The Island of Missing Trees

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

*Featured Buddy Read*
This buddy read is featured on the homepage and is pinned to the top of the February Buddy Reads folder. Otherwise it works just like every other buddy read!

If you are new to Buddy Reads, check out the sign-up-thread for instructions and to sign up for future buddy reads!

You can join in the discussion even if your name isn't on the list!

This thread is to discuss The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak.

Pages: 354 pages

Length: 1 month (March)

Participants: Jen, Valerie, Gail W, Parvin, Rebecca, Carmen

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

[Parvin]

Eagerly waiting to start this and quickly finishing off The Forest of Stars by Heather Kassner 🙂

[Valerie]

I will probably start this at beginning of March.

[Carmen]

Looking forward to read more books by the author. I only read The Bastard of Istanbul so far and I loved it.
This month I plan to read two more, I hope they be as good as "The bastard"

[Valerie]

I enjoyed The Bastard of Istanbul as well.

[Jen]

I've read quite a lot of her books so far: The Bastard of Istanbul, Honour, and 10 minutes 38 seconds in This Strange World.

[Rebecca]

I've never read one of her books, and I didn't realize she had quite so many. This one will be my first of hers.

[Valerie]

Picked this up today intending to just dip into it and ended up reading all of Part 1. It’s so beautifully written and flows so lyrically, as well as there being so many threads to draw you in. Part science (it reminds me of The Overstory), part family mystery with reflections on exile and grief - so much to think about! Loving it so far!

[Rebecca]

Starting this one today. I read the prologue this morning, and I'm already highlighting beautiful words on my kindle.

[Jen]

I have the paperback copy and there are book club questions at the back. This is the first one:

The novel has a complex timeline and multiple narrators. How does this affect your understanding of the characters’ perspectives? Was it effective or confusing for you?

[Jen]

I read the first 25 pages last night, but the narrative style is already obvious. I know some people were confused by the tree's perspective in chapter 2, but as soon as I figured it out, it was like, huh, it's been a while since I read a book narrated by a tree. But given that 10 minutes and 32 seconds was narrated by a ghost, it tracks.

[Valerie]

Part 2. I thought she was very skilful in giving enough of the political background without overloading and losing the story. I do remember when the conflict happened (I was a teenager in the UK at the time) but I didn’t know the roots of the violence.
I was surprised (view spoiler)[ to learn that Kostas and Dapne only married later - I’m wondering what happened in the decades in between. I’m also thinking that Meryem had a part to play. Still lots of secrets to be revealed I feel (hide spoiler)]
I think the book is very clear despite its complex structure and multiple voices - nothing wrong with a good tree narrator!

[Rebecca]

Finished part one today. I've wracked my brain, but I don't think I've ever read a book that had a tree doing part of the narration. Interesting choice, but one that I'm surprised to say that I am liking--even though there seems to be a good bit of tree information to digest for me!

[Carmen]

I started it this afternoon and I couldn't stop, I read 3/4 already and I'm loving it.

[Carmen]

Jen wrote: "I have the paperback copy and there are book club questions at the back. This is the first one:

The novel has a complex timeline and multiple narrators. How does this affect your understanding of ..."
No problem for me.
(view spoiler)[I really like Shafak's way of introducing us to the characters, interconnecting the different settings of the story through the memory of the tree.
Although I had a slight notion about the partition of Cyprus, this reading is opening my eyes in many aspects that I did not know. So far, these chapters had been informative and stimulating, providing much food for thought.
(hide spoiler)]

[Valerie]

Finished part 3. That fig tree is certainly a lot wiser than most members of the human race!
(view spoiler)[ so why does Dapne break with Kostas? Was she pregnant and if so what happened to the baby? (hide spoiler)]
This part of the story is so deeply sad as it shows how destructive hatred and separation really are.

[Rebecca]

Finished part 2. Glad that at the end of part two a timeline question was answered that had nagged me for all of part two. So, maybe the dates being different from what I expected threw me a little bit @Jen.

I was also glad to get some clarification about the partition at the end of part 2. Call me an unaware American (and it'd be true), but this is a conflict that I consider unsurprising but knew nothing about. (It doesn't help that it happened before I was born.) I'm letting the book teach me about the conflict for now, hoping that I don't have to start looking for audios and YouTube videos for help.

Also, at the end of part 2, (view spoiler)[ do you guys really think that Defne was an alcoholic, or do you think Ada was just trying to shock Meryem. or maybe Ada thought, with a child's view that Defne's alcohol problem was worse than it really was? And the pills? Do you think those are medication? Ada seems to feel like there was some secretive nature to them. So much to speculate on. (hide spoiler)]

[Valerie]

Rebecca wrote: "Finished part 2. Glad that at the end of part two a timeline question was answered that had nagged me for all of part two. So, maybe the dates being different from what I expected threw me a little..."

(view spoiler)[ I think there was significant trauma in Depne’s life so alcoholism and/or medication would be a possibility but it’s not been made clear yet. (hide spoiler)]

[Jen]

Another question from the reading group guide in my copy:

You don't fall in love in Cyprus in the summer of 1974. Not here, not now. And yet here they were, the two of them.
Discuss the role of conflict in the novel. What does this particular setting tell us about the relationship between Defne and Kostas? What is the effect of bringing together two characters from opposing sides of a war-torn island?

[Jen]

For me it's obviously a Romeo and Juliet story, two young teenagers from opposing sides in a conflict fall in love and forsake their home and families. Except of course these two will survive and end up in the UK and start a family. I think for kids, it's very romantic: you fall in love with 'the enemy,' your family disapproves, which only draws you closer, and you end up running off together into the sunset.

[Valerie]

Jen wrote: "For me it's obviously a Romeo and Juliet story, two young teenagers from opposing sides in a conflict fall in love and forsake their home and families. Except of course these two will survive and e..."
Except that (view spoiler)[ they didn’t run off together as teenagers, it happened much later for reasons I have yet to discover <\spoiler> (hide spoiler)]

[Carmen]

I just finished it and, although I love the author's style, narrative, and lyricism, I feel that many of the questions that arose throughout the book remained unanswered or not sufficiently clarified, which left me quite confused in the end.
(view spoiler)[The last plot twist is quite illuminating, however, although it doesn't explain why Defne ends up the way it does. (hide spoiler)]
I have recently read Braiding Sweetgrass and, in a way, the character of the Fig tree reminded me of it constantly.
Another book that also came to mind was The Inhabited Woman by Gioconda Belli, where another tree, this time an orange tree, also plays a fundamental role in the development of the story.

[Carmen]

Jen wrote: "Another question from the reading group guide in my copy:

You don't fall in love in Cyprus in the summer of 1974. Not here, not now. And yet here they were, the two of them.
Discuss the role of co..."
Just like a tree can thrive in the least favorable environment, even on an island divided and confronted in a civil war, against all odds, love can arise between two people with different background/religion/culture.
Their love represents the future of Cyprus where people are only islanders, nor Greeks from the North nor Turks from the South, but just only Cypriots.

[Rebecca]

I just finished part three and have started part four. I was glad to finally learn (view spoiler)[ how Defne and Kostas’s relationship ended. Here at the beginning of part four there is still so much emotion between them, and some of it is quite toxic. It reminds me of my recent read of As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow and the tension between those who flee a war-torn country and those who stay (hide spoiler)]

[Valerie]

Carmen wrote: "I just finished it and, although I love the author's style, narrative, and lyricism, I feel that many of the questions that arose throughout the book remained unanswered or not sufficiently clarifi..."
The inhabited woman is a great book. Also worth a mention is Fruit of the Drunken Tree

[Valerie]

Part 4. This section took me through the full range of being close to tears to close to laughter, via anger and disbelief. She certainly packs a lot in a short space.
There are still quite a few mysteries to be answered (view spoiler)[ what happened to their two friends, was the baby born and if so is he alive, how did Depne die? (hide spoiler)] so plenty to keep me reading.

[Rebecca]

Finished part four today. This one is really tugging at my heart as I read it.

[Rebecca]

Finished tonight. Loved it! Except I hated the last fig tree perspective chapter (view spoiler)[ because I didn’t need or want Defne to possess the fig tree. I felt that was overly sentimental. (hide spoiler)]. Still, I think this is a solid 4-1/2 (maybe 5) star book for me.

[Jen]

Another question or rather series of questions:

Throughout the novel, Shafak reinterprets the concepts of borders and sovereignty, and focuses on those things that do manage to travel beyond borders --- such as migrating birds, the Etesian wind, food and its rituals, superstitions or unexpected bonds of love. Reflecting about the border between Turkish and Greek Cyprus, the Green Line, she draws attention to the color that evokes natural beauty rather than competition or bloodshed. In Kostas’ love letter to Defne, he writes, “I’ve been thinking that you are my country” (page 183). And both Defne and Ada share a commitment to being islanders, rather than Turkish or Greek, Muslim or Christian. What statement is Shafak making about the nature of belonging, humanity and ownership? Are ethnic/national/religious borders necessary or perhaps inevitable, or are they arbitrary? What compels humans to delineate what is ours from what belongs to others? How do Defne and Kostas grapple with these questions?

[Jen]

I don't really think we can count Ada as an islander, given that she has never been to Cyprus and only meets her aunt when she's 16. And religion is hardly mentioned, at least as text. It might be subtext. I don't get the impression that either Kostas or Defne is religious, though their families are.

Anyway, looking around the world right now, I certainly wish more people were committed to being a human who lives in a place with other humans and that was the level we interacted on, rather than seeing other people through the filter of a race, ethnicity or religion. I think Shafak is saying that after a trauma like the Turkish invasion and the violence the islanders inflicted on each other, plus her own terrible experiences, Defne has decided that we're people first and all other characteristics are secondary.

My final thought for this post is about the borders. I read the Economist every week, and it points out that the world economy would be much larger if we didn't put so many restrictions on each other. We fear things like job losses or poorer quality of life, but there's no real reason that has to happen.

[Valerie]

Finished. This is a wonderful book with such a rich blend of subjects and emotions. I don’t reread many books but, now I know the answers to most of the mysteries (although I agree with Carmen that some things are not fully explained), I know I will want to come back to this book to explore all its intricacies more slowly and deeply. I was surprised by the ending, but for me it made emotional sense.