I don't know if anyone cares about my thoughts on ALALTG or not but as a person who lives in middle east i believe there where some quotes in this book about freedom, revolution and feeling guilty for leaving your homeland for a better future which i think people in certain countries will never ever relate to. I totally understand why the several conversations get boring for some people but trust me, that is not the author's fault, its just how the reality of our daily life is; Constantly doubting our very limited number of choices, desperately needing a change in our country but not being able to make one, being tortured and killed for speaking your mind and wanting to leave and wanting to stay and wanting to forget and needing to remember. You know? that kind of things. I personally am not very educated on the historical/political background of Syria but i really didn't care about the lack of facts mentioned in this book because i think its main purpose was to show the human aspect of it all. Especially because there are some sort of conflicts with the government of my country and Syria's, i thought it was so refreshing to forget about the overwhelming news and read how a normal teenage girl in my own age spends her days and i realized we are not realy that different. No matter what side of the war you're on at the end of the day all of us want to same thing and have the same struggles. Also I know the way the characters talk to each other might be kind of new and funny to western readers but again that's just cultural diversity. Sorry for ranting for so long. Love you so very much Emma.❤❤
I read as long as lemon trees grow born in conflict zone myself i know exactly how it feels to watch your people dying and you can do is just stay strong when you re really breaking mentally , this book made me cry ,you read the fiction and i witnessed the reality while reading the fiction .i took me back to the time when my homeland was falling but what can i say i have always loved watching your video's so not going to judge u . You re my favourite youtuber ❤ love you emmie
Emma, after 8 hours I can't stop thinking about you being with your grandma and getting Taco Bell. But you petting the fish is what made me cry. That's so beautiful, what a sweet little kid you were. And so kind of you to share it. I think I needed to cry about animals today. My dog has heart disease, she's almost 13 and it's serious. The vet has given us an amount of time that I won't type ... but children and animals ... wonderful. Thank you.
I’m so sorry about your dog. I’ve loved animals my whole life and have lost several myself. The thing that comforts me is that although their time here may seem brief, as their guardians we are able to make sure that time is filled with love and comfort, instead of fear and struggle. Your dog is so lucky it has you ❤
I have been giving ‘As Long as the Lemon Trees grow’ a wide berth because of the reviews I’ve watched about it- something about the way people talk about it feels more people saying that the message is important rather than the book is good. I am very wary of such reviews and after listening to your review I’m glad I hesitated. Also I think it’s unfair to suggest that your expectations to learn more about the conflict are unfounded, as suggested in some of the comments. For instance 1000 Splendid Suns while being very focused on the characters gives interesting insight into the conflict in Afghanistan as you see the world through their eyes.
I admit a book can be educative and humane at the same time, but to suggest that a book isn't good enough just because it lacked the informative side of it all sounds downright illogical to me. ALATLTG was written to shade light on human experiences more and I think it served that well. If an author manages to ignite emotions in you, it will automatically implore you to learn about the conflicts more so.
I'm kinda disappointed that you didn't like As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow'... It's an absolute favourite of mine and the feeling was indescribable especially because I live in a country that has been colonised and oppressed in the past ...so many things were given emphasis.... But it's ok everyone has their opinion and that's what makes us unique ❤
@@bokramubokramu8834 Well I wasn't able to choose between both but yeah now the disappointed part is past tense so I'll go with everyone has their own taste❤️🥰
I hope your break from posting has been due to some happy summer fun, Emma. You deserve to enjoy your life! And you look beautiful. Thank you for the video!
You don't even know how much I needed this this evening, but I really did. Thank you for making me feel better about life on a regular basis, Emma. Never stop being wonderful. Hope your throat gets better too ✨
Gaston Leroux has another novel "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" that's heralded as the first locked door mystery novel! Feels like a perfect combo of the things you like xx
“Where did you go to, if I may ask?' said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along. To look ahead,' said he. 'And what brought you back in the nick of time?' 'Looking behind,' said he.”
Loved how you shared fond memories of your trips to the mall with your grandmother. I loved going with mine and look forward to doing it as a grandmother. 🌮 Currently reading One Hundred Years of Solitude (about 120 pages in the French version). Boy! That sure is entertaining beyond my expectations!! But, I can still see some truths in the greater story being told. Thank you for recommending it as you did.❤
I'm always sceptical of new things so when UA-camrs started talking about Fable I was like, sure Jan But I finally cracked and downloaded it 2 days ago and GUYS it's actually good
I can remember my dad taking me to our local mall to get my first furby back in 2000. That mall ended up becoming abandoned and was recently demolished. But its just crazy to think of a place with so many memories just doesnt even exist anymore
2 місяці тому+56
I believe you approached As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow too much like a 'student of literature.' To me, it's a book you need to read with your heart. Just the fact that the atrocities, which mirror the horrors happening in Gaza, are written on paper for the world to see can't be measured by stars. Honestly, there were moments when I would read a scene and then see a video on Instagram showing almost the exact same thing happening in real life. The powerful representation of Muslim identity and the portrayal of halal romance-finally, a story where a girl doesn't immediately remove her headscarf to embrace a romantic lead-resonate deeply. The love for one's homeland and the sense of responsibility toward the community, so vital among Muslims, are, in my opinion, beautifully depicted. Even the food she mentions-every single detail feels like a written testimony of Syrian culture and heritage. Reflecting on it further, perhaps this book isn't meant for the privileged. Maybe it's for those of us from war-torn countries, struggling to maintain our identities and faith in societies that often try to push us away. It may not be Tolstoy, but simply having all of this written in a book feels like a form of therapy-a way to ease the burden from our hearts.
I agree with you. Coming from a war-torn country myself, I go into historical fiction not to learn data/facts of the history but to acknowledge and feel the horrors, trauma, hardships people of those times had to go through. So, when Emma said it felt repetitive, I couldn't relate. Because of anxiety, stress, guilt, trauma people tend to have recurring thoughts which was depicted beautifully via Salama's internal struggles. Though I'm not going to judge her for disliking it, I'm sad that it wasn't according to her taste as I was one of those people recommending her to read it. Regardless, It's interesting to see how people can have polar opposite reaction to reading the same book. One may hold it dear to his/her heart while to others, it doesn't make any lasting impact.
This is so true! The thing is that for many of us who've experienced the trauma and brutality of wars or genocide, it's not repetitive to read authors describe how it is to try to exist amidst so much human suffering. To capture the feeling of uncertainty about whether to stay or leave when you love your country and people. To mourn the loss of lives and futures while dealing with survivor's guilt. To feel like you owe it to your people to honour them by remembering their lives and dreams while also not let it consume you. To experience the extent to which human brutality can inflict destruction upon a brutalized exhausted people. I believe fiction is not necessarily meant to provide a crash course on the nuances of political issues although they obviously can. I believe they're meant to inform our understanding of what it is like to exist in places and situations of unimaginable loss and suffering. I don't think a novel that doesn't provide the history of an entire conflict is a bad book.
Really well said As a Muslim girl in Pakistan this book rlly brought out my like kinmenship with our whole Ummah Obviously you don't have to be Muslim to feel and to sympathise However I distinctly remember thinking that this book hurt worse because this was happening to our yk Muslim brother sister P.s plz don't misconstrue I don't mean that I don't sympathise with anyone unrightfully being killed etc I'm just saying it was a different kind of hurt being a Muslim. As the saying goes if one part of the Muslim Ummah aka a body hurts the whole person aches.
@@natoop12309 80,000 Innocent people including children have been brutally killed in Pakistan as well in the post 9/11 era. Their lives and suffering matter just as much as well as the trauma of the society at large although they're often not talked about and honoured much. I understand what you mean and agree with it somewhat about feeling the pain of our brothers and sisters on a deeper level but the concept of Ummah has become way too Arab centric. Our people only feel horrible for the suffering of Arab Muslims and I am not saying it's not worth condemning and protesting because it definitely is but there are so many non Arab Muslims undergoing similar crisis and our Muslim community doesn't talk about them. The concept of a Muslim ummah wasn't just meant to encourage ethnic supremacy but equality of all people which is sadly not the case today. The Palestinians themselves have been largely betrayed by their own Arab brothers and let's not even talk about how they treat non Arab Muslims.
@@aamnahere6250 I 100% agree with you. That's why I emphasised being sympathetic for anyone being unjustly murdered in my comment. And again the fact that Arabs have wronged Muslims time and time again is highly shared opinion in my household , it's not an uncommon sentiment whatsoever. However I'm sorry that you saw my comment in a somewhat negative light but the above comment was centred around Palestine, I obviously couldn't have wrote every world atrocity while I was just trying to convey how I felt in the moments I read the book. Just adding this as a P.S because I didn't mean to convey that I'm indifferent to any form of suffering or that I think Muslims as superior beings and no one else is worthy of sympathy or peace.
Honestly I think if you want to learn more about conflicts like Syria it's better to turn to nonfiction sources rather than expecting fiction to teach you all about it. Like yes, you can learn from fiction, but expecting fiction to primarily be a teaching source rather than art is asking too much of it (including when the expectation comes from the authors themselves).
I think you would learn a lot more from Mohammed najem, war reporter. It's a graphic non fiction and documents actual people's lives in the Syrian war. It's from a 16-year old boy's POV and reinforced by reports from Nora Neus, CNN reporter. I personally think as long as the lemon trees grow was an incredible novel... The audiobook was so moving and really brought the characters to life.
Hi, Emma! If you want to read a mystery novel with a solvable plot, you should try Ellery Queen's early works like The Egyptian cross mystery or The Greek coffin mystery. When you get to a certain point of the book, Ellery (who is both the detective character following the case and the pen name of the two real writers) directly challenges you to solve the mystery before he does!
Hi, Emma! I would recommend to you to read ''Yona Of The Down"" japanese manga. It has very good female lead and her character development is so gooood. It is historical fantasy, but it is so interesting and funny! Also the male characters are so gooood. Sorry for not telling more, I just don't know what to tell more to not spoil anything. It has anime too! As always thank you for your videos! 💚💚💚
If you like weird spaces, house of leaves and hotels, you NEED to play the game Control. It’s absolutely amazing. It can get a bit difficult, but you can make yourself invincible if you just want to see the plot and the way that game plays with space. Come to the Oldest House!
I can't wait for the detective duo to comeback. I also can't wait for The Labyrinth House Murders (English version) to release this October. Can't wait for the video!
I am so glad I am not the only one that didn't like where the lemon trees grow. I could not get behind the romance at all. Also the characters were supposed to be teenagers but I did not get that feeling at all from them. They simply felt like poorly written adults. Repetitive and too long. I did like the twist. I liked the ending. It wasn't a bad book but I was hoping to love it.
I think the book you are looking for is you deserve each other by Sara Hogle. it is kind of similar to To have and to hoax and in my opinion, it is a good book.
I NEVER see people recommend this book. I don't like romance at all yet I LOVED it. I've reread it and loved it just as much. I'll read anything Sarah Hogle writes. I've recommended her books so many times. They're incredible.
emma! i would highly recommend you watch True Detective: Night Country (season 4). it has all the themes of ice, cold, snow etc that you like. and so so so many female characters (the two leads are also female). loved it so much.
i read decagon house murderers during a lockdown in 2021 and it made my days! so good especially since i love and then there were none by christie as well
Second comment love your videos so much ❤❤ I will read Magnolia Parks I have read White Nights by Fydor Dostoevsky really loved it and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, i love Harold Pinter plays and Ibsen plays
It's disappointing that you didn't like 'As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow' because I feel it's a book that deserves a lot of credit. I am not Syrian but as a South Asian from a post colonial society who has grown up with similar issues of warfare and instability and having our people constantly being portrayed and treated in mainstream English fiction as 'backward monsters', I welcome when authors from the Global South rarely get to humanise our voices and struggles. Their books might not be for everyone and that's fine but I am so glad they exist.
I read As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow for your book club. I noticed a lot of criticism about the youthful narrative voice or about the romance but I think this is what makes the book so poignant. Salama is forced to adopt the role of a surgeon when she isn't even done with her pharmaceutical studies, lives in constant danger and under immense pressure and guilt. Her tone is repetitive because a traumatized person wouldn't always be a coherent person. The romance aspect, I believe is Salama clinging to a small fragment of what her life would have been without the war. People continue to live, fall in love, make families during extreme hardship as well. The author wanted to tell this story from the voice of a barely young adult and it succeeded perfectly. Lastly, it's unfair for us, people who live in conflict-free zones, to have an expectation about how the victim of a genocide should think, act or speak.
Big Mall sounds interesting. The mall in my city has always been trash. It was always creepy walking around it because it's dimly lit and there are empty spaces with the cage doors down. Like, what kind of demons are they keeping in there? My core mall memories were going with my dad and grandma. He would give me money (I was twelve) and let me wander around for a couple hours. We would meet back at Orange Julius. I would go to the music store, which changed hands several times before dying as Sam Goody. There was a pet store which is also gone, but I stopped to talk to every animal in there, including the fish. I usually bought a cassette or some nail polish. We did that almost every Sunday after Church.
I bought the Decagon House murders on a whim literally yesterday and I’m glad you liked it - might have bought it just because it mentioned and then there were none..
I have to watch this wrap up to remind myself that some people read actual books lol. I haven't picked up one in two months and all i'm reading are Aemond Targaryen fanfics. Please send help! 😭
Ohh interesting listening to you talk about the mall book and the fact animals live inside. There's a really cute (I think middle grade) book called "The One and Only Ivan" based on a true story of a gorilla that lived in a shopping mall. I hope you get chance to read it .
abookolive recently did a video on Big Mall and another book called Meet Me by the Fountain. I haven't read either but Meet Me by the Fountain is supposed to be heavy on the architecture.
I found To Have and To Hoax similarly disappointing. I wanted something campy and over the top type funny but this book wasn’t even fun to begin with. People might be referring to You Deserve Each Other which is a contemporary romcom that has some fun but also manages to be a touching lighthearted feel good story andl
I suggest you to read Baghdad’s clock it’s takes place in Iraq 30 years it’s talking about little girl life through all the war and economic punishment after the book won Edinburgh prize and translated to many languages 💚🌷
oh, i've been feeling miserable health-wise and otherwise, everyday i scroll hoping for one of your videos. screaming at the fact that this happened!!!
Thanks, it's really nice listening to you. Have you ever read the Fairy Tales Reimagined Series by Laura Burton and Jessie Cal. I would love to get your take on these books
Hey emma, if you wanna learn more about the Syrian conflict you could watch a documentary called “For Sama”. It was actually nominated for an Oscar. The thing about this documentary is there is barely any cinematic effort. It’s just a woman with her camera in Syria, filming what’s happening. Highly recommend for an unbiased view of what actually went down then. The entire documentary is just footage.
I am honestly not sure what the last book I finished was it has been like over a month 😅 and I just started a new one so I'm not helping myself out here (I promise I will finish House of the Spirits before the end of the month lol I'm still working on that one)
@@emmiereads Honestly I was really enjoying it early on and got super invested in some sections around a quarter/a third of the way in, and I'm still liking it overall but definitely not nearly as much as I'd hoped to 🙁 I feel like it's a lot less subtle than One Hundred Years, most of the ideas/themes are right there on the surface so it doesn't often keep me thinking about it after I put it down again
team what are opinions on book apps? i used gr for YEARS but moved over to storygraph a couple years ago and dont see many people talk about it. is fable better??
I really enjoy storygraph. Goodreads felt a little old-fashioned lol. I don't see what fable has to offer that is better but there seems to be a big push by a lot of influencers for fable. Don't know why. Perhaps I'm cynical but I distrust it when I see a bunch of people being paid to push it at the same time.
@@user-db5si8eq5m yes agree! im happy bookish creators or getting their bag from sponsorships, just nice to hear unbiased thoughts and feelings from non-creators on the matter. thanks!
Ngl, I'm not a fan of the more serious YA books in general. I'd rather read about the same topics in lit fic. I still like YA fantasy and adventure bc I feel like the tone and content match more.
Emma - I just finished "Weyward" by Emilia Hart and I 100% think it will be a 5-star read for you. It has all the elements that you love in a book (and the cover is exquisite!).
I appreciate why As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow exists but the execution was absolutely insufferable. The writing was nothing special, honestly super cringe and not great from what I remember, I hated the MC, her insta-love relationship and how she just would not listen to a damn word he said about why he wanted to stay. Her motivations were so selfish, she was legit like “I can’t lose you, think of how *I’ll* feel if something happens to you” Their dialogue was so infuriating and repetitive. I also wish it had had zero fantastical elements because they were so pointless and ridiculous, with her PTSD demon and her imagining Layla for several months. And speaking of, the PTSD rep was so atrocious. I don’t have PTSD myself so I’m obviously not the ideal person to speak on such a topic, but I hated how at the end she left Syria, her PTSD was just… cured… her hot PTSD was just like peace out, you don’t need me anymore and life was peachy in Canada. You were literally living with a person who wasn’t there for MONTHS, sorry but I don’t think you’re okay 😭 Although I genuinely thought they died, and part of me still wants to interpret it that way. I haven’t thought much about this book in a while so ranting about it again was quite cathartic lol Ok just had to add a couple other details I forgot, I hated how she was constantly complaining about how she was supposed to be a pharmacist, not a doctor, it got so old so fast. And when bombs were dropping and everyone was freaking out trying to run away, the way it was described was so bland, I remember describing it to my bf and saying the way I imagined it based on the description, it was like dropping a bowling ball. It causes some destruction where it landed but there was no real explosion to cause the panic that ensued. I don’t know much of anything about what’s happening in Syria but I feel like this book did such a disservice to Syrians who’ve had to live through that on a daily basis (while the author I believe has never visited?) But wow, this review is so validating, although I have to disagree with liking Khawf, I don’t remember a single thing I liked about this book other than finally being done with it, I’m so confused with myself why I didn’t give it a one star from the beginning (I started at a 3, dripped to a 2, and just changed it to a 1 being reminded of how much I truly did not like this book)
I love your reading wrap-ups🌙🤍 I recently read Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson and Soundings by Doreen Cunningham. I really recommend Open Water because it's such a fantastic novel about love, racism, and art and is also incredibly well written🫶🏻 A few days ago, I started reading The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu and I'm really hooked! It's been on my tbr since you talked about in on your channel and now I'm finally getting to it :) I hope you'll have a lovely day🌟
That's pretty amazing that even at your relatively young age the shopping mall has such a notable place in your memory; it means a lot to those of us who were there an age before when your local mall was the social centerpiece of an entire section of your state, and then the heartbreak of watching that mall go into years of decline until only the few people who remember it's there visit on closing day (the Dead Mall Society is a very deep rabbit hole indeed.) Also, is 1Q84 still in progress or is it a DNF for you? 🛍📖❤
Well, what ya got? Well, there's egg and bacon, Egg and Spam, Egg, bacon, and Spam, Egg, bacon, sausage, and Spam, Spam, bacon, sausage, and Spam, Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon, and Spam, Spam, sausage, Spam, Spam, Spam, bacon, Spam, tomato, and Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam-.... or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce served in a Provençale manner with shallots and aubergines, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy and a fried egg on top and Spam.
there's a book called Magnetic Aura on borlest, and it talks about how using some secret tehniques you can attract anyone with charisma, it's the real deal
you are so calm and soft spoken that at this point i’m watching this as asmr
I watch it as asmr too
I don't know if anyone cares about my thoughts on ALALTG or not but as a person who lives in middle east i believe there where some quotes in this book about freedom, revolution and feeling guilty for leaving your homeland for a better future which i think people in certain countries will never ever relate to. I totally understand why the several conversations get boring for some people but trust me, that is not the author's fault, its just how the reality of our daily life is; Constantly doubting our very limited number of choices, desperately needing a change in our country but not being able to make one, being tortured and killed for speaking your mind and wanting to leave and wanting to stay and wanting to forget and needing to remember. You know? that kind of things. I personally am not very educated on the historical/political background of Syria but i really didn't care about the lack of facts mentioned in this book because i think its main purpose was to show the human aspect of it all. Especially because there are some sort of conflicts with the government of my country and Syria's, i thought it was so refreshing to forget about the overwhelming news and read how a normal teenage girl in my own age spends her days and i realized we are not realy that different. No matter what side of the war you're on at the end of the day all of us want to same thing and have the same struggles. Also I know the way the characters talk to each other might be kind of new and funny to western readers but again that's just cultural diversity. Sorry for ranting for so long. Love you so very much Emma.❤❤
I read as long as lemon trees grow born in conflict zone myself i know exactly how it feels to watch your people dying and you can do is just stay strong when you re really breaking mentally , this book made me cry ,you read the fiction and i witnessed the reality while reading the fiction .i took me back to the time when my homeland was falling but what can i say i have always loved watching your video's so not going to judge u . You re my favourite youtuber ❤ love you emmie
Emma, after 8 hours I can't stop thinking about you being with your grandma and getting Taco Bell. But you petting the fish is what made me cry. That's so beautiful, what a sweet little kid you were. And so kind of you to share it. I think I needed to cry about animals today. My dog has heart disease, she's almost 13 and it's serious. The vet has given us an amount of time that I won't type ... but children and animals ... wonderful. Thank you.
I’m so sorry about your dog. I’ve loved animals my whole life and have lost several myself. The thing that comforts me is that although their time here may seem brief, as their guardians we are able to make sure that time is filled with love and comfort, instead of fear and struggle. Your dog is so lucky it has you ❤
@@GizaDee That’s very kind, thank you so much.
I had been craving for a video from you, Emma! Your old vlogs have been consoling me for quite a while
Love you so much 🔆💐
Just when I needed her most! Thanks, Emma, for a day brightener in a rough week!
ah man hope your weekend is a bit brighter!
Another video with detective duo coming up I’m so excited!
I have been giving ‘As Long as the Lemon Trees grow’ a wide berth because of the reviews I’ve watched about it- something about the way people talk about it feels more people saying that the message is important rather than the book is good. I am very wary of such reviews and after listening to your review I’m glad I hesitated.
Also I think it’s unfair to suggest that your expectations to learn more about the conflict are unfounded, as suggested in some of the comments. For instance 1000 Splendid Suns while being very focused on the characters gives interesting insight into the conflict in Afghanistan as you see the world through their eyes.
I admit a book can be educative and humane at the same time, but to suggest that a book isn't good enough just because it lacked the informative side of it all sounds downright illogical to me. ALATLTG was written to shade light on human experiences more and I think it served that well. If an author manages to ignite emotions in you, it will automatically implore you to learn about the conflicts more so.
I'm kinda disappointed that you didn't like As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow'... It's an absolute favourite of mine and the feeling was indescribable especially because I live in a country that has been colonised and oppressed in the past ...so many things were given emphasis.... But it's ok everyone has their opinion and that's what makes us unique ❤
i will be reading it as my next book , i am seeing it alot on pinterest
It definitely depends on the person...just like every other book...but please do give it a try!!!❤️
Well, either you're dissapointed or "it's ok everyone has their opinion and that's what makes us unique".
@@bokramubokramu8834 Well I wasn't able to choose between both but yeah now the disappointed part is past tense so I'll go with everyone has their own taste❤️🥰
I really love this book! I read it in the beginning of the year and also became one of my favorites 💚
I hope your break from posting has been due to some happy summer fun, Emma. You deserve to enjoy your life! And you look beautiful. Thank you for the video!
You don't even know how much I needed this this evening, but I really did. Thank you for making me feel better about life on a regular basis, Emma. Never stop being wonderful. Hope your throat gets better too ✨
You should try storygraph, it's good reads but so much better.
Gaston Leroux has another novel "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" that's heralded as the first locked door mystery novel! Feels like a perfect combo of the things you like xx
“Where did you go to, if I may ask?' said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along.
To look ahead,' said he.
'And what brought you back in the nick of time?'
'Looking behind,' said he.”
this mic + my fav person emma = HEAVEN
That snail is chill af
Loved how you shared fond memories of your trips to the mall with your grandmother. I loved going with mine and look forward to doing it as a grandmother. 🌮
Currently reading One Hundred Years of Solitude (about 120 pages in the French version). Boy! That sure is entertaining beyond my expectations!! But, I can still see some truths in the greater story being told. Thank you for recommending it as you did.❤
Not Emmie always giving me the best books for my TBR 😭💗 Thank you!!
I'm always sceptical of new things so when UA-camrs started talking about Fable I was like, sure Jan
But I finally cracked and downloaded it 2 days ago and GUYS it's actually good
I can remember my dad taking me to our local mall to get my first furby back in 2000. That mall ended up becoming abandoned and was recently demolished. But its just crazy to think of a place with so many memories just doesnt even exist anymore
I believe you approached As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow too much like a 'student of literature.' To me, it's a book you need to read with your heart.
Just the fact that the atrocities, which mirror the horrors happening in Gaza, are written on paper for the world to see can't be measured by stars. Honestly, there were moments when I would read a scene and then see a video on Instagram showing almost the exact same thing happening in real life.
The powerful representation of Muslim identity and the portrayal of halal romance-finally, a story where a girl doesn't immediately remove her headscarf to embrace a romantic lead-resonate deeply. The love for one's homeland and the sense of responsibility toward the community, so vital among Muslims, are, in my opinion, beautifully depicted. Even the food she mentions-every single detail feels like a written testimony of Syrian culture and heritage.
Reflecting on it further, perhaps this book isn't meant for the privileged. Maybe it's for those of us from war-torn countries, struggling to maintain our identities and faith in societies that often try to push us away. It may not be Tolstoy, but simply having all of this written in a book feels like a form of therapy-a way to ease the burden from our hearts.
I agree with you. Coming from a war-torn country myself, I go into historical fiction not to learn data/facts of the history but to acknowledge and feel the horrors, trauma, hardships people of those times had to go through. So, when Emma said it felt repetitive, I couldn't relate. Because of anxiety, stress, guilt, trauma people tend to have recurring thoughts which was depicted beautifully via Salama's internal struggles. Though I'm not going to judge her for disliking it, I'm sad that it wasn't according to her taste as I was one of those people recommending her to read it. Regardless, It's interesting to see how people can have polar opposite reaction to reading the same book. One may hold it dear to his/her heart while to others, it doesn't make any lasting impact.
This is so true! The thing is that for many of us who've experienced the trauma and brutality of wars or genocide, it's not repetitive to read authors describe how it is to try to exist amidst so much human suffering. To capture the feeling of uncertainty about whether to stay or leave when you love your country and people. To mourn the loss of lives and futures while dealing with survivor's guilt. To feel like you owe it to your people to honour them by remembering their lives and dreams while also not let it consume you. To experience the extent to which human brutality can inflict destruction upon a brutalized exhausted people.
I believe fiction is not necessarily meant to provide a crash course on the nuances of political issues although they obviously can. I believe they're meant to inform our understanding of what it is like to exist in places and situations of unimaginable loss and suffering. I don't think a novel that doesn't provide the history of an entire conflict is a bad book.
Really well said
As a Muslim girl in Pakistan this book rlly brought out my like kinmenship with our whole Ummah
Obviously you don't have to be Muslim to feel and to sympathise
However I distinctly remember thinking that this book hurt worse because this was happening to our yk Muslim brother sister
P.s plz don't misconstrue I don't mean that I don't sympathise with anyone unrightfully being killed etc I'm just saying it was a different kind of hurt being a Muslim. As the saying goes if one part of the Muslim Ummah aka a body hurts the whole person aches.
@@natoop12309 80,000 Innocent people including children have been brutally killed in Pakistan as well in the post 9/11 era. Their lives and suffering matter just as much as well as the trauma of the society at large although they're often not talked about and honoured much. I understand what you mean and agree with it somewhat about feeling the pain of our brothers and sisters on a deeper level but the concept of Ummah has become way too Arab centric. Our people only feel horrible for the suffering of Arab Muslims and I am not saying it's not worth condemning and protesting because it definitely is but there are so many non Arab Muslims undergoing similar crisis and our Muslim community doesn't talk about them. The concept of a Muslim ummah wasn't just meant to encourage ethnic supremacy but equality of all people which is sadly not the case today. The Palestinians themselves have been largely betrayed by their own Arab brothers and let's not even talk about how they treat non Arab Muslims.
@@aamnahere6250
I 100% agree with you.
That's why I emphasised being sympathetic for anyone being unjustly murdered in my comment.
And again the fact that Arabs have wronged Muslims time and time again is highly shared opinion in my household , it's not an uncommon sentiment whatsoever.
However I'm sorry that you saw my comment in a somewhat negative light but the above comment was centred around Palestine, I obviously couldn't have wrote every world atrocity while I was just trying to convey how I felt in the moments I read the book. Just adding this as a P.S because I didn't mean to convey that I'm indifferent to any form of suffering or that I think Muslims as superior beings and no one else is worthy of sympathy or peace.
I MUST to read Big Mall, I need that book in my life. I've been looking for something like this for so long.
I have heard so much about magnolia parks and as long as the lemon trees grow❤
Honestly I think if you want to learn more about conflicts like Syria it's better to turn to nonfiction sources rather than expecting fiction to teach you all about it. Like yes, you can learn from fiction, but expecting fiction to primarily be a teaching source rather than art is asking too much of it (including when the expectation comes from the authors themselves).
Well said mate
@@stardustajm8618 totally agree with this
I think you would learn a lot more from Mohammed najem, war reporter. It's a graphic non fiction and documents actual people's lives in the Syrian war. It's from a 16-year old boy's POV and reinforced by reports from Nora Neus, CNN reporter. I personally think as long as the lemon trees grow was an incredible novel... The audiobook was so moving and really brought the characters to life.
I wish you could make a full review of 1984 , i would love to hear your insight on its many subjects that relates to our "modern world"
Same! Would love an in-depth review
Thanks to you Emma, I purchased and read Big Mall and passed it on to two friends who also loved it! ☺️
Hi, Emma! If you want to read a mystery novel with a solvable plot, you should try Ellery Queen's early works like The Egyptian cross mystery or The Greek coffin mystery. When you get to a certain point of the book, Ellery (who is both the detective character following the case and the pen name of the two real writers) directly challenges you to solve the mystery before he does!
Hi, Emma! I would recommend to you to read ''Yona Of The Down"" japanese manga. It has very good female lead and her character development is so gooood. It is historical fantasy, but it is so interesting and funny! Also the male characters are so gooood. Sorry for not telling more, I just don't know what to tell more to not spoil anything. It has anime too! As always thank you for your videos! 💚💚💚
Agreed 100%!! Yona is amazing
Yesss I want to read that so bad!
@@emmiereads 💚💚💚
the decagon house murders will be going straight to my TBR pile. thank you for this.
An emma video to get me through first college exams 🎉
I'm so happy with your new video, darling Emma! Well, i'm currently reading Perfume, by Patrick Süskind.
If you like weird spaces, house of leaves and hotels, you NEED to play the game Control. It’s absolutely amazing. It can get a bit difficult, but you can make yourself invincible if you just want to see the plot and the way that game plays with space. Come to the Oldest House!
the strike series is great for buddy reading and solving together! i read it with my friend and and were both very excited for the next book:)
I can't wait for the detective duo to comeback. I also can't wait for The Labyrinth House Murders (English version) to release this October. Can't wait for the video!
I was actually watching my CA classes but as soon as I saw Ur notification, i couldn't stop but click on it. Missed u a lot Emmie ❤.
I am so glad I am not the only one that didn't like where the lemon trees grow. I could not get behind the romance at all. Also the characters were supposed to be teenagers but I did not get that feeling at all from them. They simply felt like poorly written adults. Repetitive and too long. I did like the twist. I liked the ending. It wasn't a bad book but I was hoping to love it.
I think the book you are looking for is you deserve each other by Sara Hogle. it is kind of similar to To have and to hoax and in my opinion, it is a good book.
I NEVER see people recommend this book. I don't like romance at all yet I LOVED it. I've reread it and loved it just as much. I'll read anything Sarah Hogle writes. I've recommended her books so many times. They're incredible.
emma! i would highly recommend you watch True Detective: Night Country (season 4). it has all the themes of ice, cold, snow etc that you like. and so so so many female characters (the two leads are also female). loved it so much.
this made my day!! so excited to watch💗
EMMA i missed you so so much. i was feeling down recently specially todau but your notficition made my day 💙
Emma there’s a new Shatter Me coming out!!!!
@@indiigobluee oh noooooooooo I thought my work was done haha
Get well soon emma❤
My thoughts exactly with As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
i read decagon house murderers during a lockdown in 2021 and it made my days! so good especially since i love and then there were none by christie as well
Second comment love your videos so much ❤❤ I will read Magnolia Parks
I have read White Nights by Fydor Dostoevsky really loved it and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, i love Harold Pinter plays and Ibsen plays
It's disappointing that you didn't like 'As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow' because I feel it's a book that deserves a lot of credit. I am not Syrian but as a South Asian from a post colonial society who has grown up with similar issues of warfare and instability and having our people constantly being portrayed and treated in mainstream English fiction as 'backward monsters', I welcome when authors from the Global South rarely get to humanise our voices and struggles. Their books might not be for everyone and that's fine but I am so glad they exist.
Our lovely and soft-voiced host is like the perfect brainy ASMR.
I read As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow for your book club. I noticed a lot of criticism about the youthful narrative voice or about the romance but I think this is what makes the book so poignant. Salama is forced to adopt the role of a surgeon when she isn't even done with her pharmaceutical studies, lives in constant danger and under immense pressure and guilt. Her tone is repetitive because a traumatized person wouldn't always be a coherent person. The romance aspect, I believe is Salama clinging to a small fragment of what her life would have been without the war. People continue to live, fall in love, make families during extreme hardship as well. The author wanted to tell this story from the voice of a barely young adult and it succeeded perfectly. Lastly, it's unfair for us, people who live in conflict-free zones, to have an expectation about how the victim of a genocide should think, act or speak.
I agree with you on as long as the lemon trees grow, very disappointing.
Hi Emmie! Never clicked so fast in my life 😂
hi hi!!!
So happy for the new video!
Just moved to another country all alone and your videos have been my comforting shoulder
Big Mall sounds interesting. The mall in my city has always been trash. It was always creepy walking around it because it's dimly lit and there are empty spaces with the cage doors down. Like, what kind of demons are they keeping in there?
My core mall memories were going with my dad and grandma. He would give me money (I was twelve) and let me wander around for a couple hours. We would meet back at Orange Julius. I would go to the music store, which changed hands several times before dying as Sam Goody. There was a pet store which is also gone, but I stopped to talk to every animal in there, including the fish. I usually bought a cassette or some nail polish. We did that almost every Sunday after Church.
Talk of Decagon really makes me want to dig into the British library crime classics run of golden age mystery books
I was waiting for this video!! thanks emme!
I really like the Yukito ayastuji house murders mystery, a new one is coming out in October, i can’t wait
I bought the Decagon House murders on a whim literally yesterday and I’m glad you liked it - might have bought it just because it mentioned and then there were none..
I have to watch this wrap up to remind myself that some people read actual books lol. I haven't picked up one in two months and all i'm reading are Aemond Targaryen fanfics. Please send help! 😭
Ohh interesting listening to you talk about the mall book and the fact animals live inside. There's a really cute (I think middle grade) book called "The One and Only Ivan" based on a true story of a gorilla that lived in a shopping mall. I hope you get chance to read it .
i read the decagon house murders this year and it was a good read
Great wrap up 📚🧋
abookolive recently did a video on Big Mall and another book called Meet Me by the Fountain. I haven't read either but Meet Me by the Fountain is supposed to be heavy on the architecture.
I found To Have and To Hoax similarly disappointing. I wanted something campy and over the top type funny but this book wasn’t even fun to begin with. People might be referring to You Deserve Each Other which is a contemporary romcom that has some fun but also manages to be a touching lighthearted feel good story andl
yes! You Deserve Each Other is great and well done.
I suggest you to read Baghdad’s clock it’s takes place in Iraq 30 years it’s talking about little girl life through all the war and economic punishment after the book won Edinburgh prize and translated to many languages 💚🌷
Stay healthy emma⭐
oh, i've been feeling miserable health-wise and otherwise, everyday i scroll hoping for one of your videos. screaming at the fact that this happened!!!
Thanks, it's really nice listening to you. Have you ever read the Fairy Tales Reimagined Series by Laura Burton and Jessie Cal. I would love to get your take on these books
been waiting for you!!!
Do check out Lauren Kate's book Teardrop. It used to be quite popular back in the day and would love to hear your thoughts on it.
No one can ever make me hate good reads
Amazing ❤❤
yaayy a new video!
FIRST COMMENT i am an og now(or maybe just chronically online)
Hi Emma! Hope you are doing well. Are you going to read Tahereh Mafi"s new book "Watch Me"?
THISSSSS
@@nadiaflowers8879 👀
hii, could you give us your opinion on Emily Henry’s books?
I've only read Beach Read and didn't like it very much!
Beautiful 😍😍
I wanted to like it but I could not get through As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow. It was a lot of alot of trauma.
Hey emma, if you wanna learn more about the Syrian conflict you could watch a documentary called “For Sama”. It was actually nominated for an Oscar. The thing about this documentary is there is barely any cinematic effort. It’s just a woman with her camera in Syria, filming what’s happening. Highly recommend for an unbiased view of what actually went down then. The entire documentary is just footage.
I am honestly not sure what the last book I finished was it has been like over a month 😅 and I just started a new one so I'm not helping myself out here (I promise I will finish House of the Spirits before the end of the month lol I'm still working on that one)
take your time!! cannot wait to hear what your thoughts are on that one!
@@emmiereads Honestly I was really enjoying it early on and got super invested in some sections around a quarter/a third of the way in, and I'm still liking it overall but definitely not nearly as much as I'd hoped to 🙁 I feel like it's a lot less subtle than One Hundred Years, most of the ideas/themes are right there on the surface so it doesn't often keep me thinking about it after I put it down again
AHAAHAAHAHAH THE RANDOM BRITISH ACCENT GOT ME ROLLING!!!
You look a lot like daisy edgar jones to me haha greetings from Chile!🇨🇱
Not to be dramatic but... FINALLY. 😂
I have that cup 😁
Where is your phone case from?
btw emma they just announced a new shatter me book! 💀
@@zainabmsheikh I’ll never escape😭
@@emmiereads😂
team what are opinions on book apps? i used gr for YEARS but moved over to storygraph a couple years ago and dont see many people talk about it. is fable better??
I really enjoy storygraph. Goodreads felt a little old-fashioned lol. I don't see what fable has to offer that is better but there seems to be a big push by a lot of influencers for fable. Don't know why. Perhaps I'm cynical but I distrust it when I see a bunch of people being paid to push it at the same time.
@@user-db5si8eq5m yes agree! im happy bookish creators or getting their bag from sponsorships, just nice to hear unbiased thoughts and feelings from non-creators on the matter. thanks!
Ahhhh finally!
Ngl, I'm not a fan of the more serious YA books in general. I'd rather read about the same topics in lit fic. I still like YA fantasy and adventure bc I feel like the tone and content match more.
wanna hear your thoughts on Acotar series, will you ever gonna read them?
Yayyyyyyyyyy ✨✨🥺🥺
Emma - I just finished "Weyward" by Emilia Hart and I 100% think it will be a 5-star read for you. It has all the elements that you love in a book (and the cover is exquisite!).
I appreciate why As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow exists but the execution was absolutely insufferable. The writing was nothing special, honestly super cringe and not great from what I remember, I hated the MC, her insta-love relationship and how she just would not listen to a damn word he said about why he wanted to stay. Her motivations were so selfish, she was legit like “I can’t lose you, think of how *I’ll* feel if something happens to you” Their dialogue was so infuriating and repetitive. I also wish it had had zero fantastical elements because they were so pointless and ridiculous, with her PTSD demon and her imagining Layla for several months. And speaking of, the PTSD rep was so atrocious. I don’t have PTSD myself so I’m obviously not the ideal person to speak on such a topic, but I hated how at the end she left Syria, her PTSD was just… cured… her hot PTSD was just like peace out, you don’t need me anymore and life was peachy in Canada. You were literally living with a person who wasn’t there for MONTHS, sorry but I don’t think you’re okay 😭 Although I genuinely thought they died, and part of me still wants to interpret it that way.
I haven’t thought much about this book in a while so ranting about it again was quite cathartic lol
Ok just had to add a couple other details I forgot, I hated how she was constantly complaining about how she was supposed to be a pharmacist, not a doctor, it got so old so fast. And when bombs were dropping and everyone was freaking out trying to run away, the way it was described was so bland, I remember describing it to my bf and saying the way I imagined it based on the description, it was like dropping a bowling ball. It causes some destruction where it landed but there was no real explosion to cause the panic that ensued. I don’t know much of anything about what’s happening in Syria but I feel like this book did such a disservice to Syrians who’ve had to live through that on a daily basis (while the author I believe has never visited?) But wow, this review is so validating, although I have to disagree with liking Khawf, I don’t remember a single thing I liked about this book other than finally being done with it, I’m so confused with myself why I didn’t give it a one star from the beginning (I started at a 3, dripped to a 2, and just changed it to a 1 being reminded of how much I truly did not like this book)
I love your reading wrap-ups🌙🤍 I recently read Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson and Soundings by Doreen Cunningham. I really recommend Open Water because it's such a fantastic novel about love, racism, and art and is also incredibly well written🫶🏻 A few days ago, I started reading The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu and I'm really hooked! It's been on my tbr since you talked about in on your channel and now I'm finally getting to it :) I hope you'll have a lovely day🌟
😮
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That's pretty amazing that even at your relatively young age the shopping mall has such a notable place in your memory; it means a lot to those of us who were there an age before when your local mall was the social centerpiece of an entire section of your state, and then the heartbreak of watching that mall go into years of decline until only the few people who remember it's there visit on closing day (the Dead Mall Society is a very deep rabbit hole indeed.) Also, is 1Q84 still in progress or is it a DNF for you? 🛍📖❤
As someome that DNFed As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow I felt so validated watching this.
Not a fan of most YA books.
Sounds like you’ve out grown the repetitive YA tropes and writing style designed for a younger audience.
It's crazy how nobody is talking about the banned ebook Magnetic Aura from Borlest
Well, what ya got?
Well, there's egg and bacon,
Egg and Spam,
Egg, bacon, and Spam,
Egg, bacon, sausage, and Spam,
Spam, bacon, sausage, and Spam,
Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon, and Spam,
Spam, sausage, Spam, Spam, Spam, bacon, Spam, tomato, and Spam,
Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam,
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam-....
or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce served in a Provençale manner with shallots and aubergines, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy and a fried egg on top and Spam.
there's a book called Magnetic Aura on borlest, and it talks about how using some secret tehniques you can attract anyone with charisma, it's the real deal
Well, can I have Spam instead of the baked beans then?