Hour Of The Bees by Lindsay Eagar
Mar. 5th, 2016 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
What does it mean to be fully alive?
Magic blends with reality in a stunning coming-of-age novel about a girl, a grandfather, wanderlust, and reclaiming your roots.
While her friends are spending their summers having pool parties and sleepovers, twelve-year-old Carolina – Carol – is spending hers in the middle of the New Mexico desert, helping her parents prepare to move the grandfather she’s never met into a home for people with dementia. At first, Carol avoids prickly Grandpa Serge, whose face is covered in strange bumps that catch the shadows and don’t let go and whose eyes are impossibly old. But as the summer wears on and the heat bears down, Carol finds herself drawn to Serge, fascinated by his crazy stories about an ancient oasis in the desert with a green-glass lake and a tree that gave the villagers the gift of immortality. As the thin line between magic and reality starts to blur, Carol must decide for herself what is possible – and what it means to be true to her roots.
12-year-old Carol (short for Carolina) should be spending the summer vacation going to pool parties and sleepovers with her friends and shopping for the new outfits she needs ready to start Junior High. Instead she, her parents, her 17-year-old step-sister, Alta and her one year old brother, Lu are going to Grandpa Serge’s sheep ranch in the middle of New Mexico’s desert. Serge is suffering from dementia and Carol’s parents need to clear and sell his ranch to help pay for his care in a specialist home.
It’s the first time Carol’s met her grandfather, who’s prickly and difficult and she doesn’t know how to talk to him. But as the summer swelters on, she finds herself fascinated by the stories he tells of an oasis in the desert, stories that hint at the reason for his estrangement from Carol’s father. More than that, she starts to see things that her family can’t – things that only Serge understands. The more time she spends with her grandfather, the more she begins to wonder if his stories are true …
Lindsay Eagar’s debut Tween book is a strong coming of age tale with magical realism while also being a sensitive portrayal of the terrible effects of dementia both on the sufferer and their loved ones. Carol is a well drawn character and I liked the way Eagar shows how she’s pulled between her Latino roots and the pressure to be more Westernised in order to conform with her friends, especially as this feeds into her character growth. The highlights of the book are Serge’s stories, which I found beautifully written and utterly compelling and which are threaded through the book to provide background to the relationship between Serge and Carol’s father while also building on the magical realist themes so that you’re never quite sure whether they’re fable or truth or a bit of both. I was less keen on the portrayal of Carol’s step-sister, Alta, who veers into cliché with her selfishness and moodiness, and whose story didn’t quite convince me but I did totally believe in the slow burn pressure placed on Carol’s parents as they try to deal with Serge and the ranch sale, which affects their relationship. Ultimately, this is a strong and well written debut and is a must for anyone keen to read more diverse fiction. I look forward to reading Eagar’s next book.
The Verdict:
Lindsay Eagar’s debut Tween book is a strong coming of age tale with magical realism while also being a sensitive portrayal of the terrible effects of dementia both on the sufferer and their loved ones. Carol is a well drawn character and I liked the way Eagar shows how she’s pulled between her Latino roots and the pressure to be more Westernised in order to conform with her friends, especially as this feeds into her character growth. The highlights of the book are Serge’s stories, which I found beautifully written and utterly compelling and which are threaded through the book to provide background to the relationship between Serge and Carol’s father while also building on the magical realist themes so that you’re never quite sure whether they’re fable or truth or a bit of both. I was less keen on the portrayal of Carol’s step-sister, Alta, who veers into cliché with her selfishness and moodiness, and whose story didn’t quite convince me but I did totally believe in the slow burn pressure placed on Carol’s parents as they try to deal with Serge and the ranch sale, which affects their relationship. Ultimately, this is a strong and well written debut and is a must for anyone keen to read more diverse fiction. I look forward to reading Eagar’s next book.
HOUR OF THE BEES was released in the United Kingdom on 3rd March 2016. Thanks to Walker Books for the ARC of this book.
Magic blends with reality in a stunning coming-of-age novel about a girl, a grandfather, wanderlust, and reclaiming your roots.
While her friends are spending their summers having pool parties and sleepovers, twelve-year-old Carolina – Carol – is spending hers in the middle of the New Mexico desert, helping her parents prepare to move the grandfather she’s never met into a home for people with dementia. At first, Carol avoids prickly Grandpa Serge, whose face is covered in strange bumps that catch the shadows and don’t let go and whose eyes are impossibly old. But as the summer wears on and the heat bears down, Carol finds herself drawn to Serge, fascinated by his crazy stories about an ancient oasis in the desert with a green-glass lake and a tree that gave the villagers the gift of immortality. As the thin line between magic and reality starts to blur, Carol must decide for herself what is possible – and what it means to be true to her roots.
12-year-old Carol (short for Carolina) should be spending the summer vacation going to pool parties and sleepovers with her friends and shopping for the new outfits she needs ready to start Junior High. Instead she, her parents, her 17-year-old step-sister, Alta and her one year old brother, Lu are going to Grandpa Serge’s sheep ranch in the middle of New Mexico’s desert. Serge is suffering from dementia and Carol’s parents need to clear and sell his ranch to help pay for his care in a specialist home.
It’s the first time Carol’s met her grandfather, who’s prickly and difficult and she doesn’t know how to talk to him. But as the summer swelters on, she finds herself fascinated by the stories he tells of an oasis in the desert, stories that hint at the reason for his estrangement from Carol’s father. More than that, she starts to see things that her family can’t – things that only Serge understands. The more time she spends with her grandfather, the more she begins to wonder if his stories are true …
Lindsay Eagar’s debut Tween book is a strong coming of age tale with magical realism while also being a sensitive portrayal of the terrible effects of dementia both on the sufferer and their loved ones. Carol is a well drawn character and I liked the way Eagar shows how she’s pulled between her Latino roots and the pressure to be more Westernised in order to conform with her friends, especially as this feeds into her character growth. The highlights of the book are Serge’s stories, which I found beautifully written and utterly compelling and which are threaded through the book to provide background to the relationship between Serge and Carol’s father while also building on the magical realist themes so that you’re never quite sure whether they’re fable or truth or a bit of both. I was less keen on the portrayal of Carol’s step-sister, Alta, who veers into cliché with her selfishness and moodiness, and whose story didn’t quite convince me but I did totally believe in the slow burn pressure placed on Carol’s parents as they try to deal with Serge and the ranch sale, which affects their relationship. Ultimately, this is a strong and well written debut and is a must for anyone keen to read more diverse fiction. I look forward to reading Eagar’s next book.
The Verdict:
Lindsay Eagar’s debut Tween book is a strong coming of age tale with magical realism while also being a sensitive portrayal of the terrible effects of dementia both on the sufferer and their loved ones. Carol is a well drawn character and I liked the way Eagar shows how she’s pulled between her Latino roots and the pressure to be more Westernised in order to conform with her friends, especially as this feeds into her character growth. The highlights of the book are Serge’s stories, which I found beautifully written and utterly compelling and which are threaded through the book to provide background to the relationship between Serge and Carol’s father while also building on the magical realist themes so that you’re never quite sure whether they’re fable or truth or a bit of both. I was less keen on the portrayal of Carol’s step-sister, Alta, who veers into cliché with her selfishness and moodiness, and whose story didn’t quite convince me but I did totally believe in the slow burn pressure placed on Carol’s parents as they try to deal with Serge and the ranch sale, which affects their relationship. Ultimately, this is a strong and well written debut and is a must for anyone keen to read more diverse fiction. I look forward to reading Eagar’s next book.
HOUR OF THE BEES was released in the United Kingdom on 3rd March 2016. Thanks to Walker Books for the ARC of this book.
