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td3 's review for:
Flowers of Darkness
by Tatiana de Rosnay
Flowers of Darkness seems to be two stories rolled into one, with both centering around grief and devastating life changes.
Clarissa, a writer and grandmother, has left her second husband rather abruptly and goes in search of a safe haven in which to live and do her writing. One of Clarissa’s fascinations is places and their influence on people, so when she discovers CASA, a new apartment building exclusively for creative types, such as writers, artists and the like, she feels as if she may have found the perfect place.
Against her better judgment, she rushes to sign up and ignores some red flags along the way. The apartment furnishes her with vitamins and does a weekly health scan. They also film the residents. It’s a bit futuristic, but this is set in the future after Paris was hit with some drone strikes. After a few weeks of this, Clarissa is feeling creeped out about the place. That feeling is exacerbated when one of her new resident friends suddenly disappears.
While all this is going on, readers are let into the personal background of Clarissa, which centers on the loss of a child and her recent marital separation. The loss of the child was a situation that we’ve know through the ages, but the details centering around her recent separation was definitely one that belongs to the futuristic world.
I really liked the story, but would have liked to have seen some things resolved prior to the ending. I also felt as if the apartment community atmosphere would have made a great story on it’s own.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy. I’m happy to give my honest review.
Clarissa, a writer and grandmother, has left her second husband rather abruptly and goes in search of a safe haven in which to live and do her writing. One of Clarissa’s fascinations is places and their influence on people, so when she discovers CASA, a new apartment building exclusively for creative types, such as writers, artists and the like, she feels as if she may have found the perfect place.
Against her better judgment, she rushes to sign up and ignores some red flags along the way. The apartment furnishes her with vitamins and does a weekly health scan. They also film the residents. It’s a bit futuristic, but this is set in the future after Paris was hit with some drone strikes. After a few weeks of this, Clarissa is feeling creeped out about the place. That feeling is exacerbated when one of her new resident friends suddenly disappears.
While all this is going on, readers are let into the personal background of Clarissa, which centers on the loss of a child and her recent marital separation. The loss of the child was a situation that we’ve know through the ages, but the details centering around her recent separation was definitely one that belongs to the futuristic world.
I really liked the story, but would have liked to have seen some things resolved prior to the ending. I also felt as if the apartment community atmosphere would have made a great story on it’s own.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy. I’m happy to give my honest review.