A review by cynicalraven
Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin

Did not finish book. Stopped at 57%.
And here it is, the worst book of 2022 even though we're just a week in. This book is a mess. The author changes pov so many times it's difficult to keep track. She also switches frequently from first person to third and I don't know how to tell you, but it's not something that you should be doing. The plot itself it's the most boring thing ever. Everyone has a trauma and has sex. That's it. That's the plot. Are the straights ok? Frankly all the sex scenes are unnecessary. Even more so because the majority of them are just people cheating on their spouses. It's impossible to understand which genre this books falls under because Perrin decides to mix a bunch of them without a clear logic. 

the book is tragic because 4 children die. The author literally said "I want to write something sad. What's the saddest thing ever? Children dying." Innovative.
 

Finally, the prose is... not it. Perrin wants to create this nostalgic, poetic atmosphere but the result is a style exercise with random phrases and quotes thrown at reader to show how serious and dramatic the book is but contribute nothing to the story. 

you understand that Léo is dead before reaching page 50 but the author tries to make it the book's turning point along with dickhea- I mean, Philippe's death. I was rolling my eyes at this point because of how predictable this is.
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