A review by brekaboujie
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

I found this a bit slow and tricky to get into but it was a very interesting and well written book. I knew absolutely nothing about the setting which made the whole thing super interesting and new to me, and made it all extra emotional too as it was quite unexpected. The perspectives were interesting, and I thought the different sections of time we followed were paced well and kept me engaged. It didn't swap around too much, so I didn't get that annoying feeling where you just want someone to get on with it so you can get back to the other perspective. 
The tree was.... an interesting choice. I didn't not like it, but every so often the narrator voice the author used for the tree got a bit annoying. But it gave an interesting additional insight which we couldn't have had with the stylistic choice of writing 3rd person from specific peoples perspectives. So it worked in that sense.

Overall nicely written, really interesting context, great character writing and did make me tear up a few times, I got quite invested in everyone. Quite a different vibe for me, but I liked it!
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