This week, I am focusing on two very different stories about refugees. Both stories are highly relevant and I can’t help thinking about how our current situation will put even more emphasis on ‘them’ vs ‘us’ with borders being more closed than they have been for ages and increased scepticism towards people from ‘somewhere else’. With this cheerful introduction, let’s move on to the reviews.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
I didn’t love this one. Like The Handmaid’s Tale it left me somewhat cold. Which is a completely wrong and inappropriate thing to feel after reading such a shocking story about the horrible journey of Syrian refugees. My rational mind did realise that this was terrible and way beyond what any human being should have to suffer. But I didn’t really feel it.
My main objection is that I didn’t ‘get’ the characters and they felt like strangers to me. It might have helped, if the author has introduced the characters before all the horror started so the reader got a clearer picture of them under normal circumstances. As it were, the characters were mostly defined by all the events, which happened to them and I suppose that is a fair reflection of the conditions of a refugee. How can you not end up being a product of everything that happened to you? Nevertheless, in the stories I typically enjoy, the characters come to life and I can easily imagine what they would be like if I met them in the street. That certainly wasn’t the case here.
A secondary criticism was the jumping back and forth in time without any hint of when a change took place. It might be more clear, when reading the book, but on audio it was very confusing and didn’t help my enjoyment at all.
I do find it important to tell the story of refugees from their point of view and Christy Leftery has first hand experience from working in a refugee camp in Greece. For this I reward three stars.
Title: The Beekeeper of Aleppo [2019] Author: Christy Leftery Format: Audiobook, narrated by Art Malik Genre: Contemporary Fiction
The Wall by John Lancaster
At some point in the future, climate changes have caused water levels to rise. Water and the excessive number of refugees have to be held out by a massive wall. Joseph Kavanagh is one of the Defenders, who protect the wall from the Others. If individuals from the Others manage to cross the wall, a similar number of Defenders (assuming they survive) are kicked out and will then become part of the Others (again, assuming they survive).
The Wall starts of well with an intriguing peep into this new world, which may not seem that far-fetched.
However, it fails to deliver on its promise. The world-building is thin, bordering to non-existing, and we don’t get much details about the transition from the old to the new world or how society works in this new world. Parts of the novel take place outside the wall, which is where the story lost interest for me and turned into a bland, generic survival tale on sea.
The novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019 and I can only ascribe that to the highly topical themes of climate change and building walls to keep out ‘the others’. Certainly, it wasn’t in any way a great literary experience, but seen as light entertainment it wasn’t too bad either.
Title: The Wall [2019] Author: John Lancaster Format: Audiobook, narrated by Will Poulter Genre: Speculative Fiction, Dystopia
Great reviews! I hadn’t heard of The Beekeeper of Aleppo, but based on your review I probably wouldn’t enjoy it much either – I think it’s important for everybody to get their story out, but books where people are only defined by traumatic events feel so exploitative to me (even if it’s not the author’s intent)!!
And I felt similarly about The Wall! It was a pretty good adventure novel, but a surprising choice for the Booker Prize longlist.
That is a good point about books feeling exploitative, when the author defines characters by a series of traumatic events. I am sure, it wasn’t the author’s intent in this case, but I agree with you. Having said that, everybody seems to love The Beekeeper of Aleppo, so you shouldn’t let my opinion hold you back. Glad you had similar experience with The Wall, I wondered if I was missing something! 🙂
I’m sorry to hear both novels didn’t score very high. I read The Beekeeper of Aleppo and although the connection could have been slightly better it was still ok for me, I was still interested in their story and liked how the little bee was used as a metaphor. Now whenever I hear about refugees, I think of this novel and the stories behind the headlines. I have The Wall to read too but I haven’t felt the urge to read it yet, and it seems I don’t really need to hurry.
Ah well, as we discussed recently, you can’t win them all. And I don’t regret reading either of them. I am definitely in the minority about not being that keen on The Beekeeper of Aleppo, most people seem to love it. The positive aspect was, it made me think about the refugee problems in a different way, and I definitely think we need to read stories told from the refugees’ point of view. So something was achieved. 🙂
It’s a shame you didn’t love either of these! I haven’t read The Beekeeper of Aleppo but I felt similarly underwhelmed by The Wall.
It wasn’t great, but I don’t regret reading any of them. I did find it a bit strange that The Wall was in consideration for the Booker Prize, though.
Fab reviews! I’m a bit nervous about The Beekeeper now as I have this on audio as well, :/
Thanks Nicki and don’t worry about it. Judging from Goodreads, I am in the minority about The Beekeeper of Aleppo, so odds are you are going to love it!
Brilliant reviews. I totally see your point about The Beekeeper of Aleppo. You need to connect with the characters to feel what they go through and it’s a shame it didn’t happen.
The Wall has a great premise, but it sounds as if the potential was somehow wasted.
Thanks Meggy. Yeah, I was a bit disappointed, since everybody seems to like this story. But it was still an ok read. The Wall certainly had a great premise, but didn’t quite deliver.
Love your thoughtful reviews, Stargazer! I think Beekeeper may have been easier to follow in book form like you mentioned. I also appreciate your thoughts on The Wall because I’ve been on the fence about that one. I hope all is well. ♥️
Thanks Jennifer. 🙂 I am sure you are right about the book being easier to follow. As you know, I love audiobooks, but sometimes you miss out on the structure and small things such as new paragraph, etc. The Wall wasn’t bad as such, but it wouldn’t be my first choice if I could go back in time. All is well here (given the circumstances), hope the same is the case for you and your family!
Discussing bee keeper at Aleppo at book club. Suspect the book is easier to follow. When it jumps back the last word of chapter in the present is on a separate page in a pretty pattern then that word is also first of the next chapter. Hope that makes sense I made a video which posted on instagram to show it. I imagine that will not have come across in the audio. Apart from that feature I was underwhelmed. I did not think the grittiness of the situation came across.
Yes, that’s a very good point. I do see how the jumps in time are easier to follow in the book. Normally, I love to listen to audiobooks, but I guess you sometimes miss out on details such as the one you mention. Underwhelming might be a good way to describe how I felt about the book as well. And disappointed since it got so amazing reviews. Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for that great feedback on Beekeeper, Stargazer💜 I have the audiobook but keep putting it off. I’m still planning to listen to it but for purposes of better understanding the Syrian refugee crisis.
Always happy to provide feedback 🙂 . I don’t at all regret listening to Beekeeper and despite of my reservations, it certainly did provide insight into the horrors and mental strain the refugees are facing.
That’s what I am looking for.
I like that you looked into books that creates divide, which is indeed something that is way to omnipresent today. Sorry to hear that they both had a couple of issues that ruined the ride a bit. I too find that the characters are key to helping us understand the world in which they live and if they aren’t done right, the story is bound to suffer! 😮 Great reviews. 🙂
To me characters are so important – even in genre fiction. I find it difficult to engage in a story, however well written, if I don’t connect with the characters at some level. Anyway, you can’t win them all and I still think both books were decent reads despite of my issues.
Hmm, yes, the main difference between fiction and history is the involvement in the lives of the characters, I think. If that’s not there, then I’ probably rather read a factual account of an event.
Yes, I completely agree. To me it was almost like emotional manipulation with all these terrible events happening to the characters, but unfortunately it didn’t work on me, because I didn’t connect. Probably, I am just getting too cynical, because everyone else seems to love The Beekeeper.
That’s how I felt about A Fine Balance, which everyone else seems to love – I felt the author was just using the characters to show how cruel life could be, and in the end I found I couldn’t care about them.
Ah, so you know what I mean. Probably, I shouldn’t read A Fine Balance. 🙂
Shame beekeeper of Aleppo left you cold- but it makes sense if characters didn’t come to life. And I find changing timelines and not being clear about that can disrupt my enjoyment too. Great reviews!
It seems to be used quite a lot with the jumping back and forth in time. Sometimes it works well and really adds to the story, other times it is just confusing. Thanks!