The Murmur of Bees

Read Time: 2 Minutes

The Murmur of Bees is one of those novels that left me unsure how I felt about it even after fourteen hours of listening. It is slow, meandering, and steeped in atmosphere, giving that almost stereotypical sense of rural Mexico where stories unfold at their own pace and nothing is rushed. That mood is part of the charm, but it also made it hard for me to stay engaged for long stretches.

The story unfolds against the turbulence of the Mexican Revolution and the 1918 influenza, both of which shape the lives of the Morales family in ways large and small. I am no expert on the history, but the book makes it clear that the world around them is in constant motion, sometimes violently so. That unrest adds weight to the quieter moments, even if the broader conflict fades in and out of view.

The narration is a mixed bag. The two narrators have such different styles that the shift between them is jarring, at least for me. I found myself preferring Xe Sands’ sections, which felt more in tune with the dreamy, reflective tone of the book. Angelo Di Loreto’s delivery is fine, but the contrast pulled me out of the story more than once.

The novel itself blends family saga, folklore, and magical realism as it follows the life of Simonopio, the baby found under a bridge and marked from birth by a severe cleft that makes him an object of fear and superstition. The bees that surround and protect him add a mystical thread that the story never fully explains, but they give the book a quiet sense of wonder.

There are parts where the history and the family dynamics are compelling, and other parts where the pacing drifts so much that I had to resist the urge to move on to something else.

Even so, I am glad I stuck with it. The ending brings the book into sharper focus, and some of the emotional beats land well after the long build-up. I do not see myself revisiting it, but I can appreciate what the author was aiming for and understand why it resonates strongly with many readers.

For me, it was a decent story well told, just delivered in a way that made it hard to stay connected.

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