June 2022 The Murmur of Bees

[Abigail]

Good points about the villain and the ending! The other payoff I missed was (view spoiler)[not learning who Simonopio’s parents were—I was rooting for it to be Espiricueta and his miserable wife (hide spoiler)].

[Angela]

Yes, I wondered about that too, Abigail! It's strange that the mystery was never resolved. I never thought of the parents being Anselmo and his wife, but that would have been very interesting!

[Becky, Moddess]

One thing I have been thinking about is the very end. (view spoiler)[When Francisco is an old man, and he goes back to Linares to find Simonopio, and apparently Nana Reja, at the end. I took that to mean that he went there to die, and his “growing younger” is so that he can spend his eternity with his family in the way he remembers himself as most happy.
But… what if there is really something magical about Simonopio and the bees, and mostly the land, that allows a sort of timelessness for them and those who love them? It was mentioned that when Beatriz was moving to Monterrey, Simonopio knew that he’d wither and die there. I wonder if that was literal for him, that he understands his life is bound to the Linares land, because maybe he came from it?

Maybe he has no parents, and is truly a miracle. (hide spoiler)]

[Abigail]

My thoughts ran along similar lines. (view spoiler)[At first I thought Simonopio was an emanation of the land/bees/natural world, waxing and waning with the [agricultural] fortunes of the area, but the text didn’t really support that. He has Jesus-like aspects but not consistently. (hide spoiler)] Maybe I’m violating the spirit of the book by trying to impose logic or consistency.

As for Francisco, I read it as him making a choice to (view spoiler)[die there, to return to the soil and meet Simonopio and Nana Reja in some version of an afterlife or transcendence. Something akin to the Celtic conception of the Western Isles. The book is suffused with nostalgia for paradise lost, which would support that interpretation. (hide spoiler)]

[Becky, Moddess]

RE Francisco (view spoiler)[ He definitely decided to go there to die, or at least never return. That's evidenced by the fact that he told the cab driver to tell his family the story and gave him all of his money.

But, when he got out of the cab, he could feel Simonopio calling him, and he started to run towards him, and the book describes him as feeling younger and younger with each step, gaining back the energy and vitality that he had lost while away and growing old, until when he finally reaches Simonopio, he is young again.

So, either he died, and that's his version of heaven, and that process was his transition from life to afterlife, or there's some real magic and he's returning to the land along with Simonopio & Nana Reja. I mean, we know that exists, at least in the world of the book, right? He had a sort of telepathic link with Simonopio, and Simonopio had one with his bees, so there's something there. We just don't really have much of an explanation of the rules or how it works.

But I think... His father is responsible for bringing the orange trees that the bees needed, and then gave his literal life into the land while in the process of growing the orchard, so I think the bees/magic saved a spot for him in their little bubble of eternity.

It really amounts to the same thing though, at least from Francisco's perspective, right? In his afterlife, he's with those he loved. In REALITY, he's gone. (hide spoiler)]

[Abigail]

I like the way you articulate it!

[Becky, Moddess]

It does make you wonder though... What did the cabbie see?

[Rosalie]

I'm reading it but while I would say I don't like magic realism, I am enjoying this book. I think the writing draws me into the story. The character development makes me care about the people. We'll see how the rest of it goes.

[Rosalie]

I enjoyed the read because of the almost lyrical writing, but I'm too much of a research-driven history lover to have really gotten into this book. Still, I would say it was a good read and the reason I lke book clubs is to read books I probably wouldn't have read.

[Lizet]

I found it sad and interesting