Customer Reviews

Rain Village

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"Rain Village" has a gypsy in its soul, filled with secrets, scents, thrills, chills and suspense, just like every circus should be! The narrator, tiny Tessa Riley, begins to tell her tale of being too small to do chores as a mere girl in a farming family in Kansas and meeting up with Mary Finn, a strange, mystical and almost magical woman that arrived on the scene and would serve as both a mentor and an icon to her.

The story unfolds like a paper flower in water, as the tale of who this woman is, how she is connected to this little girl and what lies ahead for little Tessa in that big world out there is the crux of the story.

The book plays out almost like a grown-up fable, with rich descriptions, evocative phrasing and very real people who just happen to be in a very unique business: the world of the Big Top.

Author Carolyn Turgeon provides a read that's as quick as a human cannonball and as light and lovely as the aerialists she describes. It is a wonderful tale that you'll wish went on at least a little longer.

Twisting and curling and jumping high atop the Velasquez Circus big top, Tessa Riley has come along way from her sheltered life as the reticent girl growing up in the small town of Oakley in rural Kansas. Yet the vestiges of her old life still remain, steadily haunting her, and deep down she knows that she must reconcile her new world with the life of Mary Finn, her mentor and the woman who once inspired her.

As Rain Village opens, the sixteen-year-old Tessa is working on her parents' farm. The family comes from a long line of farmers, whose lives have been controlled by the seasons, but Tessa doesn't fit into this hardscrabble life of constantly digging and hauling crops. Desperately wishing for more, her longings are sparked by the arrival in town of Mary Finn, the new librarian, rumored to have a wild gypsy past and secret lovers who visit her after the library is closed.

Despite whisperings from the townsfolk and from her sister Geraldine that Mary makes everyone crazy, Tessa gets a job at the Library so she can get closer to this strange and mysterious woman. Whilst Tessa's mother brands Mary a jezebel and the library an unholy place and her abusive father bans books from the house, Tessa ignores them, giving herself over to the books "raging with life around her," and to Mary, seduced by her kindness, her beautiful words and stories, and her tarot cards, herbs and tea leaves.

Tessa soon leans that Mary was once a circus artist, who left this life she had loved so much to retire to this silent town, to quietly catalogue books. She also discovers that Mary once ran away from a place called Rain Village, leaving her mother, father sister and everything she'd known, after her lover William tragically drowned. Mary tells Tessa that she's not like the others around here and that there's a world a world larger than any of them could imagine out there, just waiting for her.

Determined to learn the art of the trapeze, Mary mentors Tessa, teaching her how to spin circles in the air, clean and sharp as a knife cut. She tells her "her body was born to fly." Undoubtedly, the girl has a natural talent, her body driven completely without barriers, and as fluid as water. "It was like flying - like having no weight around you, no bones, no skin like melting right into the air."

After sudden tragedy strikes, Tessa is forced to follow her dream of joining the circus, to find a world brighter and more wonderful than anything she could find in Oakley. Off to Kansas City Tessa goes, her life suspended between lives, between grief and freedom, the excitement of being out on her own and to be adventurous, free from the burdens of family and of love. Tessa takes to circus life like a fish takes to water, fascinated by this strange and wonderful new world she sees around her.

There's the man who can swallow ten swords and blow streams of fire from his mouth, the girl with the wings sprouting from her back, the pure white horses sparkling with rhinestones, the boom of the ringmasters voice, the grown of the Ferris wheel and the colorful banners, and the glare of lights turning the world inside out.

But it is the trapeze artists which most attract Tessa - the beautiful and exotic Lollie Ramirez and Carlos, Paulo, Jose and Mauro, the handsome and gentlemanly The Flying Ramirez Brothers who inspire Tessa to whirl around a white rope and cut cleanly through the air, moving around and around, unaffected by gravity and anything of this earth.

In perfectly considered prose, author Carolyn Turgeon pounds the reader with exacting images as Tessa's beautifully crafted journey is bought to life. Tessa does indeed fall into the life of the circus and even becomes one of the company's star attractions, but Mary's painful past emerges - and haunted by the images of William in the river pale and floating, "and the girl who cried so many tears" - Tessa finds herself facing many unanswered questions about her best friend's painful life.

Reassessing the past in the light of the present, Tessa gradually changes, maturing and growing, somewhat driven by blind faith and a hope and a longing that has made her demand more of the world than at first it wanted to give her. Part of Tessa's growth is that she realizes pretty soon that Mary has given her a beautiful gift, a striking talent and a language that can describe feeling and beauty, and perhaps even love.

Weaving together the inscrutable forces of memory, spirit, desire and regret and imbedding her narrative with magic and dream-like qualities, Turgeon has written an exquisite and quite moving account of one girl's search through history in an effort to fill the holes that nothing else can reach, to search for happiness and to hopefully discover the ultimate truths that mysteriously surround her dear best friend. Mike Leonard October 06.

Rain Village is both epic and intimate, magical and yet totally real. I just loved this novel. It takes you away the way a good book ought to and so rarely does. I know several people who have read advance copies of Rain Village, and we've all been seduced by its charms. Gorgeous writing, too. I can't wait to see the movie!

A rich portrayal of circus magic, Rain Village is the best kind of page-turning literature, in the tradition of Katherine Dunn's Geek Love and Toni Morrison's Jazz or Beloved. Turgeon's writing is reminiscent of the most awe-inspiring trapeze art--such glittering, seemless, gorgeous prose. You'll fly through this book with the greatest of ease, and finish, wanting more!!!

Little Tessa Riley is a tiny, diminutive twelve-year-old girl who barely stands four feet tall. She was born with hands the size of small plums and fingers like star fish. She is far too small to help on the family farm harvesting corn and potatoes. Tessa can't even hold one large potato with both hands. Her mother, father, sister, and two brothers, all think she is a freak. They call her mean and hurtful names like: munchkin, tramp, and black-haired Jezebel. Her mother forces her to hang from a curtain rod for hours on end hoping it will stretch her little body so she'll be less of a freak.

Her father is a loud, gigantic man who likes to Lord his power over those who are weaker than he is. Her meek mother runs around clutching rosary beads but isn't even Catholic, and is bent over the table reading her Bible every night.

Tessa had heard there was a new librarian in town who seemed to have a strange affect on the men, her own father included. After lunch one day, Tessa decided to get down from her "stretching rod" and run her way to town in hopes of seeing this woman without getting caught by her father.

Sitting on the front steps of the Oakley, Kansas City library, Tessa was trying to decide whether she should go inside or not. She looked up and there was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen and the woman was looking right at her! The woman had striking blue eyes, brown freckled skin and long, wavy, shiny black hair. Mary Finn, the librarian, turned her cat like eyes on Tessa and invited her into the library with her. Tessa was thrilled. Once inside, Tessa thought Mary smelled of: "...the spices my mother baked oranges in." Her wrists were adorned with jingly bracelets and she wore a long flowing skirt.

Mary chatted with Tessa for a bit and Tessa was so endeared to her that she ended up spilling her guts about her terrible home life and body stretching to Mary. Mary felt so sad for little Tessa and made her a special blend of her tea and promised to teach her to read and write. Before she left that day, Mary had taught Tessa how to spell her name. Tessa watched various women from town come in disguised to talk to Mary secretly about their problems, they believed she was a witch with magic powers. Mary would read Tarot cards and send them home with a small cloth bag filled with special herbs and spices to help with their particular problems. When Tessa left that day to return home, Mary was worried what Tessa's father would do if he knew where his daughter had been.

The following day, Mary told Tessa that she used to be part of a circus which made Tessa's eyes go wide. She was part of the "Velasquez Circus" from Mexico, and they were famous. This new news only endeared Tessa even more to Mary, especially when she learned that Mary flew on the trapeze!

That evening in bed Tessa was bursting at the seams just dying to share this new knowledge with someone. As she lay in her bed she decided to confide in her sister, Geraldine, after making her promise that she wouldn't tell anyone. Geraldine was totally excited as she knew who the Velasqueze Circus was because they had come to Kansas City the previous year. Geraldine told Tessa that she thought Mary looked like a princess. Tessa replied that she did too, and wanted to be just like her! Geraldine began a cruel laugh, a horrible guffaw, telling Tessa that she could never look like Mary Finn because she was far too ugly and a freak. Feelings of shame enveloped little Tessa and she hid under her bed covers for the rest of the night listening to Geraldine still snorting in laughter.

Mary and Tessa became fast friends well into Tessa's teen years. Mary finally hired Tessa to work in the library with her. They shared joys, sorrows, and secrets until a terrible tragedy occurred changing the course of Tessa's life forever as she runs off to join the circus!

You won't believe what happens to little Tessa from Oakley, Kansas once she finds the circus. This story is simply a masterpiece.

Tessa Riley is a very small 12-year-old living in a Kansas farming village with her very tall family. Her parents are very religious and don't think that Tessa or her siblings need to know anything besides how to farm land and sew. But Tessa is so small that she cannot help with the farming. So instead, she starts working with the new librarian, the sexy and fascinating Mary Finn.

Mary helps Tessa find herself, discovering a deep core of strength and self-esteem. Mary teaches Tessa to read and tells her stories about her home, Rain Village, and her stint as an acrobat in the Velazquez circus. These hours with Mary help Tessa deal with difficult conditions at home, but eventually Tessa must set out on her own. She does so, escaping to join Mary's former circus troupe and making a home for herself there. But even after making a new life for herself, she finds she can't quite keep the old life out.

Turgeon is excellent at description. She makes Mary come alive, giving her flowing hair, a beaming smile, and a scent of cinnamon and cloves. She shows just how lonely Tessa feels, completely ill-at-ease in her skin and depressed about her future prospects. She describes circus life and Rain Village in great detail. And I think she does very well with the "magical realism" aspect, as though strange and wondrous things just happen and do not cause anyone to so much as blink. I felt so invested in the story and in Mary and Tessa.

But then, about 200 pages in, it just stopped working for me. Tessa felt a deep bond with Mary and when the two had to separate, she was deeply affected. But after Tessa made a wonderful, happy life for herself in the circus, she kept claiming that her old life would never leave her. That she had to have "closure." I also thought that, compared to Tessa and Mary, all the other characters seemed a bit one-dimensional. We know that the circus people are beautiful and vibrant, but we don't really get to know them well enough. Tessa claims to be in love with her husband, but I was unconvinced because I didn't know her husband well. I didn't feel sympathy for her compulsion at the end of the book (quite rushed in about 50 pages) to find out more about Mary because she seemed to have gone years without mentioning Mary to anyone.

While I think Turgeon used wonderfully evocative language and I enjoyed her use of magical realism, this book ultimately fell flat for me. I felt disappointed that I was so invested at the beginning, but at the end felt that no real resolution had been reached.

I read Carolyn Turgeon's 2nd novel, "Godmother" before reading this, and upon finishing it immediately got "Rain Village" at the library. Turgeon's writing is incendiary, unlike anything else I've ever read. Reading this book is like watching a vivid movie, and I hope someone will find this gem and make a film out of it, that's how good it was.

The book is split into 3 sections of Tessa's journey, and each one is an amazing tale. I won't go into the description of the story, as that can be found in the amazon description. The entire book centers and swirls around the character of Mary, who is enchanting and secretive, though you only get to know her thru Tessa's eyes, as well as the stories Tessa hears about her. I liked this book even more then "Godmother", though still found myself wanting just a little more story, as the ending seemed rushed. I also wanted more concrete answers to solidify what really happened with Mary and William.

"Rain Village" was everything you need in a great novel: tragic, heartbreaking, uplifting, romantic, inventive and whimsical. I definitely recommend it.

Rain Village is magical realism at its best. Tessa is a tiny girl raised by farmers, who finds solace first with the town's seductive but outcast librarian, then by running away to join the circus. Full of evocative descriptions, plot twists, and exhaustively researched circus scenes. This book is both a great read and proof of some serious literary chops

This story has all the elements of a great, epic tale. Unfortunately, it reads like a quick outline of this epic story. The characters are rushed through life and we barely get a chance to really care about any of them. Even Tessa's four years with Mary, something that defines the rest of her life, are a blur. The ending is about 1/4 of the length and depth that it should rightfully be. I can't help but feel like this story would have been better handled by a more seasoned writer. There were too many holes and rushed stories that I would have liked to see fleshed out.

Tessa Riley, an unhappy young girl on a Kansas farm, is limited by her tiny size, living in a family of giants, both in appetite and stature. When Mary Finn comes to Oakley, the town is abuzz, the men lining up to take out books from the library where Mary stands behind the counter dispensing volumes of prose and poetry, their wives seeking readings from the magical woman with black gypsy curls who understands the deepest secrets of their hearts. Soon Tessa falls under Mary's spell, enraptured by her stories of distant people and places, Mary's home in Rain Village, the circus life and the broken heart Mary seeks to hide. Through Mary's generosity, Tessa's world grows to include a future and the possibility of her own success in the circus, all the wounds of her past healed by Mary's ministrations.

Upon Mary's suicide, Tessa is set adrift; she runs away from home to join the Velasquez Circus, where Mary's name is the secret key to another family, one who will love and protect, not harm her. Tessa marries a handsome tightrope walker, Mauro, of the famous Ramirez Brothers, content with her life in the air for the next few years until a stranger, Costas, appears at the circus searching for Mary. Suddenly, the present falls away and Tessa is inexplicably drawn to this striking man, leaving all she loves behind to travel with him to Rain Village and make peace with Mary's memory.

Part fable, part fantasy, written in the otherworldly prose of a vivid imagination, Rain Village is an allegory for the mysteries of life, the search for identity and the cruel realities of a father's misspent love for his daughter. Turgeon has created an enchantment, filling the reader's head with the fevered imaginings first stirred when Tessa meets Mary and finds her irresistible, the lure of circus life, the romance of marriage to the devoted Mauro Ramirez, even the foolish quest with Costas, the young man of Mary's stories come to life before her astonished eyes. Although there is a sense that Tessa has built her life on Mary's dreams, she must finally choose the direction that is meant for her alone, leaving Mary to the past.

Framing all in the luxurious language of mystery and dreams, Tessa's journey is filled with extravagant sights and sounds, the ugliness she endures transformed by the magnificence of her accomplishments and remarkable spirit. These characters exist in the realm of the imagination, where love is freely given and richly rewarded. From the trapeze hung from the dark ceiling of the book-laden library to the breathtaking top of the circus tent, from the Ramirez estate in Mexico, where the earth's bounty surrounds the performers preparing for the next circus season to the pungent dampness of Rain Village, this extraordinary novel propels Tessa's daily struggles into rarified air where anything is possible, even contentment. Luan Gaines/2006.