The Blood of Flowers: A Novel (2007)

recommended for: everyone who enjoys novels, historical fiction novels

I will never again look at Persian/Iranian carpets in the same way. This book makes me want to view many examples of such carpets so that I can now fully appreciate their artistry.

This is a finely crafted first novel and I really hope that this author writes more novels. I love her writing style and storytelling.

I was completely immersed in the story, characters, and the time & place of this book. I loved the stories within the story, the depiction of a particular woman’s life and a look into the various life experiences of all the characters.

My only minor complaint is that possibly too much happened right at the end of the book; it took a long time to get there. I enjoyed the journey but it seemed a bit packed toward the end and, even though I understand the reasoning of leaving the end partially up to the readers’ imaginations, I would have loved to know more about what happened next and far into the future for that matter.

So, this is the book that finally (perhaps) will break me of my habit of reading every single word on the cover and in the inside flaps and any reviews included. (We’ll see.) As usual, I read all the text mentioned before I read the book. I therefore then kept waiting for certain things to happen rather than just enjoying the story as it unfolded and being able to be completely surprised as events occurred. (Even though I haven’t yet followed my own advice, I’d suggest reading the novel first and then, if interested, reading the text not written by the author.)

However, even though I read a hardcover edition which often doesn’t include such extras, I thought the book was greatly enhanced by the included author’s notes at the end of the book. I would have enjoyed the novel as much without them but the information was very interesting and, along with the novel, piqued my interest in seventeenth century Iranian history, especially as it pertains to women. ( )

Set in Iran in the 17th century a nameless 14-year-old village girl starts to tell her story. As THE BLOOD OF FLOWERS opens the girl and her parents live a happy, if poor, life and she is looking forwards to the possibility of a marriage being arranged in the coming year. She makes carpets and loves designing and making beautiful works of art. A comet appears in the night sky and the local religious leader foretells strife and bad luck while the comet is there. The comet soon proves to be the predicted bad omen when the young girl’s father dies suddenly the next day leaving the girl and her mother penniless and forced to travel to the capital city to live with the father’s half-brother, Gostaham. Gostaham’s wife, the nasty ill-tempered Gordiyeh, treats the girl and her mother as servants rather than relatives.

Gostaham is a master carpet maker and soon discovers the girl’s interest and talent. He takes her under his wing and teaches her all that he knows, even though she is a girl and can never be apprenticed. Only a suitable marriage can guarantee the future security of the girl and her mother, an almost impossible prospect now they are penniless. When an offer is made it is not quite what the young girl was dreaming of – a difficult choice has to be made and the consequence of the decision the girl is forced to make resonates through the rest of the story.

I was captivated and quickly sucked into the story of the narrator and the people she comes into contact with. So immersed was I that it came as a shock when the end came as it seemed almost to stop mid sentence. Almost as if author Anita Amirrezvani thought “oops only 40 more pages, I’d better end now“. As a whole THE BLOOD OF FLOWERS was a very good coming of age story of love, loss, learning and sacrifice, well written and well researched. Another niggle for me was the inclusion of many short stories or myths that were suppose to shed light on the main story left me a bit confused. Amirrezvani brought alive for me a period of history I am unfamiliar with, and used her words to paint a vivid picture of gardens, mosques, bazaars, food, customs and the poverty of the city. THE BLOOD OF FLOWERS is a debut book, and I will certainly look this author up again.

The descriptions of rug-making are interesting, such an involved and laborious process for this art. The story itself...also interesting but the characters were flat as paper. Occasionally they would be creased and folded into revealing some facet of personality but still in a disjointed way.

Life for women sucked back in those days! ( )

Listened to this as an audiobook. Loved it. Perfect narration. ( )