u/TheCuteKorok

Note: I edit the covers of books onto my Kobo because I want to do justice to the actual artwork. This is not an accurate reflection of colour e-readers.

MY SYNOPSIS:

Inti Flynn has caused quite the stir in Scotland as she arrives with a team of biologists to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands. Something has caused Inti and her twin sister Aggie to flee Alaska and Inti hopes that her time in Scotland will not only heal the dying landscape, but her sister as well. The local farmers, however, are extremely resistant to the idea of wolves roaming the highlands near their farms and tensions between the team of biologists and the local residents are high.
As the wolves seem to successfully take to their new surroundings, Inti lowers her guard and opens herself up to the possibility of love. But when a local farmer is killed, Inti makes a dark and dangerous decision to protect her beloved wolves and her rewilding project.

WHY I LOVED THIS:

It has been so long since I’ve picked up a book as compelling as this one was from the very first page. I found this to be absolutely gripping and hauntingly brutal. There was something so unique and interesting about Charlotte McConaghy’s writing.

Inti is a force of nature and a fierce, strong, defiant, and brave female lead. She is certainly brash, but she hasn’t always been. She knows her rewilding efforts are necessary to heal the natural environment despite protests from the local farmers. She is intelligent and knowledgeable, but not exactly diplomatic and will take no arguments against her mission. I enjoyed that she was flawed and I especially appreciated her development throughout the book.

I initially went into this completely blind. All I knew was that the story was about wolves. Once There Were Wolves proved to be about so much more. It’s a story about climate change, conservation, and our impact as humans on our natural environment; it’s about protection, healing, abuse in all forms, and the darker side of human nature. As McConaghy makes a point to mention, the real monsters aren’t out in the wild at all, they’re one of us.

This was also completely devastating on so many levels and surprisingly brought me to tears. I will offer a warning that It was often gruesome and difficult to read at times due to the descriptions of abuse, violence, hunting, and death of both humans and animals. On the brighter side, I did learn a lot about wolves!

FAVOURITE QUOTES:

“A man’s anger, his violence, is no one’s responsibility but his own.”

“‘It’s out there I’d be more worried about,’ Duncan adds, nodding to the trees, the hills, the mountains and moors. ‘You must know monsters well, wolf girl.’
‘I’ve never met one in the wild. They don’t live there.’”

Note: I edit the covers of books onto my Kindle because I want to do justice to the actual artwork. This is not a colour Kindle.

MY SYNOPSIS:
This story begins with just a single water droplet. A drop of water that transcends time and connects the lives of three different people across centuries.

640s BCE, Nineveh, Ancient Mesopotamia by the River Tigris: The drop begins its journey by dropping onto the head of King Ashurbanipal. It stays with him he travels through his beloved library.
1840s, London: The drop lands upon Arthur, born in abject poverty on the side of the Thames as his mother searches for valuables to sell. His only chance of escaping his circumstances is his uniquely exceptional memory.
2014, Turkey, by the River Tigris: the droplet lands upon Narin, a young Yazidi girl waiting to be baptised. When her baptism is interrupted, Narin and her grandmother must travel to Iraq.
2018, London: Following the destruction of her marriage, a hydrologist named Zaleekhah moves onto a houseboat and contemplates her future and her past.

WHY I LOVED THIS:
This was, truly, an incredible book and I don’t say this lightly. I think the best way to describe my reading experience is that I devoured this—feasted on every page! Each sentence was so well crafted and beautiful. I was in such awe the entire time of Elif Shafak’s ability to craft a sentence. The concept alone was creative and unique, but when I came across little glimpses of connection between the characters it became obvious how well thought out this was; how much care and attention was put into this beautiful, sweeping narrative.

There Are Rivers In The Sky weaves together memory, water, rivers, and history. It explores Gilgamesh and ancient Mesopotamia; the persecution and genocide of the Yazidi people; immigration, displacement of cultures, their people and their artefacts; poverty and privilege in Victorian London; forgotten rivers, hydrology, and aquatic memory in modern day London. Through all parts of the book is the connecting thread of water. Of the three POVs, Arthur’s was the story in which I was most drawn. His uniquely remarkable memory, his rise from the depths of poverty, his tenacity, and his perseverance to realize his dreams was thrilling, and at times devastating, to read.

It is obvious so much research has been put into this book.
THIS is what it means to read, for me. It was everything I’ve been longing for this year and have yet to find. It was powerful and moving. I highly recommend!

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
Note: I saved SO many quotes from this book, but this one hit me hard.

“In the stories Grandma narrated there were some reprehensible characters—callous kings who would marry a virgin each night, only to have them executed in the morning, greedy viziers plundering imperial coffers, marauders pouncing on travelers in the dark…but even the worst villains knew, deep down, that what they did was wrong. They did not pretend otherwise. They might try to justify their actions and even adopt the appearance of virtue to hoodwink others into thinking them good, but they did not, for a moment, imagine themselves to be virtuous. By contrast, the fanatics who slaughter the innocent and defenceless, pillaging villages, enslaving women and children, believe themselves to be holy. With every sorrow and suffering they rain on other humans, they expect to earn favour in the eyes of God, move closer to completing the bridge from this world to their exclusive paradise. How can anyone assume they will please the Creator by hurting His Creation? Nowhere in Grandma’s tales did even the most depraved practice such self-delusion.”

I have a lot of mush lamps throughout my island but need more for the vibes! Is anyone willing to part with some stacks of skinny mushrooms? I can come to your island to pick up or you are welcome to come to mine!