"The Man Who Rained" Book Review

The Man Who Rained by Ali Shaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"When Elsa's father is killed in a tornado, all she wants is to escape — from New York, her job, her boyfriend — to somewhere new, anonymous, set apart. For some years she has been haunted by a sight once seen from an aeroplane: a tiny, isolated settlement called Thunderstown.

"Thunderstown has received many a pilgrim, and young Elsa becomes its latest — drawn to this weather-ravaged backwater, this place rendered otherworldly by the superstitions of its denizens. In Thunderstown, they say, the weather can come to life and when Elsa meets Finn Munro, an outcast living in the mountains above the town, she wonders whether she has witnessed just that.

"For Finn has an incredible secret: he has a thunderstorm inside of him. Not everyone in town wants happiness for Elsa and Finn. As events turn against them, can they weather the tempest - can they survive at all?

"The Man Who Rained is a work of lyrical, mercurial magic and imagination, a modern-day fable about the elements of love."

I really enjoyed this work. I liked it, but not as much as the first book by this author. I loved how the weather became animals - I almost said 'alive' but weather is kind of already alive in a way in this work. Shaw's creatures are always amazing. The only comparison I can come up with is Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth". If you liked, i. e. loved, that movie read Ali Shaw. You won't be disappointed.

His female characters are unusually strong which I always like. It's only unusual because lately the really popular fiction that women tend to like involve women who can't do anything, like make a decision. Shaw's girls just up and go when things are going the way they don't want it to. Some would call that running away, I call it catharsis.

I realize Finn was a loner but he seemed to grow through that without it being shown too much. Unless you count that bulge in his pants that is finally explained to him as not being a bad thing.

I have read other reviews and agree that some passages in this book are beautiful and some characterizations could have been expanded upon: the city vs. some really small village in BumbleFuck, Nowhere. And I get that this place was supposed to be idyllic, but all it reminded me of was a horror movie set up: this small town with their crazy residents and horrible superstitions and boredom that lead them to enjoy killing things that are pretty harmless. I would've liked to have seen more of a turning point for Elsa. Although Daniel was pretty isolated and I liked how that was predicted by his actions for the woman he loved.

*SPOILERS*
I liked that the ending was happier than Mr. Shaw's first book (but I'll be the first to admit loving sad endings that make me cry like I just saw someone kill my dog in front of me), but I also thought it was stupid to have the strangest man ever walk through the town of crazy people, after having hid from them nearly all of his life, like it was no big deal. That part actually made me mentally slap my forehead.

But I did enjoy it and look forward to his next novel, which can't come out soon enough.

I also want to point out that I love the way these covers look.


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I give this book 4 out of 5 books.