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The Man Who Rained
From the Costa Prize shortlisted-author of The Girl with Glass Feet comes another magical novel of love, discovery and nature.
The Man Who Rained is a work of lyrical, mercurial magic and imagination, a modern-day fable about the elements of love.
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 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 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.
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 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 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?
282 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2011
14 people are currently reading
1408 people want to read
About the author
Ali Shaw
4 books420 followersAli Shaw is the author of The Trees, The Man who Rained and The Girl with Glass Feet, which won the Desmond Elliott Prize for first novels. He grew up in Dorset and studied English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University. He has worked as a bookseller and at Oxford’s Bodleian Library. He lives with his wife and two-year-old daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
June 6, 2021
I think it's safe to say that my ratings for this book are three and a half stars.
Elsa and the thunder. Elsas and..... the weather? The cold never bothered them anyway?
There are books that remind you why you loved reading in the first place, the pure magic of them. They rekindle something in you like estranged lovers reconciling, that rewarding feeling of getting back the one that got away. I really really wanted to say that about this book, but as in whole something was clearly lacking. Although it had handled magic realism well and there were parts and moments and prose that blew me away, something was missing. Plus, I found the characters and their motives well irritating, their loyalty felt contrived. Also, I found Daniel Fossiter parts to be much more interesting than Elsa's.
But moth as final friends in her finality was really nice and the canines made up of breeze was a nice touch indeed. I liked the ending, especially the last line. Perfect. Sweet. satisfying. Just stirring.
Lemme show you , lemme show you
-----------
The winds shook off in unison and yipped beneath the gleaming stars.
She gave him her lips. They kissed.
And she was in love with the thunder.
-----------
Just gorgeously written. Almost enough to forgive the Insta Love. God, I dislike IL in fiction. And what an appealing and appeasing cover.
p.s what is with the name Finn being featured prominently for prominent characters? It was there in this book and it's in the book I am reading right now. Tell the Wolves I am home. Well, the wolves are already home. So there's that.
January 16, 2012
Elsa is kind of lost after her father – a storm chaser- is killed in a tornado. When her boyfriend Peter springs a marriage proposal at her, she decides to break things off, leave everything behind in order to start anew and find out what she really wants in life and so, she makes her way to a little town that has haunted her for years after seeing it from an airplane. Thunderstown is an isolated place, a weather-ravaged backwater, filled with superstitious inhabitants who believe that the weather can come to life. Elsa finds out, as soon as she arrives, that these superstitions might not be as outrageous as they sound when she meets Finn Munro. An outcast hiding in the mountains outside the town , Finn has a thunderstorm inside of him – literally. Elsa is irrevocably attracted to Finn and vice-versa and the two start a relationship that will change their lives. Meanwhile, Daniel Fossiter, the town’s culler and Finn’s only ally, is having problems of his own when he is tasked with bringing Old Man Thunder in – the elusive magical being that is thought to be guilty of all problems the town has with the weather.
The Man Who Rained is a puzzling book and I can’t help but to start with the problem of defining it. In the UK, where it has been published so far, it is shelved as Literary Fiction. But there is a man who turns into rain – not metaphorically but literally. There is the belief that weather can turn into people and at one point it is hinted that there are about 3000 people like Finn in the world at one given time.
The Man Who Rained reads as a romantic fairytale but the elements that make it a fairytale are extremely vague. There are glimpses that magical things happen in the world and that certain people are aware of that. The story is filled with small moments of awe and beautiful imagery like for instance, Finn turning into rain or canaries made of sunshine but these things are not really fully incorporated into the story as part of its world-building. I had several questions that were left unanswered: what exactly makes Thunderstown such a special place? Why do these things happen there? Actually since we are mentioning it, the main plot proposes that the town is ravaged by weather and yet very little in terms of weather actually happens in the book to the town. Who are these people that can turn into weather? Are they aerie spirits, fairies, gods? What in the world, happened in the end?
The conclusion that one reaches is that the story is obviously not really about the world-building, and any Fantasy (and Romance) trappings that exist do not really frame the storytelling. The story is about its people and the characters move the story and this is made very clear by the fact that the story alternates point of view between Elsa and Daniel – not Finn.
The implication then, at least to me, is that novels that focus on characters cannot, possibly be Fantasy or Romance, THE HORROR, despite obvious fantastical and romantic elements, which is utter rubbish of course. Hence the shelving in Lit Fic.
But leaving conflicting definitions and shelving rants aside, The Man Who Rained is competently well-written, featuring a somewhat engaging story that had the aforementioned beautiful imagery and an interesting exploration of “identity” at its core. All three main characters to one extent or the other are searching for personal identity: is Finn a man – what does it mean to be a man, anyway? What does Elsa want for her life? Is Daniel a culler because his entire family – apart from his father – were cullers? Does he have any choice?
Of all characters, Daniel was probably the most fascinating one to me: his struggle to conciliate himself with the ideal of family, tradition and responsibility was absorbing (although not necessarily original).
But beyond Daniel, I had problems with the other two characters. In fact, I would say that Finn as a character was a complete let-down. He was mostly a stand-in to help but Elsa and Daniel develop their arcs and had barely any voice. What a wasted opportunity to explore all the metaphorical possibilities of having someone with a thunderstorm inside!
As for Elsa, her romance with Finn is at the centre of the novel and it is unfortunately, a premium example of insta-love as she barely knows Finn at all before falling in love. I am still not entirely convinced that Elsa was in love with Finn inasmuch as she was in love with the idea of him. More to the point, one of the most important things about Elsa as a character is her connection with her father who was a storm-chaser, how much she loved him and admired (and envied) his connection to the weather. In that sense, it is as though falling in love with Finn actually brings her closer to the memory of her father, in which case (sorry but I got to use this word): ew. That their relationship is fully supported by the text and not ever questioned in those terms is quite troubling and the fact that she spends most of the book in search of an identity and a purpose but ultimately it turns out that what she really wants in life is not a “what” but a “who”? It makes me uneasy because it is as though she is merely defined by the two men in her life. That to me, is a problematic way of writing a female character.
Ultimately, this is a book that left me with conflicted feelings. I can see it has many positive aspects but overall, it was more disappointing than anything else,
The Man Who Rained is a puzzling book and I can’t help but to start with the problem of defining it. In the UK, where it has been published so far, it is shelved as Literary Fiction. But there is a man who turns into rain – not metaphorically but literally. There is the belief that weather can turn into people and at one point it is hinted that there are about 3000 people like Finn in the world at one given time.
The Man Who Rained reads as a romantic fairytale but the elements that make it a fairytale are extremely vague. There are glimpses that magical things happen in the world and that certain people are aware of that. The story is filled with small moments of awe and beautiful imagery like for instance, Finn turning into rain or canaries made of sunshine but these things are not really fully incorporated into the story as part of its world-building. I had several questions that were left unanswered: what exactly makes Thunderstown such a special place? Why do these things happen there? Actually since we are mentioning it, the main plot proposes that the town is ravaged by weather and yet very little in terms of weather actually happens in the book to the town. Who are these people that can turn into weather? Are they aerie spirits, fairies, gods? What in the world, happened in the end?
The conclusion that one reaches is that the story is obviously not really about the world-building, and any Fantasy (and Romance) trappings that exist do not really frame the storytelling. The story is about its people and the characters move the story and this is made very clear by the fact that the story alternates point of view between Elsa and Daniel – not Finn.
The implication then, at least to me, is that novels that focus on characters cannot, possibly be Fantasy or Romance, THE HORROR, despite obvious fantastical and romantic elements, which is utter rubbish of course. Hence the shelving in Lit Fic.
But leaving conflicting definitions and shelving rants aside, The Man Who Rained is competently well-written, featuring a somewhat engaging story that had the aforementioned beautiful imagery and an interesting exploration of “identity” at its core. All three main characters to one extent or the other are searching for personal identity: is Finn a man – what does it mean to be a man, anyway? What does Elsa want for her life? Is Daniel a culler because his entire family – apart from his father – were cullers? Does he have any choice?
Of all characters, Daniel was probably the most fascinating one to me: his struggle to conciliate himself with the ideal of family, tradition and responsibility was absorbing (although not necessarily original).
But beyond Daniel, I had problems with the other two characters. In fact, I would say that Finn as a character was a complete let-down. He was mostly a stand-in to help but Elsa and Daniel develop their arcs and had barely any voice. What a wasted opportunity to explore all the metaphorical possibilities of having someone with a thunderstorm inside!
As for Elsa, her romance with Finn is at the centre of the novel and it is unfortunately, a premium example of insta-love as she barely knows Finn at all before falling in love. I am still not entirely convinced that Elsa was in love with Finn inasmuch as she was in love with the idea of him. More to the point, one of the most important things about Elsa as a character is her connection with her father who was a storm-chaser, how much she loved him and admired (and envied) his connection to the weather. In that sense, it is as though falling in love with Finn actually brings her closer to the memory of her father, in which case (sorry but I got to use this word): ew. That their relationship is fully supported by the text and not ever questioned in those terms is quite troubling and the fact that she spends most of the book in search of an identity and a purpose but ultimately it turns out that what she really wants in life is not a “what” but a “who”? It makes me uneasy because it is as though she is merely defined by the two men in her life. That to me, is a problematic way of writing a female character.
Ultimately, this is a book that left me with conflicted feelings. I can see it has many positive aspects but overall, it was more disappointing than anything else,
January 13, 2012
Having read and loved The Girl With Glass Feet last year I was excited to find a new release by Ali Shaw to start off 2012. I loved this book. It was very much in the same vein as The Girl With Glass Feet - heavy on magic realism, romantic and fairytale-eqsue.
The only slight critique I could make would be that there dialogue felt slightly clunky in places but certainly not to any kind of degree that it hindered my reading experience at all.
Ali Shaw has easily rocketed in to my all time top five favourite authors list and I absolutely can say with certainty that I can't wait to read and love whatever he writes next.
While reading this book I listened to a lot of Sigur Rós and it was a gorgeous combination, both, to me, are ethereal and achingly beautiful. I loved reading this book and will certainly be recommending and gifting copies to friends. On a more superficial note, I also need to add how perfect the cover is. Absolutely lovely.
The only slight critique I could make would be that there dialogue felt slightly clunky in places but certainly not to any kind of degree that it hindered my reading experience at all.
Ali Shaw has easily rocketed in to my all time top five favourite authors list and I absolutely can say with certainty that I can't wait to read and love whatever he writes next.
While reading this book I listened to a lot of Sigur Rós and it was a gorgeous combination, both, to me, are ethereal and achingly beautiful. I loved reading this book and will certainly be recommending and gifting copies to friends. On a more superficial note, I also need to add how perfect the cover is. Absolutely lovely.
July 21, 2022
Es wurde sehr in die Länge gezogen und fand dann nach einem spannenden Ereignis ein abruptes Ende.
Man hätte das Ende bessser erklären und mehr erzählen können. Ich habe zwar geahnt was passieren wird aber schlussendlich nicht herausgefunden wie es dazu genau kam/ wie es genau geschah...
Man hätte das Ende bessser erklären und mehr erzählen können. Ich habe zwar geahnt was passieren wird aber schlussendlich nicht herausgefunden wie es dazu genau kam/ wie es genau geschah...
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January 12, 2022After reading The Girl with the Glass Feet I couldn't wait for another of Ali Shaw's beautiful tales.
The story is again unique and bizarre. The writing falls short from being poetry, that's how beautiful it is.
A girl falls in love with a boy made of rain, thunder and storm. My problem: I didn't like this strange boy. I kind of rooted for Daniel, whom I imagined as some more grumpy version of Gilmore Girls' Luke Danes. So when it turned out that Finn was the one Elsa was going to end up with, it left me a little disappointed.
Somehow the magic of this book just did not grip me. Still, thumbs up for Shaw's originality and wonderful style of writing.
The story is again unique and bizarre. The writing falls short from being poetry, that's how beautiful it is.
A girl falls in love with a boy made of rain, thunder and storm. My problem: I didn't like this strange boy. I kind of rooted for Daniel, whom I imagined as some more grumpy version of Gilmore Girls' Luke Danes. So when it turned out that Finn was the one Elsa was going to end up with, it left me a little disappointed.
Somehow the magic of this book just did not grip me. Still, thumbs up for Shaw's originality and wonderful style of writing.
January 3, 2015
What a magical story!! Ali Shaw has stolen my heart for the second time with this latest novel of his. There is something so poetically whimsical about his writing. There isn't much else to say... Just read the book and smile :)
September 7, 2016
This could have been so good. Very, very dissapointed.
Elsa is a really boring character without any depth. Yes, she gets plently of memories, but they aren't relevant. It doesn't add anything to her charcater. She also doens't grow in this book, which I think could have been done easily. Would have made the book a whole lot more interesting.
I did like Finn, he was so cute and adorable! He did grow a lot in this book, which made me fall in love with him even more! And duh, he is a thunderstorm, how awesome is that?
I loved the romance blossoming between them (the scene in the trees and how happy Elsa made Finn were adorable). And then they were hopelessly in love. Wait, what? When did that happen? It seemed as if the author thought that he had finished that part of the book and that he could just go on with the rest of the story. Which resulted in a sloppy and rushed romance.
This entire book seemed rushed. As if there was no time to let two characters have a deep conversation, slowly building their relationship. But of course there was enough time to describe all buildings and all the nature.
Daniel's chapters did make me understand the history of the town, which I think was their purpose, but they were extremly boring. I let my eyes scan over them, instead of actually reading them.
Then the whole weather idea: it is such an amazing and cool concept! It also really interested me. I love fantasy elements like this! But it was so dissapointing.
The dog thing was really weird and in my opinion it was never fully explained. What kind of weather were they? And why were they attracted to Elsa?
The sunlight canaries were amazing though! I loved their concept.
The ending however, with Finn chancing into the storm and killing Daniel, ruined it all. What even was that? That made no sense. No sense at all. How did Daniel die exactly? How did Finn come back to life? why did he lose his hair? All of it was explained very poorly.
Elsa is a really boring character without any depth. Yes, she gets plently of memories, but they aren't relevant. It doesn't add anything to her charcater. She also doens't grow in this book, which I think could have been done easily. Would have made the book a whole lot more interesting.
I did like Finn, he was so cute and adorable! He did grow a lot in this book, which made me fall in love with him even more! And duh, he is a thunderstorm, how awesome is that?
I loved the romance blossoming between them (the scene in the trees and how happy Elsa made Finn were adorable). And then they were hopelessly in love. Wait, what? When did that happen? It seemed as if the author thought that he had finished that part of the book and that he could just go on with the rest of the story. Which resulted in a sloppy and rushed romance.
This entire book seemed rushed. As if there was no time to let two characters have a deep conversation, slowly building their relationship. But of course there was enough time to describe all buildings and all the nature.
Daniel's chapters did make me understand the history of the town, which I think was their purpose, but they were extremly boring. I let my eyes scan over them, instead of actually reading them.
Then the whole weather idea: it is such an amazing and cool concept! It also really interested me. I love fantasy elements like this! But it was so dissapointing.
The dog thing was really weird and in my opinion it was never fully explained. What kind of weather were they? And why were they attracted to Elsa?
The sunlight canaries were amazing though! I loved their concept.
The ending however, with Finn chancing into the storm and killing Daniel, ruined it all. What even was that? That made no sense. No sense at all. How did Daniel die exactly? How did Finn come back to life? why did he lose his hair? All of it was explained very poorly.
February 24, 2013
I added this to my 'want to read' shelf after finishing The Girl with Glass Feet. Had I read this one first, I don't think I would have added any further novels by this author.
This was not as deep or as poignant as Glass Feet. I didn't engage with any of the characters (I positively disliked Elsa and the goat trapping man), it didn't move me and all in all, I found it rather silly. I would have liked the option of 2.5 stars but rounded it up to 3 for the nice writing style.
This was not as deep or as poignant as Glass Feet. I didn't engage with any of the characters (I positively disliked Elsa and the goat trapping man), it didn't move me and all in all, I found it rather silly. I would have liked the option of 2.5 stars but rounded it up to 3 for the nice writing style.
March 9, 2020
I was taken quite by suprise by this book, didn't think I'd enjoy it half as much as I did, got me into reading all of Ali Shaw's books.
January 21, 2025
These our actors,
As foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air,
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on.
-William Shakespeare, The Tempest
From the author who enchanted readers with The Girl With Glass Feet. The Man Who Rained is a story about legacy, tradition, letting go of the past, grief/loss, new beginnings, changing relationships, misunderstanding/understanding and love.
I do love all of Ali Shaw's work (where has he disappeared to?), but I think The Girl With Glass Feet is the best. While re-reading in 2025, I thought of several films and one television episode: Disney/Pixar's Elemental (2023), A24's LAMB (2021), Brian and Charles (2022), and The X-Files episode, "Post-Modern Prometheus".
Read in 2021, 2023 and 2025
Favorite Passages:
THE CLOUD-CAPPED TOWERS
Heading for work in New York, she used to catch her reflection in traffic windows or corner mirrors in subway stations. She would pretend she'd glimpsed another Elsa, living in a looking glass world where life had not become unbearable.
________
The only visible part of the world was locked inside the yellow wedge of the headlights. The road had no boundaries, no walls or hedgerows, and the car rocking and bouncing over potholes and scatterings of slate kept her awake. A forever road, as if there were nothing more in the universe than car and broken tarmac.
_______
Stars were brightly visible, but only in the zenith of the night. She could not see the mountains in the distance because now she was amongst them.
_______
Her dad had raised her to love the elements with a passion second only to his, but life in New York had weatherproofed her. Only at her dad's funeral, as the spring winds wiped her tears dry and carried his ashes away into the air, did it feel as if that passion had been uncovered again. It was her inheritance, but it had knocked a hole through her as if through a glass pane. All summer long she had been dealing with the cracks it had spread through the rest of her being.
The only signpost she had seen in these last few awakenings was a rusting frame with its board punched out, an empty direction to nowhere.
They had followed that signpost.
It was gargantuan, disproportionate to the needs of the tiny town; a massif of stone to rival any cathedral. And it was entirely unlit. The night air around it looked displaced, as if evicted from its rightful position by the immense bulk of the building.
AN EXECUTION
When next her route returned her to the church, she had the spine-tingling sensation that the distant past remained close in this place.
_______
She looked through the ring as if it were a spyglass and saw the woods leaning in, the twigs scratching, the bird leering beady-eyed from a bent branch. Her stomach lurched. The world changed, realigning like a dial.
_______
When they had first started dating they had agreed with cool cynicism that love was just chemical flushes and electrical signals flowing through the brain, something tacky that belonged in souvenir shops. "Love," she had declared once to Peter, "is just the heart on an I Heart NYC baseball cap." And he had agreed with her.
CLOUD ON THE MOUNTAIN
He broke up. His head caved in, becoming nothing more than a dented sphere of fog. His chest tore apart and the blue sky and bright sun shone through the place where his heart should have been. He disintegrated, every second less like a man and more like a cloud.
_______
She felt as if, in that instant, the world had grown as limitless as it must appear to an insect.
_______
She had never been good at knowing the difference between running away and running forwards and she reckoned that with her they were probably one and the same thing. When faced with any challenge or fear she knew only to run, and only in retrospect could she tell whether she had charged headlong or fled for her life.
WILD IS THE WIND
The air had closed in overnight. Inhaling felt like breathing through a veil.
_______
For now the streets enjoyed the last reposeful moments of the night. Even the white flowers growing up through the cracked paving looked like stars set in a stone heaven.
_______
When the sunlight came it overflowed Drum Head and rolled downhill to Thunderstown. Walls turned amber and chimney pots gold. Windowpanes lit up with the reflected dawn.
_______
"In New York my life just . . . accumulated. I didn't feel like I'd chosen any of it, only wandered into it and just started living it. Then earlier this year some stuff happened and it made me realize that I needed to live a life I had chosen, to be a person I had considered being. So I came here, I suppose, to have the space to find that version of myself.
_______
She sat down forlornly on a rock. Darkness drained the land. The visible world became small and black; but beyond sight it echoed with the tuneless symphonies of the wind. She wondered when she had last been so immersed in a night.
PART WEATHER
"Well, Elsa, I am not like you. I am not like anybody. I used to think I was, but that was a long time ago now. I can't promise you will understand. I don't think many people could."
"I'll do my best."
"Like I say, I'm not normal. Even if I'd started out that way, I suppose I'd have become very strange by living alone for so long like this."
OLD MAN THUNDER
"Whether we like it or not," said Sidney, "we are approaching a moment when our old ways of doing things will be challenged."
_______
Old Man Thunder, the legend went, was a storm cloud that had become a man. He was the master of wild dogs, the rider of the brook horse, the herdsman of the mountain goats, and more. It was said he once lived, bald and wizened, on the spot where Saint Erasmus now stood, but he had been driven up into the mountains by the first of Thunderstown's settlers. There he still roamed, inciting the weather, scheming to reclaim the land from the townsfolk.
_______
Sally Nairn, he thought, was a fine woman - but whether she laboured over a spread, a pickle or a jam, the result always tasted of chalk and cauliflower.
THE LIVES OF THE CLOUDS
She was at once homesick and sick of the reminder of home.
_______
"I'm just . . . a bit screwed up, that's all."
He threw the scrunched paper model across the room and into the bin. "Then you're in good company."
"Do you know . . . it's weird, but I felt like I was. When we were talking yesterday."
_______
"I just fold on a hunch, and I know there's really no such thing as flight. That might sound crazy, but it's true. There's only really a kind of swimming in the air."
She smiled. "My dad always used to say the air was an ocean."
"Yeah, exactly! Just like an ocean, with currents and tides. And people are like . . . like the crabs and the worms on the ocean floor."
"That's very flattering."
"I just mean that people are stuck on the bottom level. But to other creatures those currents and tides can be climbed just like a person climbs a tree or hill."
_______
He was pointing to a spot in the leaf litter that seemed more radiant than all the rest. It was as if an ember had touched down there and set the leaves to kindling. As she watched, the glow became intense. It formed a tiny orb of light that made the roots and twigs around it gleam, and left a sunspot in her vision. It began to shimmer and skew, and then the leaves looked like fiery feathers and she heard a bird cry out.
The light rose from the leafy floor with a hiss like a sparkler. Then it shot past her ear and she felt a hot breeze bristling her hair to its roots. Its shine dimmed as it flew, until she could clearly see its wings, a beak and tail feathers steering its ascent. It fluttered on to a branch, where it preened its plumage and tested its song.
"Whuh . . . what just happened?"
"A sunbeam," Finn said, "came to life."
She had too many questions to ask him any.
He grinned from ear to ear. "Would you like to catch one?"
THE SOLEMN TEMPLES
. . . there was no mystery within, no soul of the building present like a phantom. The church felt barren, its walls whitewashed and bare, the cold confines of its stone keeping the hot day out. A tuneless organ played as the congregation entered. Depending on how you looked at it, attendance was either exceptional or dire: every uncomfortable pew was full, but there were very few pews in the church. Most of them had vanished along with its statues and gargoyles and, given the rich mahogany they'd been joined from, Elsa suspected they had all been pawned. Surrounding these few rows of worshippers spread a sea of grey flagstones. Mosses sprouted through the cracks, and the stones were smattered with the droppings of those feathered church regulars who lived in the rafters.
_______
"Beautiful. You know, when the clouds are like a landscape and you want to run across them? And everybody else has their head in a book or their eyes closed and you feel like you're the only one in the world who still thinks there's magic in flying."
_______
The church of the sky was something she'd so often dreamed of while the hoo-ha of the Sunday service carried on around her. There seemed to her infinitely more God to be found by staring up at the never-ending universe than by looking glumly around a building of bricks and stone.
Her father's holy books were written by meteorologists. His preferred prophet was the lightning: he was on a one-man crusade to explain the inner workings of a lightning bolt to anyone he could, as if they held some revelatory value. Cab drivers, waiters, shop assistants: no one was safe.
BETTY AND THE LIGHTNING
"I find you strange, Miss Beletti. A mystery, if you will let me use the word."
GUNSHOT
There was a gunshot. He blinked and for a moment did not know what year of his life he was living in.
OLD WIVES' TALES
Elsa wondered whether the owners of the crematorium had planted bird of paradise as a joke, since its orange petals looked like flames wavering in the wind. Then again, everything became symbolic after a death.
_______
"To believe in hell would be to compromise who I am."
BIRTHDAYS
She at back and reckoned she would be happy just to watch him walk in circles, around and around forever.
PAPER BIRDS
"Elsa," he asked, "did you ever lie on your back as a kid, and watch the clouds go by?"
"Yeah, of course. I loved doing that."
"And did you ever get the feeling that that was the right way up to be? With your back against the planet, looking straight out at the universe?"
"I used to like that until I no longer felt like the sky was up. The sky was forwards, and up was whichever direction my head happened to be pointing in. That way the clouds were in front of me, on a level with me, and it felt like they could be reached. I used to love that. The world felt, I don't know, like it had always meant to be that way up. As if it had been knocked over, and to lie like that was to put it right again."
"That," he said, "is exactly how I feel when I'm with you. You've put me the right way up. You've fixed me. For the first time since I was tiny I feel like I fit together."
KITE
. . . she had learned from Finn that an unfilled silence could be worth mor than a hurried word.
______
"Like a leaf clings to a tree, oh my darling cling to me. Don't you know you're life itself . . ."
_______
"He said human beings were like a wind blowing. He said that sometimes we're loud and sometimes we're a whisper, sometimes we're warm and sometimes we're frightening cold. But however we blow, we blow onwards, and leave no sign of us behind."
"Mum," Elsa gulped, "I think I fell in love."
THE LETTER FROM BETTY
The greatest joy of parenthood is passing things on. It's what I always dreamed about doing - giving away all the things I thought were good in my own life and holding back all the bad. And I have wondered whether all we ever are is this: a filter of the good and the bad, trying to work out which is which, which we should withhold and which we should pass on.
_______
What if, by accident or design, she had taken that journey form which there was no possible return?
From the walls of their homestead the Fossiter portraits watched in silence. "Damn you," he growled at them, including himself among their countenances. "Damn you all."
_______
He blundered across to the workshop. In here hung the corpse of the last goat he had hung, beheaded and drip-dried now of the blood that had filled it. He unknotted the cords that kept it dangling from its hooves and thumped it on to his butchering table, a wood-topped counter stained by the blood of generations of goats, spilled by generations of Fossiters. Its surface was notched like a prison wall by the tally blows of their cleavers.
_______
Then he set to work with the knife, drawing with its blade the practised patterns of cuts and slices that gave him a grip on the animal's skin. With tugs and pulls he undressed the body of its coat, as easy as if it had been a cardigan on a human being.
_______
Her gauzy dress was tailored from a translucent cloth, and at the moment the photograph had been taken a wind had puffed and the dress had billowed and flapped out along with her long black locks and she looked half woman and half mist.
________
"Daniel, what's happened?"
"The past," he said, sweeping an arm through the air to indicate the entire contents of the room, "became the past. And you," he raised a commanding finger, which to his dismay Finn flinched from, "are owed a thousand apologies."
________
"And if there's anything I should know it's this: people can change, just like the clouds. I forgive you."
________
"Where will you go?"
"Somewhere. Anywhere. Not having a destination is sort of the whole point."
______
Daniel walked out with him and stood in the road. He waved to him as he walked off towards town, and marveled at the faint haze of happiness that glimmered in Finn's wake.
THINGS SPIRAL
She would miss these circling streets and decaying buildings when she left them, but she supposed that she and Finn were already being called elsewhere by another secret gravity.
________
"I have a storm inside of me."
_______
"Does it always have to be the case," asked Finn, and there was a rumbling edge on his voice that didn't come from his vocal cords, "that people find devils in the things they don't understand?"
________
She felt the earth's deep electricity filling up the church below her, just as the floodwater filled the streets. It flushed up from ancient rocks and secret subterranean caverns, from the gyro of the great globe itself, up into the foundations and the vaults, rising through the stone walls, surging its whine to the bell's hum. It filled every cell of her body. Billions of particles of the earth's electricity channelled into her, a mountain of energy of which she was the peak. Her jaw fell heavily open. Her mouth tasted full of lead.
. . . .
A pillar of white. Everything in freeze-frame. Raindrops suspended like perfect pearls. And everything getting whiter and whiter until it was all so searing and bright and it was as if her eyes had been replaced with stars. She heard a scream from somewhere. She guessed it was her own.
The lightning didn't strike. It set their connection on fire.
AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON
As foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air,
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on.
-William Shakespeare, The Tempest
From the author who enchanted readers with The Girl With Glass Feet. The Man Who Rained is a story about legacy, tradition, letting go of the past, grief/loss, new beginnings, changing relationships, misunderstanding/understanding and love.
I do love all of Ali Shaw's work (where has he disappeared to?), but I think The Girl With Glass Feet is the best. While re-reading in 2025, I thought of several films and one television episode: Disney/Pixar's Elemental (2023), A24's LAMB (2021), Brian and Charles (2022), and The X-Files episode, "Post-Modern Prometheus".
Read in 2021, 2023 and 2025
Favorite Passages:
THE CLOUD-CAPPED TOWERS
Heading for work in New York, she used to catch her reflection in traffic windows or corner mirrors in subway stations. She would pretend she'd glimpsed another Elsa, living in a looking glass world where life had not become unbearable.
________
The only visible part of the world was locked inside the yellow wedge of the headlights. The road had no boundaries, no walls or hedgerows, and the car rocking and bouncing over potholes and scatterings of slate kept her awake. A forever road, as if there were nothing more in the universe than car and broken tarmac.
_______
Stars were brightly visible, but only in the zenith of the night. She could not see the mountains in the distance because now she was amongst them.
_______
Her dad had raised her to love the elements with a passion second only to his, but life in New York had weatherproofed her. Only at her dad's funeral, as the spring winds wiped her tears dry and carried his ashes away into the air, did it feel as if that passion had been uncovered again. It was her inheritance, but it had knocked a hole through her as if through a glass pane. All summer long she had been dealing with the cracks it had spread through the rest of her being.
The only signpost she had seen in these last few awakenings was a rusting frame with its board punched out, an empty direction to nowhere.
They had followed that signpost.
It was gargantuan, disproportionate to the needs of the tiny town; a massif of stone to rival any cathedral. And it was entirely unlit. The night air around it looked displaced, as if evicted from its rightful position by the immense bulk of the building.
AN EXECUTION
When next her route returned her to the church, she had the spine-tingling sensation that the distant past remained close in this place.
_______
She looked through the ring as if it were a spyglass and saw the woods leaning in, the twigs scratching, the bird leering beady-eyed from a bent branch. Her stomach lurched. The world changed, realigning like a dial.
_______
When they had first started dating they had agreed with cool cynicism that love was just chemical flushes and electrical signals flowing through the brain, something tacky that belonged in souvenir shops. "Love," she had declared once to Peter, "is just the heart on an I Heart NYC baseball cap." And he had agreed with her.
CLOUD ON THE MOUNTAIN
He broke up. His head caved in, becoming nothing more than a dented sphere of fog. His chest tore apart and the blue sky and bright sun shone through the place where his heart should have been. He disintegrated, every second less like a man and more like a cloud.
_______
She felt as if, in that instant, the world had grown as limitless as it must appear to an insect.
_______
She had never been good at knowing the difference between running away and running forwards and she reckoned that with her they were probably one and the same thing. When faced with any challenge or fear she knew only to run, and only in retrospect could she tell whether she had charged headlong or fled for her life.
WILD IS THE WIND
The air had closed in overnight. Inhaling felt like breathing through a veil.
_______
For now the streets enjoyed the last reposeful moments of the night. Even the white flowers growing up through the cracked paving looked like stars set in a stone heaven.
_______
When the sunlight came it overflowed Drum Head and rolled downhill to Thunderstown. Walls turned amber and chimney pots gold. Windowpanes lit up with the reflected dawn.
_______
"In New York my life just . . . accumulated. I didn't feel like I'd chosen any of it, only wandered into it and just started living it. Then earlier this year some stuff happened and it made me realize that I needed to live a life I had chosen, to be a person I had considered being. So I came here, I suppose, to have the space to find that version of myself.
_______
She sat down forlornly on a rock. Darkness drained the land. The visible world became small and black; but beyond sight it echoed with the tuneless symphonies of the wind. She wondered when she had last been so immersed in a night.
PART WEATHER
"Well, Elsa, I am not like you. I am not like anybody. I used to think I was, but that was a long time ago now. I can't promise you will understand. I don't think many people could."
"I'll do my best."
"Like I say, I'm not normal. Even if I'd started out that way, I suppose I'd have become very strange by living alone for so long like this."
OLD MAN THUNDER
"Whether we like it or not," said Sidney, "we are approaching a moment when our old ways of doing things will be challenged."
_______
Old Man Thunder, the legend went, was a storm cloud that had become a man. He was the master of wild dogs, the rider of the brook horse, the herdsman of the mountain goats, and more. It was said he once lived, bald and wizened, on the spot where Saint Erasmus now stood, but he had been driven up into the mountains by the first of Thunderstown's settlers. There he still roamed, inciting the weather, scheming to reclaim the land from the townsfolk.
_______
Sally Nairn, he thought, was a fine woman - but whether she laboured over a spread, a pickle or a jam, the result always tasted of chalk and cauliflower.
THE LIVES OF THE CLOUDS
She was at once homesick and sick of the reminder of home.
_______
"I'm just . . . a bit screwed up, that's all."
He threw the scrunched paper model across the room and into the bin. "Then you're in good company."
"Do you know . . . it's weird, but I felt like I was. When we were talking yesterday."
_______
"I just fold on a hunch, and I know there's really no such thing as flight. That might sound crazy, but it's true. There's only really a kind of swimming in the air."
She smiled. "My dad always used to say the air was an ocean."
"Yeah, exactly! Just like an ocean, with currents and tides. And people are like . . . like the crabs and the worms on the ocean floor."
"That's very flattering."
"I just mean that people are stuck on the bottom level. But to other creatures those currents and tides can be climbed just like a person climbs a tree or hill."
_______
He was pointing to a spot in the leaf litter that seemed more radiant than all the rest. It was as if an ember had touched down there and set the leaves to kindling. As she watched, the glow became intense. It formed a tiny orb of light that made the roots and twigs around it gleam, and left a sunspot in her vision. It began to shimmer and skew, and then the leaves looked like fiery feathers and she heard a bird cry out.
The light rose from the leafy floor with a hiss like a sparkler. Then it shot past her ear and she felt a hot breeze bristling her hair to its roots. Its shine dimmed as it flew, until she could clearly see its wings, a beak and tail feathers steering its ascent. It fluttered on to a branch, where it preened its plumage and tested its song.
"Whuh . . . what just happened?"
"A sunbeam," Finn said, "came to life."
She had too many questions to ask him any.
He grinned from ear to ear. "Would you like to catch one?"
THE SOLEMN TEMPLES
. . . there was no mystery within, no soul of the building present like a phantom. The church felt barren, its walls whitewashed and bare, the cold confines of its stone keeping the hot day out. A tuneless organ played as the congregation entered. Depending on how you looked at it, attendance was either exceptional or dire: every uncomfortable pew was full, but there were very few pews in the church. Most of them had vanished along with its statues and gargoyles and, given the rich mahogany they'd been joined from, Elsa suspected they had all been pawned. Surrounding these few rows of worshippers spread a sea of grey flagstones. Mosses sprouted through the cracks, and the stones were smattered with the droppings of those feathered church regulars who lived in the rafters.
_______
"Beautiful. You know, when the clouds are like a landscape and you want to run across them? And everybody else has their head in a book or their eyes closed and you feel like you're the only one in the world who still thinks there's magic in flying."
_______
The church of the sky was something she'd so often dreamed of while the hoo-ha of the Sunday service carried on around her. There seemed to her infinitely more God to be found by staring up at the never-ending universe than by looking glumly around a building of bricks and stone.
Her father's holy books were written by meteorologists. His preferred prophet was the lightning: he was on a one-man crusade to explain the inner workings of a lightning bolt to anyone he could, as if they held some revelatory value. Cab drivers, waiters, shop assistants: no one was safe.
BETTY AND THE LIGHTNING
"I find you strange, Miss Beletti. A mystery, if you will let me use the word."
GUNSHOT
There was a gunshot. He blinked and for a moment did not know what year of his life he was living in.
OLD WIVES' TALES
Elsa wondered whether the owners of the crematorium had planted bird of paradise as a joke, since its orange petals looked like flames wavering in the wind. Then again, everything became symbolic after a death.
_______
"To believe in hell would be to compromise who I am."
BIRTHDAYS
She at back and reckoned she would be happy just to watch him walk in circles, around and around forever.
PAPER BIRDS
"Elsa," he asked, "did you ever lie on your back as a kid, and watch the clouds go by?"
"Yeah, of course. I loved doing that."
"And did you ever get the feeling that that was the right way up to be? With your back against the planet, looking straight out at the universe?"
"I used to like that until I no longer felt like the sky was up. The sky was forwards, and up was whichever direction my head happened to be pointing in. That way the clouds were in front of me, on a level with me, and it felt like they could be reached. I used to love that. The world felt, I don't know, like it had always meant to be that way up. As if it had been knocked over, and to lie like that was to put it right again."
"That," he said, "is exactly how I feel when I'm with you. You've put me the right way up. You've fixed me. For the first time since I was tiny I feel like I fit together."
KITE
. . . she had learned from Finn that an unfilled silence could be worth mor than a hurried word.
______
"Like a leaf clings to a tree, oh my darling cling to me. Don't you know you're life itself . . ."
_______
"He said human beings were like a wind blowing. He said that sometimes we're loud and sometimes we're a whisper, sometimes we're warm and sometimes we're frightening cold. But however we blow, we blow onwards, and leave no sign of us behind."
"Mum," Elsa gulped, "I think I fell in love."
THE LETTER FROM BETTY
The greatest joy of parenthood is passing things on. It's what I always dreamed about doing - giving away all the things I thought were good in my own life and holding back all the bad. And I have wondered whether all we ever are is this: a filter of the good and the bad, trying to work out which is which, which we should withhold and which we should pass on.
_______
What if, by accident or design, she had taken that journey form which there was no possible return?
From the walls of their homestead the Fossiter portraits watched in silence. "Damn you," he growled at them, including himself among their countenances. "Damn you all."
_______
He blundered across to the workshop. In here hung the corpse of the last goat he had hung, beheaded and drip-dried now of the blood that had filled it. He unknotted the cords that kept it dangling from its hooves and thumped it on to his butchering table, a wood-topped counter stained by the blood of generations of goats, spilled by generations of Fossiters. Its surface was notched like a prison wall by the tally blows of their cleavers.
_______
Then he set to work with the knife, drawing with its blade the practised patterns of cuts and slices that gave him a grip on the animal's skin. With tugs and pulls he undressed the body of its coat, as easy as if it had been a cardigan on a human being.
_______
Her gauzy dress was tailored from a translucent cloth, and at the moment the photograph had been taken a wind had puffed and the dress had billowed and flapped out along with her long black locks and she looked half woman and half mist.
________
"Daniel, what's happened?"
"The past," he said, sweeping an arm through the air to indicate the entire contents of the room, "became the past. And you," he raised a commanding finger, which to his dismay Finn flinched from, "are owed a thousand apologies."
________
"And if there's anything I should know it's this: people can change, just like the clouds. I forgive you."
________
"Where will you go?"
"Somewhere. Anywhere. Not having a destination is sort of the whole point."
______
Daniel walked out with him and stood in the road. He waved to him as he walked off towards town, and marveled at the faint haze of happiness that glimmered in Finn's wake.
THINGS SPIRAL
She would miss these circling streets and decaying buildings when she left them, but she supposed that she and Finn were already being called elsewhere by another secret gravity.
________
"I have a storm inside of me."
_______
"Does it always have to be the case," asked Finn, and there was a rumbling edge on his voice that didn't come from his vocal cords, "that people find devils in the things they don't understand?"
________
She felt the earth's deep electricity filling up the church below her, just as the floodwater filled the streets. It flushed up from ancient rocks and secret subterranean caverns, from the gyro of the great globe itself, up into the foundations and the vaults, rising through the stone walls, surging its whine to the bell's hum. It filled every cell of her body. Billions of particles of the earth's electricity channelled into her, a mountain of energy of which she was the peak. Her jaw fell heavily open. Her mouth tasted full of lead.
. . . .
A pillar of white. Everything in freeze-frame. Raindrops suspended like perfect pearls. And everything getting whiter and whiter until it was all so searing and bright and it was as if her eyes had been replaced with stars. She heard a scream from somewhere. She guessed it was her own.
The lightning didn't strike. It set their connection on fire.
AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON
March 3, 2012
Ali Shaw's first novel, The Girl with Glass Feet, mixed magical, fairy-tale-esque materials with a surreal island and a story about melancholy, obsession, love, emotionally stunted men...
All in all, I enjoyed it, but started noticing that it was a very, very emo read.
The Man Who Rained amps up the emo sensibilities to 11, squeezes in even more magic, moping, wallowing and melancholy, and, somehow, falls completely flat (for me). In fact, it was so disappointing, I started to wonder whether I might have been completely misguided about liking Girl with Glass Feet.
The rest of the review covers about a third of the plot, so if that is too much, then consider this a SPOILER WARNING.
The premise: young woman, after the death of her father, dumps her boyfriend for proposing to her, decides to start a new life in Thunderstown (a remote place she has only ever happened to see from a plane, and where all the streets are in a spirally layout making it look like a weather system / vortex from above). Her father was "weather powered" - a man who only ever felt alive when watching weather, and whose time in prison crushed the life force and sanity out of him.
In Thunderstown, there are weird things going on: stray dogs are meek creatures, executed by the culler by means of breaking their necks in a hug. And there's charms everywhere. People are a bit sinister, or gentle old souls, but rarely in between. She walks up one of the four mountains around the town, and a young, grey, hairless man strolls into view just as she's hidden away in a ruin, gets naked, and turns into a cloud. The rest of the story is all about how weather materialises as living things around town, and how townspeople are scared of weather, trying to control it by having it killed...
Yeah. Far-fetched doesn't come close. But I can live with far-fetched. It's inconsistencies in internal logic that I find difficult (and this book has a few), and, ultimately, the fact that hard as it might try, the magic spark just wasn't there. I never felt very involved or engrossed, and all the wallowing and moping ended up being quite annoying. Some of the final plot twists made no sense at all, while other plot developments were so obvious in advance that I wanted to slap the characters for not seeing them coming...
Perhaps one needs to be in a certain mood or mindset to enjoy Ali Shaw novels. Or perhaps the first novel is simply miles better than the second. I don't know.
All in all, I enjoyed it, but started noticing that it was a very, very emo read.
The Man Who Rained amps up the emo sensibilities to 11, squeezes in even more magic, moping, wallowing and melancholy, and, somehow, falls completely flat (for me). In fact, it was so disappointing, I started to wonder whether I might have been completely misguided about liking Girl with Glass Feet.
The rest of the review covers about a third of the plot, so if that is too much, then consider this a SPOILER WARNING.
The premise: young woman, after the death of her father, dumps her boyfriend for proposing to her, decides to start a new life in Thunderstown (a remote place she has only ever happened to see from a plane, and where all the streets are in a spirally layout making it look like a weather system / vortex from above). Her father was "weather powered" - a man who only ever felt alive when watching weather, and whose time in prison crushed the life force and sanity out of him.
In Thunderstown, there are weird things going on: stray dogs are meek creatures, executed by the culler by means of breaking their necks in a hug. And there's charms everywhere. People are a bit sinister, or gentle old souls, but rarely in between. She walks up one of the four mountains around the town, and a young, grey, hairless man strolls into view just as she's hidden away in a ruin, gets naked, and turns into a cloud. The rest of the story is all about how weather materialises as living things around town, and how townspeople are scared of weather, trying to control it by having it killed...
Yeah. Far-fetched doesn't come close. But I can live with far-fetched. It's inconsistencies in internal logic that I find difficult (and this book has a few), and, ultimately, the fact that hard as it might try, the magic spark just wasn't there. I never felt very involved or engrossed, and all the wallowing and moping ended up being quite annoying. Some of the final plot twists made no sense at all, while other plot developments were so obvious in advance that I wanted to slap the characters for not seeing them coming...
Perhaps one needs to be in a certain mood or mindset to enjoy Ali Shaw novels. Or perhaps the first novel is simply miles better than the second. I don't know.
April 6, 2013
The Man Who Rained is a modern novel with a fairy-tale twist. A tale about love, inner battles, self acceptance, the celebration of weather, and over-coming fear.
All the main characters are experiencing inner battles and fighting their own personal demons. Elsa is broken after losing her storm-chasing father, is struggling to connect with her nearest and dearest, and longs to escape: to a place named Thunderstown. There she meets Daniel Fossiter, the local culler, who is battling the two opposing voices of the men who raised him: his tee-total, vegetarian, God-fearing father and his hard-drinking, meat-eating, womanising grandfather. He is also nursing the grief he felt at losing the two major women in his life: his mother and 'wife.' And he is carrying a secret: the existance of Finn Munroe, a young man part cloud. Finn is struggling to make peace with his opposing natures: human and weather.
I enjoyed the fantastical element of Thunderstown, containing creatures that were part weather, but somehow the story as a whole just didn't seem to flow. After finishing this novel, I was left feeling uncomfortable, and unsure as to why. There were lines of beautiful description and poetic prose, and the overall idea was lovely, but it didn't seem to fit well together as a whole story. The end also felt rushed. Elsa's grief over losing Finn was skipped over, detailing only that she cried till she could cry no more. Finn was supposed to be the love of her life!
Despite my reservations in the end, I did feel a connection to the characters and the messages Shaw saught to convey. I love it when a story seems to speak to your situation on a personal level. You feel as if you picked up this particular book for a reason and that it will help you grow spiritually. I definitely felt this way with The Man Who Rained. It is deep and lovely with a thread of meaning running all the way through. As a Believer, there's always the pull of the world and the pull of the Spirit to contend with and choose between, so I could relate with all of the characters feeling torn, and having to make life-changing decisions.
I thought the twist at the end worked well, as I was expecting an Ida/Midas type ending (see Shaw's previous novel, 'Girl With The Glass Feet.') Overall a great idea with lovely prose, which just didn't quite make a fantastic story.
Deep and poetic, fantastical and imaginative, yet imperfect.
All the main characters are experiencing inner battles and fighting their own personal demons. Elsa is broken after losing her storm-chasing father, is struggling to connect with her nearest and dearest, and longs to escape: to a place named Thunderstown. There she meets Daniel Fossiter, the local culler, who is battling the two opposing voices of the men who raised him: his tee-total, vegetarian, God-fearing father and his hard-drinking, meat-eating, womanising grandfather. He is also nursing the grief he felt at losing the two major women in his life: his mother and 'wife.' And he is carrying a secret: the existance of Finn Munroe, a young man part cloud. Finn is struggling to make peace with his opposing natures: human and weather.
I enjoyed the fantastical element of Thunderstown, containing creatures that were part weather, but somehow the story as a whole just didn't seem to flow. After finishing this novel, I was left feeling uncomfortable, and unsure as to why. There were lines of beautiful description and poetic prose, and the overall idea was lovely, but it didn't seem to fit well together as a whole story. The end also felt rushed. Elsa's grief over losing Finn was skipped over, detailing only that she cried till she could cry no more. Finn was supposed to be the love of her life!
Despite my reservations in the end, I did feel a connection to the characters and the messages Shaw saught to convey. I love it when a story seems to speak to your situation on a personal level. You feel as if you picked up this particular book for a reason and that it will help you grow spiritually. I definitely felt this way with The Man Who Rained. It is deep and lovely with a thread of meaning running all the way through. As a Believer, there's always the pull of the world and the pull of the Spirit to contend with and choose between, so I could relate with all of the characters feeling torn, and having to make life-changing decisions.
I thought the twist at the end worked well, as I was expecting an Ida/Midas type ending (see Shaw's previous novel, 'Girl With The Glass Feet.') Overall a great idea with lovely prose, which just didn't quite make a fantastic story.
Deep and poetic, fantastical and imaginative, yet imperfect.
April 5, 2015
"The Man Who Rained" has been on my wishlist since I've finished The Girl With Glass Feet one and a half years ago. Since then I've reread Ali Smith's first book once, and thought about it countless times. I love mystical settings, and I can't begin to tell you how often I was tempted to dry to draw the images that popped up in my head. (Or to go out and take a photograph or two.)
"The Man Who Rained" worked even better for me, and I don't know whether this is because the author's writing got better or because I have an unhealthy obsession with the rain and so feel more at home in Thunderstown. Maybe both.
I loved Elsa because I could relate to her very well. And I loved Finn because he's Finn. I loved the small-town feeling and the weird characters that poped up here and there. I loved the descriptions and metaphors. And, contrary to the weird happenings in "The Girl with Glass Feet", I actually really liked the ending as well.
I can see myself dreaming about this book and its world again, and this alone warrants a spot on my list of favourites. (Also, I just really love the rain.) I highly doubt that there is a humungous amount of people that can't wait to read the next book Ali Smith writes, just because his style is very unique and it might not be for everyone, but I for one am glad to say that I am already anxious.
"The Man Who Rained" worked even better for me, and I don't know whether this is because the author's writing got better or because I have an unhealthy obsession with the rain and so feel more at home in Thunderstown. Maybe both.
I loved Elsa because I could relate to her very well. And I loved Finn because he's Finn. I loved the small-town feeling and the weird characters that poped up here and there. I loved the descriptions and metaphors. And, contrary to the weird happenings in "The Girl with Glass Feet", I actually really liked the ending as well.
I can see myself dreaming about this book and its world again, and this alone warrants a spot on my list of favourites. (Also, I just really love the rain.) I highly doubt that there is a humungous amount of people that can't wait to read the next book Ali Smith writes, just because his style is very unique and it might not be for everyone, but I for one am glad to say that I am already anxious.
January 24, 2012
I read this first book, The Girl with glass feet and was smitten. He made me believe it all could be real. That in some parts of the world there was still magic that was not truly magic, it was just life. It's not like paranormal books where you just read it but do not believe. Here, here it is different. Perhaps men can rain, and perhaps rain can come to life.
His prose is lyrical and it sucks you in, it holds on to you and it also made me feel scared. This is a town filled with superstitious people who kill that of rain and thunder. While on the mountain there lives a strange man called Finn, who is our man who rained. I feared for him.
The story is about Elsa who comes to Thundertown to start a new life. She is nice and curious and meets Finn. Who is mysterious and sweet. He shows her a world that seems to exist only in these mountains. It's a book filled with magical realism and feelings of longing, love but also hate of the unknown. And here it truly shows. That which you do not know you fear and think is dangerous. Only some give it a chance and find that we are all alike in the end.
The book is great, the writing, the story, the people in it and the world he creates. It's a place were sunbeams come to life.
Conclusion:
It's a book I recommend because it is so real and still so magical. I can't wait for the next book and see what he comes up with then.
His prose is lyrical and it sucks you in, it holds on to you and it also made me feel scared. This is a town filled with superstitious people who kill that of rain and thunder. While on the mountain there lives a strange man called Finn, who is our man who rained. I feared for him.
The story is about Elsa who comes to Thundertown to start a new life. She is nice and curious and meets Finn. Who is mysterious and sweet. He shows her a world that seems to exist only in these mountains. It's a book filled with magical realism and feelings of longing, love but also hate of the unknown. And here it truly shows. That which you do not know you fear and think is dangerous. Only some give it a chance and find that we are all alike in the end.
The book is great, the writing, the story, the people in it and the world he creates. It's a place were sunbeams come to life.
Conclusion:
It's a book I recommend because it is so real and still so magical. I can't wait for the next book and see what he comes up with then.
May 27, 2013
I was really excited to read The Man Who Rained after thoroughly enjoying The Girl With Glass Feet. It was such a beautiful and unusual read. I was blown away by the writing and the imagination of the author. I didn’t love The Man Who Rained as much, but it was still an incredibly creative and descriptive read. I like a bit of a magical element in a book, I often find myself glued to the pages to find out what’ll happen next.
What stands out in Ali Shaw’s books are the descriptions. They’re so well written that you imagine yourself right there in the story observing it as a bystander not a reader completely outside the imagination of the author. Yet, the metaphors used don’t feel forced at all. It flows completely naturally and adds to the beauty of the story. The only thing that didn’t flow beautifully was the story as a whole. I enjoyed reading it but it felt like something was missing. I can’t quite pinpoint what.
The Man Who Rained isn’t as deep or poignant as The Girl With Glass Feet was, which is why I think I didn’t enjoy it as much. However, I do think it’s worth reading, even if you just read it to experience some beautiful writing and imagery.
What stands out in Ali Shaw’s books are the descriptions. They’re so well written that you imagine yourself right there in the story observing it as a bystander not a reader completely outside the imagination of the author. Yet, the metaphors used don’t feel forced at all. It flows completely naturally and adds to the beauty of the story. The only thing that didn’t flow beautifully was the story as a whole. I enjoyed reading it but it felt like something was missing. I can’t quite pinpoint what.
The Man Who Rained isn’t as deep or poignant as The Girl With Glass Feet was, which is why I think I didn’t enjoy it as much. However, I do think it’s worth reading, even if you just read it to experience some beautiful writing and imagery.
March 16, 2014
One star for finding a publisher.
I got the audio version of this book and it was read well. But after 75 minutes all that had happened was: a woman left her fiance and moved to the town her dead father had a connection to. The people there are wired and kill stray dogs (removal of 1 star for that alone - I very much dislike animals being killed for no purpose in literature). The woman goes for a long walk and encounters a man who de-materializes into a cloud of rain and when she asks him to come back he re-materializes.
I gave up right there.
This book was so boring I would prefer to watch the grass grow. But since there are actually better book that have something happen, that give you something to hold on to, that do not kill animals for no reason, that grab you and suck you into the story, why bother with this one?
Didn't anyone tell the author you have got to draw the reader into your story fairly early on or they walk away? Well, that's just what I did. I put the book down and picked up another one.
I got the audio version of this book and it was read well. But after 75 minutes all that had happened was: a woman left her fiance and moved to the town her dead father had a connection to. The people there are wired and kill stray dogs (removal of 1 star for that alone - I very much dislike animals being killed for no purpose in literature). The woman goes for a long walk and encounters a man who de-materializes into a cloud of rain and when she asks him to come back he re-materializes.
I gave up right there.
This book was so boring I would prefer to watch the grass grow. But since there are actually better book that have something happen, that give you something to hold on to, that do not kill animals for no reason, that grab you and suck you into the story, why bother with this one?
Didn't anyone tell the author you have got to draw the reader into your story fairly early on or they walk away? Well, that's just what I did. I put the book down and picked up another one.
March 25, 2015
It's written by Ali Shaw, so of course it's full of beautiful imagery and lyrical prose. It has the magical atmosphere of his first book, but here it felt like the magic was less subtle and more just an accepted part of the world. That's not meant as criticism, more an observation that it's just a different way of telling a story.
Despite the beauty of the world-building, the characters and the little bits of magic throughout, I found the love story aspect very forced and it took me out of the story somewhat. The plot that led to the resolution of the book felt sudden to me, but the actual imagery of the end scenes, from the dramatic final confrontation to the quieter ending pages, was superbly done.
Despite the beauty of the world-building, the characters and the little bits of magic throughout, I found the love story aspect very forced and it took me out of the story somewhat. The plot that led to the resolution of the book felt sudden to me, but the actual imagery of the end scenes, from the dramatic final confrontation to the quieter ending pages, was superbly done.
July 4, 2015
3.5 stars
Elsa once saw from an aeroplane a town set out like a spiral, and when life circumstances mean she wants to escape her New York life and start afresh, where else would she go but Thunderstown?
There she finds a town where weather magic is alive and well, even taking the form of Finn Munro - the man who rained.
I enjoyed reading this book - the story is sweet if a little rushed (I can just about forgive instalove in YA but Elsa is old enough to know better!), and the writing is very...pretty, I guess?
I would read more by this author
Elsa once saw from an aeroplane a town set out like a spiral, and when life circumstances mean she wants to escape her New York life and start afresh, where else would she go but Thunderstown?
There she finds a town where weather magic is alive and well, even taking the form of Finn Munro - the man who rained.
I enjoyed reading this book - the story is sweet if a little rushed (I can just about forgive instalove in YA but Elsa is old enough to know better!), and the writing is very...pretty, I guess?
I would read more by this author
June 29, 2016
A beautiful book with all the strengths and flaws of The Girl with Glass Feet. Ali Shaw is very good at creating worlds, or rather microcosms, with charming flora and fauna; I wish his pencil drawings of the fantastic creatures were included in the books. But he is not that good at building characters, who can be described as two-dimensional at best, and his dialogues tend to be awkward and about as memorable as chat in a supermarket queue. A lovely novel that could, and should, have been better.
June 20, 2013
Tricky one to rate for me,I loved her last book so very much, that this feels like a complete let down..and I feel I should mark it lower.
Another story about magical stuff that doesn't happen...a man made of weather, bits from sunbeam....all good stuff..along with storm chasers, someone running from life, loss.....
All woven together nicely, with some sudden violence (nothing graphic).
I should have liked it more...
Another story about magical stuff that doesn't happen...a man made of weather, bits from sunbeam....all good stuff..along with storm chasers, someone running from life, loss.....
All woven together nicely, with some sudden violence (nothing graphic).
I should have liked it more...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. The characters naivete and joy is delightful and at the same time made me worry for them. It was very much like a fairy tale as another reviewer wrote.
I love the constant presence of water and sun and the playful,visual characterizations of weather; some of them I will see from now on.
I want to visit.
I love the constant presence of water and sun and the playful,visual characterizations of weather; some of them I will see from now on.
I want to visit.
August 9, 2018
I had this book on my to-read list for a long time after reading Shaw's first book. So long I've forgotten much about the first book. These are stand alone books so that didn't matter. But I went back and was surprised to see I had only given the first book 3 stars as well. I think I put the second book on my to read list because the first one had so much potential but I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Same thing with this one. I didn't connect to the characters, I didn't understand the motivations of most of them, and there was a severe lack of communication that could possibly clear stuff up which always annoys me. There were a lot of things never fully explained. Why is this particular town the one that has weather related animals and people? Does that exist elsewhere? What would happen if Finn left Thunderstown? I felt I needed more info on Betty and what happened to her, and Daniel's mom and Elsa's dad. And Dot, one of the nuns living up on the mountain. I get that explaining everything would destroy some of the magic and mystery. But I just felt like if you were living in it, and your previous life had been relatively unmusical, you'd ask for some answers. Or at least ask lots of questions even if you didn't get answers. There were enough things about the book that were somewhat memorable that I think some parts of the book will stay with me. I will also think Cumulonimbus is a person, or Old Man Thunder. But overall, I wanted to be wrapped up in the magic and carried away...instead I just read about it.
February 24, 2024
Realistic themes of grief and how it affects a person.
I love Ali Smith’s ideas about nature, weaving something supernatural and fairytale like, with a warning about human nature. The old fashioned village forming something like a witch hunt really gave the feeling like time had stopped a couple of hundred years ago.
One thing that jars is Elsa’s character- she seemed selfish and unlikable and part of me didn’t care if she got a happy ending, because of her lack of respect for her mother and ex-boyfriend. This gave me some ‘freedom’ as a reader, because I could root for the story itself, rather than a main character.
Finn is a very strange character. Part man, part weather, but his lack of contact with humans makes him seem naive and child like. This created some sympathy in me when he comes in contact with the townspeople who treat him like a monster.
One of the most interesting characters was Daniel. Everything that made him moral and full of duty, the love he lost and how circumstances and time changed him.
Yes, this is a fable, full of magic, nature , a true reflection of humans who get things wrong, and good people who quietly try to make things right.
The story and the ideas outweigh the involvement with the characters.
I love Ali Smith’s ideas about nature, weaving something supernatural and fairytale like, with a warning about human nature. The old fashioned village forming something like a witch hunt really gave the feeling like time had stopped a couple of hundred years ago.
One thing that jars is Elsa’s character- she seemed selfish and unlikable and part of me didn’t care if she got a happy ending, because of her lack of respect for her mother and ex-boyfriend. This gave me some ‘freedom’ as a reader, because I could root for the story itself, rather than a main character.
Finn is a very strange character. Part man, part weather, but his lack of contact with humans makes him seem naive and child like. This created some sympathy in me when he comes in contact with the townspeople who treat him like a monster.
One of the most interesting characters was Daniel. Everything that made him moral and full of duty, the love he lost and how circumstances and time changed him.
Yes, this is a fable, full of magic, nature , a true reflection of humans who get things wrong, and good people who quietly try to make things right.
The story and the ideas outweigh the involvement with the characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2020
"One of the most terrifying things about my life is that it belongs to me. It has never been lived before, nor will it again. Every second is a brand new possession...Be lost, Elsa. That is the best advice anyone can give you."
With my DNA revealing that I'm 92% British and Irish, my preferences all seem very clear now. Almost all my music and many of my favorite films and books are British. The two books I've read by Ali Shaw are no exception.
This is an odd, quirky, romantic fable set in Thunderstown, a tiny superstitious place. I must say I didn't enjoy some of the animal scenes (but I understand how they were necessary to the story and setting), but I was captivated by the main characters and their sad stories that led them towards the magic of weather and love. I loved the character of Dot and the convent :)
I actually wrote down a part of the book in a notebook I keep. And that is a rare thing for me.
With my DNA revealing that I'm 92% British and Irish, my preferences all seem very clear now. Almost all my music and many of my favorite films and books are British. The two books I've read by Ali Shaw are no exception.
This is an odd, quirky, romantic fable set in Thunderstown, a tiny superstitious place. I must say I didn't enjoy some of the animal scenes (but I understand how they were necessary to the story and setting), but I was captivated by the main characters and their sad stories that led them towards the magic of weather and love. I loved the character of Dot and the convent :)
I actually wrote down a part of the book in a notebook I keep. And that is a rare thing for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2023
It took me over a year to finish this book. I really stretched it out because the imagery is a joy to mull over. I’m still thinking about his other work, The Girl With Glass Feet and I read that years and years ago. I always want more, to peel the layers of language away to deep dive into the psyche of these characters. I’m left with storm and cloud imagery, the secrets we keep about ourselves. Each character is a lonely little storm cloud of their own but when storm clouds merge, the magic really happens. The devil goats, the wind dogs - what is their significance? David’s truth. Dot is my favorite. She is the true secret keeper and I would love to read a spin off about her understanding and experiences.
January 23, 2024
Ali Shaws story reminds me a little of Neil Gaimen blending real things with things that might be real to some if you are in the right place at the right time and are open and believe that this world is more than what we see or are told. Provocative and perhaps triggering if you ever felt like an outcast or you didn't belong and the people around you affirmed that feeling. There is hope in the pages of The Man Who Rained that even if you are different or attracted to different there still is a place for you here beyond the prejudice and belief systems that might not align with yours.
January 3, 2013
Inhalt
Elsa lässt mehr, als nur ihre Wohnung in New York zurück. Ihre Mutter, mit der sie sich noch nie wirklich verbunden gefühlt hat. Ihren Freund, für den sie nie richtige "Liebe" empfunden hat. Ihr altes Leben, das sie nach dem Tod ihres Vaters verabschieden will.
In Thunderstown, weit ab der hohen Betonbauten, will sie ein neues Leben beginnen.
Dem kleinem Stätdchen, umringt von Bergen, umgibt etwas Magisches.
Auf einer Bergwanderung beobachtet sie einen jungen Mann, der wie ihr scheint, sich gerade in Luft auflöst. In wolkenartigen Nebel, um genau zu sein. Dieser Mann ist Finn und er ist kein "wirklicher" Mensch. In ihm tobt das Wetter. Das macht ihn besonders, aber auch gefährlich. Je näher Elsa Finn kennenlernt, desto mehr mag sie ihn und verliebt sich schließlich in ihn. Doch das Glück der Beiden wird auf eine harte Probe gestellt, denn die Bewohner von Thunderstown halten Finn für eine Gefahr, die vernichtet werden muss.
"Er sagte, Menschen seien wie der Wind. Manchmal laut, sagte er, und manchmal ein Flüstern, manchmal warm und manchmal erschreckend kalt. Aber trotzdem würden wir weiterwehen, immer weiter vorwärts, und keine Spuren zurücklassen" S.242
Meinung
Cover und Titel sind schon Grund genug, dieses Buch in seinem Regal stehen zu haben.
Besonders der Titel weckt in mir die Neugierde, was sich wohl für eine wundersame Welt hinter dem Buchdeckel verbirgt.
Wundersam ist die Geschichte allemal.
Aber fangen wir erst einmal bei dem besonderen Autorentalent an. Ali Shaw schreibt meiner Meinung nach einfach unglaublich bildhaft und einprägsam. Die Sätze lassen wunderschöne Bilder in meinem Kopf entstehen und bleiben oft lange darin verankert. Toll, toll, toll!!! Dazu ist der Stil einfach und flüssig zu lesen und macht ein rasches Durchlesen möglich.
"Unter Finns Brustbein erklang ein Geräusch wie von einem fernen Sturm. Das gleichmäßige Rauschen von Regen, das Pfeifen des Windes, die unverkennbare Bassnote des Donners und schließlich das peitschende Zischen eines Blitzes" S.126
In diesem Buch sind es drei Charaktere, die besonders hervorgehoben sind.
Da ist einmal Elsa, mit der die Geschichte startet. Der Autor hat es geschafft, sie dem Leser zu öffnen. Man erfährt von ihrer Vergangenheit, die Beweggründe ihres Umzugs und allgemein ihre umfassende Gefühlswelt. Die meiste Zeit ist sie mir auch sympathisch im Gedächtnis geblieben, es gab aber auch die ein oder andere Stelle, bei der ich sie nicht verstanden habe. Aber das macht den Charakter natürlich auch vielfältig.
Finn dagegen ist zu Beginn erst einmal ein bisschen geheimnisvoll. Da wir ihn nie aus seiner persönlichen Sicht kennenlernen, bekommt man nur immer Stückchenhaft durch Elsas oder Daniels Blickwinkel Eindrücke von ihm. Je besser wir ihn aber vor Augen geführt bekommen, so interessanter wird er. Ein "Mensch" der aus Wetter besteht. Donner, Regen, Wind, Wolken, Nebel. Das muss ja Interesse wecken. Tut es auch. Sein Charakter wirkt harmlos, nett und am Anfang ist sein Wesen sehr zurückhaltend, weil er versteckt in einer kleinen Hütte in den Bergen wohnt. Aber ihm ist bewusst, das er auch "unabsichtlich" gefährlich werden kann, weil er sein "Wetter" in ihm nicht immer kontrollieren kann.
Daniel ist der Dritte im Bunde. Er hat eine besondere Verbindung zu Finn und er ist der Einzige, der von seiner Existenz weiß. Finns Mutter war seine große Liebe schlecht hin, und seit sie fort ist, kümmert er sich regelmäßig um Finn. Jedoch ist die Beziehung der beiden eingefroren und sehr kühl.
Von Daniel hatte ich mir beim ersten Kennenlernen eigentlich direkt eine negative Meinung gebildet, die sich aber in null Komma nichts ins Gegenteil geändert hat.
Die Beziehung zwischen Elsa und Finn kann ich nur als schön bezeichnen. Neben Finn seiner wundersamen Erscheinung, ist sie der Anker in der Geschichte. Besonders zum Ende hin ist sie der Grund, warum man an den Seiten klebt und wissen möchte, wie es denn nun ausgeht. Darüber hinaus darf von einem kitschigem Hin und Her nicht geredet werden. Das ist es überhaupt nicht. Die Ängste, die besonders Elsa bezüglich Finn heimsuchen, machen das Ganze authentisch und vor allem nachvollziehbar in dieser doch ziemlich skurrilen Geschichte.
"Während ihre Lippen einander berührten, wurde die Wolke größer und erfüllte die kleine Felsnische mit Nebel. Die Schlucht verschwand, genauso wie der Himmel. Es gab nur noch sie beide in einer Welt aus Watte." S.221
Und SKURRIL trifft es wohl zu 100 Prozent! Aber ganz ehrlich? Dadurch wird sie auch so besonders. Dennoch muss ich zugeben, dass ich erst einige Seiten gebraucht habe, um wirklich tief in die Materie eintauchen zu können. Ist das aber eist einmal geschafft, erfährt man eine schöne Liebesgeschichte, die durch ihre "Sanftheit" besticht und auf einer ruhigen Ebene verzaubert. Ein Spannungsbuch ist es definitiv nicht. Das Ende besticht nicht durch einen mit Action beladenen Showdown, ist aber meiner Meinung nach mehr als zufriedenstellend und rührend und absolut passend.
Fazit
"Der Mann, der den Regen träumt" verzaubert mit einer skurrilen Geschichte, die Dank des schönen Schreibstils wunderbar bildlich vorzustellen ist. Ein Buch für alle, die gerne in sanften, ruhigen Handlungen versinken. Eine Geschichte, die das Geschick besitzt, den Leser zu fesseln und mit auf eine wunderschöne Reise nimmt. 4/5 möglichen Punkten!
February 1, 2017
I liked the book, I think it was a lot better than the first one by this author, mainly because there weren't that many descriptions of nature and buildings etc. that would just drag. The writing style was good, and the chemistry between the main characters was presented quite well, even though it felt a bit rushed. I found the ending strange, would have been nice to have a little more detail of how everything played out, but all in all I think it was a pretty good story.
May 22, 2024
This was a love story, a bit more concrete than the author's first novel. Nature was very much present in the story, and it was kind of a fairy tale: An innocent and misunderstood storm boy, whom the villagers were willing to destroy because of an ancient story of him, and whom a girl, who comes to the village, falls in love with.
In a way, this book felt like it ended in the middle of, like there would've still been lots to happen, but then again it felt it was just the right length.
In a way, this book felt like it ended in the middle of, like there would've still been lots to happen, but then again it felt it was just the right length.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2018
My thoughts on this book are pretty much in keeping with the majority of reviewers. Absolutely loved Girl with the glass feet but was a bit disappointed that this one didn't tick all the boxes in the same way. Still enjoyed the whole concept but the writing and editing was not up to scratch!
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