IBR - There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

[Ashley, The Tipsy Challenger]

Members Starting the BR: Vicki & Trisha
Challenge: Book Quest Adventures
Book: There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Anyone is free to join in this Buddy Read! Happy Reading!

[Claire]

I’m joining this one as it is on my tbr this month:-)

[Trisha]

Yay! So glad you're joining us Claire!

[Teddie]

I just got my copy of this so should be starting this weekend!

[Trisha]

I'm running behind so hope to start this closer to the end of the month!

[Vicki]

I'll be reading this one tomorrow.

[Teddie]

I really love Shafak's writing. This is the second book I've read by her and I'm planning on reading them all. I love how she takes a small conceit - the memories of a raindrop, the time it takes for a soul to leave the body, etc - and spins scenes both utterly random and seemingly inevitable, into stories both sensual and heartbreaking.

[Trisha]

I'm getting ready to start it (just finishing up a review)

I'm so glad you loved it! This is my first Elif Shafak! Which is the other one you've read?
Now I'm excited to start! It's a bigger book and I was starting to get worried I wouldn't love it

[Vicki]

Me too, Trisha. I just finished The Stolen Queen and I'm about to start this one. Scott's off though, so we'll be doing some grocery shopping and possibly a couple errands so I might not get it finished until later tonight.

[Trisha]

through Part 1 / 140 pages

wow, lots of characters and timelines in this one
but I'm really sucked in.

(view spoiler)[
ugh, my heart dropped when she read the sign - is it really Arthur's grave there? that breaks my heart. but who put that there. please please let him to have found love and a family that enriched his life. his father is just awful and I'm so sad his mentor died by suicide.

We also have Z - who's life is spiraling a bit. I hope she finds happiness in her house boat. curious to see what happens when she goes to bid on these Nineveh items.

we also have this young girl who's losing her hearing and is looking to be baptized. AND she's the one with Arthur's grave.

Interesting how this started with a drop of water and is now moving to a flood. but how are these all tied together? interested to find out

I wonder if we'll get more of the cruel prince/ruler guy (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Just starting now. I love how the chapters have some kind of body of water in their titles.

[Trisha]

through Part 2 / 225 pages

(view spoiler)[
wow, I was surprised when Arthur left his publishing job but it made sense - he loved the museum work so much.
but I'm worried about his new found fame. I worry people will say he's making the language up.
oh and him no longer being with his family - that was surprising. I'm sad his mother was institutionalized but she did seem like she was spiraling a bit. Their sleeping and home life was so rough - I'm glad he did get away from his father.

and I love that in Z's time - the tattooist who owns the boat also writes in the language, so hopefully it will stay as something people believe is real

Interesting how Narin's family is tied to the water. I wonder what turned the healers from healing and just to divining water.
and I'm so sad she's already lost hearing in one ear - or nearly all of it.

(hide spoiler)]

[Teddie]

Trisha wrote: "I'm getting ready to start it (just finishing up a review)

I'm so glad you loved it! This is my first Elif Shafak! Which is the other one you've read?
Now I'm excited to start! It's a bigger book ..."

The first book I read by her is 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World - brutal yet beautiful.

[Trisha]

wow, never even heard of that one! I'll check it out! Thx!

[Trisha]

through Part 3 / 300 pages

(view spoiler)[
wow, I'm so surprised that they are letting Arthur on an actual excavation dig. I wouldn't necessarily think someone who could translate the slate would be good at digging it up too!

oh and he's met Leila, Narin's great grandma - I wonder if she will see Arthur's future and it will make her sad. I'm glad my fear for Arthur and people turning on him hasn't happened (yet).

interesting that we're getting a bit more backstory on Z. I like her new friendship with Nen but I'm curious to see where this is going. hopefully she'll find a reason to live? a place of peace and happiness?

I love the pictures in this story! they are so interesting and I love their addition to the story!

(hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

through Part 4 / 355 pages

wow
(view spoiler)[
so much has changed

Narin's position is so scary right now. they've been forced out, walking to their death and now they both have been found - her and grandma. ugh

I'm glad Z is realizing that she can form her life to be whatever makes her happy. I don't think she'd really analyzed her life and whether she was happy. I love that she got that tattoo
and the bracelet Nen gave her sounded lovely. Her uncle was so awful that night, I'm glad Nen didn't take offense. she seems so sweet.

and Arthur. wow, I did not think he would actually find love. What does he do now, though? he supposedly has a fiance back home that he doesn't really love. and now he's found what he searched for. and Leila's faith won't allow her to marry outside of it, right? he can't join, right? so they are doomed.

but her premonition - is it something that happens more than once? or did she foresee what's happening to Narin and her grandma? (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Through Part 1

(view spoiler)[Oh my gosh. I loved the first bit of the book. I first was intrigued by the chapter names all having water (mostly bodies of water) in the titles. As soon as I read some and the section on H2O I began to see how it was moving along. I know that symbolically water tends to represent several things cleansing, life and freedom. In this book it seems to be symbolic of memory, grief, and rebirth (another common symbols use of water). I love how this is going so far.

Besma is desperate to get Narin baptized at Lalish and I get that. I feel for Narin and her disorder. So awful. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Through Part 2

(view spoiler)[I feel like Arthur's decision to leave the publishing world behind and embrace the museum work is a key turning point. He obviously loves knowledge over commerce. After all the trauma I'm glad he's finally choosing a life that feels like his own and what he wants.

His mom's institutionalization is heartbreaking but I think inevitable. Her mental health was so fragile and trauma in there home just so raw.

I think the tattooist is a powerful figure. The fact that he writes in ancient language ties Zaleekah even more deeply into Arthur's world and gives her something living to hold onto.

Narin's story is so cool the way it's tied to sacred water, baptism, memory and survival. The fact her family only divines water now makes me wonder what happens when people lose their ability to heal.

With water having such symbolic meaning in this book, I wonder how the river reflects each character's internal state. Ironic too that Narin is drawn to sacred waters but surrounded by war and disappointment. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Part 3

(view spoiler)[Trisha, it is interesting and you ask a good question. It is ironic that a translator would go on an archaeological dig. So what might that symbolize? Is he excavating more than just artifacts?

Regarding Narin's grandma and seeing Arthur's future, I think about the ways older women like Leila hole intuitive knowledge or emotional insight.

Nen seems to be a gentle presence in Zaleekah's life. I think he's going to be good in her life. I feel like having him in her life and the mysterious book she found about her homeland are beginning to ground her. I think she's going to be okay.

I agree about the pictures! I think they definitely enhance the historical and even emotional tone of the novel. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Finished

(view spoiler)[This book made me ask myself, can something forgotten ever fully return? I don't think so. Not in the same exact form, but it can be "reborn." The lost language isn't restored to its full original glory but gains new breath through Arthur's work and the connections it fosters.

Zaleekah doesn't reclaim her homeland but she rediscovers it in spirit in a book and Narin.

The title changed meaning for me as I read the book. Early on "rivers in the sky" sounds dreamy and maybe even spiritual. But as the story (each character's story) progresses the title deepens in meaning. It evokes floods (literal and emotional) and by the end it feels like a metaphor for inheritance ... what flows above us, unseen but powerful, until it touches the ground. (hide spoiler)]

I finished this earlier and am obviously putting my comments all at once, but I'm pretty sure I kept my comments where they belong. lol

[Trisha]

done

what a sad sad ending to a long, heartbreaking story

(view spoiler)[
I can't believe Narin's end. that was just awful. stolen, sold, raped. sold once again. I mean, I'm glad Z and Nen are helping her - but it's all just awful.

and Arthur's end. his unhappy marriage, his forgotten and lost work. his murdered friends. Leila only saw him one more time, after hew as gone. devestating.

and Z had to contend with an awful uncle who not only wouldn't let her live a life however she felt happiest - but he also felt free to take whatever he could afford, no matter the legality or the cost to others. what a terrible thing to realize about him

(hide spoiler)]

this book left me so much sadder in the end than when I started.

[Vicki]

I agree, Trisha. (view spoiler)[Not what anyone would call a HEA ending, but I did love the constant analogy to water.

Another thing I HATED was Arthur's teacher and that pervert of a head master. So sickening! But would I ever LOVE to have Arthur's memory...jeez!

I thought that as awful as some of this book was that it's a real winner! (hide spoiler)]

[Teddie]

Vicki wrote: "...by the end it feels like a metaphor for inheritance ... what flows above us, unseen but powerful, until it touches the ground."

I love this Vicki. A book's happy ending is really just a happy beginning that we don't get to see - so there are small happy endings every day, leading to new happy beginnings, that all flow together into a cycle or current. And unhappy endings are just the possibility of a new happy start in another place and time.

[Benedicte, Bookmark First, Ask Later]

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