The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski

by:  Rita Leganski
published by:  Harper Paperbacks
publish date:  February 26, 2013

Conceived in love and possibility, Bonaventure Arrow didn’t make a peep when he was born, and the doctor nearly took him for dead. No one knows Bonaventure's silence is filled with resonance - a miraculous gift of rarified hearing that encompasses the Universe of Every Single Sound. Growing up in the big house on Christopher Street in Bayou Cymbaline, Bonaventure can hear flowers grow, a thousand shades of blue, and the miniature tempests that rage inside raindrops. He can also hear the gentle voice of his father, William Arrow, shot dead before Bonaventure was born by a mysterious stranger known only as the Wanderer.
I live in Louisiana so I'm always ready to read books that take place in Louisiana.  This book was a great example of Southern literature.  I really enjoyed this book.

Bonaventure never says a word, but he can hear every sound that was ever made.  His father William was murdered before he was born, but he can hear his father's ghost and maintains a relationship with his father while William works out how to get to heaven.  Bonaventure's mother and grandmother spend their time coping with William's death and learning how to survive without him. 

Personally, I thought it was a beautiful book.  However, this book was heavy on religion so I can understand how it might come across as preachy or heavy-handed.  So if that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then this book might be for you, but if it does then you might want to give it a pass.