Diffenbough, Vanessa - The Language of Flowers - Informal Buddy Read; Start 18 February 2015

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

This thread is for the discussion of The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.



Book Synopsis:
A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what’s been missing in her life, and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

[Renee]

I had this book recommended to me by my not so secret santa. I'm about halfway through and really enjoying it.

Part One - Common Thistle
The chapters are short and alternate between Victoria at about 10 years old and at about 18 years old. To begin with I was a bit annoyed by Victoria. I thought she was horrible and this was another "I'm so damaged because I grew up in the foster care system" book. It took me about 50 pages or so to empathize with Victoria and get really drawn in to the story.

[Renee]

I have a few flower tattoos. Reading this book has inspired me to look up their meanings.

I found this site.
http://www.aboutflowers.com/flower-a-...

**edit** after I finished the book, I noticed the glossary at the end. Meanings from glossary

My first Tattoo was a dutch iris on my back. I chose it because it is my favourite flower and I love purple. I just found the meaning to be inspiration or message

My second flower was a daisy. I chose it on a whim, simple and small to fit behind my left ear. Also daisies are one of the birth flowers for April. Meaning innocence or innocence

My third flower tattoo is a pink sweet pea on my right thigh. I chose it because the sweet pea is the other birth flower for April. I used to grow sweet pea when I was a kid. Meaning shyness or delicate pleasures


I also have 3 non flower tattoos - a fish on my left ankle, a couple swing dancing on my right forearm, and some lyrics from the song my husband and I danced to for our wedding dance ("forever and a day" on my left forearm - we got that as a matching tattoo for our 5 year anniversary - corny I know...)

[Renee]

Part 2: Chapters 1 - 13
I'm getting right into the story now. Hard to put the book down - neglecting other buddy reads. Sorry Karen, I'll have to finish the book before you get to it, but I'll definitely come back and chat!

(view spoiler)[ Oh Oh! A kiss! Yay!!!

I really want to know what happened with Elizabeth and why she stopped living there. It was all going to well. Victoria is finally starting to open up, and Elizabeth really seems to understand her and know what she needs.

I hope Victoria and Grant can work things out. They really care about each other and both seem to need the same space, so hopefully they can make a relationship work.
(hide spoiler)]

[Snowtulip]

Renee wrote: "I have a few flower tattoos. Reading this book has inspired me to look up their meanings.

I found this site.
http://www.aboutflowers.com/flower-a-......"

I love that you now have the meaning of the flowers that are on your body!

I read this book with my mom, and we were constantly looking up the different flower meanings. (view spoiler)[It was such a great gift that Elizabeth gave to Victoria, such small beauty filled with so much meaning (hide spoiler)]

[Renee]

Finished Part 2
(view spoiler)[ No Elizabeth, you are enough! I wanted to slap her and drag her out of bed! I really thought the adoption would go ahead.

Pregnant! Well there was no mention of contraception. I hope Victoria can tell Grant and they can work things out. I hope having a baby will prompt Victoria to seek out Elizabeth. I want a happy ending. (hide spoiler)]

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

lol Renee - you are powering through!
I've heard so many good things about this book

[Renee]

Finished Part 3 - Moss
(view spoiler)[ Moss means maternal love, a real theme for this section.

This bit brought back so many memories of those first few weeks with my first baby. He wouldn't let me put him down once he was asleep either. I finally worked out that if he fell asleep feeding, I had get him to burp without waking up all the way before there was any chance of putting him down. I fell asleep plenty of times while breastfeeding in the rocking chair.

We finally found out what happened to separate Victoria and Elizabeth. I started suspecting when Grant first came to visit Elizabeth and told her about the jars.

Victoria is convinced that she will ruin everything - it is a self fulfilling prophecy. I hope she can start to believe in herself. The last section is called New Beginnings - so I hope everything will work out soon. (hide spoiler)]

[Snowtulip]

Renee wrote: "Finished Part 3 - Moss
Moss means maternal love, a real theme for this section.

This bit brought back so many memories of those first few weeks with my first baby. He wouldn't let me put him down..."

This section killed me, (view spoiler)[I couldn't for the life of me truly understand this self fulfilling prophecy that Victoria kept, everything good in her life she kept throwing away. I think I literally had to keep a hold of my kindle and not throw it at the wall! (hide spoiler)]

[Renee]

Finished
(view spoiler)[ I'm glad that she reconnected with Elisabeth, Grant and their baby. I'm glad she took it slow. Victoria moving into the water alone tower was an image I'd had from earlier in the book. She needs space and time to learn to trust herself. I can understand and empathise with her and her decisions, but it is so different to how I feel. I felt frustrated a lot, wanting her to work it out. I don't think I would have been friends with anyone from this book. (hide spoiler)]

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

I haven't been able to get this yet, but when I do I'll go back and read your comments!

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Finally finished. I think I'm more with Snowtulip on this one.

Well...where to start... This book was not at all what I was expecting. I thought I would be reading a nice literary fiction piece exploring the Victorian language of flowers. Instead we end up with Victoria who is a thoroughly unlikeable 18 year old girl, who is completely psychologically damaged from her life in foster care and group homes.
For about half of the book I thought we were seeing development of Victoria and some great side characters, but then we hit a 180 and I found my self very frustrated and annoyed with pretty much every action by the characters. And there were a few parts of the book that REALLY annoyed me.
One, all the food references. They were just constantly eating.
Two. The time period was never clear and I struggle to accept that some of the examples given about forster care are true today. Maybe in once-off instances, but could it really be that one child is continually abused through multiple forster care homes for 18 years?
Three. Some of the characters actions didn't sit right with me. It was like the characters were only ever how Victoria saw them and didn't develop. Some specifics that I won't go into as it is just spoiler-town.

So, this book gets 3-4 stars for the first half and 2 stars for the last half. Let's just call it a 3.