Tatiana de Rosnay returns with a captivating drama surrounding the historical flooding of Paris. I found the descriptions of the flooding and the imminent danger as the Seine continued to rise transported me as I dove into the pages. And with the Malegarde family son Linden walking us through the story we discover amidst this natural disaster a celebration of the Malegarde father’s 70th birthday. The crisis unfolds and familial discord unravels... making The Rain Watcher an excellent read. I highly recommend this book. I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

This was such a gripping read. The pace is quite slow, so slow that the whole story is pretty much a few days long, but I found it oddly compelling. A family gathers in Paris for a celebration as the Seine is threatening to burst its banks. The father of the family suffers a stroke and the mother is felled by the flu. The son and daughter try to pull everything together – but each family member has secrets from the others, secrets that are at the very deepest parts of their souls and their identities. These secrets are all revealed over time – mostly through flashback – and they are both incredible and some are horrible.

It makes you wonder: what makes us human? What shapes us for whom we become? What does it mean to be a family?

A great book club read! I love a book that includes redemption and acceptance.

Thank you so much for my review e-copy via Net Galley!

The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay

October 24, 2018
St Martins Press
Fiction

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and St Martins Press in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is the story about the complicated relationships within a family. Linden Malegard, born in France, but living in California with his partner, Sacha, travels to Paris for a family reunion. Unbeknownst to his family, they arrive during a rain storm with devastating effects. A reoccurrence of the Seine overflowing and flooding the city back in 1910 is feared by all residents.

It seems an unlikely turn of events results in the family being grounded in Paris. The celebration of his parents’ anniversary and father’s birthday become overshadowed by the natural disaster and the declining health of his parents. The reunion in France lasts longer than any of them expected which allows time for them to reminisce and confront issues ignored over the years.

As much as I enjoyed the descriptive aspects of the characters and France, the story felt more “passive” in the sense it was told primarily from Linden’s POV. He is a reflective and somber character who reflects the dank and cloudy environment in which the story occurs. It’s not a “light” read but one with rich, complex characters who seem to be “weathering” their own storm.

The Rain Watcher starts with the Malegarde family meeting in Paris for a dual celebration - Paul's 70th birthday and Paul & Lauren's 40th anniversary. The story is told from Linden's (the son) perspective as the family reunites after many years of estrangement. Linden and his father have a strained relationship and he doesn’t know how to connect with him, he has never been that close with his mother and his sister and him have lost touch over the years. A horrible force of nature ruins the intended celebration and is the backdrop to the story. With days upon days of incessant rain, the Seine River is flooding, more than it ever has in history.

I love Paris and I love reading about it so I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I just couldn't. The author, de Rosnay, does a great job in describing Paris and the flood but I didn’t feel that same detail was given to the characters. The stories and characters told from Linden’s past were able to capture my attention and really bring me in, but the main characters were not as developed and I had a hard time feeling empathy for them. There is loss, hurt, fear and pain in this family and I don’t feel like everything was truly worked out. The novel just ends, somewhat suddenly and doesn’t give the satisfaction of being complete. This is a slow read novel that didn’t excite or lure me like I had hoped it would.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book for my honest review.

After giving Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay five stars, and A Secret Kept four stars, I jumped at the chance to request the ARC for The Rain Watcher from Netgalley.

Linden is a famous homosexual Franco-American photographer visiting Paris with his sister, Mom, and Dad. They are celebrating Linden's father's 70th birthday and his parent's 40th wedding anniversary. Linden and his sister, Tilia, have left their significant others behind to have some quality time with just the four of them. The rain is pouring in Paris, causing La Seine to overflow.

"La Seine, avec ses larges flaques vertes et jaunes, plus changeante qu'une robe de serpent."
(The Seine, with its large green and yellow puddles, more changeable than a snake's dress) - Victor Hugo

Unearthing family secrets, The Rain Watcher is about family relationships, self-identity, addiction, emotional abuse, acceptance, and forgiveness. The flooding of La Seine reflects the flood of emotions Linden experiences.

Paris itself is an atmospheric setting, and de Rosnay does a wonderful job making you feel like you are right in the middle of one of the worst flood's in the city's history. Her writing is eloquent.

“The moon radiates in a freezing blue-black sky, illuminating the swollen watercourse. There is a higher spot at the end of rue Cognacq-Jay, just before the bridge, and they head there. As a step out of the boat, icy waters shoots up to their shins. They wade through it, teeth clenched. The place is completely deserted. The Seine is now drenching the Zouave’s shoulders. The bridge has been entirely closed off by metal barriers and it seems to be poised on top of the river”.

Sadly, I didn't connect with any of the characters. They felt one-dimensional, lacking personality, desires, or personal growth. Told without much dialogue, I felt like the story was told at me, instead of to me. I think this is what caused the inability for me to connect with the characters.

Portrayed from mainly Linden's perspective in the present, we get glimpses into his past, and another viewpoint from Paul's perspective as a child. I quite enjoyed Paul's flashback narrative, and wish we could have had more of that. The perspective changes are a little confusing, however, I imagine this would be fixed with layout or font changes in the finished copy.

There are pieces of the plot that weren't completed, and the ending felt unsatisfying. After loving Sarah's Key and A Secret Kept I was excited to read a new novel by the same author, yet, I'm feeling incredibly disappointed.

A slow-building, character-driven emotional journey, I recommend The Rain Watcher to readers who enjoy historical fiction with very little dialogue.

Plot: 2.5/5
Characters: 2.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Overall: 2.8/5 rounded up to 3 on Goodreads & Netgalley

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*

The writing is lyrical.

Lauren Malegarde has insisted that her two children (sans partners and children) join her and their father Paul in Paris to celebrate his seventieth birthday. For their son Linden, a famous photographer, it means that he must leave his boyfriend Sasha behind in the USA and Tilia, their daughter joins them from London where she lives with her daughter Mistral and second husband, an art expert.

Unfortunately, their arrival in Paris coincides with a heavy rainfall and very severe flooding which leaves most of the city under water.

Both Linden and Tilia are shocked to see their once very healthy strong father, known throughout the world for his knowledge of trees, looking old and drawn. While at dinner, he collapses from a stroke and is rushed to the closest hospital which then becomes flooded and it’s left to Linden to accompany him as he’s transferred by boat to another hospital.

This is a beautifully written book with language that kept me reasonably interested. I also loved the references to Paul’s knowledge on trees. However, it took forever for the author to make a point. I would have preferred to read more about the family dynamics, rather than having my soul saturated under the rain that was drowning Paris, centimetre by centimetre.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

2.5/5 Honestly I was hoping this beautiful cover was going to give me more than it did. The story centers around a family together to celebrate the parents anniversary while a storm rages in the city. The father suffers a stroke and this brings the son wanting to be out to his father and honest about his relationship. Maybe I'm just a person who doesn't feel like my families approval is the be all to end all. Live your life.

Narrated from the perspective of Linden Malegarde, this story presents the scenario of what would happen if the river Seine overflowed its banks and flooded the various communities within Paris. Linden and his family have come together for a reunion to celebrate his father's birthday. Paul Malegarde, also known as "The Treeman," has spent his life taking care of many different types of trees in France. During his birthday dinner, he has a stroke and is taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, the water continues to rise and family secrets begin to be revealed, including the fact that Linden is gay. Will Linden and his family make it out alive, and will they be able to move on from past mistakes and misunderstandings?
I don't like to give a book a bad review because so much work goes into writing, but this book was difficult to read and bothered me in several ways. The plot was slow, which usually isn't an issue for me, but I found myself skimming over the technical descriptions of arboreal matters as well as the overwhelming details of flooding that seemed to crop up everywhere and last for paragraph after paragraph. I tried to follow the storyline, but I found myself also skimming through other passages that seemed unnecessary to the story. The little side story of a girl's rape was bothersome to me, and it seemed extra, even though I finally understood at the end why it was included. I didn't like the profanity, and I didn't care for the way this author pushed her agenda in the reader's face. Frankly, this made the story more difficult to read (this has nothing to do with my own personal opinion on the matter). The horrible comments made by certain minor characters were offensive, and the prevalent adultery was also disturbing to me. I will say that parts of the book were well written, and I enjoyed some of the descriptions and humorous moments included. I suppose this book was just not for me, but for those reasons I cannot recommend it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. A positive review was not required, and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Family reunions always bring out the best in people and here it's no different. Well written again by this author, who never disappoints.

I had a really hard time separating this book from the author of Sarah's Key. I wanted it to live up to that amazing novel, but it just didn't. While I did enjoy the characters and was interested in seeing how their story played out, I didn't really understand the Suzanne storyline. I got that it explained his fathers love of trees, but it was like a little side story that wasn't really given any umph. I felt like when I got towards the end the story felt like it was going to come together more, but then it abruptly finished without really going into more detail. Overall I enjoyed this novel, but it wasn't a favorite.

The Rain Watcher, by Tatiana de Rosnay, triggers emotions of love, hope, grief and fear as readers identify with the characters. The Malegardes, a French-American family, gather in Paris to celebrate the patriarch’s 70th birthday and a fortieth anniversary. During this gathering, the family will confront a flood that threatens to inundate Paris, catastrophic health issues, and agonizing memories that raise unsettling questions about their relationships with each other and their own identities.

The relentless rain and the resulting flood serve as the key antagonists with which each character must grapple. None is more challenged than Linden, the estranged and distant son, who is forced to take responsibility for the safety of his family. Thanks to de Rosnay’s beautiful and lyrical writing, you feel the rain, see the grey, and eventually, fear the inevitability of the flood’s intrusion into your space and life.

This novel is so worth reading. The plot is complicated as each character is slowly revealed through flashbacks and their current interactions. Sometimes the flashbacks were difficult to identify with the person, and some issues were raised which never found resolution. This made the ending somewhat unsatisfying, although I recognize that this is true to life.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very dark and dreary story set in a dark and dreary city, Paris! Yes, you have to completely suspend disbelief and stretch your imagination to envision the City of Lights as a miserable, wretched place. The writing is good so you feel the dampness and smell the mold and putrid air. A good read if you’re in the right frame of mind.

This was a very interesting book. I feel like de Rosnay's books are always a little bit more grown up/serious than my typical easy reads. Her writing style is amazing, and I enjoyed the plot, which centered around a family whose patriarch is a saver of trees. (Yes- you read that right, I'd never heard of it either.) The son had grown distant from his father, but at a mini reunion in Paris while the Seine floods, the family is drawn closer together, and a secret emerges. The format was slightly confusing and I had to read the italicized parts throughout the story again after the end to figure out whose voice it was. You don't figure out whose memories they are until the end, and I was a bit slow on the uptake.

I recommend this book to people who love an intertwining, dramatic read while drinking a cup of hot coffee. (I don't know why liking coffee goes with this book. Perhaps because the characters are often soaked from the constant Paris rain in the novel. haha!)

What a joy to read a family drama written by Tatiana de Rosnay. The Rain Watcher follows the Malegarde family who meet in Paris to celebrate the 70th birthday of Paul, the patriarch. The weekend was arranged by his spouse, Lauren, to gather together their adult children, Tilia and Linden. The reunion unfolds as the river Seine is bursting its banks and threatening to flood the City of Light. There is a sense of foreboding throughout due to the constant rain and the dysfunctional relationships of the Malegardes. Paul, an arborist, has a better understanding of trees than of his family. Lauren wants the weekend to be a success for all. Talia, the daughter, has problems of her own at home in London and Linden, the son, left the Malegarde home as a teenager and never really went back. And everyone has secrets of their own. The Rain Watcher reminds us that all families have issues. An entrancing read. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you’ve read de Rosnay’s other works (including the heart wrenching Sarah’s Key) you know that her words plumb emotional depths that can tear into a reader’s soul. The Rain Watcher is an engrossing family saga and I love the way the author uses the flooding of the Seine in Paris to display the increasing tensions of the Malegarde family reunion.

A must read author + an imminent natural disaster = one great read!

The Rain Watcher is a family drama that slowly unfolds. Put that in contrast to the unrelenting rain and swiftly rising waters of the Seine River. There is a sense of urgency from beginning to end wrapped around a family crisis.

Our narrator is Linden, a successful photographer living in San Francisco. He will meet his older sister, Tilia and his parents Paul and Lauren in Paris for Paul’s 70th birthday. Paul is an internationally known arborist and he tends the trees that have been on his family’s property for generations. Through Linden’s lense the family dynamics are played out along with the weaknesses and gradual disintegration of family. During the birthday celebration tragedy strikes and alters the Malegarde’s festive reunion. A steady, consistent pulse beats as the river rises and family secrets start to surface. Amid tragedy each member confronts their darkest times.

This novel starts with a tree and a fitting symbol it is. A tree is strong and noble with age, but without nurturing and care it will die. The same can be said about relationships. The natural elements in The Rain Watcher are powerful and atmospheric. I curled up in my favorite chair, clutched my warm, dry blanket a little tighter, and savored the writing.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy.

I loved this story and how each characters story line tied in with the other. The Rain Watcher is a book to be on the lookout for. It has great character development without being to in-depth and the overall story is great too. It makes me want to explore the towns mentioned just to catch their beauty myself minus the rain of course.. I also like how the story is told from a male perspective and not female how many stories similar to this is written. Family, friends, life and love.

Really enjoyable read, the kind of book you can’t put down until you are finished. Beautiful setting and an epic tale, highly recommend.

I received this e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I previously read Sarah’s Key maybe four or five years ago. I was blown away by it! So as soon as I that this book was being released by the same author, I jumped at the opportunity to read it. To be able to yet again jump into the mind and works of the author of the book who I still recommend to people all these years later.

The Rain Watcher and Sarah’s Key are night and day. Which of course isn’t a bad thing! It’s reassuring to see that an author has the creative mind to come up with two completely different works of art. The two that I have read at least....

This book follows Linden, who is flying in to Paris for a family get together, his parent’s wedding anniversary as well as their father’s 70th birthday. NO SIGNIFICANT OTHERS ALLOWED! Linden isn’t particularly close to his family. He isn’t estranged however he lives on the other side of the world from them; him in San Francisco with his partner, his sister in London with her drunk of a (much older) second husband, and his parents in the small French town Linden grew up in.

This story has a LOT of family dysfunction. You’ve got the drunkard brother in law, the dead beloved aunt who committed suicide, the mother having a 15 year affair with her ex-fiancé. And on top of that, Linden himself is gay and has yet to come out to his father, in fear of being rejected from the patriarch. HEAVY TOPICS! Honestly, it seemed like there was too much going on.

Meanwhile there’s this natural disaster of a flood going on in Paris. Dad has a stroke during Birthday Dinner, Mom gets walking pneumonia and Sis won’t go to the hospital because of PTSD where she was in a car accident 15 years earlier and her friend’s decapitated head fell in her lap.

Now, while these are all individually heavy situations and topics, it just seemed like there was too much there and it took away from the true theme of the story. The story is a man’s sexuality and him growing closer and opening up to his family, especially the father he was afraid to express his true self to.

The story would also spin off to snipped of when the dad was a four year old and having witnessed the rape and murder of his 16 year old babysitter. Like what? And ultimately the author either went NOWHERE with that or my e-book cut off too soon.

Ultimately, I thought there was too much going on in the book that took away from what I considered to be the main theme of it. It handled tough issues that I believe weren’t given the full attention each topic deserved. It left me extremely confused and as though it ended without some sort of ending or conclusion.

I plan on continuing to recommend Sarah’s Key to others but will not bring up the Rain Watcher.

“And there, in the heart of the linden, I knew no monster, no horror, would ever find me.”
The Rain Watcher was an interesting read, although I sometimes got bogged down and overwhelmed with the geography and descriptions of the arrondissements. I found myself totally engrossed in the dynamics between the characters, particularly between Linden and Paul. So many secrets that affected so many relationships within the family, similar to those of most families. I do like the way the secrets were revealed in small snippets. The rain, rain, and more rain...dreary and depressing as it was, set the emotional tone for this read with each of the main characters struggling to keep themselves above the emotional river running through them. I had tears in my eyes when Linden was sharing his love of Sachs with his dad.
Parts of this book were a four and parts were a three so I give it 3 1/2 stars.
Many thanks to Tatiana de Rosnay, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The a Rain Watcher.