Book Review: The Murmur of Bees

The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia

When Amazon put a couple of international novels for free, I was one of those readers who was ecstatic about this opportunity. The Murmur of Bees was the one that intrigued me most, both because of the beautiful cover and the title — who doesn’t love bees? Fortunately, the quality of the book satisfied the excitement I had to read it.

From the start, we are greeted with prose that is
beautifully written; vivid and poetic. Here’s a description of Nana Reja:

“All
those years on the rocking chair caused the townspeople to forget her story and
her humanity: she had become part of the scenery, put roots down into the earth
she rocked upon. Her flesh had become wood and her skin a hard, dark, furrowed
bark.”

Once I read that, I was sold. I would read the whole novel, and I’m glad I did. It did take me a couple of chapters to completely grasp the setting and the story, as there is a bit of a time jump and a change in POV between one chapter and another. I usually have my reservations about this type of narration, because I often find it confusing, but I found that Sofía Segovia did it in a way which was clear when and where each chapter took place from their first paragraph.

The novel is mainly historical fiction with some
manipulated elements to break the realism. It takes place in the early 1900s in
Northern Mexico, and I believe it is inspired by a lot of real events. I became
quite invested in each of the characters, perhaps because that is the strongest
suit of this novel. You know how in some stories you just want to know what the
resolution is, or how the protagonist solves the problem, or just how the
book/series ends? I didn’t have the feeling with this novel. No, I wanted to
read about this family. I wanted to follow them through their lives, the ups
and the downs. And I dreaded the ending, because I want more of them.

The author is am impeccable storyteller, and I could feel the suspense coming when they wanted to do so. No part of the novel disappoints, and I am low-key obsessed with this book. It’s something that I don’t have to think about twice to rate 5 stars. It deserves it. I keep thinking about the characters every now and then, because they have permeated into my mind. And by living vicariously through them, I have learnt a lot. This book is such a great reading experience, that I truly recommend others to read it.

Links

Goodreads: The Murmur of Bees

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