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Yellow Flowers in the Antipodean Room
When a man who is believed dead revives in the mortuary and returns home, he is forced to re-examine his relationships with his family and others.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Janet Frame
68 books506 followersThe fate befalling the young woman who wanted "to be a poet" has been well documented. Desperately unhappy because of family tragedies and finding herself trapped in the wrong vocation (as a schoolteacher) her only escape appeared to be in submission to society's judgement of her as abnormal. She spent four and a half years out of eight years, incarcerated in mental hospitals. The story of her almost miraculous survival of the horrors and brutalising treatment in unenlightened institutions has become well known. She continued to write throughout her troubled years, and her first book (The Lagoon and Other Stories) won a prestigious literary prize, thus convincing her doctors not to carry out a planned lobotomy.
She returned to society, but not the one which had labelled her a misfit. She sought the support and company of fellow writers and set out single-mindedly and courageously to achieve her goal of being a writer. She wrote her first novel (Owls Do Cry) while staying with her mentor Frank Sargeson, and then left New Zealand, not to return for seven years.
She returned to society, but not the one which had labelled her a misfit. She sought the support and company of fellow writers and set out single-mindedly and courageously to achieve her goal of being a writer. She wrote her first novel (Owls Do Cry) while staying with her mentor Frank Sargeson, and then left New Zealand, not to return for seven years.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 5, 2015
Janet Frame has been on my to-read list for some years and I'm finally getting around to her. I selected Yellow Flowers in the Antipodean Room because it—well, I—I guess I liked the title. Fact is, I wasn't sure what this book was about before I read it. There's no blurb on the physical book itself. The description on Goodreads is about the author and reveals nothing of the book. Suddenly, with book in hand, I began to feel nervous. What was I getting myself into? Could I blindly walk into a story I knew absolutely nothing about (well, I knew it was set in New Zealand, but that's not much, is it?) So, I did an irresponsible thing: I read a review or two before cracking the cover. It worked. I learned enough to get me started. But then I began to see how maybe not knowing was beneficial. The plot-point alluded to is a bit of a spoiler. And yes, it happens in the early chapters and is essentially what this novel is about, but not knowing I think would've amped up my emotional response. Lesson learned. So, knowing this, how do I properly review this book without giving away the one thing the entire story is built upon?
Janet Frame. What attracted me to the author initially was her story, so let's start there. Frame (pen name) was born in New Zealand in 1924. Her home life was blighted by violence and the deaths of two of her sisters in separate drowning accidents. In her early twenties, Frame took a job as a teacher and continued her studies. After a suicide attempt, Frame abandoned her job and was admitted to a psychiatric ward. In the following decade, Frame was repeatedly admitted to psychiatric hospitals throughout New Zealand. She was diagnosed as schizophrenic and was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy. Meanwhile, she wrote. In 1951, Frame's first book, a collection of stories titled The Lagoon and Other Stories was published. At the same time, she was scheduled to undergo an operation to lobotomize her brain. Just days before the procedure, The Lagoon... was awarded a national prize and the lobotomy was cancelled. Over the next three decades, Frame was a prolific writer and often highly regarded. She died in 2004.
So, back to the novel. Let me say that I believe elements of Frame's story can be witnessed in Yellow Flowers... in how someone can be at the brink of something huge and then have her life changed drastically. Yellow Flowers... has an intriguing premise, but the delivery is very focused on language. Frame has her own style that at times is succinct and sharp, and at other times takes form as a stream-of-conscious run-on. The plot is rather slow to develop. Yes, there's some definite character development running around this novel as well, but really, what a reader walks away with, is a poetic delivery and extensive word-play.
Yellow Flowers... is gorgeous when it's at its best; it is a bit plodding at its worst, especially in the middle where the story sags. Those who want their story to sing to them will likely devour this book. Those who want their story to soar and take them to exciting new lands will probably grow bored with the novel. Personally, I'm eager to read more from the author, but I recognize Frame is the kind of writer whose work must be doled out slowly over time.
Janet Frame. What attracted me to the author initially was her story, so let's start there. Frame (pen name) was born in New Zealand in 1924. Her home life was blighted by violence and the deaths of two of her sisters in separate drowning accidents. In her early twenties, Frame took a job as a teacher and continued her studies. After a suicide attempt, Frame abandoned her job and was admitted to a psychiatric ward. In the following decade, Frame was repeatedly admitted to psychiatric hospitals throughout New Zealand. She was diagnosed as schizophrenic and was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy. Meanwhile, she wrote. In 1951, Frame's first book, a collection of stories titled The Lagoon and Other Stories was published. At the same time, she was scheduled to undergo an operation to lobotomize her brain. Just days before the procedure, The Lagoon... was awarded a national prize and the lobotomy was cancelled. Over the next three decades, Frame was a prolific writer and often highly regarded. She died in 2004.
So, back to the novel. Let me say that I believe elements of Frame's story can be witnessed in Yellow Flowers... in how someone can be at the brink of something huge and then have her life changed drastically. Yellow Flowers... has an intriguing premise, but the delivery is very focused on language. Frame has her own style that at times is succinct and sharp, and at other times takes form as a stream-of-conscious run-on. The plot is rather slow to develop. Yes, there's some definite character development running around this novel as well, but really, what a reader walks away with, is a poetic delivery and extensive word-play.
One must respect the wishes of the dead, she said to herself, accepting the platitudes of bereavement in the sievelike condition of mind in which the news had put her, allowing for the moment her own thoughts and feelings to fall through to the bottom of her heart so that when the remnants of the time had been thrown away her own thoughts and feelings would remain as sediment in her heart.
Yellow Flowers... is gorgeous when it's at its best; it is a bit plodding at its worst, especially in the middle where the story sags. Those who want their story to sing to them will likely devour this book. Those who want their story to soar and take them to exciting new lands will probably grow bored with the novel. Personally, I'm eager to read more from the author, but I recognize Frame is the kind of writer whose work must be doled out slowly over time.
June 4, 2013
What can I say about Frame? She's incomparable. I've learned more from reading her books than from (almost) any other writer. No one's syntax folds the story inward as well as hers. Unsyncopated at times, you fall right in eventually. But that's by design. You're stopped for a reason. If you read "through" this, and you miss it. It's a book, as TS Eliot once said about Barnes's Nightwood, that is "written." As a writer, though, I feel more like Lynley: "It was like spending a lifetime studying a special subject and then being unable to practice it."
May 3, 2019
Frame had such a keen sense of our human rhythms, she could make the uncanny feel believable. Maybe too believable.
Her books are dark and weird, yet somehow domestic and grounded. It isn't horror. It isn't any sort of morbid fantasy or wish-fulfillment. The darkness is much closer than that. It takes me to an uncomfortable place. It's the prose and the social/psychological insight make it all worth it in the end. In my opinion, this is some of her most beautiful writing.
Her books are dark and weird, yet somehow domestic and grounded. It isn't horror. It isn't any sort of morbid fantasy or wish-fulfillment. The darkness is much closer than that. It takes me to an uncomfortable place. It's the prose and the social/psychological insight make it all worth it in the end. In my opinion, this is some of her most beautiful writing.
April 10, 2022
He guessed that his experience might become a forbidden topic: was it not as embarrassing, impolite, unseemly to draw attention to one's private death as to one's private life?
Godfrey was pronounced dead after an accident, he woke up from a thirty-six hour coma in the hospital mortuary. One of his first thoughts was getting home to his wife and children. He soon learned that his funeral arrangements were already made, a coffin ready, the grave dug, sympathy cards, the wreaths, his wife prepared to begin her life as a widow, his children home from school because their daddy died, his sister emigrating from England to New Zealand to attend his funeral and start a new life. Quite the inconvenience to suddenly be pronounced alive with the same certainty that he was pronounced dead. Would it have been better if he stayed dead?
"How is our miracle today?"
Godfrey did not feel like a miracle, he just wanted life to get back to normal, if only he could feel warm again.
Janet Frame never fails to take her readers on a journey into the human condition and shines a light directly at the best and the worst in us. The unfairness - however, Fair's fair or so they say.
Godfrey was pronounced dead after an accident, he woke up from a thirty-six hour coma in the hospital mortuary. One of his first thoughts was getting home to his wife and children. He soon learned that his funeral arrangements were already made, a coffin ready, the grave dug, sympathy cards, the wreaths, his wife prepared to begin her life as a widow, his children home from school because their daddy died, his sister emigrating from England to New Zealand to attend his funeral and start a new life. Quite the inconvenience to suddenly be pronounced alive with the same certainty that he was pronounced dead. Would it have been better if he stayed dead?
"How is our miracle today?"
Godfrey did not feel like a miracle, he just wanted life to get back to normal, if only he could feel warm again.
Janet Frame never fails to take her readers on a journey into the human condition and shines a light directly at the best and the worst in us. The unfairness - however, Fair's fair or so they say.
February 23, 2019
very beautifully written book but be prepared to be depressed, I went into it as most of the reviews suggested, knowing nothing about the plot and i think that's probably the best approach, but its a dark story - beware
February 11, 2011
I really thought I was going to LOVE this book, and hyped it up in my mind in a strange and unrealistic way. I'm not sure why, considering I never even got through a quarter of 'State of Siege' that I picked up once and can't remember anything of. It was upgraded to a 3 instead of 2, which is my usual number for books I set down for a long time or struggled to make myself finish, largely for the character of Lynley -- who I found irritable while reading. However, in the time since I have read it, her story and psychological conflict is the only one I return to, often unawares in the way certain characters or situations do. I found her as a person unbearable and annoying, but then became hugely interested and sympathetic towards her.
The drudgery, the arrestedness of her entire life and its definition becomes clear and immense as details of her history and thoughts about herself and life are revealed. From her society with her boarders, and the awkward, painful reunion with them; to the new identity she formed ONLY ONCE GODFREY WAS DEAD and in her coming to New Zealand, then the failure of that as well to give her meaning and revitalize her life. The smallness and sadness of her life, and her awareness of it, is immensely well drawn, and I am thinking overlooked as both a piece of the novel as it pertains to other themes and motifs in the book, and in the interesting psychology of her character on its own.
As for the novel itself in its whole trajectory, the idea is awesome, and the slow decay of Godfrey's (second) life at first is interesting as well - but this plot eventually drew thin, and without the intense, minute building of character/idea that Lynley has, it became tedious. The last chapter/few pages didn't have this lack to either the story or the writing, so I feel that Frame had this ending (epitaph) shaped out in full, but somewhere 2/3 through did not have enough subplot/character investigation to sustain interest the whole way through to what I felt was a concise and strong ending (the third 'salvation' if you will.)
The other extremely strong point in the writing was the dissolution of language Godfrey experiences -- a few good examples I could lift online being the Lord's Prayer becoming "the Drol's Pryer," and crematorium becoming "creamtorium." Other words in the general vocabulary are similarly inverted or altered in some form. My favorite is the reinvention of his name to Godfrey Brainrid. These subversions into the actual text of the novel, not just out of Godfrey's mouth, are not distracting or seem in any way like a 'shock value' pretentious writing trick (I usually take these sorts of things that way.) They're super well done and really elevate the creeping darkness of Godfrey's tormented mind. It is one of the few ways we really get to SEE that torment so strongly as well.
The book is worth reading, or rereading, at the very least to look a bit past the plot (which is pretty simple, in reality,) and more into the characters internalities in the face of this almost supernatural crisis and at Frame's style and intriguing use of language to mimic the content.
The drudgery, the arrestedness of her entire life and its definition becomes clear and immense as details of her history and thoughts about herself and life are revealed. From her society with her boarders, and the awkward, painful reunion with them; to the new identity she formed ONLY ONCE GODFREY WAS DEAD and in her coming to New Zealand, then the failure of that as well to give her meaning and revitalize her life. The smallness and sadness of her life, and her awareness of it, is immensely well drawn, and I am thinking overlooked as both a piece of the novel as it pertains to other themes and motifs in the book, and in the interesting psychology of her character on its own.
As for the novel itself in its whole trajectory, the idea is awesome, and the slow decay of Godfrey's (second) life at first is interesting as well - but this plot eventually drew thin, and without the intense, minute building of character/idea that Lynley has, it became tedious. The last chapter/few pages didn't have this lack to either the story or the writing, so I feel that Frame had this ending (epitaph) shaped out in full, but somewhere 2/3 through did not have enough subplot/character investigation to sustain interest the whole way through to what I felt was a concise and strong ending (the third 'salvation' if you will.)
The other extremely strong point in the writing was the dissolution of language Godfrey experiences -- a few good examples I could lift online being the Lord's Prayer becoming "the Drol's Pryer," and crematorium becoming "creamtorium." Other words in the general vocabulary are similarly inverted or altered in some form. My favorite is the reinvention of his name to Godfrey Brainrid. These subversions into the actual text of the novel, not just out of Godfrey's mouth, are not distracting or seem in any way like a 'shock value' pretentious writing trick (I usually take these sorts of things that way.) They're super well done and really elevate the creeping darkness of Godfrey's tormented mind. It is one of the few ways we really get to SEE that torment so strongly as well.
The book is worth reading, or rereading, at the very least to look a bit past the plot (which is pretty simple, in reality,) and more into the characters internalities in the face of this almost supernatural crisis and at Frame's style and intriguing use of language to mimic the content.
April 23, 2015
Nu m-as fi gandit pana acum ca o inviere din morti poate aduce si altceva in afara de bucurie pentru cel in cauza si pentru familia lui. Bine, nu inviere din morti ca ar fi horror, doar ca tipul este declarat mort, se incep pregatirile de inmormantare, se trimit flori, coroane, hainele ajung sa fie donate dar a doua zi la spital isi revine. Socul vine mai intai pentru familie - sotia care se pregatise pentru statutul de vaduva, sora care se foloseste de acest eveniment declansator sa emigreze din Anglia in Noua Zeelanda (tara de adoptie a fratelui) si apoi si pentru Godfrey. Initial nu intelege ce se intampla, toata lumea se uita socata la el la spital cand s-a trezit, si-a dat seama ca avusese loc un accident si singura lui explicatie pentru privirele ingrozite era ca probabil fata lui fusese mutilata in urma accidentului.
Abia cand sotia ii explica ca fusese declarat mort atentia ni se dirijeaza de la familie catre Godfrey, cu un gand care il lasa fara suflu (desi nu acesta avea sa fie principalul lui cosmar): acela ca putea fi ingropat de viu!
De aici din rau in mai rau, isi pierde locul de munca de la Oficiul de Turism pentru ca nimeni nu va dori sa-si planifice vacantele cu un cadavru, dar nu va speriati, culmea cartea are si umor. De la faptul ca i se ofera totusi un loc de munca ca liftier pe motiv ca firma respectiva intotdeauna a oferit un loc de munca handicapatilor pana la faptul ca sotia apucase sa dea pana si pijamalele intr-un timp asa scurt si a trebuit sa doarma dezbracat in prima noapte revenit acasa sau ca era numit stafie de catre colegii copiilor sai, mai de-a rasu plansu te minunezi cum poate scapa de sub control o situatie (si scapa rau dar nu va povestesc aici totul) care aparent era una fericita, o "a doua sansa la viata".
" Atata timp cat Godfrey traia si muncea printre oameni, fiecare avea sa fie pus constant in fata propriei morti."
" - Ei stiu ca ai avut o sansa la fel de buna ca oricine altcineva la viata. Ceea ce ti s-a intamplat nu este unic, dar nimeni nu a ajuns atat de aproape. Oamenii stiu ca ei nu vor avea niciodata sansa pe care ai avut-o tu, ca atunci cand vor muri vor ramane morti."
"Cand ai murit si a venit omul ala de la asigurari, el a tot vorbit despre asta. Era ingrozitor. A zis ca ar trebui sa incheiem o polita pentru accidente...Sau eu ar trebui si copiii, dupa ce ti s-a intamplat tie. A zis ca e mai valoros sa pierzi un picior si un ochi decat doar un ochi si ca e mai valoros sa ramai schilodit pe viata decat sa mori. A fost foarte ciudat. Nu stiam ce sa fac. [...] A zis ca trebuie sa accept lucrurile, ca viata unui om are valoare, ca moartea unui om are si ea valoare, dar numai daca sunt semnate documentele potrivite".
Pff!! Da, cam despre asta este vorba, puteti s-o cititi daca nu vi se pare prea ... (dar v-am zis, nu e chiar asa!), Janet Frame este o apreciata scriitoare din Noua Zeelanda, nominalizata de doua ori la Nobel. Un film despre viata ei a fost ecranizat in 1990 (a fost gresit diagnosticata cu schizofrenie si internata in institutii psihiatrie dar scrisul a salvat-o).
- See more at: http://www.deundevine.ro/category/car...
Abia cand sotia ii explica ca fusese declarat mort atentia ni se dirijeaza de la familie catre Godfrey, cu un gand care il lasa fara suflu (desi nu acesta avea sa fie principalul lui cosmar): acela ca putea fi ingropat de viu!
De aici din rau in mai rau, isi pierde locul de munca de la Oficiul de Turism pentru ca nimeni nu va dori sa-si planifice vacantele cu un cadavru, dar nu va speriati, culmea cartea are si umor. De la faptul ca i se ofera totusi un loc de munca ca liftier pe motiv ca firma respectiva intotdeauna a oferit un loc de munca handicapatilor pana la faptul ca sotia apucase sa dea pana si pijamalele intr-un timp asa scurt si a trebuit sa doarma dezbracat in prima noapte revenit acasa sau ca era numit stafie de catre colegii copiilor sai, mai de-a rasu plansu te minunezi cum poate scapa de sub control o situatie (si scapa rau dar nu va povestesc aici totul) care aparent era una fericita, o "a doua sansa la viata".
" Atata timp cat Godfrey traia si muncea printre oameni, fiecare avea sa fie pus constant in fata propriei morti."
" - Ei stiu ca ai avut o sansa la fel de buna ca oricine altcineva la viata. Ceea ce ti s-a intamplat nu este unic, dar nimeni nu a ajuns atat de aproape. Oamenii stiu ca ei nu vor avea niciodata sansa pe care ai avut-o tu, ca atunci cand vor muri vor ramane morti."
"Cand ai murit si a venit omul ala de la asigurari, el a tot vorbit despre asta. Era ingrozitor. A zis ca ar trebui sa incheiem o polita pentru accidente...Sau eu ar trebui si copiii, dupa ce ti s-a intamplat tie. A zis ca e mai valoros sa pierzi un picior si un ochi decat doar un ochi si ca e mai valoros sa ramai schilodit pe viata decat sa mori. A fost foarte ciudat. Nu stiam ce sa fac. [...] A zis ca trebuie sa accept lucrurile, ca viata unui om are valoare, ca moartea unui om are si ea valoare, dar numai daca sunt semnate documentele potrivite".
Pff!! Da, cam despre asta este vorba, puteti s-o cititi daca nu vi se pare prea ... (dar v-am zis, nu e chiar asa!), Janet Frame este o apreciata scriitoare din Noua Zeelanda, nominalizata de doua ori la Nobel. Un film despre viata ei a fost ecranizat in 1990 (a fost gresit diagnosticata cu schizofrenie si internata in institutii psihiatrie dar scrisul a salvat-o).
- See more at: http://www.deundevine.ro/category/car...
August 7, 2018
A very strange novel, not in the usual (casual) style I am used to, but at the same time a very interesting and challenging (intellectually) book. It is obvious that the author is one of those few great writers and I am sure there are more novels that she wrote which would probably get a better star rating from me. For this one, I have just decided to rate it with 3 stars because of me, not the quality of the novel. I still need some time to digest it and will most likely improve the rating as I manage to understand it's (hidden) messages.
March 28, 2020
Mai mult 3,5 decat 4.
Foarte ciudată această lectură. A fost la un pas de a fi o carte pe care aș fi apreciat-o maxim. Este însă ceva nefiresc, greoi în unele fraze, o lipsă de suplețe a limbajului care mi-e teamă că vine din traducere. Uneori parcă rostogoleam niște pietre printre dinți. Dar cum nu e decât o presupunere, las cartea cu părere de rău, fără să știu dacă problema e la scriitor sau la cel care a tălmăcit-o așa.
Nu am gasit nici un alt titlu în română, din păcate.
Foarte ciudată această lectură. A fost la un pas de a fi o carte pe care aș fi apreciat-o maxim. Este însă ceva nefiresc, greoi în unele fraze, o lipsă de suplețe a limbajului care mi-e teamă că vine din traducere. Uneori parcă rostogoleam niște pietre printre dinți. Dar cum nu e decât o presupunere, las cartea cu părere de rău, fără să știu dacă problema e la scriitor sau la cel care a tălmăcit-o așa.
Nu am gasit nici un alt titlu în română, din păcate.
December 28, 2015
This is a remarkable book by a remarkable genius of an author. Anything I might write here would be a spoiler. Stunning, creative, magnificent - some reactions I have had while reading this book from 1968.
July 26, 2009
I thought this was a very good book. Sad, sad, sad, but good. You should read it and then you will understand what I am saying.
April 28, 2010
Depressing
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews