people, not only physically but emotion and left them traumatized.

My heart melts every time romantic scene between Nuri & Afra. They are such a sweet, loveable and I can say a realistic couple(?) There is a moment when they laugh and love, then dull part and grief sensations. Both of them handle the grief differently. I thought when the synopsis at the back said: 'journey to find each other back' is they literally need to find each other because when missing but actually is finding their heart back to each other. You can imagine how war affect badly to humans. Not temporary, its permanent and bound to their cells tight.

The journey of Nuri & Afra expose to the reader on how different people suffer their life with self-trauma back stories. From a mother carrying their baby as refugee, a family without a mother and the child keep asking about the mom and a solo souls who loss everything or separate from their loved one.

It is impossible not to be moved. What a heartbreaking storytelling😢. Especially, they are our brothers and sisters from Syria.

Sometimes, the things that you be looking for is not the things as it is. It is a symbolic to something else, stop denying and admit your pain even it's hurt so bad.

The writing structure of The Beekeeper of Aleppo is organised, even it keeps flashing back. By telling the present days first and then, continue with flashback of Nuri & Afra journey. This two situation divided with a border of word. You can see, when the line is hanging out without dot and the next page there have one single word with pattern surround it and continue with the flashback scene next to the page.

In addition, I also love the insertion of Islamic practices likes pray, name of Allah, Quran phrase, Adzan and many more.

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katsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

“Where there are bees there are flowers, and wherever there are flowers there is new life and hope.”

“But in Syria there is a saying: inside the person you know, there is a person you do not know.”

“Sometimes we create such powerful illusions, so that we do not get lost in the darkness.”

“When you belong to someone and they are gone, who are you?”

This was a beautifully written novel. I really loved the format. Each chapter was split into two timelines and the transition happened literally mid-sentence. It was a super interesting way to format. The beginning of each chapter followed the main character and his wife in their current timeline as refugees seeking asylum in England and the end of every chapter recounted part of their journey from Syria. This story was so heart-breaking and intense. This is one of the few novels that made me genuinely cry. Nuri and Afra's journey was traumatic in so many ways and they way the author explored that was incredibly compelling. In her author's note, she wrote that she sought to answer the question "What does it mean to see?" While Nuri is the narrator, both he and his wife's narratives both explore that question. The novel really looks at what both Nuri and Afra "see" and how it affects their relationship. Afra is blind for most of the story and figuring out what caused her blindness is a major plot point. With Nuri, he sees things that make the reader question if they're real or not. I won't spoil anything but figuring out what Nuri is seeing (and if it is real) is also a major plot point. I found it to be a very interesting theme and I'll be thinking about it for a while.

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tink's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

An important book, a beautiful, heart-wrenching read.

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