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jstilts's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Beautifully written, I nevertheless found this book an absolute slog of a read. Terrible things happen to Alice throughout the book, which is heartbreaking, but terrible things fill the lives of the dozens of other characters as well to the point of ridiculousness. Everyone is damaged by death or abuse - even the most minor of characters - for instance a vet, who appears in a handful of paragraphs, has a dead wife and child on his mind. It's eye rolling and exhausting. A character we meet early on and only return to very late in the book has a child die at 5 because everyone needs a tragedy. Everyone has a story and every story is miserable.
Characters make the worst possible decisions at all times just to drive the grimness onwards and make Alice's life as miserable as possible. Her lov ng grandmother absolutely ruins Alice's life and the motivations are all incomprehensible beyond the author wanting their character to suffer.
Where I really gave up is when - SPOILER - Aluce falls ridiculously deeply and savagely in love literally at first sight with someone who of course turns out to be an abuser. I realise that it's not uncommon for victims of abusive families to find themselves with abusive partners but she didn't gravitate towards him, she didn't know the guy at all, so that's not what is happening here - it's just Alice Must Suffer!
Honestly, I wouldn't have finished this book if it wasn't chosen for a book club I'm hosting.
Utterly exhausting, which is a shame as it's beautifully written. One quirk is that most chapters feel like they could be the ending - at times it's like reading a collection of short stories that tell one narrative. I'd be tempted to try the author again so long as the subject matter is entirely different.
Characters make the worst possible decisions at all times just to drive the grimness onwards and make Alice's life as miserable as possible. Her lov ng grandmother absolutely ruins Alice's life and the motivations are all incomprehensible beyond the author wanting their character to suffer.
Where I really gave up is when - SPOILER - Aluce falls ridiculously deeply and savagely in love literally at first sight with someone who of course turns out to be an abuser. I realise that it's not uncommon for victims of abusive families to find themselves with abusive partners but she didn't gravitate towards him, she didn't know the guy at all, so that's not what is happening here - it's just Alice Must Suffer!
Honestly, I wouldn't have finished this book if it wasn't chosen for a book club I'm hosting.
Utterly exhausting, which is a shame as it's beautifully written. One quirk is that most chapters feel like they could be the ending - at times it's like reading a collection of short stories that tell one narrative. I'd be tempted to try the author again so long as the subject matter is entirely different.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Deportation
sarajuni's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Rape and Murder
kimberlyallen011's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Infidelity
bswanntastic's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence
writingcaia's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This book sneaked up on me. I knew nothing going in, and as soon as I opened it and was faced with the beautiful flower illustration and the meaning of it I was immediately taken, but that was nothing. Yes, the illustrations are amazing and the floriography too, and are meaningful headers for each chapter, but the story, the tale was beyond captivating.
This is the coming of age of Alice Hart who at nine loses her father and pregnant mother to a fire, a fire she thinks she caused escaping her abusive, violent father. Initially, in very bad shape due to her fathers abuse, she stays in the hospital for a long time, and there she has only the librarian she met once reading to her, then a grandmother she never knew she had comes to take her when she is released, even though the trauma has taken her voice. And, there she goes into the unknown, into place that will be the secrets and the past hidden from her but always present, where truths and more lies lie, and the place where she will grow and love, and find that there, at Thornfield, where wild flowers bloom, a native flowers farm, florist and floriographist place, where abused and lost women - the “Flowers” - care for it, she too will blossom. But, will her overbearing, stubborn grandmother June allow her to fully be herself, to fully bloom?
So many secrets, so much violence in this family story, in these enchanting places, from a beautiful and raw seaside, to the dry and flowered native desert, in an Australia of abused women, abused natives.
Alice will have to brave it all and discover if she’s strong enough to break her family’s cycle, to have her voice and not let it be taken from her, to be the owner of her destiny.
I could talk about it all at length. The characters are rich and the history of the family so dense and complicated. The flowers, plant ones and women ones, and how they’ll play such a great part in all of it. But, I don’t want to give it away. I want you to brave it all with Alice.
For me the novel only failed in that I would have liked to know more of the implied final romance and more of some of the “Flowers” backstories and destinies, and the dog!!!
An absolutely gorgeous debut nonetheless, with, as you gathered, themes of family, abuse, coming of age, colonialism, and the good and bad people that shape one’s life.
This is the coming of age of Alice Hart who at nine loses her father and pregnant mother to a fire, a fire she thinks she caused escaping her abusive, violent father. Initially, in very bad shape due to her fathers abuse, she stays in the hospital for a long time, and there she has only the librarian she met once reading to her, then a grandmother she never knew she had comes to take her when she is released, even though the trauma has taken her voice. And, there she goes into the unknown, into place that will be the secrets and the past hidden from her but always present, where truths and more lies lie, and the place where she will grow and love, and find that there, at Thornfield, where wild flowers bloom, a native flowers farm, florist and floriographist place, where abused and lost women - the “Flowers” - care for it, she too will blossom. But, will her overbearing, stubborn grandmother June allow her to fully be herself, to fully bloom?
So many secrets, so much violence in this family story, in these enchanting places, from a beautiful and raw seaside, to the dry and flowered native desert, in an Australia of abused women, abused natives.
Alice will have to brave it all and discover if she’s strong enough to break her family’s cycle, to have her voice and not let it be taken from her, to be the owner of her destiny.
I could talk about it all at length. The characters are rich and the history of the family so dense and complicated. The flowers, plant ones and women ones, and how they’ll play such a great part in all of it. But, I don’t want to give it away. I want you to brave it all with Alice.
For me the novel only failed in that I would have liked to know more of the implied final romance and more of some of the “Flowers” backstories and destinies, and the dog!!!
An absolutely gorgeous debut nonetheless, with, as you gathered, themes of family, abuse, coming of age, colonialism, and the good and bad people that shape one’s life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, and Rape
Minor: Alcoholism and Animal death
doctorjessie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Rape
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