Tag Archives: Isaac Asimov

The Monday Book: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

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dogwoosI like flower language, and I’m deeply embroiled in a storytelling project involving fostered and adopted children in SW VA right now, so finding this book on clearance at a used books store in Knoxville, Tennessee, it was a no-brainer purchase.

It was easy to get into, but perhaps hard to stay with; this literary novel has a weird dichotomy running through its middle. On the one hand, it is about tough, stupid, needy, intelligent Victoria, a child who ages out of foster care and lands hard/soft/hard/soft as the book progresses. She’s hard to love, but everybody around her does. And the only way this tough, I-don’t-care girl can communicate well is by flowers. She uses their Victorian meanings to say what’s on her mind.

So does her 20-something suitor. And her foster mom and FM’s estranged sister. It’s kinda hard to buy. But what was it Isaac Asimov said – that every writer gets one free pass at an unbelievable premise built into his or her story? Diffenbaugh got hers in early on.

Still, as bad as the flowers strewn along this bed of thorns tale of dysfunction are, her characterization of Victoria is compelling. Just Victoria, though: the other characters all kind of serve her, appearing as extensions of what she needs.

This is not a character-driven novel. The flowers are running the show. And if you’re willing to believe that could happen, it’s a good read – compelling forward motion, an underdog to root (ha) for, and some very believable circumstances for the foster kid.

On the other hand, perhaps too much perfume, not enough manure, for the growth the characters show. A mixed review, but I can say that I enjoyed reading it, and only began to think “Hey wait a minute” afterward. It was good escapism, and a pretty good depiction of the inner chaos of a foster child who ages out. Just don’t confuse the elegant narration of this fiction with anything like journalism, and we’ll be okay. Ain’t no foster kids in SW VA giving each other flowers, jobs, or free passes.

(If you would like to see the blog on ADOPTION IN APPALACHIA, it is adoptioninappalachia.com. Go take a look at some real stories and advice on the subject.)

Tying Up Loose (week)Ends

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Today’s post is just pulling together a few loose threads to tie into the weekend.

First, let me remind everyone that CAPTION CONTEST III (scroll down to July 8) closes next week. If you haven’t entered yet, take a look at the winsome photo of a kitten surrounded by books, and have fun. First prize is a free copy of The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: a memoir of friendship, community and the uncommon pleasure of a good book.

(BTW the kitten in question, who was known as Mr. Edwards while with us–from our Limited Edition Little House Summer Series Foster Collection–has been adopted and is now being spoiled rotten under his new name: Karl Pilkington. His forever family said their permanently-worried facial expressions were too similar to ignore.)

Second, I blogged a list of fun bibliophile sites online last week, and then found another that night. Goodwill Librarian is on Facebook, posting great photos and memes. Kimberly–the GW–also runs Good Reads Missoula, a website dedicated to books and book lovers. (Google it as for some reason it’s not posting right here.) They’re great places to visit on a Friday–or any day! Pretty and erudite at the same time.

Next, for those who looked at yesterday’s “I’m looking for a book” hints: nice job! I guessed Life of Pi too, for the first customer, who said “It’s about a guy in a lifeboat.” But of all things, he was looking for Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat! (This is a comic novel about a boating holiday, published in 1889.)

Customer hint:”All these people are mad at each other, because their dad gave away his land.” Jane Yolen got closest with her guess, King Lear. The lady was looking for A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. (Her next statement actually abbreviated a frustrating search: “It was a movie on Lifetime.” Well why didn’t you say so? Now we can skip a few false trails.)

“It’s about a woman whose husband dies, and she writes it all down.” Joan Didion, A Year of Magical Thinking, is what the customer wanted. I must admit to bookstore keeper snobbery here, because I thought anyone with literary sensibilities suited to Joan Didion would be able to ask for her by name. Instead, I suggested first  The Geography of Love by Glenda Burgess, then Carole Radziwill’s What Remains.

The woman shook her head. “This man keeled over at the table, and his wife was already a writer.” At that moment I began to suspect she was toying with me, because anyone who knew that much MUST know Joan Didion’s work, but in fact the lady just couldn’t remember the book’s name. C’est la bookselling vie.

“It’s about a girl who gets raped, except everybody blames her.” Speak is a great book on this subject (which as comments point out, is all too frequent) but the customer wanted We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates.

It’s about this guy’s dog. Easy Peasy: Marley and Me. But just to separate it from the rest of the pack, I asked the gentleman requesting the book, “Who dies, the man or his dog?” This eliminated London before the search started.

Now, see that zombie thing? We went several rounds. I started with graphic novels; let’s face it, the kid was a goth and we do judge books by their covers. Nope. I won’t bore you with all the other wrong guesses. Believe it or not, what the lad wanted was I, Robot by Isaac Asmiov. His teacher made it an extra credit reading assignment, saying something about (remember, this came via the kid’s filter) people not caring about their feelings and letting machines do all the work and sort of living while being dead while the machines were coming to life.

Yes, it’s a new description of a classic text, but hey, I’m just glad the boy was willing to do an extra credit reading assignment. I do kinda hope his teacher never tries to describe Moby-Dick to him, though, because he’ll come in asking for Jaws.

And the final loose end: WETS FM is rebroadcasting a Community Forum interview I did about bookstores, at 7:30 Saturday morning and 2:30 Sunday afternoon. If you want to hear it, go to www.wets.org at these times and click on the listen now button at the top of the screen. The page that opens has all their channels (3 or 4 I think) and you just choose your preferred listening software. I think you can also download it via the website, but these programs are not archived.

Have a great weekend, everybody.