This book is a brilliant read. I've been wanting to read this for the longest time, and I was not disappointed. Perhaps the most heartbreaking moment of all was not the narrator describing how out of love he is with his wife, or even the evident signs of PTSD, but rather, the fact that the boy, Mohammed, was merely a fabrication of his own imagination - a ghost of his son, Sami, who he could not come to terms with the loss of.
In my eyes, the main themes of the novel are not simply the constant feeling of being ostracized, but being ostracized and feeling isolated from your own partner. The narrator (Nuri) describes how after his wife went blind, he simply could not see her in the same way. It wasn't necessarily that the love was no longer there, but he felt as though he was loving someone else. Most notably, he described how his wife did not cry at the death of her son, but perhaps that was an inevitable consequence of war - becoming completely and utterly desensitized.
Though the characters are adults, there is some similarity to a coming of age story: Nuri agrees to see a doctor about his PTSD, Mustafa and Nuri finally meet each other in England, Afra's sight seems to be returning, and there is the possiblity that they may be granted asylum. It seems as though Lefteri is an optimist!
The most common theme in the novel is, of course, the bees. Apart from being symbolic of community, in Nuri's mind they seem to symbolise control and familiarity; he can tell when the bees are angry because he grown accustomed to them, and so, he can control his actions around them. His fixation and constant referral to the bees implies that he wishes to return to a time of order, a time where he could predict what would happen.
Another lifeline and fixation for Nuri is Mustafa, his childhood friend. Mustafa is the reason that Nuri makes the difficult journey into England, which emphasises his fixation on normality.
However, Lefteri evidently does not want her readers to constantly sympathise with Nuri. One is left wondering what our opinions of him should be after he contributes to the death of Nadim. Admittedly, Nadim was not a kind man (he took advantage of the children) but whether he deserved death is still unsure.
Most importantly, this book offers a different perspective to the prejudice surrounding immigrants. Far too often one hears of immigrants 'taking our jobs' when in reality, they are simply looking for peace - is that not what everyone wants? Lefteri does a brilliant job of demonstrating a counter-argument to the negative portrayal of immigrants by the media. We understand the plight of the immigrants, their longing for another home, and, most importantly, their want to belong.
In my eyes, the main themes of the novel are not simply the constant feeling of being ostracized, but being ostracized and feeling isolated from your own partner. The narrator (Nuri) describes how after his wife went blind, he simply could not see her in the same way. It wasn't necessarily that the love was no longer there, but he felt as though he was loving someone else. Most notably, he described how his wife did not cry at the death of her son, but perhaps that was an inevitable consequence of war - becoming completely and utterly desensitized.
Though the characters are adults, there is some similarity to a coming of age story: Nuri agrees to see a doctor about his PTSD, Mustafa and Nuri finally meet each other in England, Afra's sight seems to be returning, and there is the possiblity that they may be granted asylum. It seems as though Lefteri is an optimist!
The most common theme in the novel is, of course, the bees. Apart from being symbolic of community, in Nuri's mind they seem to symbolise control and familiarity; he can tell when the bees are angry because he grown accustomed to them, and so, he can control his actions around them. His fixation and constant referral to the bees implies that he wishes to return to a time of order, a time where he could predict what would happen.
Another lifeline and fixation for Nuri is Mustafa, his childhood friend. Mustafa is the reason that Nuri makes the difficult journey into England, which emphasises his fixation on normality.
However, Lefteri evidently does not want her readers to constantly sympathise with Nuri. One is left wondering what our opinions of him should be after he contributes to the death of Nadim. Admittedly, Nadim was not a kind man (he took advantage of the children) but whether he deserved death is still unsure.
Most importantly, this book offers a different perspective to the prejudice surrounding immigrants. Far too often one hears of immigrants 'taking our jobs' when in reality, they are simply looking for peace - is that not what everyone wants? Lefteri does a brilliant job of demonstrating a counter-argument to the negative portrayal of immigrants by the media. We understand the plight of the immigrants, their longing for another home, and, most importantly, their want to belong.