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A review by jess_mango
Flowers of Darkness by Tatiana de Rosnay
4.0
My book club (and I think every other book club) read [b:Sarah's Key|556602|Sarah's Key|Tatiana de Rosnay|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438863728l/556602._SX50_.jpg|2523229] back around 2006 when it first came out. That is the only book that I've read by Tatiana de Rosnay, so in my mind I had her in the WWII Historical Fiction author category. Well, color me surprised when this latest release from de Rosnay is NOT historical fiction but is instead near future fiction. The book is still set in Paris, like Sarah's Key, but has a completely different vibe.
Clarissa Katsef is an author living in Paris in the years following a series of terrorist attacks and climate change. The city is a much different place than we know today. Bees are extinct so flowers are very rare, deadly heat waves strike regularly. Clarissa has recently left her 2nd husband after he's betrayed her. She winds up living in a new ultra modern artist's residence where all of the apartments are occupied by writers, painters and the like. Each unit is wired with a Virtual Personal Assistant (think Alexa or Siri) and the residents must undergo regular health evaluations run by the mirror in their bathrooms. Clarissa starts becoming paranoid about her living situation and ropes in her teenaged granddaughter to help her investigate.
So, this ended up being way more suspenseful than I would've thought initially. But, I really enjoyed the ride! There were themes of betrayal, grief and moving on. There was also a lot about "sense of place", which was actually on of the main focuses of Clarissa's writing. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that the Siri, GoogleHome, and Alexa are going to take over the world. ;)
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
Clarissa Katsef is an author living in Paris in the years following a series of terrorist attacks and climate change. The city is a much different place than we know today. Bees are extinct so flowers are very rare, deadly heat waves strike regularly. Clarissa has recently left her 2nd husband after he's betrayed her. She winds up living in a new ultra modern artist's residence where all of the apartments are occupied by writers, painters and the like. Each unit is wired with a Virtual Personal Assistant (think Alexa or Siri) and the residents must undergo regular health evaluations run by the mirror in their bathrooms. Clarissa starts becoming paranoid about her living situation and ropes in her teenaged granddaughter to help her investigate.
So, this ended up being way more suspenseful than I would've thought initially. But, I really enjoyed the ride! There were themes of betrayal, grief and moving on. There was also a lot about "sense of place", which was actually on of the main focuses of Clarissa's writing. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that the Siri, GoogleHome, and Alexa are going to take over the world. ;)
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!