The Language of Flowers

I really wasn't expecting to like this book. I ended up loving it. It was so well written! ( )

I did not like Victoria very much while reading the book.
Of course, loved the flowers. Author pulled things together to "my" satisfaction at end.
Although by the end, I cared enough about some of the characters to want to look into the future - a sequel - hoping for a happy-from-now-on-ever-after???
I can already picture this as a movie.

( )

I wish I could have read this book in high school, but as an adult, I didn't have much sympathy for the main character. She went through so much in her life, but I still didn't like most of the choices she made. ( )

Such a beautiful novel about motherhood, love, and adoption. The emotions are so strong and I absolutely could not stop reading. I wanted to read it quickly to find out what would happen next, but I also wanted to read it slowly to savor the words. Probably means a reread is in my future! ( )

recommended by: Lee Aiken

recommended for: many readers, but particularly foster kids & former foster kids ages 12-30 and their adults

I vacillated between 4 and 5 stars for this book, but despite not being happy with everything about it, I think the story and its memorable characters are so well crafted, and it touched me so deeply and affected me so strongly, that I have to round it up and give it 5 stars. That said, I’m not sure it’s the most ideal book for my next book club discussion. I am glad I pushed for us to read it though, for selfish reasons, because I’ve wanted to read this book since it first came out and I’m grateful that I finally got to it.

I loved the dictionary of flowers at the end of the book. I didn’t know about the language of flowers and now I’m fascinated. I referred to the dictionary throughout the book, even though the author usually wrote in the meanings of the flowers as they were mentioned. Then, I reread the whole dictionary after I finished the book. I’m disheartened to see that Kate Greenaway's book Language of Flowers is available only for library use only at my library. I’d love to borrow it and peruse it at home.

So regarding this book:

I really enjoyed the San Francisco setting. There were one or two things that weren’t gotten quite right, including our September weather, but most locales and directions were spot on, and I really love books set in San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay Area. The fact that the book’s events take place in San Francisco and surrounding areas is one of the reasons I was eager to get to it. And, of course, I’m always delighted to read books that belong on my orphaned-and-quasi-oprhaned-kids shelf. This one fits perfectly.

While I’m not typically interested in botany, even though I’ve always wanted a vegetable and herb garden and I do enjoy being out in nature, I loved the flowers and the vineyard and what I learned about them. I found it fascinating to learn some of the flowers’ meanings and also some of what it takes to be a successful florist. If I ever have cause to use or give flowers in the future, I’ll keep their meanings in mind. Until I read this book I was only dimly aware they had the meanings they do and did. I’m glad Victoria’s dictionary was somewhat updated from Victorian times to our modern time.

This book reads as a sort of mystery, as chapter by chapter the reader is taken from the present to the past, back and forth. I was very eager to see what would happen and what had happened. There was quite a bit of suspense. I was grateful that one major mystery was solved well before the end of the book, but the suspense continued until the very end of the story.

The book was a really quick read. There are many short chapters so it was easy for me to pick up the book and read just a little and then just a bit more.

Almost all the characters are unforgettable. They’re so well drawn. I felt as though I knew and understood them, and almost everything about them and their relationships rang true to me.

One of the author’s children is a former foster child and I felt she understood foster kids. I admire her for doing something with that knowledge. She’s co-founded a very worthwhile nationwide group called The Camilla Network (camellia means “my destiny is in your hands”) to support foster children aging out of the system: https://camellianetwork.org/. I’m going to check it out. We treat our foster children appallingly bad when they turn 18. There are few programs and they’re not adequate. I’m so glad when I find resources for them.

The rest of my review will be in spoiler tags and there are major spoilers. What I say is best read by those who’ve already read the book or are sure they have no interest in reading the book:

SPOILER:

Just once I’d love to read a book about a main character in distress who does not undergo major positive transformation. I realize why the author had Victoria finally fare as well as she did. This is a hopeful book and might be wonderful for kids who are foster teens or young adults, kids who have reactive attachment disorder, anyone who’s had less than adequate parenting, and who needs some hope for themselves. What happened did seem authentic and did end up working, but Victoria was incredibly lucky that it did. I think it helped that when she was ten, and again a decade later, she had someone who wanted to mother her. It helped that she took the language of flowers with her and had a knack and a talent for being a florist, and that she had a caring mentor. It helped that she found a young man who truly understood her and loved her. It helped that Hazel gave her a reason to think beyond herself. It helped that while angry she didn’t seem at all prone to anxiety or depression. I think the story was overly optimistic, but all that happens does seem possible. I do love how Victoria helped first one then three other young women who live in the group home she stayed in when first out of the foster care system. I suppose between Victoria, Grant, and Elizabeth, Hazel will have what she will need to thrive. But while it all works, I wasn’t thrilled with the end. She is a very strong person. I haven’t met many like her, but I’ve read of real people that remind me of her, such as Liz Murray and her book Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, and I’ve worked with a few, though they’re a small percentage of the kids who find themselves situations with a similar lack of nurturing. I know I would not have made it the way Victoria did and I’ve seen what happens to most foster kids who age out of the system, usually with much less support and inner strength than Victoria has. I continued to feel depressed and worried at the end, even though I know it’s meant to be a happy ending. Can Hazel even get a birth certificate? At least Victoria knows Hazel’s birthday, even though she doesn’t know her own actual birthday. Anyway, I felt depressed and sad and anxious and unsettled as I read the book, and those feelings didn’t dissipate despite the happy ending. End of rant for now. ( )