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cathyjemcloud's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
pcqnat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Domestic abuse
writingcaia's review against another edition
- 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 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.
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, and Rape
Minor: Alcoholism and Animal death
dutchyreads's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Deportation
Minor: Animal cruelty
emma_1701's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
timbsy's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, and Grief
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
ashyyy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The writing was easy, yet beautiful, to read. I found myself enjoying the secret language of flowers and going back to discover what characters were saying to each other through them. I already want to read it again.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
june_haya's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Vomit and Stalking
spellygirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It was also very slow paced, jumping around a lot
And committing the same mistakes as so many others. I know it happens in real life, but it still bugs me.
Checking trigger warnings is recommended.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Stalking
annabelle_plan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty