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pikkumarja's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
Alicen ja tarinan muiden naisten vuoksi toivoisin, että kirjassa ei olisi miehiä niin paljon. Miehet eivät oikein nappaa.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness
tfsill227's review against another edition
2.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury
abrown04's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
It ended abruptly and felt rushed towards the end, and it felt like Alice hadn’t actually resolved any of her trauma. Absolutely mad at how it ended.
Paperback.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death
Minor: Cancer
lynds_13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Death, and Physical abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty
alicejm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Grief, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Infidelity, Sexism, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Death, Mental illness, Death of parent, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
kimberlyallen011's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Rape
Minor: Infidelity
brilee92's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
Minor: Deportation and Alcoholism
zabeth1021's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism
carijacqueline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Abandonment
writingcaia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This is the coming of age of Alice Hart who at nine loses her father and pregnant mother to a fire, a fire she thinks she caused escaping her abusive, violent father. Initially, in very bad shape due to her fathers abuse, she stays in the hospital for a long time, and there she has only the librarian she met once reading to her, then a grandmother she never knew she had comes to take her when she is released, even though the trauma has taken her voice. And, there she goes into the unknown, into place that will be the secrets and the past hidden from her but always present, where truths and more lies lie, and the place where she will grow and love, and find that there, at Thornfield, where wild flowers bloom, a native flowers farm, florist and floriographist place, where abused and lost women - the “Flowers” - care for it, she too will blossom. But, will her overbearing, stubborn grandmother June allow her to fully be herself, to fully bloom?
So many secrets, so much violence in this family story, in these enchanting places, from a beautiful and raw seaside, to the dry and flowered native desert, in an Australia of abused women, abused natives.
Alice will have to brave it all and discover if she’s strong enough to break her family’s cycle, to have her voice and not let it be taken from her, to be the owner of her destiny.
I could talk about it all at length. The characters are rich and the history of the family so dense and complicated. The flowers, plant ones and women ones, and how they’ll play such a great part in all of it. But, I don’t want to give it away. I want you to brave it all with Alice.
For me the novel only failed in that I would have liked to know more of the implied final romance and more of some of the “Flowers” backstories and destinies, and the dog!!!
An absolutely gorgeous debut nonetheless, with, as you gathered, themes of family, abuse, coming of age, colonialism, and the good and bad people that shape one’s life.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Rape, Animal cruelty, and Death
Minor: Animal death and Alcoholism