2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh.

Pages: 417 pages

Length: 1 month (January)

Participants: Valerie, Lorraine, Rebecca, V

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

I decided to sample a chapter or two of this one earlier this week because I had finished my December buddy reads and am already about 50% of the way through! Looking forward to discussing this one.

I received my book earlier than expected so I should be able to start this book around January 2nd or earlier. If you were going to sample the book and you are now already at 50%, I suspect you like the book! :-)

Ok I’ll start around the beginning of January with this one too.

I do like it! It's YA, but not too YA-ish. Just enough to make the writing easy to read!

Started today and have read the first 5 chapters. The writing style is simple but the situation with its central dilemma is certainly not.
(view spoiler)[ what do you think of the author’s externalising Salama’s thoughts as an actual character? I think it’s an interesting way of showing how our minds can be our worst enemy but it also feels a little clumsy. (hide spoiler)]

Valerie wrote: "Started today and have read the first 5 chapters. The writing style is simple but the situation with its central dilemma is certainly not.
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I agree that it feels a bit clumsy at this point. I think sometimes YA authors tend to hit us over the head with a message in a way that can be a little too much for an adult reader. Because of this, I kind of kept expecting some magical realism to come to the fore of the book. Kind of like a fantasy reader's expectation that's been unmet. (hide spoiler)] The simple writing style is part of why I've propelled through the book so quickly. I'm actually through chapter 29, and I have to say that chapters 28-29 (view spoiler)[ changed my view of the book and made the Khawf character seem a little less awkward to me. There's a deeper problem here that Khawf really threw me off the scent of, and now I think he's a little more clever than I had thought through much of the story. (hide spoiler)]

Valerie wrote: "Started today and have read the first 5 chapters. The writing style is simple but the situation with its central dilemma is certainly not.
[spoilers removed]"

I also started and read the first 8 chapters. I also find it (view spoiler)[ special that she chose to represents the internal struggle of the character by a character. This is something you see a lot in people who suffer from schizophrenia. There was this old movie and book called: I never promised you a rose garden where the internal voices heard by the young girl were represented as characters. And she did saw them as people surrounding her. I wonder if the author wants to tell us that the war had this actual impact on Salama (it would be quite possible) or it’s only a writing choice. The next chapters will tell. (hide spoiler)]
I have to finish another book tomorrow. I hope to get back to this story on Sunday.

End of chapter 16. Certainly plenty to make you think.
(view spoiler)[ her blackmailing of Am - how far would we go for people we love if really desperate? Can her actions be justified? And is the non-appearance of Am significant? The idea that humans need to do more than just survive even in terrible situations does ring true - I’m sure there has to be some sense of hope and beauty to keep you going. The central dilemma of leaving or staying is, I’m sure one that millions of people have faced over history (hide spoiler)]

Valerie wrote: "End of chapter 16. Certainly plenty to make you think.
[spoilers removed]"

There are a lot of things to think about. (view spoiler)[ I was a little shocked at that scene because I couldn't believe that she would even let him worry that she wouldn't help save his daughter. That's stomach-clenching tough. Oh the decisions we have to make sometimes (hide spoiler)]

I finished this one last night, and I think it was a really solid book. I may have uprated it a little bit because I felt it was really great for YA.

Valerie wrote: "End of chapter 16. Certainly plenty to make you think.
[spoilers removed]"

End of chapter 18. (view spoiler)[ I understand that she chose to blackmail Am. I think this is very difficult to understand when you are not in this situation but to save the people we love, I think we would do may things that we cannot even imagine. I just hoped she wont suffer too much because of it. She will have to let go of her guilt if she wants to survive. But how cannot feel guilty when you are the surviving one >/spoiler> (hide spoiler)]

Lorraine wrote: "Valerie wrote: "End of chapter 16. Certainly plenty to make you think.
[spoilers removed]"

End of chapter 18. [spoilers removed]"

Yes I agree. I don’t think any of us really know what we would be capable of.

End of chapter 29. I thought this section was really powerfully written and I certainly didn’t expect what just happened. (view spoiler)[ I suppose there were clues but I was shocked to discover that Layla was actually dead and just another hallucination. I’m wondering if Salama can cope with reality without her delusion that Layla is still alive, and how this will affect her decisions as she is now free of the responsibility for Layla but now has a new family. Not sure how this will go - which is a credit to the author’s skill as a storyteller (hide spoiler)]

Valerie wrote: "End of chapter 29. I thought this section was really powerfully written and I certainly didn’t expect what just happened. [spoilers removed]"

End of chapter 33. (view spoiler)[ Like you, I was quite surprise to learn that Layla was also a hallucination. My husband had the surprise to hear me talk out loud to myself! :-) Like you say, the author has good skills. If there were some clues, I did not catch them. I am worried about the rest of the story. I read yesterday, that in 2023, around 4000 people lost their lives in Syria. That the conflict is still going on even though it is not as strong as it used to be. With that in mind, I worry that the ending will not be nice for her. (hide spoiler)]
I should finish the book tomorrow.

About chapters 28-29, (view spoiler)[ my jaw dropped open when I realized that Layla was dead. I really want to know what Kenan's thinking about this throughout (the limitation of a 1st person narration). I had been so focused on Khawf as the manifestation of her trauma that I hadn't even considered what else around her might not be real. . . . And when she asked Kenan whether or not he is real, my heart broke a little for her. It made me want to go back and re-read to see if there were clues I'd ignored. I won't be doing that, but the thought did cross my mind. . . (hide spoiler)]

I just finished the book. I think I am not the right public for her. Is it because, like Rebecca said (view spoiler)[ (‘I think sometimes YA authors tend to hit us over the head with a message in a way that can be a little too much for an adult reader') I got annoyed with the number of times she talks about her Hijab, even after almost dying and being raped...or because I feel the author put too many events in this young girl life. In my opinion the story could have ended with her leaving Syria.
I understand it's the first book for this author and she wanted the readers to better understand what is happening in Syria. That could explain why she puts everything in the book but for me, it was too much. (hide spoiler)]

But I think she has talent and I might read another book from her. Maybe her 4th book! :-)

LOL on the 4th book. And about the epilogue, (view spoiler)[ I would have preferred. the book without it. It felt like a prosaic, cringe note to leave things on. I would have preferred to have just left them in the water when the boat sank. I decided not to count it against the book in my rating because I feel like, having four teenagers, that there's a little bit of pressure in YA to make sure those that are more important to the narrator survive and the tale is a happy one. I'm not positive it was realistic for this story. (hide spoiler)]

Lorraine wrote: "Valerie wrote: "End of chapter 29. I thought this section was really powerfully written and I certainly didn’t expect what just happened. [spoilers removed]"

End of chapter 33. [spoilers removed]
..."
End of chapter 33. I’m also wondering what will happen in the final part. (view spoiler)[ she is writing about the early stages when it was a protest movement against the government seeking greater democracy but of course things became much more complicated as it descended into civil war and outside forces joined in. The whole thing is a real tragedy. (hide spoiler)]

Finished. I agree about the epilogue (view spoiler)[ I too would have preferred the book to end on the boat but, yes, for young adult readers that was probably too tough, and also the author stresses that she wanted there to be a sense of hope even if it made the ending less realistic (hide spoiler)]
Although there were some YA aspects that jarred, the novel did hold my attention and surprise me, as well as making me think. Quite an achievement for a young writer.

Hope you don't mind my joining in... I just started this one tonight. I feel as if it will be a relatively fast read though the subject matter is certainly not enjoyable...yet certainly pertinent to all the places on our planet with armed conflict killing and displacing civilians... Ugh.

You are welcome Lynn.

Interested to hear what you think, Lynn.

Oh, my! I’m on page 158 and just wish all 5 of them could leave the country together! Though I seriously doubt that will happen…

Page 228 and...I remember when the Syrian government used chemical weapons to attack its own civilians. But reading about the horrors of dealing with victims is definitely a more intense experience than just reading or hearing about it in the news...

I'm glad our participation in that war was narrowly averted, but still have this innate reaction of whatever it takes we (the U.S., mainly) should stop such wars. But we can't police the world... Unfortunately...
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghouta_...

Page 285
“Hope is a ghost roaming my body.”
Wow…

I loved this book! As treacherous and heartrending as the subject matter/theme is, it read beautifully, IMO! This felt so realistic and yet there is HOPE...