Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.02 AVERAGE
3.02 AVERAGE
Parijs, ergens in de toekomst. Na aanslagen door heel Europa wordt jaren daarna de wijk rondom de plek waar de Eiffeltoren stond langzaam weer opgebouwd. Er is onder andere een hypermodern appartementencomplex voor kunstenaars verrezen. Clarissa, een tweetalig auteur met een obsessie voor huizen en een grote liefde voor de auteurs Virginia Woolf en Romain Gary, heeft na een schokkende ontdekking haar echtgenoot verlaten en ze heeft via de organisatie CASA een appartement gekregen in dit gewilde complex. Al snel krijgt ze het gevoel dat ze bespied wordt in huis, ze voelt zich niet meer veilig en dromen lijken over te lopen in de werkelijkheid. Haar dochter is bang dat Clarissa lijdt aan waanideeën, maar samen met haar kleindochter gaat ze op onderzoek uit.
In ‘Bloemen van de duisternis’ schetst de auteur een dystopisch toekomstbeeld en het begin van het boek roept veel vragen op, maar gedurende het verhaal worden langzaam enkele antwoorden gegeven. De kunstmatige intelligentie en virtuele assistenten lijken gemak en veiligheid te brengen, maar is het allemaal wel zo zaligmakend? Clarissa is levensecht neergezet, je gaat met haar meeleven en door soepele schakelingen tussen heden en herinneringen word je meegenomen in haar leven. Wat ze precies te weten is gekomen over haar man lees je in hoofdstukken die ‘Aantekeningenboekje’ genoemd worden.
Grote thema’s worden behandeld in dit boek: aanslagen, klimaatverandering en kunstmatige intelligentie, maar ook de verslavende effecten van sociale media, eenzaamheid, depressie, huwelijksproblemen, familiebanden, verlies en liefde. Het zijn veel thema’s, maar nergens voelt het overdadig, alles is mooi verweven in de verhaallijn. De personages zijn goed uitgewerkt, de spanning wordt gedurende het boek steeds verder opgebouwd en het laat je nadenken over een toekomst die niet eens zo ver weg lijkt. Af en toe lijken de ontwikkelingen en onthullingen wat vergezocht en ik had op sommige vragen nog wel graag een antwoord willen krijgen, maar ik ben vooral verrast door dit boek. Het is een beklemmende, aangrijpende, mooi geschreven (psychologische) roman, een aanrader!
In ‘Bloemen van de duisternis’ schetst de auteur een dystopisch toekomstbeeld en het begin van het boek roept veel vragen op, maar gedurende het verhaal worden langzaam enkele antwoorden gegeven. De kunstmatige intelligentie en virtuele assistenten lijken gemak en veiligheid te brengen, maar is het allemaal wel zo zaligmakend? Clarissa is levensecht neergezet, je gaat met haar meeleven en door soepele schakelingen tussen heden en herinneringen word je meegenomen in haar leven. Wat ze precies te weten is gekomen over haar man lees je in hoofdstukken die ‘Aantekeningenboekje’ genoemd worden.
Grote thema’s worden behandeld in dit boek: aanslagen, klimaatverandering en kunstmatige intelligentie, maar ook de verslavende effecten van sociale media, eenzaamheid, depressie, huwelijksproblemen, familiebanden, verlies en liefde. Het zijn veel thema’s, maar nergens voelt het overdadig, alles is mooi verweven in de verhaallijn. De personages zijn goed uitgewerkt, de spanning wordt gedurende het boek steeds verder opgebouwd en het laat je nadenken over een toekomst die niet eens zo ver weg lijkt. Af en toe lijken de ontwikkelingen en onthullingen wat vergezocht en ik had op sommige vragen nog wel graag een antwoord willen krijgen, maar ik ben vooral verrast door dit boek. Het is een beklemmende, aangrijpende, mooi geschreven (psychologische) roman, een aanrader!
I panned Tatiana de Rosnay’s 2018 novel The Rain Watcher but thought I’d give the author another chance so I requested a digital galley of her latest, Flowers of Darkness. I’m afraid this one is not an improvement.
The novel is set in Paris in the near future after the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, “the devastation of the Piazza San Marco, bombed-out Big Ben, and the obliteration of the Sistine Chapel.” Clarissa Katsef, a novelist who writes in both English and French, moves into an ultra-modern, high-tech apartment in a complex owned by C.A.S.A. (Center for Adaptive Synergy for Artists). She is looking for a refuge after a betrayal by her second husband, but she becomes uncomfortable when she feels herself being constantly watched by “the tiny cameras in each room, like little black eyes, always following her around.” She sets out to find out why her privacy is being invaded and enlists the help of her granddaughter Andy to help her.
This book is a commentary on climate change. For example, there is more than one comment about the plight of the planet. Abby laments, “’Look at what’s happening to the planet. Look what we did to it. Look what’s left of the forests. . . . Heat waves, floods, hurricanes, pollution.” Clarissa ponders “The perpetual heat waves, scorching summers, scarcity of water, brutal storms, end of natural pollination, and slow extinction of insects.”
Artificial intelligence is another target. The roles of robots in health care and security are mentioned, but they also take care of most human needs, even pleasure. Clarissa foresees a time when “’we could be forced to appreciate a fake culture entirely conceived and controlled by machines. We will no longer have any choice at all. For a long time, we’ve been getting those notifications telling us, “You liked so-and so’s book, so then read thingy’s one.” But what’s ahead could be even worse. Art, in each and every form, could be anticipated, made to order. Humans will stop creating, stop imagining. The end of surprises, make-believe, the end of possibilities, of the unexpected. On every front, it’ll be the victory of robots.’”
Another complaint Clarissa has is that people do not read books. In one paragraph, this is mentioned three times: “Hardly anyone read books anymore . . . it seemed no one yearned for books anymore. No one bought them . . . it appeared no one had the time to read or write anymore.” Later, she goes on and on about how “Pictures took precedence over words. No one read newspapers. People watched videos . . . Literature no longer held its own . . . People preferred to come and listen to the writer, to applaud the writer as he or she read from his or her book, and no longer purchased signed copies. Reading was no longer comforting. Reading no longer helped to heal.” She worries about piracy, which is understandable, but she just seems to object to people reading books on devices. Reading an ebook doesn’t qualify as reading? So I didn’t really read this book?!
The author, who has written books in both French and English, seems obsessed with people who have “hybrid brains” which she defines as people “who live and who dream in two different tongues.” Clarissa is simultaneously writing two versions of a book, one in English and one in French. The author seems to suggest that people who are bilingual are more creative. But what does bilingualism have to do with creativity in non-verbal arts? The creativity of bilingual sculptors and painters and musicians would be of more interest than that of monolingual sculptors, painters and musicians?
It is difficult to connect with Clarissa. She is in her late sixties, but she acts so immaturely. She needs to wear “high-heeled rock-star boots” which she admits are inappropriate for her age so she can feel “badass”? Over and over again, it is mentioned that she is particularly interested in the relationship between writers and their living environments, yet she doesn’t check out her new apartment before moving in. After she moves in “she suddenly realized she had moved into a dwelling she had never seen beforehand”?! She “blindly” signs a contract and even allows C.A.S.A. to monitor her health and only after moving in does she look up “the meaning of C.A.S.A.”? She starts to feel tired and thinks she should “slow down, write less and with less passion” yet she is never shown writing? Her most successful novel is improbably titled Topography of Intimacy?!
Other characters are unconvincing as well. Fourteen-year-old Andy seems too mature for her age, giving advice to her grandmother. Meanwhile, her forty-four-year old mother Jordan seems immature. For instance, Jordan is jealous of her cousins who received an inheritance from their aunt?! Clarissa’s father calls two of his granddaughters “sluts” and “tarts” and “twits”?!
Writing style is a major problem. It is stiff and flat, like something that could have been written by a robot. I kept thinking it had been poorly translated into English. There is so much awkward phrasing: “single tawdry cotillion” and “bloody pearls on a steadfast necklace of violence” and “sturdy, slightly stubby-legged outline” and “prodigious calm” and “lacustrine ballet” and “infinitesimal dark zone behind Mia White’s luminous smile” and “the choppy outcome of Aunt Serena’s will” and “imperious sensation.” A wedding band is a “jewel”? A person who is understanding is “marvelously comprehensive”? A person who remains expressionless is described as not losing “countenance”? The author seems to want to impress with her vocabulary but she uses words incorrectly.
It is not only the diction that is an issue. Short, choppy sentences abound. Then there are the long series of interrogative sentences: “Had he gone crazy? After everything he’d done? Did he really think she was going to shut up and stick around? Act like nothing had happened?” Exclamatory sentences are also overused: “Seriously, she looked like a lunatic! A madwoman!” Transitions are often missing so paragraphs are disjointed: “Jordan had lost many friends in the attack. Clarissa said good-bye to her daughter, and then asked Andy to go dry her hair. The president’s face appeared on the screen.” Why is Mia White always spoken of as Mia White? Her surname has to be given even though there is no other Mia in the narrative?
There are events that make no sense or are left unexplained. Why are we only told Clarissa’s pseudonym and not her real name? What happened to Jim? Why does Clarissa rush to London because of concerns about her father only to return home immediately? What is the purpose of the squabble over inheritance? Who is responsible for the destruction of European landmarks? Andy can roam around the C.A.S.A. complex, where surveillance is everywhere, and not be observed? It is possible to bargain with a robot? A cat joins a woman taking a shower and “installed himself on her thighs”? What are “Brexit’s unsettling consequences, steeped in complication”? To re-create “vanished beaches swallowed up by the rising sea level,” people are trying “to find sand, which had become so rare”?
Reading this book was laborious. Neither the plot nor the characters nor the style is noteworthy in a positive way.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
The novel is set in Paris in the near future after the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, “the devastation of the Piazza San Marco, bombed-out Big Ben, and the obliteration of the Sistine Chapel.” Clarissa Katsef, a novelist who writes in both English and French, moves into an ultra-modern, high-tech apartment in a complex owned by C.A.S.A. (Center for Adaptive Synergy for Artists). She is looking for a refuge after a betrayal by her second husband, but she becomes uncomfortable when she feels herself being constantly watched by “the tiny cameras in each room, like little black eyes, always following her around.” She sets out to find out why her privacy is being invaded and enlists the help of her granddaughter Andy to help her.
This book is a commentary on climate change. For example, there is more than one comment about the plight of the planet. Abby laments, “’Look at what’s happening to the planet. Look what we did to it. Look what’s left of the forests. . . . Heat waves, floods, hurricanes, pollution.” Clarissa ponders “The perpetual heat waves, scorching summers, scarcity of water, brutal storms, end of natural pollination, and slow extinction of insects.”
Artificial intelligence is another target. The roles of robots in health care and security are mentioned, but they also take care of most human needs, even pleasure. Clarissa foresees a time when “’we could be forced to appreciate a fake culture entirely conceived and controlled by machines. We will no longer have any choice at all. For a long time, we’ve been getting those notifications telling us, “You liked so-and so’s book, so then read thingy’s one.” But what’s ahead could be even worse. Art, in each and every form, could be anticipated, made to order. Humans will stop creating, stop imagining. The end of surprises, make-believe, the end of possibilities, of the unexpected. On every front, it’ll be the victory of robots.’”
Another complaint Clarissa has is that people do not read books. In one paragraph, this is mentioned three times: “Hardly anyone read books anymore . . . it seemed no one yearned for books anymore. No one bought them . . . it appeared no one had the time to read or write anymore.” Later, she goes on and on about how “Pictures took precedence over words. No one read newspapers. People watched videos . . . Literature no longer held its own . . . People preferred to come and listen to the writer, to applaud the writer as he or she read from his or her book, and no longer purchased signed copies. Reading was no longer comforting. Reading no longer helped to heal.” She worries about piracy, which is understandable, but she just seems to object to people reading books on devices. Reading an ebook doesn’t qualify as reading? So I didn’t really read this book?!
The author, who has written books in both French and English, seems obsessed with people who have “hybrid brains” which she defines as people “who live and who dream in two different tongues.” Clarissa is simultaneously writing two versions of a book, one in English and one in French. The author seems to suggest that people who are bilingual are more creative. But what does bilingualism have to do with creativity in non-verbal arts? The creativity of bilingual sculptors and painters and musicians would be of more interest than that of monolingual sculptors, painters and musicians?
It is difficult to connect with Clarissa. She is in her late sixties, but she acts so immaturely. She needs to wear “high-heeled rock-star boots” which she admits are inappropriate for her age so she can feel “badass”? Over and over again, it is mentioned that she is particularly interested in the relationship between writers and their living environments, yet she doesn’t check out her new apartment before moving in. After she moves in “she suddenly realized she had moved into a dwelling she had never seen beforehand”?! She “blindly” signs a contract and even allows C.A.S.A. to monitor her health and only after moving in does she look up “the meaning of C.A.S.A.”? She starts to feel tired and thinks she should “slow down, write less and with less passion” yet she is never shown writing? Her most successful novel is improbably titled Topography of Intimacy?!
Other characters are unconvincing as well. Fourteen-year-old Andy seems too mature for her age, giving advice to her grandmother. Meanwhile, her forty-four-year old mother Jordan seems immature. For instance, Jordan is jealous of her cousins who received an inheritance from their aunt?! Clarissa’s father calls two of his granddaughters “sluts” and “tarts” and “twits”?!
Writing style is a major problem. It is stiff and flat, like something that could have been written by a robot. I kept thinking it had been poorly translated into English. There is so much awkward phrasing: “single tawdry cotillion” and “bloody pearls on a steadfast necklace of violence” and “sturdy, slightly stubby-legged outline” and “prodigious calm” and “lacustrine ballet” and “infinitesimal dark zone behind Mia White’s luminous smile” and “the choppy outcome of Aunt Serena’s will” and “imperious sensation.” A wedding band is a “jewel”? A person who is understanding is “marvelously comprehensive”? A person who remains expressionless is described as not losing “countenance”? The author seems to want to impress with her vocabulary but she uses words incorrectly.
It is not only the diction that is an issue. Short, choppy sentences abound. Then there are the long series of interrogative sentences: “Had he gone crazy? After everything he’d done? Did he really think she was going to shut up and stick around? Act like nothing had happened?” Exclamatory sentences are also overused: “Seriously, she looked like a lunatic! A madwoman!” Transitions are often missing so paragraphs are disjointed: “Jordan had lost many friends in the attack. Clarissa said good-bye to her daughter, and then asked Andy to go dry her hair. The president’s face appeared on the screen.” Why is Mia White always spoken of as Mia White? Her surname has to be given even though there is no other Mia in the narrative?
There are events that make no sense or are left unexplained. Why are we only told Clarissa’s pseudonym and not her real name? What happened to Jim? Why does Clarissa rush to London because of concerns about her father only to return home immediately? What is the purpose of the squabble over inheritance? Who is responsible for the destruction of European landmarks? Andy can roam around the C.A.S.A. complex, where surveillance is everywhere, and not be observed? It is possible to bargain with a robot? A cat joins a woman taking a shower and “installed himself on her thighs”? What are “Brexit’s unsettling consequences, steeped in complication”? To re-create “vanished beaches swallowed up by the rising sea level,” people are trying “to find sand, which had become so rare”?
Reading this book was laborious. Neither the plot nor the characters nor the style is noteworthy in a positive way.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
I had wanted a novel that grabbed me right away and didn’t let the tension ease, but this wasn’t that book. In the first third, there are hints that something sinister is afoot, but no actual threat to worry about.
I liked that the protagonist is a grandmother. So many novels deal with people struggling in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, that having a character with an adult child is refreshing. Clarissa is separated from her second husband after discovering a secret that repulsed her—this was beyond mere cheating. She has to find a new place to live as soon as possible, and she has to do it on her own salary of being a writer—a way of making a living that not a lot of people can survive on, let alone find a dwelling in Paris that she can afford. So, when she gets a low-cost place that’s for artists, she doesn’t question much, she just signs the papers. At first, the idea of having a device that’s like an Alexa, but with much, much more power, seems like a good safety feature. Surely the feeling of being watched is just her imagination . . .
Unfortunately, this moved at a slow place. It had some good points to it, but I just didn’t enjoy reading this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, which RELEASES FEBRUARY 23, 2021.
I liked that the protagonist is a grandmother. So many novels deal with people struggling in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, that having a character with an adult child is refreshing. Clarissa is separated from her second husband after discovering a secret that repulsed her—this was beyond mere cheating. She has to find a new place to live as soon as possible, and she has to do it on her own salary of being a writer—a way of making a living that not a lot of people can survive on, let alone find a dwelling in Paris that she can afford. So, when she gets a low-cost place that’s for artists, she doesn’t question much, she just signs the papers. At first, the idea of having a device that’s like an Alexa, but with much, much more power, seems like a good safety feature. Surely the feeling of being watched is just her imagination . . .
Unfortunately, this moved at a slow place. It had some good points to it, but I just didn’t enjoy reading this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, which RELEASES FEBRUARY 23, 2021.
Set 15 years in the future, Tatiana de Rosnay’s new release, Flowers of Darkness, will definitely make you stop and consider how much you value your privacy! De Rosnay’s novels include two key features: the importance of place and secrets. This novel is no different. The 70-year-old protagonist and recent divorcee, Clarissa Katsef, searches for a suitable new home where she can continue writing in a tranquil environment. Her search leads her to a new artist residency named CASA. It’s a dreamy, ultra-modern apartment with a spectacular sweeping view of Paris. Soon after she moves in, her paranoia makes her question if someone is watching her or if it’s just a result of an over-active imagination. You’ll be asking yourself the same questions: Who is behind CASA? What are their motives? What kind of information are they collecting? Before long, what started out a dream for Clarissa, turns into a nightmare. The streets of the French capital are deserted and there are drones circulating ordering everyone inside. France has become an artificial intelligence and robot enhanced country. De Rosnay explores how this artificial intelligence tampers with love, sex, and artistic creation in futuristic France. She has artfully managed to keep a delicate balance between a page-flipping suspense novel and a reflective, slow-paced, scientific exploration of the issues that arise from a loss of privacy.
In a recent interview with de Rosnay, she confessed that Clarissa is “badass and very brave and courageous in the choices she makes. She has charisma, humour and she’s one of the best characters I’ve created yet!” In fact, she makes it very clear that if her book is made for film, she wants Helen Mirin to play the part of Clarissa. She also shared that this was the first time she has ever written simultaneously in English and French and that she “kept switching between two pages and almost became a robot [herself].”
Although this book was a unique read and not what I expected, it did cause me to reflect and question how much privacy I was willing to give up. The fact that de Rosnay puts these challenges in black and white for us to consider makes for a frightening scenario.
Make sure to put Feb 23, 2021 on your calendar!
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to review this book in exchange for feedback.
In a recent interview with de Rosnay, she confessed that Clarissa is “badass and very brave and courageous in the choices she makes. She has charisma, humour and she’s one of the best characters I’ve created yet!” In fact, she makes it very clear that if her book is made for film, she wants Helen Mirin to play the part of Clarissa. She also shared that this was the first time she has ever written simultaneously in English and French and that she “kept switching between two pages and almost became a robot [herself].”
Although this book was a unique read and not what I expected, it did cause me to reflect and question how much privacy I was willing to give up. The fact that de Rosnay puts these challenges in black and white for us to consider makes for a frightening scenario.
Make sure to put Feb 23, 2021 on your calendar!
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to review this book in exchange for feedback.
The book was... good? I really enjoyed most of the story, but it also just sort of ended without really wrapping anything up. I love that the main character is a mature woman and the near-future world building is definitely well done, but I guess it feels like the main character was on two journeys, facing two threats. The first being external, mysterious, and seemingly nefarious while the second is more internal and less well defined. When the second journey is complete, the first just drops away completely. Maybe the external strife was really only a manifestation of the internal struggle? In the end, I waffled between 3 and 4 stars.
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
I went into Flowers of Darkness blind. I like the author and the cover looked intriguing. I don't normally read science fiction, but this wasn't hard core science fiction and I didn't mind that aspect of it. I enjoyed the characters and plot building and of course, detested C.A.S.A. I liked everything until the end. I feel like it ended too soon and I didn't get the answers I expected. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
3,5 eigenlijk. Inhoud richt zich op de toekomst , waarbij robots en hun programmering een rol gaan spelen in het leven van dat moment. Goed om daar eens bij stil te staan door dit boek. Leest makkelijk weg
3.5 stars. I had high hopes and was disappointed. There was a lot of potential here that didn't get fulfilled. Full review/explanation to come.