The Beekeeper of Aleppo

by Christy Lefteri

Overview:

• Ranking: 8/10 The best book I hope I never read again
• Read: 2022 Summer

This book is beautiful. Period. However, this book is hard. Very hard to read. Not because of the way it's written, simply because of the subject matter and how deeply it engages with that subject matter.

This book rounds out my "Refugee Trilogy" (along with A Long Petal of the Sea and The Island of Missing Trees) with the story of Syrian refugees making their way to Europe for asylum. The story deals with the physical and mostly emotional trauma that the refugees experience on their journey out of their destroyed homeland in an intimate way. You truly come to be emotionally attached to the characters and watching their declines is heartwrenching.

The book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in or wants to know more about the refugee crisis. It does contain violence and rape; however, these are things experienced by Syrian refugees in real life.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a gem of a novel. But I hope I don't have to read it again soon because of it's emotional weight. 8/10.