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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I haven’t been so amazed and enveloped by a book in a long time. This is a different story- original, moving, and enchanting. The language and message are beautiful. I highly recommend the audiobook, as the narrators are perfect. This is a story where the characters and tale will stay with me.
I wouldnt say it was a great book, but it was an interesting page-turner. Historical fiction mixed with the supernatural.
Not usually a fan of magical realism, but I did like this book. A little slow getting started, but the last 1/3 was the best both in storyline and writing. Read this for a bookclub, and looking forward to the discussion.
I was really mesmerized by the writing at first. I was excited by the characters and was hoping, waiting for an interesting turn in events. But a few chapters into the book, I noticed deeply troubling racial tropes that I could not get over. Yet I continued reading. The hacienda characters are all fully developed but we only get the tired characterizations of the indigenous villain (lazy, revengeful, a rapist, angry and spiteful father) and poor Simoneopio who is tied to the natural world and really only there as an accessory to this land owning family. We never really know his thoughts except in a superficial way, as characterized by Francisco Jr. I waited even until the end to find the redeeming arc but it never happened. So if you’re hoping for a book that is mindful of these issues and what they mean when they circulate in the imaginaries of so many types of readers, then keep on hoping. This is not that book. But do read it if you’d like to insert yourself into conversations about how to change/educate others about the importance of representations and how they attach to larger racial stereotypes already in existence.
This book is so good, that I really don't have words. It is beautiful and magical, and I have experienced all the emotions while reading it. Get it and read it. You will not regret the journey.
It took me almost two weeks to finish this. The POV style is definitely not for me. I can't get attached to the characters because of the way it was written. There was even a point of view from a person who hasn't existed in the first half of the book.
The pace was too inconsistent and the timeline jumps (back or forward) from time to time.
I can't say it wasn't intentionally written that way because the book is actually brilliant. It's too clever to say that it wasn't planned out. It just didn't work for me I guess.
But I can understand why people loved this. I really do.
One whole star more for the well-fleshed out villain. Anselmo is so creepy! I was wishing a grander death than that though :3
The pace was too inconsistent and the timeline jumps (back or forward) from time to time.
I can't say it wasn't intentionally written that way because the book is actually brilliant. It's too clever to say that it wasn't planned out. It just didn't work for me I guess.
But I can understand why people loved this. I really do.
One whole star more for the well-fleshed out villain. Anselmo is so creepy! I was wishing a grander death than that though :3
The Murmur of Bees is a different type of book for me, not my usual genre, but once my mind quit fighting against things that couldn’t be real I couldn’t put it down. A sweeping family saga set in Mexico, this is a story of love, brotherhood, and healing from the pain left by the Mexican revolution. Magical realism combined with historical fiction, The Murmur of Bees follows Simonopio, a very special child, and his bees as they act as living guardian angels for the Morales Cortés family.
It’s a sensory story that “smells like the honey of bees and the orange blossoms of the Morales Cortés’s orange trees”.
“Tell them to walk in the shade. To listen with their eyes, to see with their skin, and to feel with their ears, because life speaks to us all and we just need to know and wait to listen to it, see it, feel it.”
~ Sofía Segovia, The Murmur of Bees
“But let me tell you what I know, what I’ve concluded: it doesn’t matter whether time passes slowly or quickly. What you can be sure of is that, in the end, all you want is to have more. More of those lazy afternoons when nothing happens, despite your best efforts to the contrary. More of those annoying arms that picked you up to stop you doing something crazy. More tellings-off from the mother who you thought was a nag. More glimpses, even, of your father hurrying somewhere, always busy. More soft embraces from the wife who loved you all your life, and more trusting looks from your children’s young eyes.”
~ Sofía Segovia, The Murmur of Bees
Suspend your beliefs and fall into this one with all of your senses wide open, you won’t regret it.
It’s a sensory story that “smells like the honey of bees and the orange blossoms of the Morales Cortés’s orange trees”.
“Tell them to walk in the shade. To listen with their eyes, to see with their skin, and to feel with their ears, because life speaks to us all and we just need to know and wait to listen to it, see it, feel it.”
~ Sofía Segovia, The Murmur of Bees
“But let me tell you what I know, what I’ve concluded: it doesn’t matter whether time passes slowly or quickly. What you can be sure of is that, in the end, all you want is to have more. More of those lazy afternoons when nothing happens, despite your best efforts to the contrary. More of those annoying arms that picked you up to stop you doing something crazy. More tellings-off from the mother who you thought was a nag. More glimpses, even, of your father hurrying somewhere, always busy. More soft embraces from the wife who loved you all your life, and more trusting looks from your children’s young eyes.”
~ Sofía Segovia, The Murmur of Bees
Suspend your beliefs and fall into this one with all of your senses wide open, you won’t regret it.
‘The Murmur of Bees’ tells a lyrical story of a Mexican family. It is full of magic, fate and some menace. The history of early 20th century Mexico forms the backdrop, including the Mexican Revolution, Spanish flu and the Great Depression. These events are important, but the world of the Morales family tumbles through and forms a vivid foreground. The characters are well realized and the story is well told. Even the town and hacienda feel like characters, old friends. The story and magic swirl around a foundling child who grows into a most unique boy and man. And his relationship with the family patriarch and his son drives the story. Many other dramas swirl around this center, many focused on the family matriarch and the echoes and people of previous generations and the workers and servants who are the backbone of the hacienda. I was transported into the story. It builds in layers, much like the hive of bees that plays an essential role. Well worth the read.
This was one of the ebooks I received for free from Amazon's World Book Day 2019. This was the first I read of all of them, and it's a strong start.
While I found the changing perspective a little jarring, I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Segovia switches between first, second, and third person across chapters, some of which are very short. But it all somehow comes together at the end.
I've always been a fan of magical realism, and it seems to be dominated by Latin American authors. I wonder if there's something about Spanish that lends itself to it, or if it's something more ingrained into the culture? Regardless, the magical part is not very dominant in this book, but it's certainly there.
I'm excited to read more books by this author. Hopefully more will be translated soon!
While I found the changing perspective a little jarring, I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Segovia switches between first, second, and third person across chapters, some of which are very short. But it all somehow comes together at the end.
I've always been a fan of magical realism, and it seems to be dominated by Latin American authors. I wonder if there's something about Spanish that lends itself to it, or if it's something more ingrained into the culture? Regardless, the magical part is not very dominant in this book, but it's certainly there.
I'm excited to read more books by this author. Hopefully more will be translated soon!