Spanish Flu epidemic/Coronavirus pandemic. What particularly stood out was the class aspect –the way that the Linares family could flee to safety felt uncomfortably familiar to the way that primarily wealthier, white-collar people could easily just work from home. Or from Hawaii. Meanwhile –well, we know what happened meanwhile. Segovia shows it in the book, breaking from the Morales focus to write about the suffering and hopelessness of the town they left behind. It just reminded me of the stark contrast of my experience of the pandemic, compared to many others who were put at risk.

And the event that starts it all: the discovery, under a bridge, of an infant cloaked in a humming, gentle blanket of bees. This is one of those books where you either make the connection or you don't. If you do then you will not be bothered by the pacing of the story, but if you don't, you will have a difficult time staying focused, you'll keep hoping, wating for something impactful to the story to happen. When nothing ever happens, you'll just give up. Užknisau pirmąja pastraipa? Knyga ne tau. Norisi dialogų? Daug, ar apskritai, šiek tiek daugiau, nei tie keli? Knyga ne tau. Girdėdamas siuvimo mašinos tratata, tratata, tratata, gali suprasti, kodėl suerzintų, jei ji imtų ir praleistų taktą, arba tratata virstų trakata? O gal į siuvimo mašiną neatkreiptum dėmesio visai? Valgydamas apelsiną bijotum, kad jo sultys, lipnios ir gaivios, tekės skruostais ir smakru, pirštais ir tarpupirščiais, sulipindamos viską saldumu? Knyga ne tau. Bet turint kantrybės, godžiai, kaip tą apelsiną, ragaujant Petrausko tobulai nuaustus žodžius, leidžiant jiems slysti iki pat liežuvio galo, knyga tikrai įgyja kažkokių magiškų galių. Nepasiduoti joms – velniškai sunku. Toks tobulas Allendės atmosferiškumo, sušvelninto ir lengvesnio Marquezo šeimos ryšių ir istorijų tamprumo, Grames žaismo su mirtimi derinys.Have you ever felt that not knowing would help you move on better than knowing? Do you have memories of events that you heard about rather than experienced directly and wish you hadn’t learned about them? When has knowing been beneficial and when has it been harmful?

The magic is the novel’s great charm. The image of Simonopio, always with a bee or two alighting on him, is striking. We’re told these look like moles on his cheek or throat, except they move around. Another strong image is of Simonopio asleep in the shed he has turned into a bedroom, snoozing underneath the rafters to which his warm, murmuring hive clings through the night. SOFÍA SEGOVIA is a best selling author who lives in Monterrey, Mexico. She has written three novels but this is her first to be translated to English. Murmur of the Bees was nominated for the 2019 National Book Awards. How do you tell your own stories? Does a story you share about your day over the dinner table or to a colleague during a break differ in style from a story you might tell on a long drive? Love of Family and Love of Land Being in possession of that story meant Simonopio could make endless changes, could add or remove characters as he saw fit and give them the traits of the people around him.” (p. 146) Francisco Morales and his wife, Beatriz become godparents to Simonopio. Simonopio is a child of nature, hearing things others cannot and able to see into the future. He may not know exactly how the future will unfold, but he knows much about it. He knows changes in the weather before they occur and can read the moods and concerns of his godparents and understands how events are going to affect them. There is an element of magical realism in Simonopio’s gift, but it never overpowers the story; Simonopio’s gift also has its limits.

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The story creates an atmosphere that seduces the senses with rich descriptions of the land, nature, as well as tragedy. The story, told by the grandson of the original Morales patriarch, is, of course, sympathetic to the plight of landowners who lost much of their wealth during the revolution. At the same time it is imbued with the humanity of those who struggle to survive, and who are darker-skinned than the landowning aristocracy. Francisco Senior wondered how long ago he had stopped doing the same thing: jumping higher than necessary without knowing how he would land or what consequences there would be.” (p. 347). If you would are looking for other books offering the reader a family history consider Commonwealth, Everyone Knows You Go Home, Homegoing, or all we had. Each is a very different style from a multi-century view in Homegoing to a family during the 2008 housing crisis in all we had. Everyone Knows You Go Home shares some magical realism. Any would be a good choice as a follow-up and comparison to the Murmur of Bees. Characters

The Murmur of Bees is a historical fiction novel by Mexican author Sofia Segovia, her first to be translated into English. The novel is set in Northern Mexico in the early 20th century amidst the Mexican Revolution and the deadly Spanish flu pandemic. The story follows the lifetime of the Morales family of landowners. When an abandoned baby with a hive of bees next to him is found on the Morales land, Francisco and Beatriz Morales adopt the baby and treat him as their own, despite his facial deformity. Named Simonopio, the adopted child might not be able to speak, but it is clear that he is gifted. Surrounded by his bees day and night, Simonopio understands and knows things beyond human capabilities. However, despite Simonopio's protective hand over the Morales family, not all evil can be stopped. From a beguiling voice in Mexican fiction comes an astonishing novel--her first to be translated into English--about a mysterious child with the power to change a family's history in a country on the verge of revolution.

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Los personajes son entrañables. No pude evitar pensar en la pareja de Levin y Katy de Anna Karenina al conocer a la pareja de Francisco y Beatriz de esta historia, porque ambas parejas me hicieron reflexionar mucho sobre el matrimonio, el propósito de sus vidas, los problemas propios a su clase social, la agricultura de sus regiones, el trabajo en el campo, la administración de grandes extensiones de tierra y la responsabilidad que sienten por los campesinos que trabajan sus tierras. The story begins when a baby is found under a bridge covered in bees. To compound his oddness, he has a cleft palate that was thought to be the mark of the devil at that time. A loving family takes him in as a godson. The boy never speaks, due to his cleft palate and continues his special bond with bees. He also possesses clairvoyant abilities. I’m made of everything that touched my senses during that time and entered the part of my brain where I keep my memories… I know a memory from reality, even if I grow more attached to my memories than to reality with each day.” (p. 16) When Sra. Morales moves the family to Monterrey, Nana Reja and Simonopio decide to stay in Linares. Simonopio is supposed to be her godson, who she raised since infancy, but, out of sight, out of mind.

The Murmur of Bees introduces the reader to a number of characters. This can feel overwhelming in the beginning but they are connected in a delicate manner that over time, as I immersed myself more and more into this book, I liked having all of them around. This book as a whole is a fantastic read and there were three aspects that I enjoyed the most: On Strength The reason this bothered me is that the Cortez-Morales family are held up as paragons, a truly noble family. They do seem to adhere rigidly to the expectations of their class and gender. Beatriz fights against the desire for vengeance as unwomanly, and Francisco does everything in his power, whether legal or not, to keep his land and power. In one scene, Francisco throws a fit because his daughter gets letters from a boy, and he’s aghast that people will talk about it. I know that this is completely appropriate for a man of his time and place, but it made me dislike him.I think I was predisposed to favor Espiricueta. Espiricueta is the underdog. He wants what’s best for his family, and he strives, but all he gets is starvation and degradation. The Morales family don’t understand, because he is the coyote and they are the lions. The lions are noble, and the coyotes are villians, in the original sense of the word; landowners versus villagers. And yet, in real life, lions will devour their children and laze about while the lionesses do work, while coyotes are faithful and attentive to their kin. So when Espiricueta does beastly things, it didn’t make me shift my alliance so much as lose a protagonist. It made me like Espiricueta less when he proved to be a monster, but it didn’t make me like the Morales family more. I feel like there was a narrative of “We’re All In This Together,” especially as the pandemic was at its peak, but of course, that’s never really been true.(Cynical, I know) Getting Into it: