I was entranced by Shafak’s emotional storytelling and thoroughly impressed by her exceptional research for There Are Rivers in the Sky. It was a little difficult to get into the novel for about the first third of it, but I found myself completely invested by the halfway mark, especially when I started to see how the three characters’ perspectives were interwoven, all of which was remarkably done with the start of a water droplet. Shafak’s writing is lush and beautiful, and I was amazed how she breathed to life three remarkable characters in very vivid settings. With that said, I did find Arthur’s perspective the most interesting to read out of the three characters, perhaps because it gave the most insight into Mesopotamia. I do have some mixed feelings about the fact that I found Arthur’s story the most compelling, though, especially given the issues around extracting artifacts from other lands. Furthermore, Arthur may be devoted to the inquiry of Mesopotamian culture and history, but there is a sort of white savior narrative that comes through especially in the latter half of the novel. Of the three perspectives Shafak provided, I found Narin the least interesting, mainly because I thought it was the least developed. I find this a bit unfortunate, considering that Narin is Yazidi, and with the attention Shafak gave to her people in Arthur’s and Zaleekah’s stories (albeit less so in the latter), I would have expected far more.

Despite these qualms, I do think that Shafak wrote an incredibly intricate story that wonderfully synthesized a diverse range of topics and themes that will give the reader much to think about. The novel is a bit harrowing and reflects some of the atrocities committed by people across centuries, particularly in modern times, but I thought Shafak approached this thoughtfully and in a meaningful way.

Note: Many thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC.