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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
It just wasn't really hooking me and I wanted to switch to another book
What an amazing tale. I listened to this book on audible and think that had I sat down to read it it would not have given the same perspective as the voices story. A very well written and thought out book from two main points of view. The tale covers many years in one families life and the times that dramatically changed their family early in young Francisco’s life. The author paints a beautiful picture of the Mexican countryside and agricultural fields as they changed over the years. The life and death throughout the story brought to life by the author is such a way that you feel as the reader or listener you are there experiencing the same things as those that the story is about. Good versus evil, life and death, birth and rebirth are all recurring themes is this story. Definitely worth the read or listen to.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5 stars
When Simonopio is discovered under a bridge, cradled in a blanket of bees, the Francisco and Beatriz Morales family could have had no idea what an important role he would play in the life of their family. Set in the turbulent decades of the early 20th century Mexico, war and disease, land reform and nature itself will conspire against Simonopio as he tries to protect the family that has taken him in as their own. As Fransisco and Beatriz try to work their land and raise their family, Mexico will prove itself to a land of love and loss, poverty and comfort, incredible beauty and sickening hatred.
I don't even know how to start with this lovely, lovely book. With his visionary sense of coming danger and true connection with bees, Simonopio brings a strong sense of magical realism to the Morales hacienda. The land itself and Morales as its steward is the backdrop for all of the book, I love how immersed I felt in a Mexico of the past, even as it struggled through a revolution. Beatriz is a nuanced and deep woman, as a mother I felt her own emotions very deeply as she tried to keep her children safe in a world where safety just could not be assumed. It's a slow-moving story, a story woven with compassion and a fluid chronology that took me a minute to get used to before I just let myself fall right in. As lovely as the writing is in translation, I can't imagine reading it in the original Spanish. While I can't call it a page turner, I never wanted to switch to a different book before finishing - I knew I cared about this family and wanted to follow them to the end.
When Simonopio is discovered under a bridge, cradled in a blanket of bees, the Francisco and Beatriz Morales family could have had no idea what an important role he would play in the life of their family. Set in the turbulent decades of the early 20th century Mexico, war and disease, land reform and nature itself will conspire against Simonopio as he tries to protect the family that has taken him in as their own. As Fransisco and Beatriz try to work their land and raise their family, Mexico will prove itself to a land of love and loss, poverty and comfort, incredible beauty and sickening hatred.
I don't even know how to start with this lovely, lovely book. With his visionary sense of coming danger and true connection with bees, Simonopio brings a strong sense of magical realism to the Morales hacienda. The land itself and Morales as its steward is the backdrop for all of the book, I love how immersed I felt in a Mexico of the past, even as it struggled through a revolution. Beatriz is a nuanced and deep woman, as a mother I felt her own emotions very deeply as she tried to keep her children safe in a world where safety just could not be assumed. It's a slow-moving story, a story woven with compassion and a fluid chronology that took me a minute to get used to before I just let myself fall right in. As lovely as the writing is in translation, I can't imagine reading it in the original Spanish. While I can't call it a page turner, I never wanted to switch to a different book before finishing - I knew I cared about this family and wanted to follow them to the end.
Echoes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez; magical realism that spans generations. I really loved this; perhaps a tad overlong and the ending was four stars, but overall amazing. Rich, lush descriptions and a vivid picture of a place and time. Instead of cholera, the 1918 flu and civil war are supporting characters. Well-worth the length.
Read Harder: Read a non-European novel in translation
Read Harder: Read a non-European novel in translation
I liked that there was a hint of magic in this one, not explicitly magic, but that boy was something else. The narrator meanders through this story, a multigenerational history. But this story hooks you and has enough high and low points to keep your attention. I’m not sure if I would read it again, but I also wouldn’t say that I would be completely against it.
How can I describe the ways in which this book touched me? I am not sure if I have enough words in my vocabulary to describe how beautiful this book is.
I read the translated version. Franciso & Beatriz adopt an abandoned child found with bees buzzing around him, protecting him from the elements of nature & predators. Simonopio's is a special child. He seems almost clairvoyant. His ability seems magical, but in no way does it outshine the other wonderful aspects of the story. A part of the plot is set during the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918. And now, more than a decade later, today, we are struggling with the cruelty and suffering by another pandemic, and so it is no longer vicarious. It is as real as what so many of us have been through. Every single word is relatable. Every single word rings true. It doesn't feel like a story set more than a decade ago, it feels like it is about today. I can't resist putting down a few of the lines from this part of the plot.
"But this disease did not respect holy places, rituals, or people, Nor did the disease respect medical personnel."
"In the midst of this crisis, you had tooth decay, infected toenails, and stomach upsets—slight or severe—that you put up with for a while before having to seek help from a doctor, if you could find one."
"If a mother or a father had lost a child, they had others to feed, so they had to go back to work, and that was that. With no fuss or extra patience from anybody, not even themselves."
"The initial compassion and attention Mercedes Garza and her family received when she fell ill and died were not experienced by anyone else in those three months. There were no women to bring food to fellow mothers when they lost their husbands, nor anyone to dry the newly orphaned children’s tears. By the time the Spanish flu had completed its cycle, there was nobody in Linares who had not lost someone, so there was no one to ease the sorrow of others with their condolences."
"Their need for meat, groceries, worship, and sharpened knives was greater than their pain and sorrow. Such is life."
The same skillful writing makes the bond between Simonopio and Franciso Jr so heartwarming. You can feel from the moment Franciso Jr is born that the two are going to be inseparable, that they are going to love each other unconditionally, that their adventures are going to be memorable, not just for them, but for the readers.
This book is easily one of the most skillfully written pieces of literature I have come across this year. I would love to read more from the author.
I read the translated version. Franciso & Beatriz adopt an abandoned child found with bees buzzing around him, protecting him from the elements of nature & predators. Simonopio's is a special child. He seems almost clairvoyant. His ability seems magical, but in no way does it outshine the other wonderful aspects of the story. A part of the plot is set during the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918. And now, more than a decade later, today, we are struggling with the cruelty and suffering by another pandemic, and so it is no longer vicarious. It is as real as what so many of us have been through. Every single word is relatable. Every single word rings true. It doesn't feel like a story set more than a decade ago, it feels like it is about today. I can't resist putting down a few of the lines from this part of the plot.
"But this disease did not respect holy places, rituals, or people, Nor did the disease respect medical personnel."
"In the midst of this crisis, you had tooth decay, infected toenails, and stomach upsets—slight or severe—that you put up with for a while before having to seek help from a doctor, if you could find one."
"If a mother or a father had lost a child, they had others to feed, so they had to go back to work, and that was that. With no fuss or extra patience from anybody, not even themselves."
"The initial compassion and attention Mercedes Garza and her family received when she fell ill and died were not experienced by anyone else in those three months. There were no women to bring food to fellow mothers when they lost their husbands, nor anyone to dry the newly orphaned children’s tears. By the time the Spanish flu had completed its cycle, there was nobody in Linares who had not lost someone, so there was no one to ease the sorrow of others with their condolences."
"Their need for meat, groceries, worship, and sharpened knives was greater than their pain and sorrow. Such is life."
Spoiler
The most touching part of the book comes towards the end, when one of the character dies. The prose is so powerful that I had to put the book down for the time being. I simply could not read anymore. I needed time to process that death. The character's journey from when he/she is shot, but doesn't realize it, not feeling the pain, thinking that at any moment now, he/she would build the strength to get up, to when he/she finally acknowledges that death is inevitable, is the hardest part of the story to get through. Seeing life being dragged out of this body almost broke me as much as did everyone else in the story. The author, with her immaculate prose, makes you feel the pain of every character- the one who dies and the ones who live and are forced to carry on.The same skillful writing makes the bond between Simonopio and Franciso Jr so heartwarming. You can feel from the moment Franciso Jr is born that the two are going to be inseparable, that they are going to love each other unconditionally, that their adventures are going to be memorable, not just for them, but for the readers.
This book is easily one of the most skillfully written pieces of literature I have come across this year. I would love to read more from the author.
5 for the story, 4 'cause of some rather long winded passages that I ended up skimming over.