One of BuzzFeed’s 24 Best Fiction Books of 2015“As Simon, a lonely research librarian, searches frantically for the key to a curse that might be killing the women in his family, he learns strange and fascinating secrets about their past. A tale full of magic and family mystery, The Book of Speculation will keep you up all night reading.”–Isaac Fitzgerald, BuzzFeed Simon Watson, a young …
Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.
One June day, an old book arrives on Simon’s doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of “mermaids” in Simon’s family have drowned–always on July 24, which is only weeks away.
As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon’s family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he get to the heart of the mystery in time to save Enola?
In the tradition of Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, The Book of Speculation–with two-color illustrations by the author–is Erika Swyler’s moving debut novel about the power of books, family, and magic.
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5 Stars.
Beautifully written and it immediately sucked me in. I was a tad worried when I realized it was circus themed since several reviews compared it to The Night Circus which I didn’t care for at all. However, this was amazing.
Each chapter when from the past to the present. I thoroughly enjoyed the past storyline to the present however it was still really good!!! I recommend if you are looking for something a tad different with a magical type of element to it. It’s not my usual genre but I did very much enjoy it.
A compelling story with a unique voice, a new world to visit.
The story of Simon and his sister Enola, in the present day. And the story of Amos and Evangeline, in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Simon is a librarian, living in his childhood home on the Long Island Sound. His home is crumbling around him after years of neglect. His sister travels with a carnival as a tarot card reader.
Simon receives a mysterious book from Martin Churchwarry of Iowa, an antique book dealer. The book is an old logbook from Peabody’s traveling carnival, dating back hundreds of years. In it, Simon discovers the story of Amos and Evangeline, two of his ancestors. He also discovers that he comes from a long line of “mermaids,” women who made their living holding their breath for minutes at a time underwater in the carnival. All of these mermaids have died on July 24th, of drowning. As July 24th rapidly approaches, Simon becomes more and more worried about the fate of his sister.
This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the story of Amos and Evangeline the most. Reading about their lives in the traveling carnival was fascinating to me. Amos starts out as the Wild Boy before learning the art of Tarot cards. Evangeline joins the carnival as a mermaid.
I did like this book. I wanted to know what would happen to the characters, and I liked exploring the interconnectedness of them. Life in a carnival has always seemed so fun, and reading about it made me jealous I couldn’t travel with them.
Loved this book. It took me on a great adventures in the lives of those who travel in the circus from past to present and families ties that are created.
I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed reading this book. I know this book has many mixed reviews and I am glad that I gave this book a chance. I am now adding it to my favorites. And would love to read more from this author. The character’s and how Erika Swiller bought them to life. The mermaids and the fortunetellers, curses. I like reading book that have back and fourth times. I have to say that I enjoyed all the characters but Simon is my favorite. I loved how he wanted to find out answers.
I highly recommend this book.
About Book-
Simon just got laid off from work. And has received a book. from someone he doesn’t know. But when Simon starts reading and uncovering who these people are he finds out that they are all connected somehow to his mother who died at when Simon and his sister were very young. His sister who returns home with her won secrets that she must help her brother. Again I highly recommend this book.
The carnival/traveling circus aspect of this book was enjoyable and fascinating. I wanted to shake some of the characters or at least have them sit down and actually talk to each other but I guess some relationships work that way. I couldn’t help feeling that the family needed Flora Poste (from Cold Comfort Farm) to straighten them out.
This was a weird and twisty book. I enjoyed it for it’s weirdness but would not want a steady diet of this type of story.
Good book. Related to the attachment to the dilapidated home….
A librarian who lives in a crumbling house on Long Island, receives an antique book from a collector that mentions the deaths of his mother and the women in her family. They were all carnival mermaids who drown on the same date but in different years. His sister, a card reader with the circus, has come to visit. As the anniversary date of the tragic events closes in, he fears for his sister and her fate. This plot had great potential and the writing flowed. However, neither the story nor the characters were that interesting.
As Simon Watson is trying to figure out what to do about the fact that his family home is perched on an ever-eroding cliff on Long Island Sound, an ancient book is delivered to his doorstep. Simon is a librarian who works with very old books in the archives of the library, so he is experienced enough to tell that this book is hundreds of years old. It is an eighteenth-century journal filled with sketches and stories of people in a circus. When he contacts a Mr. Churchwarry, the man who sent the book, he is told that, somehow, the book relates to his family.
Meanwhile, Simon worries about his sister who ran off to join the circus. Her visit home is fast approaching. A detail in the ancient book leads him to believe that she is in serious danger as a result of an old family curse.
This is an amazing book for all those who are in love with books! However, it deals not only with a sincere reverence for books. This book has it all. The characters are well-developed and very real. They tell the reader a story about family, love, betrayal, and mermaids. This book is filled with unforgettable imagery, sentiment, and magic.
I must have read this book seven times within three months. She did an amazing job creating worlds and mystery. I couldn’t put this book down, every time I started rereading it I felt drawn into the story once again! I recommend this book if you want to read about love, magic, and family.
4 stars to Erika Swyler’s The Book of Speculation, a beautiful story full of intense imagery and powerful connections among the many characters. With a slight border into the fantasy realm, this tale is well-woven and provides an opportunity to feel the impact the past has across a family’s descendants and relationships. The book alternates chapters weaving the past and the present together while challenging the reader to determine the connection between the two stories.
Story
In the past, a traveling carnival and circus heads up and down the Eastern seaboard in the mid 18th century lead by the incomparable Peabody. Along the way, he takes in stray who become part of his acts and his own life. When he’s forced to choose between some of the older members and the newer finds, disaster strikes causing a flood of impacts for the future.
In the present, Simon Watson, receives a book from a mysterious bookseller in Iowa. Simon’s Long Island shore house is crumbling and he loses his job as a librarian in difficult economic times. His wayward carnie sister comes home resembling their late mother. His childhood friend becomes his lover. He begins to make connections between the people in the book he receives with his own family but doesn’t understand what it means. All the women are tied together on a certain date under certain weather conditions.
The two stories collide in a powerful realization leaving Simon at the center of preventing the same fate from happening to his sister. In the end, everything he knew about his life is turned upside down and he finds himself a tragic hero. But will he sacrifice himself in order to preserve his family?
Strengths
The imagery is stunning. The intensity of the relationships is beautiful. The connections among the characters are vast. It’s a very simple story but it’s a very complex fall-out. The author hits the art form right in its center, providing a wonderfully tragic tale full of intrigue, suspense and drama. You never know who to root for, but you want them all to survive the impacts. It’s one of the only books where I didn’t need to care so much about specific characters as I did for the way they all relate to one another. It’s about relationships and trust, love and power.
Suggestions
I generally am not a huge fantasy fan, but when I read fantasy, I want it to go all out, e.g. Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings… this book crosses a very fine line of not actually having any fantasy in it, but the underlying arc that drives the connection feels like it has fantastical elements at its core. I would have liked to see that explored more so it had a very clear purpose in the end (don’t want to give away spoilers). A little too much is left to interpretation on what really happened, and why it’s happening… which is OK, I like the unknown magic aspects, but given this was such a strong and powerful story, I wanted a little more depth to the core of “why.”
Final Thoughts
I like the author’s style and would want to read more from her. I’m curious to see what others think of this debut novel. It has so many great components and images, it’s bound to be a success. At the same time, it was missing that final piece to push it over the edge and gain immense popularity. The title, “The Book of Speculation” could have been explored more and it would have knocked it out of the park for me.
One of my new favorites. I come from a mysterious family as well, one deeply rooted in practicing tarot and other magic, so I related so deeply to the characters trying to find the answers of their families and why these things were happening.
I listened to this book on audio and felt the characters truly come to life. The story is absolutely enchanting as you follow a family through love and tragedy. The characters are delightfully quirky and the mounting suspense is palpable to the end. Wonderful!
Unlike any other book I’ve read. Will the curse be broken? What forces control the family’s fate?
Interesting format with different points of view
I liked the magic elements and the general plot, but the characters had a lot of manufactured drama in their interpersonal conflicts and it was obnoxious. All the romantic/sexual relationships were conceptualized in terms of the sex and not so much in terms of the emotional bond. This resulted in Simon angsting excessively about telling his girlfriend’s father that they had sex when it’s obviously not necessary to explicitly tell one’s partner’s parents about the sex- you just say you’re in a relationship and let the sex be implied. It doesn’t have to be so hard. There’s a whole subplot of Simon getting used to his sister’s boyfriend, and a lot of why he initially freaks out seems to be because his sister did not introduce him with “he’s my boyfriend” but rather “we [f-word- because writing the word with an asterisk for the vowel is apparently against review guidelines].” Yes, I know that friends with benefits are a thing, but that doesn’t seem to be what these relationships are supposed to be. And besides, you don’t have to tell your family about your friends with benefits. I don’t know, it just seems like there’s a weird attitude towards sex in here. It certainly doesn’t endorse religious sexual repression or anything like that. It’s just… weird.
And then there’s all the drama Simon causes by failing to meet up with his girlfriend as planned and causing trouble at the library. There doesn’t seem to be a reason for it, just manufacturing drama.
Well written, confusing at times because of the tarot card component, but interesting all the same.
I loved it! Magical realism, a mysterious antique book, strong sense of place, synchronicity, interesting characters, family histories, and tarot cards make this one of the most entertaining books I’ve read this year.
Definitely a good read. Original characters confront plot twists and lots of hermit crabs. You will learn a lot about Tarot, carnival life, and research librarians and enjoy an extremely well-written story about life by the sea and on the edge.