The earth is a closed system, therefore the total of premoridal waters that have ever existed, still exist in one form or another. Life in its most basic form is transformed in an everlasting cycle of life, death and renewal. Elif Shafak takes this tenant and weaves a beautiful and enchanting epic, There Are Rivers in the Sky.
The tale begins with a single droplet of water landing on the head of the ruthless, but erudite King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia in the ancient city of Nineveh. Ashurbanipal is remembered for his legendary library which fell into ruins with the demise of his reign. Out of its ashes emerge the blue fragments on which the Epic of Gilgamesh has been preserved. In parallel fashion, we piece together the story of three characters, their connection to two ancient bodies of water, traversing centuries, and cultures, all bound to a little blue tablet. In 1840, King Arthur of the Sewers and Slums, an archeologist, born on the banks of the Thames, gifted with an uncanny ability to decode ancient texts. In 2014, Narin is a Yazidi girl who comes from a line of water-dowsers. Born with a rare disorder that will leave her deaf, her grandmother seeks to have her baptized in the holy Valley of Lalish where they discover that Isis is systematically eradicating their people. The melancholic, Zaleekhah lives in on a houseboat in modern day London, and is a hydrologist studying a unique property of water.
Sure to become a modern classic, There Are Rivers in the Sky blends the story within a story Oriental structure, with Dickensian sensibilities and characters, and modern eco-political concerns. Suffice it to know that you will care deeply about the fate of these characters, relish the lyrical writing and have a new appreciation for the life giving element that is water.
TW: mental health issues, suicide, suicidal thoughts, sexual assault, murder, genocide
