Rafid Saleh

Elif Shafak did here what she does best, jolt the readers out of nowhere. A lovely book about love, roots and tradition. The last chapter contains the heaviest emotions and changes the entire complexion of the story, much admiration towards Kostas Kazantzakis and his lover, Defne and a bittersweet ending to a beautiful novel.

A heart wrenching tale of love and loss where the author explores the beauty of young love between the beautiful Roya and the boy who would change the world, Bahman. The story unfolds as a typical high school love story in the first 90-95 pages of the book but bursts into life soon after and soon it explores the tragic turn of events and the quirks of fate which compelled me to just sit back and wonder what the real chemistry could've been between the two lovers instead of the way it laid out. A gem of a book this.

An absolutely beautiful book. Couldn't help but stare at nothingness in shock after finding out the truth about Auntie Zeliha's pregnancy. I couldn't help but feel a surge of guilt rising up my throat for judging her sorely towards the start of the novel, the wrong judgement was replaced by sheer guilt and admiration to her patience and perseverance towards the profanities aimed at her. This was a beautiful book by Elif Shafak and is strongly suggested.

I think this book has two completely different audiences. One of them absolutely adored this and the other half was disappointed. I belong to the former. I think the depiction of raw and the dark side of Istanbul was really sharp and I just couldn't help but feel pity for Tequila Leyla, and I believe had she been guided properly and had she had her luck by her side, her story could have been different. The emotion actually hit me towards the end when Sabotage Sinan was regretting his decisions, firstly not confessing his love for Leyla and secondly not stopping her from boarding the train. To me this was a really good read and I enjoyed it thoroughly, the roller coaster of emotions really hit me.