A family of four arrive on holiday in Paris and our caught up in the rain threatening the Seine River to overflow its banks and produce catastrophic flooding in the city.
Paris' citizens are prisoners of the flood.
What is more frustrating and annoying (IMO) is the father suffers a stroke and the mother catches pneumonia. Ugh. really? Tilia the daughter has big hangups with hospitals for having been the sole survivor of a car accident. She spent six months in hospital having a hip replacement and she can't step foot in a hospital to be with her dad.
Linden appears to be the glue that will hold this family together except he has his worries about coming out to his father that he is gay.
Paul Malegarde and his family have a lot of secrets, they probably should've gotten therapy for, jeesh. Was his babysitter raped and murdered while he was safe all tucked up in a tree?

Paris could use a few good trees in case of monster floods.
I found the story's raison d'être quite puzzling.

I requested this book because I love Ms. de Rosnay's book Sarah's Key. While I enjoyed this book, I continued to compare it to Sarah's Key and it just didn't rise to that level for me.

An uplifting story of a family rediscovering each other in the midst of personal turmoil and weather chaos. Poignant and touching to read!

Linden Malegarde is a world-renowned photographer who only ever returned to his native France for work and the occasional family get together in Paris. But when his mother insists that no one can miss this years family vacation it is in the midst of the longest rain-spell in Paris history since the 1960s. As the Seine burst it's borders and the biggest natural disaster overtakes the city, the Malegarde's are on pins and needles to keep the peace during their time together. When personal disasters stricks on top of everything else, Paul, the quiet patriarch and internationally renowned arborist, is in the hospital having suffered a stroke.

On top of that, Linden's mother is hit hard by pneumonia. Linden is forced to deal with all of the details of his family crisis, while the waters rise and he's called to take photographs of the disaster. But visiting water-logged Paris brings back the good and bad memories of childhood and later years living with his aunt in Paris.

A moving interwoven story of family secrets, hidden pain and untold stories. Ms. de Rosnay creates a captivating story that only threw me off a bit with the lack of dialogue and more a 'report' on conversations had format. A bit strange but not enough to take away from the great emotion depth of the characters and story.

Tatiana de Rosnay's beautifully descriptive writing transported me to Paris. I didn't want this story to end! The Rain Watcher is a MUST read!

Read 30% and it felt like it wasn’t going anywhere, so I abandoned it. I may try it at a different time.

#TheRainWatcher by Tatiana de Rosnay covers a few days time but a lifetime of memories and history. A lot stories about the members of this family are opened, and the questions are asked. Affairs. Accidents. Survivor's guilt. Abuse. Sexual identity. Parent-child bond. Marriage. Infidelity. Family expectations. Suicide. However, they don't really go anywhere. Perhaps, there is a greater metaphorical point to be made in that structure. Unfortunately, I don't get it.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2019/10/the-rain-watcher.html

Reviewed for #NetGalley.

I love this authors writing style! She weaves a story together beautifully. The cover art pulls you in as well. Overall great read!

de Rosnay writes such ethereal stories that you can't help but be drawn in and get the places and characters under your skin.

Reading this was like walking through a rainy, humid day—slow and foggy and all you want is to be inside and dry. This story meandered too much to cling to any central plot and the ending was too abrupt to make sense. A firm pass from me. ⭐️⭐️ #Netgalley

I had a hard time getting into this book, I kept picking it up and putting it down again. It's set around the flooding of Paris and you could almost feel the rain. Linden Malegarde goes to Paris to celebrate his father's 70th birthday with the rest of his family. There's a lot of family drama as the rain continues and a lot of family secrets are revealed.

I ultimately enjoyed this book with reservations.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While I really liked the main character, I struggled to really engage with the story. It didn't capture my interest and I found the story and the family dynamics to be confusing and unrelatable.

I was eagerly awaiting another Tatiana de Rosney after I first read Sarah's Key, and then devoured A Paris Affair. I read this book in only a few days; it was a quick and easy read--however, it was certainly different than other novels from this author I've read before. The Rain Watcher focuses more on family dynamics and relationships.

While it was a bit slow-paced--maybe I was just feeling the impact of all the rain in the novel?--you ultimately get a touching story about a son discovering more about his father, their relationship, and his passions.

--SPOILERS AFTER--

The ending left me a bit cold; it was nice to discover a bit of the father's backstory, but I felt the crime aspect was still a bit odd and out of place for the more cozy and family-driven plot. Ultimately, I'm glad I read this and will continue to watch for new de Rosney books!

While I appreciated the concept, the book moved very slow and I did not enjoy the character development.

One of my new favorite books! This author has such a way with words the pages flew by in no time! I can’t wait to see the next work by this author! This was such a joy to read!

I did not care for this book. It’s been a while since I read this book and can’t remember all of the details. The family was to meet in Paris for a father’s birthday and that weekend Paris is almost washed away by the heaviest rains in decades. It’s basically a book about how the main character relives his life and how he became the person he is today.

So disappointing to read this book and expect something amazing but it never delivered. I couldn't finish the book and I was a big fan of her earlier works.

Just my quick thoughts on this one. It's a catch up read for my NetGalley reviews.


I ended up listening to this via audiobook and I'm glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator. Family drama, nature's fury and a dash of magical realism. The never ending rain that is hitting Paris during the unfolding of the story adds a perfect backdrop to all of the secrets being revealed. It's almost like as the water rises, everyone feels the need to come clean. Almost like if this is going to destroy them then they might as well get everything out in the open. Old wounds are reopened and new ones are made unintentionally. Against all odds the family fights to overcome the demons both real and imagined, both told and unsaid. Love has a way to heal everything and this book does a great job of showing just that in the end.

To those who loved Sarah's Key - don't waste your time reading Tatiana de Rosnay's latest novel. The family disfunction, the "secrets" and the Paris flood backdrop were all annoying and lacked substance. To me this was like an inexperienced author's first draft, before it got into the hands of a good editor. Disappointing.

I started this book several days ago and every time I thought about picking it up, I just didn't want to. I have heard some negative feedback about this one, but wanted to give it a fair chance. I read approximately 15% of the book and quickly realized it was not the book or story for me. It was slow moving, which I don't always mind, but I just didn't seem to connect with the characters or care about what was going on. It jumped way too much to different times in their lives which made it difficult to follow. I felt like in 4 pages, we covered multiple years in their lives in a jumpy, incomplete way. I have read the author's previous work, Sarah's Key, which was what initially drew me to request this book, plus I love stories set in France. But this one just did not hit the mark for me. I have marked it on GoodReads as a "Did not Finish', but will not be giving it a star rating on GoodReads since I didn't complete it. I will also not be posting this review anywhere else because I believe that is unfair to the author since I did not finish the book.

The Rain Watchers by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Rain Watchers by Tatiana de Rosnay takes place in Paris during an epic flooding time. The Malegarde family had agreed to meet in Paris to celebrate Paul’s (father, husband) 70th birthday. While everyone showed up, so did the rain and it kept raining. The story follows the family story while seemingly paralleling the story of Paris flooding.

Slowly but surely various things happen which cripples the family just as the water rising cripples Paris. The father - Paul have a massive stroke and the mother becoming quite ill with pneumonia. The part that makes the story most unique is the backstory of Linden and his coming out and growth toward becoming the person he is. To Linden, his father is a figure of strength and preoccupation. Paul is the foremost tree expert and often is called in on assignments that take him away physically from his family, but we are left with the feeling that he has often been missing even when he is there from his family. As the flood grows so do the backstories and unknown information slowly seep out. The ending did not satisfy me and make the story come together as I had hoped, but perhaps I am missing something.

The Rain Watchers by Tatiana de Rosnay was a different read for me. I think people who like thoughtful books with family drama will enjoy the story.