The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. The novel is dripping with magical realism and reminded me (in a good way) of Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River, which I also loved.

Set in New Orleans in the 1950’s, the novel is about a small boy who is born without a voice. Although he is mute, he is not deaf, if fact he can hear the sounds of the universe, both present and past: By June of 1956, six-year-old Bonaventure’s hearing went beyond vibrations and out and away from frequencies and wavelengths. It sliced through pressure. It defeated time and space. He like to curl up in his favorite chair on the sunporch and listen to exploding sunspots , and sometime on nights he just couldn’t fall asleep, he listened to stars being born.”

I hadn’t heard/read anything about the book, so I wasn’t expecting much, but the gorgeous writing immediately drew me in. Here’s an example. The author is describing cemeteries in New Orleans: In those cities of the dead, statues and etchings mark resting places, and a populace of angels stand in constant pose directing the departed toward heaven. Broken flowers and weeping willows pay reverent homage, while poppies bestow eternal sleep. Doves bequeath peace, Christ’s bleeding heart wears a crown of thorns, and lambs mark the graves of children. Every statue and every design keeps vigil over the dead.”

Lately, I’ve read a fair number of books that were interesting, but I didn’t much like any of the characters. They were realistically portrayed, but often  by an author whose view of mankind seemed jaded and cynical. In these books, I couldn’t warm up to anyone. With this novel, I felt sympathy for and empathy with many of the characters–Bonaventure, his mother, his dead father, his paternal grandmother, that grandmother’s boyfriend, Trindidad, the housekeeper. I cared so much about everybody, that at the end of the book, I found myself weeping, not just a little sniffle, but downright sloppy weeping. I don’t remember the last time that’s happened.

After reading the book, I listened to an interview of Rita Leganski, the author. For most of her life, Leganski worked as a secretary. At age 49, she decided to go to college, taking courses at night. One of her last courses before graduating was a creative writing class. The last assignment for the class was to write an interesting short story. Leganski came up with a humorous tale about a mute child named Bonaventure. Some time after graduation, she saw her professor who said she should do something with the story. Eventually, Leganski expanded the short story into a novel. She sent out 70 queries, before she won representation with her 71^st query and I am so glad she did.

I highly recommend this novel and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.