I LOVE Elif Shafak’s work and am working my way through her twelve novels. With every read I find a new favorite, but There Are Rivers in the Sky is my all-favorite so far.
The book opens in 630 BCE, in Ninevah, the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire along the Tigris River and home of the library of Ashurbanipal, a king known for his erudition as well as his cruelty. A “a single drop of rain—no bigger than a bean and lighter than a chickpea” hangs from a storm cloud above. This single raindrop unites the novel. Other themes are set out in this chapter that echo throughout the novel.
The second chapter moves from Ninevah to the structure of water, H-O-H, which also is carried through the novel. From there, the novel follows three characters, Arthur, Zaleekah, and Narin in time frames from the mid-to-late 19th century and contemporary. Chapters are labeled O (Arthur) and H (Zaleekah and Narin), reinforcing the theme of water as Zaleekah and Narin’s lives are inextricably bound to Arthur’s. He is a poverty-stricken but brilliant boy who learns to read cuneiform tablets and becomes obsessed with the Epic of Gilgamesh and Ninevah. Zaleekah is a water ecologist living in London obsessed with water and the damage humans have done to the earth through pollution. Narin is a young Yazidi girl who lives in southeastern Turkey along the banks of the Tigris and experiences first-hand the devastation polluted waters causes and the ultimate expression of prejudice.
Shafak reveals the epic in the tiny details such as the drop of water. Her novels frequently deal with immigrants and the prejudices they face. There Are Rivers in the Sky is no exception. Though the book deals with tough subject matter such as genocide and racism, at heart, it is a book about redemption. It is resplendent and poetic. A FABULOUS book.
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There Are Rivers in the Sky (Vintage, August 20, 2024) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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You can read my reviews of other Elif Shafak’s books here:
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