The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

18-year-old Victoria Jones finds herself emancipated from the foster care system after "aging out." She'd been mostly in the system since her mother abandoned her at birth. She's hidden her troubles in caring for flowers throughout the years. She's well versed in the "language of flowers" and often uses them to communicate her feelings, taking a misanthropic comfort in the fact that most people have no idea what she is trying to convey. Her former caseworker takes her to a halfway house where she spends three months doing nothing with her life aside from planting flowers because she says there's nothing she "wants" bad enough to motivate herself, which turns out to be very untrue. After leaving the halfway home and becoming homeless, Victoria starts working with a florist and her memories, fears, and needs start to unravel.

I really struggled with what I should rate this book for various reasons. I thought it was very beautifully written and emotionally driven. but I guess some of my ill feelings come from the fact that Victoria drove me crazy at times. I couldn't figure out where her thought process was going with some of the decisions she made, and while I understand that's part of the point due to her life, it was just so contradictory at times (for me) that it made me lack empathy for her at some points. But a character in the book summed it up so well when she said that Victoria approached people already apologetic because she (Victoria) didn't feel she was worthy and would find some way to disappoint people. And Victoria spent a large bulk of her time pushing others away often brutally and with lack of emotion because of that. I had to stop at times and think about how I'd view the world if I'd lived Victoria's life. I had to remind myself that people are contradictory by nature.

I'm not a flower person at all, and I was afraid that I'd get bored with this book quickly. I was wrong. I was fully enthralled by what different flowers meant and the way the characters used this knowledge to communicate with each other. I even read the whole glossary of flower meanings in the back once I'd finished the story. I was emotionally invested in what happened to Victoria and the other characters overall and mostly rooted for them to find happiness, peace, and forgiveness. Finding about the one time Victoria almost had it all before it fell apart was tragic. And I appreciated that this book didn't end with "and they live happily ever after." You get the sense that, yes, the healing for everyone has truly begun at the end, but the ending makes it clear that it will be a process as each fear is released to make space for the happy memories to come.

Final Verdict:

4 of 5 stars

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Wow, what a story. I wouldn't say this was a hard story to read, but much of it is dreary. This book takes place during a time when women were only seen as vestibules to bear children--particularly sons. Other than that, their lives were "worthless," and they were often viewed as another mouth to feed for their husbands' families.

Living life under strict patriarchal codes, women were not allowed to air their grievances. They were encouraged to accept their lot in life and believe that everything that happened to them was their own doing, something they deserves. They were taught that they only achieved perfection through pain. However, these woman created a secret language used to convey their true feelings to one another.

This books follows the journey of two women whose spent their lives as loatongs (old sames)--women paired together to be the emotional pillars to each other that their husbands could not be for them. Their history together is painful, and their relationship poignantly illustrates the ever shifting face of female relationships.

Women, and our relationships with one another, are such complicated things. Even though this story takes place during a time long before women had many rights, some things remain true. Some of the same tricks they used then, we use now. We still share so many of the same fears, hopes, aspirations, etc. These things still affect us no matter our races, geographical locations, social statuses. Beautiful story.

Final Verdict: 

4 of 5 stars

The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds

The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds

This is the story of Ninah Huff, the granddaughter of the founder of the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind. Say that three times fast. I dare ya! Basically, the people of the congregation spend their time striving to do the "Lord's good" while denying themselves earthly pleasures (No TV, very little free time, you get the picture) because they don't want to be stuck on earth when the good Lord comes back. To avoid earthly sins, the members of the church are known to inflict pain upon themselves such as sleeping on nettles or walking on pecan shells.

The story is also told from Ninah's POV. She's a young girl struggling with religion and life in general. She questions what she is being taught in her community, but at the same time, she feels ashamed and guilty of the changes going through her -- particularly her attraction to a boy named James. Despite, Ninah and James's efforts to avoid temptation and sin, the two come together in the biblical sense, and the outcome tears their little community apart.

I thought this was a very beautiful story following the trials and tribulations of not only a teenager growing up under such strict beliefs but the desires of the heart and flesh, the questioning of religious beliefs. Ninah makes such a transition in this story. She goes from a timid teenage girl to a young woman who knows her heart and believes that God's love comes from more than just pain. She finds strength when so many obstacles stood in her way. She forces a community to change, to face it's hypocrisy, and above all, Ninah finds a sense of self.

I also loved the characters in this book. They were so beautifully drawn out. You could imagine them vividly. Everyone from Ninah to Corinthian, the woman who the community considers a backsliding whore. You feel for these people. You can probably think of people who share some similar attributes. Maybe not as religious, but we all know drama-queens and people who strive to please others.

Ninah's story is so heart-wrenching, but beautifully written. I could not put this book down, and I already want to read it again. All I have to say to that is, "Whee, Jesus."

Final Verdict

4.5 of 5 stars

Lo's Diary by Pia Pera

Lo's Diary by Pia Pera

I call books like these published fanfiction. Hey, I love fanfiction, but it just gets on my last nerve when everyone wants to down it when we have so much published fanfiction around. But, anyway... Lo's Diary is Lolita (Delores Haze's) side of the events that Humbert Humbert told in Lolita. Once again, John Ray is presented with a manuscript this time from the hands of the famed nymphet herself.

She tells Mr. Ray that some of the details of Lolita were just over-romanticized lies thought up by Humbert, but then she sort of recants and decides that maybe Humbert was so deluded he really thought those things happened. So, we learn the "true" story of what happened starting with Lolita's diary a few months before Humbert Humbert entered the picture.

I really, really disliked Humbert Humbert while reading Lolita, and I don't think I was supposed to like him. This book was quite a jewel since Lolita's assessment of Humbert coincides with they way I felt he really was in Lolita, a bumbling fool.

This wasn't written in the same style as Nabokov's Lolita. This is quite a bit more down-to-earth. You don't have to go through pages and pages of description about one minute detail. Lo just tells it like it is. Sometimes, Lolita seems a little too mature for her age, and sometimes she seems a little childish, just as she's presented in Lolita, though. Although I hate the book Lolita, I won't deny it is masterfully written. This isn't, and it doesn't even pretend to be classy. Still, I thought it was an amusing read.

Final Verdict: 

2.5 of 5 stars