sankhiniwrites

the beekeeper of aleppo.

start date - 12:11:25
status - read as on 19:11:25

emotions felt after - relief, bitter sweet and happy with glassy eyes.

notes and quotes -

i was running my fingers through the spines of all the unread books in my book-closet. its been a while since I've been able to finish a book cover to cover, especially a fiction book. or that's what i thought when this book attracted my eyes to it. it says on the cover that it is courageous, provocative and haunting. i thought to myself, hmm i need to feel two of these emotions to get rid of the third. so lets go! i took it to my bed at peak nap time and from the first sentence i was hooked.

the tone of the book is so so simplistic. the words are so everyday. i love that. the author does not tell you the emotions directly, every situation is so detailed and from the perspective of our protagonist Nuri. you map every person's drive and feelings through his eyes, it is quite unbiased and nuri is hecking very observant.

it made me cry and i had just turned my page to chapter 2. i felt attached to all characters in 20 pages yall. we are in for a treat.

one thing i noticed in this book is that it is full of contradictions. sentences affirm and negate themselves within a few pages. it feels like we are witnessing the un-doing of the characters, they seem to be reaching out with the hopes and ideas but their experiences constantly try to test them by attacking whatever they stand for.

Afra who used to be a whimsical artist, whose circumstances made her blind but refused to take her vision away. she refused to leave her broken world and wished to live in the darkness until it engulfed her physically. Nuri was forced to oblige but had to bear witness to the darkness of human actions everyday and what's worse is that he had to recollect all the instances of the day to Afra every day, until it was time for them to choose to exit one storm but only to enter the next one which was even worse. they embarked on a journey to their friend, to find peace, safety, solace which was promised in the far away lands but not at their homes. how does one compare the unbearable darkness within nuri's mind with the irreparable darkness in Afra's eyes.

what's your name?
"i lost my wife and daughter" was his reply. "when you belong to someone and they are gone, who are you?" this book is about the story of stubborn will to survive in us humans. it is about resilience of human mind. it is about the innate need to search for light, a path, a miniscule of hope which is fueled by love. pure, selfish love. i think love is selfish. it has to be in order to justify it.

we see what losing different kinds of love does to people, physically, emotionally and mentally. how people grieve without overt sadness because they dont have the time and space to process those big emotions. how loss narrows your worldview and how the feeling betrays you and clouds your perception.

all the characters had a different way of dealing with their loss. i think for nuri it was the cathartic. he had to be strong for two people but we see his breaking down when he had moments of solitude. but towards the end he has moments where he could lean on people who cared for him.

one of the things i'd like to appreciate about the way this book is written is the clever way a chapter is divided into the present and past. every chapter starts with what the characters are going through in the current timeline and that timeline ends mid sentence and connected to the past timeline about their journey through a single common word. its beautiful. it shows how one word is associated with different set of memories.

in the end, we see forgiveness, we see hope, positivity, self awareness and road towards healing.

some quotes that hit hard