Rare is the book of 480 pages where I have read and savoured every single word and which has given such satisfaction and food for thought. I found best-selling novelist Elif Shafak’s latest work, There are Rivers in the Sky, to be simply superb. Her writing is beautiful and wise.
Shafak covers a huge sweep of time from the ruins of Nineveh, an ancient city of Mesopotamia, to London in 2018 and her novel revolves around the importance of water, particularly the Thames and the Tigris, and the possible cycle of a single drop. She tells the story of three characters, all of whom the reader really cares about, and how their lives intertwine. The narrative sweeps us along.
In particular, I learned a great deal about the way Iraq and parts of current day Turkey, Iran, Syria and Kuwait are shaped by rivers, and cities such as London are shaped by undiscovered rivers running underground. I learned about the world’s oldest work of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the deciphering of cuneiform tablets, and reflected again on the issue of who ‘owns’ cultural heritage. I learned about the persecution of the Yasidi people. I was led to reconsider the importance of scholarship, self-belief, family ties and love.
The writer says that ‘there is no better space than literature, especially the novel as a literary genre, within which to freely explore the most complex issues of our time with nuance, depth, care and empathy.’ She herself does this with consummate skill and I recommend it unreservedly.
[We have a copy of There are Rivers in the Sky in the library.]
