Title: The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Author: Christy Lefteri

Release Date: May 2, 2019

Length: 317 pages

Genre: General Fiction

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****My Review****

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a poignant life tale of a mother who is going to face atrocities that will blind her and a father who is struggling for his family’s survival as they travel through Syria as refugees to Europe.

Without any doubt, all of us have seen glimpses of the people who become Syrian refugees, but The Beekeeper of Aleppo offers names and faces to them.  Their stories are so authentic while being fiction. People who were going about their daily lives, going to work, raising their children, and having a good time at home. Their existence was suddenly destroyed by conflict, which also claimed the lives of their friends, neighbors, and relatives.

This book chronicles the demise of Nuri and Afra’s existence in Syria and their long trip to England for sanctuary. Two souls who struggle to remain alive while trying to discover themselves again after having their whole planet destroyed underneath them.

Along the way through a disintegrating world, they must contend with perils that would terrify even the most courageous in addition to the agony of great loss. They go toward one other simultaneously, reassuring one another and gathering the courage to embrace the new parts of themselves, dodging the traps and dangers of the refugee paths.

Despite the fact that I’ve read several novels over the years regarding the immigrant experience from various angles, such as the perspectives of refugees and asylum seekers, very few of those works have been as disturbing and moving as this one.

There is no doubt that The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri is a devastating, genuine depiction of the refugee experience, of individuals striving to reach a nation that would give sanctuary from a location where they have suffered tremendous loss and risk immediate danger. After I finished reading this, I nearly didn’t want to write a complete review. Despite the suffering, it’s a wonderfully written novel, and I wholeheartedly support it.

Even though the story is fictional, many of the actions and characters are based on actual displaced persons who, in addition to losing all they owned, were also at risk from people smugglers and traffickers as they traveled through Europe in search of safety in the UK.

Strong and detailed characterizations were used. The hardships and their profound consequences are eloquently described in the narrative. The reader experiences their agony firsthand, which makes it realistic and dramatic. We are aware that the account is accurate. We are aware that it is worse, in reality. Furthermore, we are aware that the self-denial and even disassociation that prevents them from looking into the worst-case scenario still exists and is only marginally concealed.

The narrative is really rich with it. While they are on their trip together, each character is emotionally cut off from the others due to their unique experiences with loss. They are also alienated from one another due to their unique coping techniques and personal anguish.

In Christy Leftery’s book The Beekeeper of Aleppo, several actual human destinies are intertwined. A book that hit me in the face and made me appreciate how fortunate I am to have a happy life, a house, a family, a husband with two eyes who can still see me, a life, healthy children, and parents…

The author’s point of view that this was a novel on blindness was described at the book’s conclusion. I concur. It concerns Afra’s actual blindness, Nuri’s emotional blindness, and the intentional blindness of the majority of people throughout the world to the tragedies of the refugee crisis that are happening in full view.

Unquestionably The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a brilliant and tragic book on war and how it affects those who find themselves in its sights. Because of the challenges Afra and Nuri face, reading this book might be difficult, but it’s well worth it.

Anyone interested in learning more about the challenges Syrian refugees face as they attempt to move to a safer territory should read this, in my opinion. Unmissable and distinctive, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a book that, once read, will stay with you forever.