The Murmur of Bees

A book to read slowly. Immersive and vivid.

I really tried to love this book

What I liked:

I liked the setting and the historical perspective of the Mexican Revolution. I liked the magical realism of Simonopio's character and the hook that introduced him! He's an incredibly lovable character.

What I didn't like:

It felt white-washed and was awfully wordy. Certain events carried on far too long. I struggled connecting to the other characters as they had social privilege. This book probably could have been wrapped up in half the pages and had a more thoughtful word choice.

A family saga tinged with magical realism set around the beginning of the 20ths century in rural Mexico. Rich in characters and folklore, the story features a lot of historical details of that time: the Mexican Revolution, the Spanish flu epidemic and the agrarian land reforms.

Simonopio, his bees, his wild ways and his wisdom-from-nature were naturally a charming center of the story. And I really enjoyed all the little character arcs, like Nana Reja's or that of Lazarus (the one who came back!). Yet the second part of novel spent too much time focusing on the fight of lion and coyote. It seems to expand more and more, until I realized it takes over the whole rest of the book. And after, it left me wondering what purpose all that sacrifice had. Helping rich land owners hold on to every parcel of their land? What did that son do, that was so important saving him?

Nevertheless, this was a fun read (if you don't think too hard about the messages).

Tender, beautiful story of what it means to be family. Heartbreaking and sweet.

The magical realism of Simonopio lends wonder.

Historical fiction|magical realism.
Set during the early 1900s with the backdrop of The Spanish Flu and The Agrarian Reform in Mexico. Revolves around the story of a boy with a cleft lip found abandoned who is taken in by a loving family. Weirdly enough, this boy was found covered with a swarm of bees on his body. These bees become a part of his existence as he become theirs. They named him Simonopio.
Murmur of bees is family saga, spanning over generations. In an age when bloodlines are revered and superstitions are abound, the generosity of one family accepts a cleftlipped orphan, swarmed with bees found lying on the road side as one of their own; when people told them it was the devil himself.

Simonopio's ability to communicate with the nature, his ability to foresee what might happen, is a result of his astute observation which he developed over the course of his life where nobody listened to him, but he listened to everything. Felt and saw everything. My attempt at writing this review has proven to be pathetic and never to be tried again. It's an emotional story, pulls at ur heartstrings. It will make you cry. A feel good book.

I thought the language (and translation) was beautiful, and the history was interesting to me, but the book itself was also annoying. There are only three categories of people in this book's world: benevolent put-upon landowners, childlike peons who are so grateful for the landowner's kindness, and evil ungrateful peons who are greedy and hurt people for no reason. Annoying.