The Blood of Flowers

this was surprisingly compelling when i think about what i usually care about in a story. for some reason, the carpet making was fascinating to me, even as i don't really feel that i learned much about it. but i kind of feel like i could have read about that forever. i was so absorbed in the story that i didn't even notice that the main character wasn't named until over 1/3 of the way through, and then it was easily forgotten again. but i really like this aspect, maybe not quite for the reason the author meant, but because of how anonymous women are when covered from head to toe in a chador. how they are seen for their separate body parts and not who they are, like an unnamed narrator can be, but how we see how much more there is to show more her.

i really liked the interspersing of the folktales and oral stories passed down; it worked really well here. this was a really interesting look at an iran hundreds of years ago, and what life was like for a segment of the population. the idea of the temporary marriage, the sigheh, was particularly interesting, and i can see how it can both really help and really hurt someone, often at the same time. show less

After the narrator's father dies suddenly, she and her mother are forced to travel to Isfahan and beg relatives to take them in. They are grudgingly welcomed as domestic help into the household of her father's half-brother Gostaham, an esteemed carpet designer, who reluctantly allows the young woman to assist him in his business after appraising her skill, an opportunity that will surely help her and her mother get back on their feet.

This book was all right, but it certainly didn't compare with Equal of the Sun, which was breathtaking and the first of Amirrezvani's books I read a number of years ago. I questioned some of protagonist's choices and found her almost unbelievably naïve and foolish, even for her young age. There was also a show more great deal of unhappiness balanced with very little true joy so that as a whole it felt rather heavy and I wanted to like it more than I actually did. show less

3.5 stars

The Blood of flowers is a historical fiction novel and a love story, which is set in 17th century Iran. As a lover of historical fiction I was really looking forward to this novel.

The Blood of Flowers is a really enjoyable novel about a young woman and only child whose gift as a rug designer transforms her life. This novel details Persian rug-making, and brings to life the sights sounds and life of 17th-century Isfahan. This is a powerful and haunting story about a 14 year old girls journey from her carefree childhood into adulthood and a great insight into a world unknown to most of us.

I really enjoy novels that depict different cultures and customs and really found this novel interesting especially the way in which the show more people lived and the scenery of this country which was very well described in the novel.

The author spent nine years researching and writing this book and when reading the novel you certainly appreciate the time and effort that went into this book as the author not only tells a story she educates the reader along the way.

I really enjoyed the characters and this novel has a wonderful sense of time and place which is so important to me when reading historical fiction novels.

I probably would have given this book 4 stars but I found the fairytale stories within the story quite tedious and while a couple seemed to fit with the plot other just seemed pointless and for me took away from the overall enjoyment of the novel.

Having said that this is a very enjoyable and interesting read and one I will recommend to friends. I also think this would make a great book club read as there are lots of topics for discussion. show less

This is a compelling historical novel -- and a welcome relief from Tudor-mania. The unnamed narrator and her mother are left poverty-stricken by the sudden death of her father; they must now rely on the charity and goodwill of her unknown uncle, a wealthy carpet maker to the shah in Isfahan.
The tale is, on the surface, a straightforward one: the heroine must rise above many obstacles to discern and pursue her own path in life. But the setting and the author's voice are distinctive enough to propel this above and beyond the genre. The story is interwoven with traditional Persian folk tales; at times, the book itself takes on a similar rhythym. The personalities of the characters -- the envious aunt, the hen-pecked uncle who nonethless show more takes immense pride in his niece's burgeoning talent as a carpet designer, the mother striving to make the best possible arrangements for her dowryless daughter -- are as vivid as the colors of any Persian carpet.
This is a beautiful and impeccably written novel. The themes are about as traditional as you can get, but who cares? show less

17th century Persia? Rug weaving?? Not a promising premise, but this book delivers. It is without a doubt the best book I have read in the past ten years. It is beautifully written, achingly beautiful, and the story is captivating. You will absolutely forget about the 17th century--actually you will forget about the 21st century completely.

The title is wonderfully ambiguous, and the book carries through on all of its meanings. If I could give this book more than five stars, I would.

The Blood of Flowers – Amita Amirrezvani
4 stars

“First there wasn’t and then there was. Before God, no one was.”

Once upon a time……..

The story begins with a story, a Persian fable of a young girl with the charmed future of a happy prosperous marriage.

No such future exists for the unnamed narrator of Blood of Flowers. Her story begins in her fourteenth year with the sudden death of her devoted father. It continues through a precarious year as she and her impoverished mother seek support from unsympathetic relatives. It is seventeenth century Iran in the time of Shah Abbas. This young woman has only two assets; her virginity and her talent as a designer and a maker of rugs.

This book is full of fascinating cultural background. show more There is naturally much detailed description of the craft and culture of rug making. The storyteller speaks eloquently of the effort and tedium of the process, but also expresses the artist’s satisfaction in creation. There is also much description of women’s work and the role of women in this culture. Various fables scattered about the story provide more of the colorful cultural background. Of particular importance to the plot is a form of temporary marriage called a ‘sigheh’. In another culture such a relationship might be called concubinage. For the story’s protagonist it creates both opportunity and the threat of disgrace. I was very impressed with the author’s ability to show, realistically, how a woman could exercise personal choice in an essentially powerless situation. This is a satisfying coming-of-age story of a young woman who manages to create a life for herself in restrictive circumstances.

I have mixed feelings about the audio version of this book as performed by Shohreh Aghdashloo. On the one hand, it is always helpful to hear correct pronunciation of foreign words. Aghdashloo’s accented reading added to my sense of being in a very different time and place. It also added more personality to the unnamed protagonist. Unfortunately, this performance was so heavily accented that I sometimes had trouble understanding the English words. Also, the reader delivered much of the text in a rather monotone, unemotional voice that did not fit with highly emotional events. I felt more connected to the suffering and triumph of the main character when I was reading her first person account. My four star rating is for the book itself. I would give the audio performance three stars.

A note for parents and teachers: Although this book is about what we would consider to be an adolescent girl, it deals with very adult themes. The depiction of the ‘marriage’ includes some explicit and erotic scenes. show less

Set in seventeenth-century Persia and narrated by an eighteen-year-old girl, "Blood of Flowers" would appear to have all the earmarks of a slow-moving period piece geared for an audience of women. Not so. This first novel turns out to be a work of art, every bit as dazzling as the Persian rugs designed and knotted by its unnamed heroine.

The story begins with the appearance of an ominous comet in the skies, portending a year of ill fortune for our narrator, who is due to be married in the coming months. Sure enough, her father suddenly dies, leaving the girl and her mother without the dowry required to attract a worthy suitor. Facing poverty, mother and daughter take up residence as servants in the household of an uncle who makes show more Persian rugs on commission for wealthy patrons.

A self-taught village rug-maker herself, the girl wins her uncle's confidence, becoming an apprentice of sorts and learning the intricacies required to fashion city carpets of the highest quality. But when she's forced to accept a three-month marriage contract to a wealthy horse trader, whose interest is hedonistic and short-term, the girl is caught in an untenable situation in which her family's financial security and her self-respect come into violent conflict. As she matures from a headstrong young girl to a pragmatic woman with a feminist bent, our heroine struggles to defy the odds and forge a future for herself and her mother in this male-dominated society.

It's a tribute to the author's methodical research, rich descriptive detail and knack for the cadence of good storytelling that this reader found himself completely transported into the novel's exotic world. Like the rugs for which Persia is famous, the structure of "Blood of Flowers" brings together its motifs in a simple but timelessly-elegant manner. If you enjoy novels like the "Kite Runner," you'll love this book. show less