Review: They Dream in Gold

They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

She knew nothing of the place in the world she and her mother came from, and as a child she believed that they had come from sound.

They Dream of Gold was a story of how the changing tides of life pull and push us while we're trying to set our feet firmly in the ground. As a debut, this is one of the best I've ever read, the flow from one point-of-view, timeline, and setting to another was tightly held together by the connections between the characters. This type of story could have so easily got away and fell apart but the author's writing style and tone keeps the traveling sands feel discussed in the author's note. I would consider Bonnie our main character and touchstone as she blows into other characters' lives and as she's with them, readers then get tangents into those character lives.

When we enter into Bonnie's life, it's 1969 Switzerland and she's heavily pregnant. Staying at her mother-in-law's home, the household is tense and stressed that they haven't heard from Mansour, Bonnie's husband. He's a musician who's been out on tour and when a radio report comes on that the women fear could hold the answer, Bonnie knows it's time to figure out what happened to Mansour. The story then branches out, giving us Bonnie's childhood, her mother couldn't take care of her when she was younger, so she left Paris to stay with her grandmother in Brooklyn, and then as each character, Bonnie's mother Claudine, Mama Eva, and the other two women staying in Mama Eva's home, Marie and Sokhna, along with Mansour and friends and colleagues Mansour makes along his way and how Bonnie and Mansour met, we flow into each characters' pov and visit their lives at certain times in their history. From 1969 Switzerland, 1949 Senegal, 1927 Alabama, and other times and places, the story manages to give intimate insights into what happened to these characters and how that has shaped and molded them in the 1969 present.

This structure sounds zig zaggy, but I promise it works, we never info dump stay with one character, it's more of a constant flowing around as the present search for Mansour is the central plot line for bringing in and connecting all these characters. As Mansour is a musician and that is a main part of what brought him and Bonnie together, it's all around in the story and what I'd keep in mind if you're more of a linear reader to help you get into the flow of this. There were moments of quiet devastation, fierce love, hope, and strength that will keep you thinking about these characters for a long time. Historical events were in the background and forefront at times to ground the reader in the time and place of the character pov you're reading at the time, adding more layers to the characters. This was an amazing story on how other's not only affect our lives as they come into and leave it, but how we carry and pass on, whether familial, friendship, or romantic, those little grains of emotional experiences from one generation to another. There was so much to experience and feel in this, that I can't recommend it enough.

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