Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

8 reviews

serendipity421's review

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Child death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and War

Minor: Vomit

achazsa's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Islamophobia, and War

Minor: Rape, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

aimee_aj's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Brilliant. Harrowing. Heartbreaking. This is an important book in highlighting the atrocities occurring in Syria and also the plight of refugees. I strongly advise you to check the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Death, War, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Child death, Physical abuse, and Rape

catorureads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, War, Medical content, Medical trauma, Grief, Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Deportation

Minor: Sexual harassment

kiwico's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Police brutality, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Sexual assault, War, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Mass/school shootings

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

Full review to come very very soon, but I absolutely adored this with my whole soul.

I began reading Zoulfa Katouh's debut novel, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow (hereafter abbreviated to Lemon Trees) shortly after the devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria in February 2023, and I knew that whilst humanitarian aid had been offered to the former,  little had been offered to the latter, thanks to the incredibly complex political situation there.

I did not know much about Syria beyond what I had seen in news reports. To my great shame, I lumped it in with similarly war-torn Middle Eastern countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. I did not think much of these countries beyond their most recent history, and what life was like there before invasion, conflict, and authoritarian regimes. Reading Lemon Trees, I found myself increasingly embarrassed about my own ignorance, and I will try and do better in future.

Ignorance like mine is what Katouh attempts to remedy in Lemon Trees, as she writes in her author's note:

This novel delves into the human emotion behind the conflict, because we are not numbers. For years Syrians have been tortured, murdered and banished from their country at the hands of a tyrannical regime, and we owe it to them to know their stories.

--Zoulfa Katouh, Author's Note, p. 417, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow 

The characters of this novel may be fictional - and historical events condensed for storytelling purposes - but the reality of the Syrian people comes through in shockingly vivid colours.

The protagonist of Lemon Trees is  seventeen-year-old Salama Kassab. When we meet her, she is working as a doctor in the local hospital, patching up the wounds of people injured in shootings and bombings. Medically, she is only qualified as a pharmacist, but thanks to the war, there are very few actual doctors left, so Salama, and other medical professionals like her, are roped in to help.

 Salama is very nearly alone in the world -  her mother was killed during a bomb blast, and her father and brother were arrested at a protest and have not been heard of since. The only family Salama has left is her sister-in-law, Layla, and Layla's unborn child. There is also Khawf - but he is only a hallucination, a symptom of the trauma Salama has endured.  He shows her visions of her recent past and urges her every day to leave Syria for good - but she refuses, all too aware of the risk she is taking, and so are any of us who have read horror stories in the media about so-called "boat people" and the people smugglers who exploit their desperation.

One day, a young man named Kenan turns up at the hospital, begging for someone to save his younger sister Lama, who is too gravely ill to be moved from her home. Salama agrees to go, and the choice she makes in doing so will change the course of her life.

Katouh writes in a direct, down-to-earth style, and pulls no punches when describing the horror of daily life in the city of Homs, where the bulk of the novel is set. Freedom of speech does not exist - those who attend protests or post videos of them on YouTube face arrest, imprisonment and torture. Bombings are a regular occurrence, leaving many dead and buildings destroyed. Even walking in the street isn't safe, due to sniper attacks.

But in spite of all this, hope, beauty and joy still find ways to survive. Children play in the street, their lives not yet touched by the trauma. Colourful flowers push their way up through cracks in the pavement. Awe-inspiring sunsets seen from rooftops. And art of all kinds. Revolutionary poetry and music, Layla's paintings, or the magical animated films produced by Studio Ghibli, which Salama and Kenan share a passion for (as does Katouh!).

Speaking of passion, there is also a

Spoiler

love story

at the heart (pun fully intended) of Lemon Trees, that of the one that develops between

Spoiler

Salama and Kenan

. Some may have issues with the

Spoiler

romance

- due to the speed and which it develops and then intensifies.  Although whilst reading I was swept up in the

Spoiler

romance

, in hindsight I can see that it might be a  bit difficult to buy into it. For me, one of the reasons I did buy into it was because of the circumstances that the characters were in. If this was set in modern day, in a contemporary Western society, I might question it more, but given these people have suffered unimaginable trauma, and where every day might be your last, I was willing to accept it.

It also helped that the character of

Spoiler

Kenan, who is selfless, compassionate and loving

reminded me viscerally of Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games trilogy. Reading through Khatouh's lengthy acknowledgements, I strongly suspect that this was intentional, as she is an Everlark shipper (as am I, but that's kind of beside the point).

I think this review has gone on long enough, so I'll end it here. By the way, please, please take note of the trigger warnings below, and take them seriously - Lemon Trees is not a light read by any means. 

But it is most certainly an important one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Child death, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Torture

Please take these trigger warnings seriously, I have marked them as graphic for a reason.

ddnreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

Bury me before I bury you.

I'm still incapable of forming the words that captivate my feelings perfectly after reading this book. I don't think my review would ever do the book justice. This is easily the best written story I read this year 😭🍋💛

When I go to heaven, I'll tell God everything.

A book about striving, surviving, loving, and sacrificing. A book about humanity with all its fractured souls and bones. Woven from the bloody Syrian soil, it captured sharply the trauma felt by the innocences, hospital buzzing with new victims everyday, and the inevitable choice between helping or leaving. Staying or trying to be alive.

In a historic city plagued by bombs, life has persisted.

Told through the eyes of a 18yo girl named Salama, the story evolved itself into her daily routine as a pharmacy student turned doctor. Her coping mechanism of losing. Her hallucinations. It was so often torn my heart in pieces. Admist all those, sassy jokes were thrown, an angel disguised doctor, and found a love meant to be. A possibility of new life. And it was blend perfectly.

There are enough people hurting you. Don't be one of them.

Lots of Ghibli references that I don't mind at all. A cute banter. An understanding heart. Halal romance at its best. Siblings love so strong it hurts.

This is a book of hope. It ripped my heart appart and stich it back together. I don't know what else to say than do yourself a favour and read this masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Genocide, Body horror, Death of parent, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Rape

faduma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Medical content, Police brutality, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Child death, Sexual violence, and War