There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

“Well, this world is a school and we are its students. Each of us studies something as we pass through. Some people learn love, kindness. Others, I’m afraid, abuse and brutality. But the best students are those who acquire generosity and compassion from their encounters with hardship and cruelty. The ones who choose not to inflict their suffering on to others. And what you learn is what you take with you to your grave.” - Besma, Narin's grandmother.

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak is an expansive historical fiction novel revolving around three main characters: Arthur, Narin, and Zaleekah. Their individual stories are woven together using an ancient civilization, one of the oldest poems in literature, two major rivers and a single drop of water as the threads. Using multi-timelines - Arthur mid to late 1800's; Narin 2014; and Zaleekah 2018 - the narratives of the three are weaved together slowly and in a somewhat surprising way.

Arthur, born into abject poverty in 1840 alongside the River Thames, has an exceptional gift that provides a path for him out of his living circumstances. When he visits the British Museum he comes across the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem. Using his gift, he earns a job at the museum which begins a life-changing transformation and allows him to pursue his fascination with the poem and the culture behind. Ultimately his passion for both lead him on a journey where he meets a group of people whose way of life opens his mind and gives him a new focus.

In 2014 Narin is a ten year old Yazidi girl who has been diagnosed with a life alternating condition. Narin is being raised on the shores of the Tigris River by her grandmother, Besma. Her grandmother tells Narin stories about her great grandmother Leila, a seer, who befriended an Englishman. Besma decides to take Narin to Iraq to be baptized at an ancient temple before Narin's health issues overtake her. However ISIS is gaining power and when they invade the Iraqi town Narin and Besma are visiting, their plans change in horrific fashion.

In 2018 Zaleekah is a hydrologist who was raised by her English aunt and Iraqi uncle after her parents were killed in a flood. She just separated from her husband and moved to a houseboat on the River Thames. Struggling with her mental health, she makes a plan to commit sucide until the owner of the houseboat, tattoo artist Nen, befriends her. Through the stories Nen shares with her about ancient Mesotopameian and the ancient goddess Nabris, Zaleekah begins to rethink the direction of her life.

There Are Rivers in the Sky is a story full of imagery that is beautifully written and evoking. For example:

“There are extraordinary people who appear unexpectedly on our paths, and just as suddenly, they disappear, leaving their indelible marks and a sense of regret. Brief and bright, like a match striking a flame in the dark, they heat the damp kindling of our hearts and then they are gone.”

“Words are like birds,’ says Mr Bradbury. ‘When you publish books, you are setting caged birds free. They can go wherever they please. They can fly over the highest walls and across vast distances, settling in the mansions of the gentry, in farmsteads and labourers’ cottages alike. You never know whom those words will reach, whose hearts will succumb to their sweet songs.”

Elif Shafak does an excellent job with creating distinct timelines given that two of them are only four years apart. I had no trouble keeping those worlds seperated. Each character's story was engaging although Arthur is the person we learn the most about; Narin the least. I worried for much of the novel about how the three stories would tie into one another, or even if they would. They did in the most heartbreaking ways.

Writers are often told to write the story they want to read. This book takes on several heavy topics including environmentalism, the persecution of the Yazidi people through mass killings and enslavement; the idea that water has memory; racism; whether it is a foreign country's responsibility to remove ancient artifacts out of countries who can not care for them, unethical organ harvesting; and the distinct differences between the rich and the poor. These are all important issues to be considered but I feel the author tried to take on too many. The reader loses out on fully engaging with any message on any one of the subjects Ms. Shafak wanted to share with the reader.

”Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”

Companion Songs: "Rivers and Roads by The Head and The Heart

Author Authentic: Elif Shafak never writes her novels in a linear fashion — she jumps between the first page, last page, and middle while drafting the stroy.