The Murmur of Bees
By Sofia Segovia
461 pages
What’s it about?
Old Nana Rena rarely stops rocking in her chair and gazing out towards the land. One day Nana Rena gets up and follows a sound from far away. She slowly walks to an old bridge and discovers an infant that has been left. It is disfigured and covered in a blanket of bees. She takes the bundle (bees and all) back to the home of Fernando and Beatriz Morales and they welcome him in as their godson. So begins the story of Simonopio and the family that welcomes him into their lives.What did it make me think about?
Magical realism and how beautifully one can tell a story.Should I read it?
This novel is the first by Sofia Segovia to be translated into English from her native Spanish. She is a beautiful storyteller and who doesn’t love a story full of magical elements? This book of historical fiction takes place at the beginning of the 1900’s. It was written before the recent pandemic so I found it interesting that the first part of the novel deals with the Spanish Flu. So reminiscent of what the world would go through 100 years later. My biggest criticism of the story is that occasionally gets bogged down and could have used a good editor. This is a book to be slowly appreciated- you can not rush it. It is a lovely story and anyone who enjoys this genre should pick this book up.Quote-
“It is a well-known fact that the yellow fever epidemic a few years before and the new so-called Spanish pandemic killed more Mexicans than all the bullets fired during the Revolution. Still, in January 1919, in Linares, these details were of little interest , because absences were not measured in numbers or statistics: they were measured in grief.”What’s it about?
Old Nana Rena rarely stops rocking in her chair and gazing out towards the land. One day Nana Rena gets up and follows a sound from far away. She slowly walks to an old bridge and discovers an infant that has been left. It is disfigured and covered in a blanket of bees. She takes the bundle (bees and all) back to the home of Fernando and Beatriz Morales and they welcome him in as their godson. So begins the story of Simonopio and the family that welcomes him into their lives.
What did it make me think about?
Magical realism and how beautifully one can tell a story.
Should I read it?
This novel is the first by Sofia Segovia to be translated into English from her native Spanish. She is a beautiful storyteller and who doesn’t love a story full of magical elements? This book of historical fiction takes place at the beginning of the 1900’s. It was written before the recent pandemic so I found it interesting that the first part of the novel deals with the Spanish Flu. So reminiscent of what the world would go through 100 years later. My biggest criticism of the story is that occasionally gets bogged down and could have used a good editor. This is a book to be slowly appreciated- you can not rush it. It is a lovely story and anyone who enjoys this genre should pick this book up.
Quote-
“It is a well-known fact that the yellow fever epidemic a few years before and the new so-called Spanish pandemic killed more Mexicans than all the bullets fired during the Revolution. Still, in January 1919, in Linares, these details were of little interest , because absences were not measured in numbers or statistics: they were measured in grief.”
