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Of Bees and Mist

by Erick Setiawan (Goodreads Author)

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 3,107 ratings · 655 reviews

Nominated for QPB's 2010 New Voices Award
Longlisted for 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Of Bees and Mist is an engrossing fable that chronicles three generations of women under one family tree and places them in a mythical town where spirits and spells, witchcraft and demons, and prophets and clairvoyance are an everyday reality.

Meridia grows up in a lonely h...more

Hardcover, 404 pages

Published August 4th 2009 by Simon & Schuster (first published January 1st 2009)

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Sep 23, 2009 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: littry-fiction

i wish i liked this more, i truly do. it's in the running for best cover of the year, which is of course why i bought it (in hardcover, before reading any reviews of it, and barely reading the flap-copy) but it seemed like my brand of tea - crumbling houses, family secrets, a touch of magic realism. only it was more than a touch. this is basically a fairy tale. which hit me unexpectedly as i was reading. but it's fine, i acclimate to the tone and continue reading... it's just that it's not very...more

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Nov 05, 2009 Jo at Jaffareadstoo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jo at Jaffareadstoo by: newbooksmagazine

Set against a backdrop of a fantasy world we are introduced to two warring families who live their lives amidst magic and chicanery. Loaded with superstition and alive with intrigue, this is a stunning debut novel. In many ways this magical fantasy has several parallels with our modern world, yet we are never informed of time or place. It could be happening in the past or way ahead into our future. It is quite simply a novel of good versus evil, with the depth of characterisation lending an adde...more

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May 25, 2009 Quiltgranny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

What a surprise I received when I started reading this book. I actually was prepared to dislike it because I had read elsewhere that it is a fantasy, and I don't do well with that type of narrative.

BUT - as I continued to read on, the magical became real and accepted not only by the people in the story, but the reader as well. I was not bothered by the mist or the bees, or the fireflies or the "ghosts". Instead I saw them as allegorical for desire/emptiness, hatred, and personal reflections. The...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Beatnik Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book so beautiful, so engaging, so elegant and gorgeous that you long to keep reading it, even after you've finished? A book that you wish you could immediately re-read except that it made such a strong impression the first time that you feel you've already memorized all the words? A book that essentially ruins all other books for you, because nothing seems as good as the book you just read?

If not, you probably haven't read Erick Setiawan's debut novel, Of Bees and Mist.

It's...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is quite possibly my favorite book ever.

I lament the lack of grown-up fantasy novels, but this book delivers on that an so much more. It's more than just, "Look at this cool world I've thought up" and angst-y love triangles tropes that I see in too many of the stories I read. This book has depth, and the fantastic elements are just metaphors made tangible, a world steeped in magic but still filled with real. human emotions.

The whole book is permeated by the melancholy of lost love. The agai...more

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Oct 21, 2011 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved it. It took a while to warm into the story. The way it's written is very intriguing. It's like the impressions you get of a dysfunctional household are projected onto magical and mystical things that actually happen. At it's heart, it's still about the ways people who love each other hurt each other. It's a very human story told in a fantastical way.

At the heart of the story is Meridia, a girl who grows up in a house where mysterious things happen: colored mists carry her father away eve...more

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May 18, 2011 Nabila Budayana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiksi

Titik akhir pencarian saya untuk buku ini ternyata 'hanya' di Gramedia :D (setelah cukup lama berkeliling).
Cukup heran dengan judulnya. sempat terpikir "apa hubungannya lebah ama kabut,coba?!". Tetapi dari judul yang misterius itulah saya bisa menebak akan banyak perumpamaan di dalam buku ini.
Saya rasa memang benar jika 'Of Bees And Mist' disebut sebagai dongeng dewasa. Begitu menyelami kehidupan Meridia, kita akan langsung disambut dengan berbagai khayalan yang menyelimutinya, meskipun masih me...more

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Feb 24, 2011 Maria rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think my favorite part of this book is the cover, so lovely. Lots of little images hidden in the vines. The story is full of magical realism which is a style I adore. i think it was at its strongest when describing the talents of the people at the market. I really wanted to love the book, but I felt it got weaker as it went on. The dialogue was particularly unconvincing. And while I was excited by the number of female characters in the novel, I was dismayed that the so infrequently felt real....more

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Feb 02, 2011 Wfbcreeds rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended by Heidi

Reminiscent of Keith Donohue's The Stolen Child, Erick Setiawan's richly atmospheric debut is a beautiful, engrossing fable of three generations of women in two families; their destructive jealousies, their loves and losses, their sacrifices and deeply rooted deceptions, and their triumphs.

Of Bees and Mist is the tale of Meridia -- raised in a sepulchral house where ghosts dwell in mirrors, she spends her childhood feeling neglected and invisible. Every evening her father va...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Yolanda Sfetsos rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This is Erick Setiawan's first novel. I was so impressed that I can't wait to see what else he's got to offer in the future.

At the core of the story is the life of Meridia and the people who come in and out of her life as she grows from an insecure child, into a very clever and strong woman. It all starts with her very strange parents and the cold house with ghosts in the mirrors and shadows on the walls. Then follows her life with the family she becomes a part of after she marries the love of h...more

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Dec 01, 2010 Fiona Moyler rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I liked this book, but have to give it the the 3-star-treatment thanks to a feeling of ambiguity and loose ends I got from it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed certain ambiguous aspects of it, for example the way it was impossible to fix it in an analogous period in history. What I didn't like was the feeling that the characters were symbolic, and that I didn't grasp of what. In that sense, maybe the book was a bit too smart for me, and if that's the case then I am at fault *hangs head*. However, a...more

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Nov 25, 2010 Lyn Battersby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: do-not-loan-out-even-to-friends

I read a lot of Speculative Fiction, so felt a desperate need to dip into something a bit different. The label in the library classified Of Bees and Mist as a family saga, which sounded like the perfect palate cleanser.

To my surprise, Of Bees and Mist turned out not to just be a family saga, but also a fantasy saga. I found myself thoroughly engrossed within a few paragraphs and despite the arrival of a new grandchild in the household, managed to finish it within three days (a record in my house...more I read a lot of Speculative Fiction, so felt a desperate need to dip into something a bit different. The label in the library classified Of Bees and Mist as a family saga, which sounded like the perfect palate cleanser.

To my surprise, Of Bees and Mist turned out not to just be a family saga, but also a fantasy saga. I found myself thoroughly engrossed within a few paragraphs and despite the arrival of a new grandchild in the household, managed to finish it within three days (a record in my house where I'm the busy mother of 5).

This is the story of the harm families routinely do to one another. On the surface Meridea belongs to the average dysfunctional family. Her mother neglects her, her father emotionally abuses her. Her mother suffers from OCD while her father spends his time in the arms of a lover. The two only meet up once a day, for breakfast. They do not exchange a word.

Meridea grows up amonst this dysfunction and yet somehow manages to emerge in one piece. She meets and marries Daniel, the son of a business man and his overbearing wife. Now Meridea's problems really start.

Yes, yes, a commonplace saga, but what really sets this work apart is the tight interweaving of the spirit realm. The magic realism is so tight, so flawless, that it just seems to make sense. Setiawan's story-telling ability accomplished that which all Spec Fic authors crave, the ability to make the reader leave their disbelief at the door. I believed in the mists that carried Gabriel to his lover, then brought him home again. I believed in the bees that buzzed and stung and caused such awful migraines. I believed in the never ending staircase and the marigolds and lemon verbena.

This is one of those rare cross-genre novels where if you were to remove one part of it, the other part would fall done. The family is the skeleton of this novel, the saga the flesh and the magic the soul that breathes life to the story as a whole.

This year I read The Great Gatsby and considered it my discovery novel of the year. I'm afraid, however, that Of Bees and Mist has taken its place.(less)

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Nov 20, 2010 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-books

I have a confession to make. I accepted this book for review back in June, and for one reason or another it's been on my TBR pile ever since. I freely admit here that I am kicking myself for letting it sit for so long as it's totally unlike anything else I've read in a long time. If I had to make a parallel to other published works, I'd say it reminds me of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes, both in terms of style and grandeur....more I have a confession to make. I accepted this book for review back in June, and for one reason or another it's been on my TBR pile ever since. I freely admit here that I am kicking myself for letting it sit for so long as it's totally unlike anything else I've read in a long time. If I had to make a parallel to other published works, I'd say it reminds me of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes, both in terms of style and grandeur.

Before we start, allow me to show you the one thing that I can recommend that will enhance your reading experience: TISSUES.

This story is simultaneously enchanting, horrific, enraging, tragic and hopeful. My emotions were so up and down while reading that I couldn't tear myself away throughout the entire book. The beginning was bleak as Meridia (our heroine) has to deal with a cruel father and a distant mother, the middle was a dichotomy; exuberant as she experiences the joys of young love and of being a mother, enraging as she deals with the in-laws from hell and a rapidly deteriorating marriage, and the end was full of sad purpose as Meridia is forced to rebuild her life and find her own identity after feeling alone and abandoned by everyone who was supposed to care about her. I felt physically exhausted at the conclusion of the story from the emotions that were tearing through me while reading Meridia's story.

Symbolisim and metaphor runs rampant throughout this book- the bees, the mist, birth, death, they're all important, and the author does an excellent job of guiding us through the story without leaving us to flounder or bludgeoning us over the head with the obvious. The story is sneaky and subtle and leaves you wanting more...but not for too long. The last two pages constitute the most appropriate, fitting and satisfying ending to a story that I've read in a long time. Wounds are healed, justice is served, and Meridia finally gets the love and acceptance that she's craved, along with something she didn't know she wanted: peace. Believe it or not, that's not a spoiler; that's a thought to keep you going when when you're bawling your eyes out in the middle or ready to rip Daniel (her husband) a new one for his incredible stupidity and gullibility.

If you're in a situation where you find yourself having to do literary analysis or write formal papers about books, I can definitely recommend this one as a candidate for such a project. There is a lot here to unpack and it makes the story very versatile, whether it be as pleasure reading or as an academic exercise. It's good to have options!

Overall Grade: A

Read more reviews and other good stuff at What Book is That?(less)

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Oct 15, 2010 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Book Overview

Of Bees and Mist takes place in a world that is like ours but not quite. In this world that is betwixt and between, we come to know Meridia—a lonely girl who grows up in a freezing cold house with a staircase that takes on different forms, a stern and distant father who vanishes and reappears in mists, and a loving but absent-minded mother who speaks her own secret language. Meridia struggles to understand the coldness of the house and the odd relationship between her parents. A rec...more Book Overview

Of Bees and Mist takes place in a world that is like ours but not quite. In this world that is betwixt and between, we come to know Meridia—a lonely girl who grows up in a freezing cold house with a staircase that takes on different forms, a stern and distant father who vanishes and reappears in mists, and a loving but absent-minded mother who speaks her own secret language. Meridia struggles to understand the coldness of the house and the odd relationship between her parents. A recurring dream seems to hold the key—but whenever she is on the brink of discovering the meaning of the dream, the mists, and her parents’ behavior, something prevents her from learning the truth.

One day, Meridia attends a local fair filled with spiritualists and seers. Just 16, she finds herself drawn to a handsome young man named Daniel. When fate seemingly brings them together, Meridia is overjoyed to find a way out of her lonely life. Daniel’s family seems to have everything Meridia has been searching for—including a beautiful and involved matriarch, Eva. Although Daniel and Meridia’s romance face some stumbling blocks, they eventually marry. After the wedding, Meridia begins to realize that her new home might not be as wonderful as she thought. It starts with missing wedding presents and slowly escalates as Eva methodically assets control over Meridia and her life.

But Meridia’s mother has taught her to be strong, and when Meridia begins to assert herself, Eva finds she has met her match. As tensions escalate and the war between Eva and Meridia worms its way into the next generation, each woman uses all her considerable skills and magic to defeat the other—uncovering long-buried family secrets and almost destroying each other in the process.

My Thoughts

This book has such a different feel that it is hard to describe the sense of familiarity and strangeness you get while reading. Setiawan never really defines the world where Meridia is living—it seems similar to ours yet is filled with magic, witchcraft and strange beings. This is a world where the evil mother-in-law gets her way by sending out a swarm of buzzing bees to fill her victim’s head with malicious and destructive thoughts. A world where a husband might turn out to be a demon, and swarms of fireflies can extract vengeance for a wronged party. Yet although conflicts may be fought with magic and spells and the scent of verbena, the characters are dealing with very human issues—adultery, betrayal, cruelty, frigidity, and competition. I think if Setiawan had chosen to tell his story in a more conventional way, it would feel utterly familiar—a husband seeks solace in a mistress when his wife turns frigid, a new marriage is threatened by competition between wife and mother-in-law, a son who sides with his mother against his father. Yet the book becomes more than a “domestic drama” by the author’s choice to set the drama in such a strange and fantastical environment.

In some ways, Of Bees and Mist feels a bit like a fairy tale. Yet, at the same time, the magic aspect is treated as commonplace and ordinary. I suppose that makes it “magical realism”—along the lines of books like Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic or even John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things. If you enjoy these “of our world but not quite” books, Of Bees and Mist would be quite a treat. In the end, I found it to be an involving domestic drama where conflict was settled with bees, mist, fireflies and moments of pure magic.(less)

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Sep 20, 2010 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, adultery, fairytale, magic, mystery, romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm a sucker for fairytales and romance and the supernatural so when I saw the description that mentioned all that plus ghosts and witchcraft I knew I had to buy it while it was on the Book of the Week offer.

The book isn't a literary masterpiece but it is absolutely engrossing. It starts off with the tale of a girl's traumatic birth and the way, from then on, her parents marriage falls apart. We get snippets of her life growing up and the traumas that her parents fractured relationship causes he...more I'm a sucker for fairytales and romance and the supernatural so when I saw the description that mentioned all that plus ghosts and witchcraft I knew I had to buy it while it was on the Book of the Week offer.

The book isn't a literary masterpiece but it is absolutely engrossing. It starts off with the tale of a girl's traumatic birth and the way, from then on, her parents marriage falls apart. We get snippets of her life growing up and the traumas that her parents fractured relationship causes her. Her mother becomes stiff and forgetful whereas her father becomes cruel, taunting and cold towards her. In between finding out that her father is having an affair that her mother is aware of and that their is some terrible secret about the two of them there is the little fact that there are coloured mists surrounding the house and ghosts in the mirrors.

The book really takes off when Merida is 16 and goes to a spirit festival where she sees this young guy and, after trying to find him throughout the festival is lured by the sound of music to a tent where she is told that the spirits will find her soulmate. As that is said Daniel, the guy she had been looking for during the festival appears through the tent. It is pretty much love at first sight and the elder tells them that he can ease their path in the future for money. Daniel, a sceptic, refuses the price and the elder says that for Merida's one coin he will make sure that they 'always find comfort in each other'. Pretending they are going to pay, the two youngsters make a run for it without paying the price and thus begins their relationship. (Gotta say - one of the most romantic lines in it is spoken by Daniel when he tells her that he knows she was looking for him and she says he wouldn't know that unless he had been looking for her as well and then he says he knows because the only place she didn't look was behind her. I know, I'm a sap but when he said it I was 'awww'.

The two eventually get married and move in with Daniel's family. His mother Eva seems perfectly pleasant at first and Merida relishes the fact that the family is a family after the coolness she had grown up with and is slow to notice the fact that Eva is using her as a glorified servant. Time progresses and Merida soon notices things - like an incessant buzzing of bees around the house, and the cruel way that Eva treats one of the servants and the fact that Eva is manipulating Daniel in order to spend more time away from Merida. It is Malin, one of Daniel's sisters who has never got on with Merida who ultimately opens her eyes and shows Merida what her mother is really like. The relationship between the inlaws breaks down and she leaves the house after a fight with Eva, Daniel staying with his parents.

Merida goes back to her parents and Daniel eventually comes for her but her parents do not wish for her to return after the way Eva had treated her, but as she discovers she's pregnant and recognises that Daniel is sorry, she takes him back with the understanding that they have their own house and business. Everything is going fine until it is time for Merida to give birth and Eva interferes until she nearly dies of the trauma, only saved by her own mother's input. Her womb is destroyed though and she is unable to have any more children, a fact that Daniel attempts to hide from her.

Over the rest of the book we see Eva's twistedness develop until she drives her own husband to a temporary madness where he physically harms his own grandson, tries to cripple Daniel and Merida with debt, tortures the poor maid if they didn't comply (despite the fact that the woman had raised Eva as her own) and torments her own daughter with vile accusations out of jealousy and spite when her husband doesn't want anything more to do with her. When Merida's own mother goes mad with grief over her father's death, Eva uses that influence as a method of driving a further wedge between Daniel and Merida. It comes to a head when Merida looks out the window and finds the blue mist that had taken her father every night to his lover, take Daniel from the house to his.

Merida, hanging onto the last of her marriage waits days, trying to reach out to him until one day her mother leaves and she finds the strength to leave him. She waits until he comes home and goes to bed before leaving the evidence of his betrayal and her wedding ring behind and taking their son and leaving to go live in her parents old house. Daniel, trying to get her back is blinded by mystical fireflies that appeared when Ravenna (Merida's mother) disappeared and can't reach her and is taken home to be nursed by Eva who torments him with lies of Merida's indifference to his plight and her refusal to allow him access to their son.

What I really loved about this book was that the main character, Merida, was ultimately a strong woman. I think sometimes that in writing that women characters are either to damselly or too hard but this one is strong but soft at the same time. I am staggered that a guy who was a first time author wrote such a well-rounded female character.

I am a sucker for romance and I had to admit, the romance between Daniel and Merida captivated me and although it was sad to see Daniel cheat, I loved that she loved him enough to save him from his mother's grasp yet still couldn't ultimately take him back after his betrayal leading to their divorce. I also loved the open way the book ended with her offering to take him back once Eva died.

The imagary of mists where things were obscured and kept secret within a relationship and the influence of manipulation via words and lies (the buzz of the bees) worked so well. We obviously had the physical manifestation of them due to the magical aspect of this story, but I did like the idea that we got to see how easily walls can build up and ultimately destroy a person given the right, or wrong conditions. Merida's parents were ultimately destroyed because of her mother's post natal depression that her father didn't understand and instead he sought comfort with another woman which her mother couldn't forgive and ultimately tried to kill him because of. Her relationship was damaged by her mother in laws interference and it was only when Daniel finally removed himself from her influence again that he was able to refind himself.

For a book that spanned around five hundred pages so much was covered. I just very much enjoyed it - there was so much to like about it and even though I hated Eva in it, part of me felt so sorry for her at the end when Merida ultimately found her alone, abandoned and mistreated in her own home with her son having left her to a maid's care because he couldn't bear to look at her after what she had done to his life. I was pleased to see Merida be the bigger person and make sure Eva was cared for even if she didn't deserve it and the way she and Daniel were to be reconciled once Eva died left the book with a hopeful ending. I think the ending proved the man's words right on their first meeting - ultimately they would always find their comfort in each other.

I am very much looking forward to seeing what the author's next book is going to be.(less)

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Aug 10, 2010 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: trt-gold-star-award-winner, trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by LadyJay for TeensReadToo.com

Meridia is a young girl when she meets Daniel, the man who will sweep her off her feet. What follows is nothing short of a fairy tale. And, just like in all good fairy tales, there is struggle, heartache, and redemption.

Meridia uncovers secrets in her family as well as Daniel's. Spells, charms, witchcraft, demons, prophets, and clairvoyants are an everyday reality in Meridia's world. Colorful mists whisk her father away, and her mother's cooking can heal a...more

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May 08, 2010 Jo-ann Mapson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Of Bees and Mist intrigued me with its red cover and delicate graphics. I got this book from the library. Part legend, part ghost story, this stormy love story transcends time, place, reality, and more. I found it fascinating that there is no mention of time or place to ground the story, and there is no clue as to ethnicity as well. I hesitate to call it "magical realism," but there is no other way to describe it.

There are so many books I've loved with the word "bees" in the title. The Secret Li...more

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Feb 03, 2010 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

Of Bees and Mist is a magical tale of love and jealousy between two families across three generations. There are haunted houses, vengeful bees, concealing mists, and every sort of magic, good and bad, that you can imagine. The writing is richly descriptive and lyrical and the characters are drawn in detail with full, fantastic histories backing them up.
Magical realism is a favorite genre and I enjoyed Of Bees and Mist. It did seem that Setiawan was a bit unnecessarily harsh on his characters, th...more

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Jan 31, 2010 Meagan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, book_club

Meridia, the daughter of two distant, distracted, and angry parents, has grown up in a house haunted by an unrelenting cold, mysterious colored mists, apparitions in the mirror, and a staircase that expands and contracts without warning. When she is sixteen she meets and falls in love with Daniel, whose mother Eva becomes the driving force of the novel. Eva dominates and manipulates everyone in her life, and her anger is manifested as a swarm of bees. Meridia and Eva spend the book locked in a b...more

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Dec 28, 2009 Maggie Stiefvater rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult

Almost exactly two hours ago, I finished reading OF BEES AND MIST, and I’m still in its spell. Normally I am opposed to writing reviews right after I read a book, because often my opinion of a book needs time to sort of marinate. I tend to get fonder of a book the longer I’ve had to think, but I have to say, my fondness for this book is pretty darn inconsequential. What matters is that this curious novel has dug its way under my skin in a way I can tell will last for quite awhile. Saying that OF...more Almost exactly two hours ago, I finished reading OF BEES AND MIST, and I’m still in its spell. Normally I am opposed to writing reviews right after I read a book, because often my opinion of a book needs time to sort of marinate. I tend to get fonder of a book the longer I’ve had to think, but I have to say, my fondness for this book is pretty darn inconsequential. What matters is that this curious novel has dug its way under my skin in a way I can tell will last for quite awhile. Saying that OF BEES AND MIST is a fable-like story of two women -- one whose birth home is infested by perpetual mist and one who literally whispers bees -- who are locked in furious and long-lasted battle is rather inadequate. If I add that its chapters are hung lusciously with metaphor (see what I did there?) I get a little closer.

But the real charm and danger both of this book are the familial relationships. Because the two women at the heart of the book (though there are many -- for a book written by a man, I’m pretty much blown away by the scads of nuanced, strong women in this novel)(he has possibly stolen my estrogen)(it’s all right, he’s making good use of it), Eva and Meridia, are mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Their common link is a pleasant but flawed man, and the way that the author paints the relationship between mother, daughter-in-law, husband, sister-in-law, etc. etc. is very familiar for all its magic realism trappings.

Meridia escapes from a troubled home life directly into the arms of Daniel, a guileless young man. From him she inherits a complicated family drama ultimately controlled by Eva, who is a wicked stepmother in the most horrifying and delicious meaning of the phrase. Anyone who has had the slightest amount of conflict with their in-laws or extended family will appreciate the subtleties and motivations of every character in OF BEES. Events and what each party’s perception of events are often delightfully confused. This is young, married life, served with family-sized side dishes of guilt trips, subtext, and meaningful looks. Definitely enough to share and enough again to take home for later. But there’s joy, too, and charm aplenty, and some moments stark and moving in their suddenly unsentimental view of love.

A clever tale like this, brimming with none-so-subtle metaphors and magic, could easily be an intriguing exercise in the fantastic and mundane, but the reason OF BEES is getting put here in my five-stars category is that the characters evoked genuine emotion and sympathy from me. The phrase “flawed, strong heroine” is thrown around too much, but Meridia is that if I’ve ever seen one. She makes bad choices, hard choices, but she always makes A choice and you’re always convinced she’s the hero regardless; her goodness is not in question. Normally, I can’t tolerate infidelity plotlines but infidelity in this case was necessary (though agonizing). This book was both a pleasure and a pain to read and I’m so glad I picked it up -- entirely by chance, while rushing through the store on the way out of town. Might’ve been the work of fate or of the engineering spirits, if OF BEES AND MIST is to be believed.

***wondering why all my reviews are five stars? Because I'm only reviewing my favorite books -- not every book I read. Consider a novel's presence on my Goodreads bookshelf as a hearty endorsement. I can't believe I just said "hearty." It sounds like a stew.***(less)

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Oct 11, 2009 Benjamin Whitmer rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Original review at INDenverTimes.

Erick Setiawan, the author of Of Bees and Mist, was raised to the age of sixteen in Jakarta, Indonesia as a member of the Chinese minority. As a child, he was forbidden to speak about his Chinese heritage for fear of persecution. Even his name, Setiawan, was chosen by his father solely to avoid the difficulties of having a Chinese name. At sixteen Setiawan emigrated to the United States, where he learned English, attended Stanford, became a software engineer, and...more Original review at INDenverTimes.

Erick Setiawan, the author of Of Bees and Mist, was raised to the age of sixteen in Jakarta, Indonesia as a member of the Chinese minority. As a child, he was forbidden to speak about his Chinese heritage for fear of persecution. Even his name, Setiawan, was chosen by his father solely to avoid the difficulties of having a Chinese name. At sixteen Setiawan emigrated to the United States, where he learned English, attended Stanford, became a software engineer, and later, a successful novelist.

If this seems an odd way to start a book review, by relating the novelist’s biography, well, it should. But if there is one thing Setiawan’s publicist and publisher would like you to remember about Setiawan, it is his biography. The cover letter for the review copy of his book leads with Setiawan’s biography, preceding the summary of the book itself, and is then repeated in the packet, and reiterated in an interview with Setiawan, most of which dwells on said biography. It comes across as just a little defensive, as if the book itself is not quite to be trusted. Presenting Of Bees and Mist as “an amalgamation of the cultural influences in [Setiawan’s:] life”, as the press packet puts it, is a kind of preemptive strike on the reviewer, warning against judging the quality of the book solely as a book. Any criticism becomes a condemnation of the author’s life, and worse, in our multiculturalist world, an attack on the Indonesian and Chinese cultural references we are told the author is drawing upon.

So is Of Bees and Mist any good? Well, like most first novels, yes and no. I suspect that those who generally like family melodramas will love it, and that those who don’t, won’t. As a family melodrama, it’s pretty successful. There are lonesome children, and distracted and hectoring parents. There are husbands, some philandering and some browbeaten, and there are wives, some faithful and some shrewish. There are marriages torn apart for lack of love, and others torn apart for loving all too fiercely. The women are beautiful, the men trim, and all of the good people are good, although sometimes blind, while all of the bad people are all the way bad. The characters are not stock, but they also are not quite the complicated, damaged, and contradictory beings that usually result from the kind of mutilating relationships Setiawan describes. This seems especially the case of the protagonist, Meridia, who is just a little too ethically upright to be entirely believable – or interesting.

The elements of magical realism are also too pat. When we learn that the Meridia’s evil mother-in-law has the power of hectoring her husband and son into obedience with a swarm of magic bees, it rings as a little too close of a metaphor, just as when learn that the mists around Meridia’s familial home are conjured by her father’s philandering. As literary devices, the bees and mist flatten these flawed characters, demystify their human motivations, and divest their actions of the pitiful messiness and banal horror their familial betrayal and manipulation engenders. Moreover, many of the novel’s magical elements that don’t work metaphorically are often just random. One sometimes gets the feeling that there is less a coherent world being constructed by the author than a conglomeration of his whims.

Setting these faults aside, however, Of Bees and Mist is an eminently readable novel. The strength of Setiawan’s story is the story, and he keeps it moving briskly along towards its inevitable conclusion with great confidence and without ever seeming hurried. He also has an excellent sense of the passive-aggressive hostility and equally passive-aggressive tenderness inherent to any bad marriage – or even a good one, when it’s drifting – and he has an equal knack for picking out the pivotal moments that define those attributes, and dramatizing them to their fullest effect. Taken all in all, it’s a first novel to be proud of, and there’s no doubt that Setiawan will have a long and fruitful career.(less)

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Sep 18, 2009 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a hard story to describe--one that I would liken to a mystical world created by Roald Dahl or the like. After twenty-seven hours of labor, Meridia is born. Soon after, Ravenna and Gabriel's marriage becomes dark, full of anger and lonliness. Their home should be beautiful, but instead, is ever changing based on the colored mists and moods of the inhabitants. After growing up much ignored, (bright like Matilda and forgotten) Meridia is at first enchanted by new husband Daniel and his fami...more

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Jul 06, 2009 Gaby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs, reviewed-books, fantasy, first-look-bn

Set in a fictional country which could have been anywhere in the world and in any time, Erick Setiawan created a place that is both magical and controlled by the laws of magic. The book covers three generations of two main families. Meredia is the female lead of the book and we find her first as a young girl growing up in a cold and difficult household. Her parents seem to be in constant war and have become eccentric. Her mother spends her days in the kitchen, muttering angrily about her father....more

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Jun 29, 2009 Elaine rated it 4 of 5 stars

It is hard to believe that this is Erick Setiawan's first book. It is well written with reality, symbolism, mysticism and fantasy. This is not my usual choice of reading material but I found I was drawn into the book by the end of the first chapter. I found it difficult to put down, wanting to figure out the mysterious aspects, and to see what happens to the characters with pity, admiration and hopes of redemption. The writing style is one that I love in a book, because it does not spell out eve...more

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Nov 02, 2010 Lydia Presley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, contemporary, fiction, fantasy

Everything you think you know about reading a story... well, just toss it out the window if you pick up Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan. This was one of the most disgusting, thought-provoking, horrible, fascinating and crazy books I've read all year. To give you an idea of how crazy this book was... I read so slow that, at times, I was even going back over certain parts a few times until I finally "got" what Setiawan was trying to do.

As the summary above states, this is a story about three wo...more

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Mar 24, 2010 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, recommended, barnes-and-noble-first-look, book-club

Of Bees and Mist opened up a world previously unknown to me. A world where women can grow herbs out of their arms and chest, mist haunts the front door, and men can swallow vegetables whole and spit them out chopped, seasoned and pickled.

There was something almost fantastical about the writing style. For some reason, as I read the book, which flowed with a surrealism and slight goth-like feel, I was reminded of children's stories like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (atleast the happy Gene Wil...more Of Bees and Mist opened up a world previously unknown to me. A world where women can grow herbs out of their arms and chest, mist haunts the front door, and men can swallow vegetables whole and spit them out chopped, seasoned and pickled.

There was something almost fantastical about the writing style. For some reason, as I read the book, which flowed with a surrealism and slight goth-like feel, I was reminded of children's stories like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (atleast the happy Gene Wilder movie version) and Neverending Story.

You know how I can tell that I really like a book? I find myself taking notes while I read, wanting to make sure that I quote a favorite passage and get down my feelings at a particular moment. Much of my review on a "great book" is written during the reading of the book, so everything is fresh. I did that a LOT with this book.

I guess this book wasn't really anything like I expected, and quite honestly if you were to give me details about it ahead of time I probably never would have read it. I wouldn't have expected to find a book written with such fantastical flavor, and which at times can be somewhat dark and heavy, so charming. Really a lovely and impressive debut by Mr. Setiawan. I look forward to seeing what rabbit he has hiding up his sleeve next.

I jumped right into this book without really even taking in the cover art. Someone in the book discussion pointed out all of the hidden pictures to be found in the cover art-- pictures that are like little windows into Meridia's life.

This book follows the often sad and bewildering life of Meridia, swallowed up in a world reminiscent of a Harry Potter book. You really feel for Meridia, and just want to take her in your arms and shelter her. You keep waiting for someone to do this. "Where is her protector?", you keep wondering in frustration. "Where is her shelter from the world? Her lee from the wind? Will no one be her champion?"

I've said in the past that I'm not a "book club" kind of gal-- that I don't want to sit around and discuss books and symbolism. I just want to read a good story. I have to say that this book has shown that not to be entirely true. This book is FULL of symbolism, and I found that I LOVED it. Additionally it was a wonderfully good story and kept me totally absorbed.

A remarkable debut novel, and highly recommended. Love it, love it, love it!(less)

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Feb 27, 2013 Holly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A warning, good sir/madam: I basically just ramble a lot. It's very late, I'm kind of extremely tired, and this book was a bit of a mind-f***. Proceed with caution.

This was a tough one to rate - I knew it would either be five stars or something disastrous like two. I couldn't decide, so I tried to be diplomatic. The reason for two stars is simple: never have I been so incredibly depressed to be part of a book world, even for a little while (and it only took me two days). The blithe, happy moment...more A warning, good sir/madam: I basically just ramble a lot. It's very late, I'm kind of extremely tired, and this book was a bit of a mind-f***. Proceed with caution.

This was a tough one to rate - I knew it would either be five stars or something disastrous like two. I couldn't decide, so I tried to be diplomatic. The reason for two stars is simple: never have I been so incredibly depressed to be part of a book world, even for a little while (and it only took me two days). The blithe, happy moments were short-lived, and even then, when I was explaining them to a friend, saying "Now Meridia and Daniel live in a tiny shabby house running their own jewellery shop, while Eva only swindles about 90% of their profits out of them, and everything's wonderful because she's sixteen, and married and pregnant already," it occurred to me that to most perspectives that is an incredibly depressing situation. And normally would be to mine. But I suppose one has to think of all the characters have been through, and - essentially - settle. Perhaps this really was intentional, as a massive part of the book involved Eva manipulating everyone's perspective on things with those bloody bees. Maybe. Or maybe that's reading way too much into things. Obviously, there were other happy moments, and ones less complicated than my example, but all of them were overshadowed by the knowledge that things were going to all go wrong, had to go wrong, and nothing would ever be settled until Eva was dead. So, thank goodness she died (just about).
Speaking of which, the ending was also pretty upsetting for me - the one thing I was counting on was that Daniel and Meridia's relationship would survive, and it didn't really, not in my eyes, not in the uncomplicated happily-ever-after, love-conquers-all sense. Love couldn't conquer Eva. If I wanted to be grown-up and realistic about things, I wouldn't read books that describe themselves on the back cover as a "fairy-tale". Don't get me wrong, if they'd not ended up together at all, this book would be irredeemable in my eyes, but I needed more than a glimmer of basically pretty ambiguous hope at the end to drag me out the pit of misery Erick Setiawan had cast me into by that point.
Though, despite feeling like I want to talk to a counsellor right away - I finished reading about fifteen minutes ago - it was... utterly magical. And the characters! They were so intense, and yet completely believable, and managed to develop realistically over the decade or so that the novel spans. They all change, not just Meridia, but every single person (except perhaps Eva, unsurprisingly), and even though their world both enchanted and confused the hell out of me, I kind of think they could be real (shhh!). And I did love Meridia and Daniel as a couple, as imperfect as things turned out to be. I loved the abundance of strong female characters - I don't think, with the exception of perhaps Sylva and other miscellaneous wenches for obvious reasons, there was a single weak woman in this tale. Many characters displayed many different kinds of courage, and I don't think I've read too many books before with such vivid examples of that. It interested me, also, that although it was a set in what was clearly traditionally a man's world, it was made clear that the power and real strength came solely from the women, and their male counterparts always seemed so helpless in comparison...mostly. And with a couple of unhappy exceptions. And the men weren't always aware of this, perhaps. I don't know.
Another thing I will say for this book is that it made me care about what was, in the bare bones of it all, a story about a family argument and people being manipulative, and the magic and prophecies and such were really more there as very creative literary devices than actual parts of the story. There wasn't even as much gushy love crap as I normally need to get through 500 pages. That, in itself, was an achievement - this book was so extraordinary for what it was. The weren't really any tones of the epic, and this fell apart and were put back together, and it was all so real...ish. (About as real as I'm willing to get, basically.) And yet I still cared so much! You may not find that incredible, but I really do.
And the writing was amazing! But, as I so often accidentally value themes, characters, and - always - narrative, over actual language, I feel like a hypocrite saying so. Setiawan is a word-god with golden fingers that tap glorious melodies out into (perhaps) Microsoft Word, but that's all you need to know about that. (I would happily wed, or even just live in sin with, one of his metaphors. Just one, any one would do.)
So, really, although I want to hate it because of all the times it betrayed me, made me forgive it, then hurt me again, I do rather love this book. I think of it so fondly, and we've been through so much together. And yes, perhaps that's just a metaphor plucked from the book itself. Perhaps indeed. (I might even recommend it to more hard-hearted friends, who I think could stand the melancholia of it all.) I think it's one of those slow-burners, that will stay with me long after I condemn it to that gigantic pile of finished books in the corner of my bedroom...
I still can't tell if I'm happy it's over and satisfied with how it all panned (or limped) out, or if I'm just relieved that I Eva is not real and so I shall never have her as a mother-in-law.

(Edit - the following day: So I went ahead and changed my rating from four to five stars. This book's stuck with me - I actually dreamed about it last night - and I've decided to go ahead and be cheerier about the ending, because I feel everything that happened needed to happen. The fact that it all depressed me so much was evidence that I felt very connected to the well-rounded characters and intriguing plot. Thus, I conclude, it was a bloody marvellous book.)(less)

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Nov 14, 2011 Lamski Kikita rated it 3 of 5 stars

When i picked up this book, i don't know what made me believe that i was about to read a magical realism tale, possibly with Asian themes and influences. After 5 pages i realized that this was not a magical realism novel, though magical indeed it is; this book is a fairytale, and I would not go as far to compare it to Allende.

The story is written very well, the images are clear, the language is impeccable, and the storyline is smooth. The universality of the story- names, locations, cultures, et...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Missy (Missy's Reads & Reviews) rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know if I can put into words what this novel has invoked in me, but I have to tell you that this is as close as I've come to a grown-up fairytale in a long time. Set in an unknown land that is similar to our own yet full of magic, Of Bees and Mist takes us on a journey in the lives of three generations of women in one family. The story is primarily told from Meridia's perspective, who is born to parents that soon fall out of love after she is born. She is raised in a house that is consta...more I don't know if I can put into words what this novel has invoked in me, but I have to tell you that this is as close as I've come to a grown-up fairytale in a long time. Set in an unknown land that is similar to our own yet full of magic, Of Bees and Mist takes us on a journey in the lives of three generations of women in one family. The story is primarily told from Meridia's perspective, who is born to parents that soon fall out of love after she is born. She is raised in a house that is constantly cold, with visiting mists and elongating staircases. Meridia never really fits in and stays to herself for the most part, until she meets a handsome young man named Daniel. Soon, she is head over heels in love and abandons her cold home and eccentric parents to marry and live with Daniel and his family. At first exciting and new, Meridia quickly learns all that glitters is not gold in Daniel's family with two sisters at odds, a somewhat lazy father, and a mother (Eva) who can summon bees in heated arguments to tear down her opponent's resistance to get her way. Without even realizing it, Meridia becomes Eva's biggest competition and ultimate opponent of wits and in keeping Daniel's heart.

Even though this story is set in a fantasy land, Setiawan makes it feel very familiar to our own ordinary world. Through the magic, you have a story full of very real, very normal human problems. It's a story about family drama and all of the ups and downs that come with it. Competition, right and wrong decisions, consequences, betrayal, adultery, neglect, and the oh so dreaded "evil mother-in-law" are all common themes in this book. All of the characters face dilemmas, and all have very specific ways with dealing with their problems. Some you sympathize with, some your heart aches for, and some you just want to smack.

The characters are all unique and definitely their own persons. Meridia is the most prominent character and I empathized with her a lot. Though she sometimes made rash decisions that I didn't particularly agree with, she is a worthy character full of life, love, and spirit. I admire her strength in dealing with her mother-in-law, her own family, and all of the strains that her marriage to Daniel went through. Daniel is a good match for Meridia in some ways, but he is one of these men that takes the term "Momma's Boy" to an extreme ... and not in a good way. Hannah is a character that I don't think we got to see enough of, but she came in at the right moments and gracefully made her depature(s) once her job was done. Eva ... well, she's evil and I was starting to lose hope when it didn't seem that she was never going to have to face any consequences for any of her actions. I was overjoyed when some of the characters finally came to their senses. There are many more characters and all stand out on their own, but I think it's good for the readers to have a little mystery going into the story.

Overall, this is a very engaging story. I went in slightly skeptical because of the subject matter, but it quickly won me over. Once I started getting into the story (which was very soon into it), I didn't want to stop and was still reeling over it long after I was done reading. Although it's not labeled as Young Adult, I have no doubt that some young women would actually love this book. I would most definitely recommend it to any and all that love fantasy or just a good family drama with a little bit of magic in it.(less)

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Jul 22, 2010 Maile rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those books I grabbed on a whim. The story follows two families in a town where magic is a reality. Spirits have a presence, curses and spells are all too real and the impossible is possible. One thing that I appreciated is that with a strong a role as the magic plays, little explanation is given to justify the magic. This town has magic: it's a simple fact.

And yet, one could take the magic away and still have the same strong, touching story. The magic gives this story a sense of...more

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About Erick Setiawan

ERICK SETIAWAN was born in 1975 in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. A quiet, shy child, he was thankfully raised in a family of gifted storytellers, who taught him that while life might have an endless supply of conflict, not all of it translates into a good story. Due to the anti-Chinese sentiment prevalent in Indonesia, his childhood was often fraught with tension, which prompted him to t...more ERICK SETIAWAN was born in 1975 in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. A quiet, shy child, he was thankfully raised in a family of gifted storytellers, who taught him that while life might have an endless supply of conflict, not all of it translates into a good story. Due to the anti-Chinese sentiment prevalent in Indonesia, his childhood was often fraught with tension, which prompted him to take comfort in books and in the world of his imagination. To traumatize him further, his parents sent him to Catholic schools, where he learned from an early age to feel guilty about everything and that a grown man in a sash and a swishing robe with a ruler in his hand was in no way maternal.

At age sixteen, he left his family and moved to the United States. He knew three people and barely spoke English, yet was somehow convinced that he could compete with the top students to get into the best colleges. His resolution/delusion pushed him to work hard. The following year, his first choice, Harvard, rejected him, but fortunately Stanford had a lower standard. To this day, he believes that they admitted him by mistake.

In college, he wanted to study English, but his shyness and insecurity about his adopted language prevented him from enrolling in classes that required him to speak. Instead, he chose to major in Psychology and Computer Science, going as far as getting a Master’s in the latter. Bafflingly enough, studying about mental disorders and complex algorithms only increased his hunger for literature. Once too often, he shuffled aside his term papers and problem sets to lose himself in a novel.

After graduation, he began his tenure as a software engineer in San Francisco. By the end of the first year, he knew that his heart was not in it. Confronted with the risk of being a corporate burnout at twenty-six, he turned to writing in his spare time. To the exasperation of his bosses, he began coming to work late and taking longer and longer lunch breaks in order to write. Several years, two failed novels, and countless short stories later, he decided to quit his job to finish writing OF BEES AND MIST. At the time, he had no book deal and knew no one in publishing, but he pursued his passion with the same stubborn resolution/delusion that had motivated him earlier. He sold OF BEES AND MIST four years after he started it.(less)

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“Rahasia alam semesta jauh lebih mudah dimengerti dibandingkan hati seorang perempuan.” — 6 people liked it

“You don't seem to understand me,' she said. 'The last thing I want is to start over. You can't wake up something that's dead and buried.” — 1 person liked it

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