"The
Rain Watcher" centers around the gathering of the Malegarde family in
Paris for the weekend celebration
of the family patriarch, Paul. They arrive during torrential rains and the
beginning of massive flooding in the city. Both children, Linden and Tilia, are
a bit taken aback when they see their father; he does not look well and has
aged considerably. The celebration soon turns awry after Paul suffers a stroke
during his 70th birthday dinner.
The
flooding serves as a backdrop for family drama and secrets revealed. As the
waters rise and Paris deteriorates, so does the Malegarde family along with
Paul’s health.
The
plot that stood out to me, though, was Linden’s relationship with his Father,
Paul. They both have secrets to share. They both hide behind things to protect
themselves… Linden with his old Leica camera and Paul with his trees.
Linden
is jealous of the trees and the part that they play in Paul’s life… how
important they are to him. A few lines from the book referencing trees really
spoke to me… but I also saw them as how we as a society often feel about elderly
people… “The tragedy is that people have lost interest in trees. They take them
for granted. People don’t respect trees like they used to” and “No one really
understand how slowly trees grow and how old they become” just as Paul’s children
did not truly see their father aging.
In the
end, we find out why the lime trees were so important in Paul’s life and why he
dedicated his life to preserving all trees. We learn the family secrets and how
they will affect this family going forward.
My
only issue with the book was that it got a bit slow in the middle. I have been
to Paris, but don’t know the names of the streets or areas, so that part seemed
a bit hard to read and to go slowly. However, someone who was familiar with
these areas might not agree.
While
not my favorite de Rosnay book (it would be hard to the take the place of
Sarah’s Key in my heart) it is still very worthy of a read.
#TheRainWatcher
#TatianadeRosnay #NetGalley
Publication Date: October
30, 2018
Genre: Fiction
Cover: Perfect
Rating: 3 stars
Source: I
received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest
review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book
