The Murmur of Bees

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I think the main character is Simonopio, a foundling boy with a cleft palete who is constantly accompanied by bees wherever he goes. He’s adopted by Francisco and Beatriz Morales, a wealthy landowning couple who essentially function as the feudal lord and lady in the feudalistic structure of northeastern Mexican society during that time. Franciso and Beatriz are also major characters, as is their son Francisco Junior, who serves as a sort-of omniscient narrator for many of the events. Simonopio is the magical nature spirit character in the novel. He tends to understand things that others don’t, and know the future, which he’s unable or unwilling to communicate to others. In my opinion, the difference between magical realism and fantasy is that in fantasy, the magic has to make sense and be logically applied, whereas in magical realism, the supernatural elements exist only to serve the story’s theme or mood. As a fantasy writer, Simonopio bugged me. Why did he know so much and yet be clueless as to who killed Lupita? I also didn’t like Simonopio because he was this holy foundling, a sacred spirit who was wise beyond his years, and yet he uses this holy power only to benefit the Cortez-Morales family. Set in a small town in Mexico and translated from the Spanish, The Murmur of Bees spans decades centring on the Morales family and the events that happen both to and around them. When Nana Raja finds little Simonopio under a bridge, with a disfigured face, and covered in live bees, there are plenty who say the child has been kissed by the devil. But he is taken in by the kind Morales family who raise him as their own. Constantly protected by his bees, Simonopio has a unique outlook on life and though he does not speak, he is able to predict future events with the visions that he sees when he closes his eyes. Both a gift and a curse, Simonopio’s abilities may just be the undoing of him and his family…

Descriptions of landscape are something the book could use more of to pull together the cornfields, orange groves, towns glimpsed from train windows, caves, slopes, and canyons. These settings are included but not detailed in the ways that would provide a sense of this place as a whole. This may be more an issue for American readers than for Mexican ones, who, perhaps, take this area of northeastern Mexico for granted geographically. The story covers the family while they evade the Spanish Flu; endure the Mexican Revelation and agrarian reform. The story is long and descriptive. It’s a meander of a tale, narrated by Xe Sands and Angelo Di Loreto. I enjoyed Angelo’s pieces. I wasn’t always a fan of Xe’s interpretations.Death is presented in all its humanity, with sorrow and grief and guilt and even humor in the story of Lázaro rising from the dead and the reflections the living have as they mourn their dead. Beatriz Cortés de Morales: Daughter of a privileged family in Linares whose father is murdered during the war. She who marries Francisco 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. As he grows up, Simonopio becomes a cause for wonder to the Morales family, because when the uncannily gifted child closes his eyes, he can see what no one else can—visions of all that’s yet to come, both beautiful and dangerous. Followed by his protective swarm of bees and living to deliver his adoptive family from threats—both human and those of nature—Simonopio’s purpose in Linares will, in time, be divined. Anselmo Espiricueta: a migrant heading north with his family, reluctantly becomes a laborer on La Amistad

Note: as with all of my guides this guide may contain spoilers. I recommend reading the book before the guide. Resources 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.

Francisco feared that his land and wealth were under siege in the wake of the Agrarian Reform. He decided to invest more in his land, which included purchasing a tractor. Simonopio finally reached the bees’ desired destination, returning with orange blossoms for Francisco. Francisco seized the moment, deciding to transform his lands into orange orchards. Eventually, the government would exclude orchards from being taken. Simonopio not only helped Francisco choose and transport his new orange trees, he also revealed to Beatriz that she was pregnant. Once Francisco Junior was born, Simonopio dedicated himself to the baby. In the meantime, Espiricueta grew even more resentful, making friends with nomadic agrarians camping in the area. More than that, Segovia creates beautifully realized characters, at once perfect archetypes and perfectly relatable. Our hero, Simonopio, is loving and pure of heart, devoted to his family yet free-spirited, with an air of mystery. Yet, he’s also just a boy, becoming distracted and curious by a show in town just when his family needs him the most. They were married on the Day of the Dead, el Día de los Muertos, which no one gave much thought to in all the months of planning, until the bride’s deceased father-in-law showed up in the car following the ceremony.” ( p. 1) 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) The characters in the story are all deeply interesting and written beautifully, and she does a fantastic job of letting you into the inner workings of their minds and motivations, so that you almost feel like you're living the story through them. I love the two narrator form, one an omniscient third-person narrator who lets you into the deepest thoughts of Francisco, Beatriz, Simonopio and Epiricueta, and the other, Francisco Jr., who seamlessly takes over the narrative when he enters the story. At its heart, it’s the story of the power of love … for family, country, and heritage. So much to say, but really the best thing I could leave you with is: read it. Oh ... and find someone in your life who is as dedicated to you as Simonopio is to those in his life. What a wonderful character to introduce the world to.