Gardenias: A Novel

I really enjoyed this book, the tale of a young girl displaced to San Diego from Minnesota by her mother and Aunts decision to escape an abusive, drunken husband and try to make it on their own during WWII. Strong characters made it all the better.

This book has a lot in common with "To Kill a Mockingbird", both books are narrated by a young woman who is learning about the world and trying to puzzle things out. However, "Gardenias" didn't touch on race very much, and the most important adults are two women estranged from their husbands. The story of these three women was generally touching, full of interesting characters, and well-served by the setting of the World War II homefront.

On the negative side: it always feels a bit cheap to me when physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are the crux of a story's conflicts; I'm ambivalent about whether "Gardenias" earned its usage of these unpleasant tropes. However, the end of the book wraps up in such a satisfying way that at the moment show more I'm willing to forgive its unpleasant moments. show less

In this sequel to The Cape Ann, Lark has moved with her mother Arlene and Aunt Betty from Minnesota to San Diego. The two older women are escaping unhappy marriages while Lark is simply trying to get by. She escapes into her imaginative stories after "channeling" the used furniture in their subsistence housing. There are lots of quirky characters to make life interesting and some downright nasty little boys that make Lark's life quite miserable.

Sullivan doesn't resort to trendy literary gimmicks in her writing. She relies on old-fashioned storytelling in these nostalgic tales of triumph over adversity.

This was a really good story, told from the point of view of a young girl. She moves from the midwest to San Diego during WW2 with her mother and her aunt, who are both running from unhappy marriages.

This coming-of-age story is set in the 1940s during World War II. The narrarator is a young girl, Lark, who lives through tragedy and drama brought about by the people around her; yet, she manages to stay true to herself. Loved it!

Beautiful follow-up to [b:The Cape Ann|351160|The Cape Ann (Contemporary American Fiction)|Faith Sullivan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173990840s/351160.jpg|341403]. Just as thoughtful and entertaining.

Abandoning Depression-ravaged Minnesota and the alcoholic husband who drank away the family savings, Arlene Erhardt moves to California in early 1942 in search of a new life, bringing along her sister Betty and daughter Lark, the too-precocious narrator of this tale of independence, loyalty, hope and crushed dreams. The Erhardts land in a San Diego housing project, where Lark is left alone to sort out her new world while Betty and Arlene work.