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The Island of Missing Trees

Book by Elif Shafak · 17 quotes · Life, Animals, Human Nature

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The Island of Missing Trees Quotes

“He knew, even back then, that she was prone to bouts of melancholy. It came to her in successive waves, an ebb and flow. When the first wave arrived, barely touching her toes, it was so light and translucent a ripple that you might be forgiven for thinking it insignificant, that it would vanish soon, leaving no trace. But then followed another wave, and the next one, rising as far as her ankles, and the one after that covering her knees, and before you knew it she was immersed in liquid pain, up to her neck, drowning. That's how depression sucked her in.”

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“Human remains ... What exactly did that mean? Was it a few hard bones and soft tissue? Clothes and accessories? Things solid and compact enough to fit inside a coffin? Or was it rather the intangible - the words we send out into the ether, the dreams we keep to ourselves, the heartbeats we skip beside our lovers, the voids we try to fill and can never adequately articulate - when all was said and done, what was left of an entire life, a human being ... and could that really be disinterred from the ground?”

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“As far as Meryem was concerned, Greek baklava was Turkish baklava. And if the Syrians or Lebanese or Egyptians or Jordanians or any others lay claim to her beloved dessert, tough luck. It wasn’t theirs either. While the slightest change in her dietary vocabulary could rub her up the wrong way, it was the label Greek coffee that particularly boiled her blood. Which to her always was and always would be, Turkish coffee. By now, Ada had long discovered that her aunt was full of contradictions. Although she could be movingly respectful and empathetic towards other cultures and acutely aware of the dangers of cultural animosities, she automatically transformed into a kind of nationalist in the kitchen, a culinary patriot.”

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“When you are in trouble or at your lowest point, and have no one in whom to confide, a hawthorn would be the right choice. There is a reason why hawthorns are home to fairies and known to protect pots of treasure. For wisdom, try a beech; for intelligence, a pine; for bravery, a rowan; for generosity, a hazel; for joy, a juniper; and for when you need to learn to let go of what you cannot control, a birch with its white-silver bark, peeling and shedding layers like old skin. Then again, if it's love you're after, or love you have lost, come to the fig, always the fig.”

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“There was something childlike in the way grown-ups had a need for stories. They held a naive belief that by telling an inspiring anecdote-the right fable at the right time-they could lift their children's moods, motivate them to great achievements and simply change reality. There was no point in telling them that life was more complicated than that and words less magical than they presumed.”

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“Posmrtni ostaci... Što to točno znači? Je li to nekoliko tvrdih kostiju i mekog tkiva? Odjeća i modni dodaci? Stvari koje su dovoljno čvrste i kompaktne da stanu u lijes? Ili je to ono neopipljivo - riječi koje šaljemo u eter, snovi koje zadržimo za sebe, otkucaji srca koje preskočimo uz svoje ljubavnike, praznine koje pokušavamo ispuniti i nikad ne možemo artikulirati na primjeren način - na kraju balade, što ostaje od jednog cijelog života, jednog ljudskog bića... i može li se to doista iskopati iz zemlje?”

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