Scan barcode
A review by willowbiblio
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
"The best stories are soul-making. But stories we tell about ourselves, and even the harrowing ones told by others about us, can also be soul-destroying. We have to choose what is good and true, not what will destroy."
------------------------
It was really tough for me to figure out what I disliked about this. Henry has a really large vocabulary which she almost overuses. I also felt like it would have been a better book overall had it been told entirely from the children's perspectives. This is because Henry really overdid the dialogue, emotions, and settings for the adults- almost like an overcompensation. For the children it all worked really well.
I felt like the whole Barnaby dynamic was really odd and the random spice threw me off, especially because it was bookended by a child/adolescent POV. The last 100 pages really dragged, I skimmed the last 20. The confrontation with Imogene felt really forced, false, and melodramatic. So too did the Dot-as-Flora unveiling. It almost felt like Henry would have gone in another direction- like really lean in to the Whisperwood fantasy world. Because the book was treading that genre line it got quite messy for me.
I also felt like Henry started having the characters just repeat the same sentences and sentiments about memory which got tiring for me. It's almost like this needed another 2-3 rounds of edits for it to really sine, but for me it felt quite disjointed and like it needed more parsing out. I liked the premise but the execution was meh.
------------------------
It was really tough for me to figure out what I disliked about this. Henry has a really large vocabulary which she almost overuses. I also felt like it would have been a better book overall had it been told entirely from the children's perspectives. This is because Henry really overdid the dialogue, emotions, and settings for the adults- almost like an overcompensation. For the children it all worked really well.
I also felt like Henry started having the characters just repeat the same sentences and sentiments about memory which got tiring for me. It's almost like this needed another 2-3 rounds of edits for it to really sine, but for me it felt quite disjointed and like it needed more parsing out. I liked the premise but the execution was meh.