Scan barcode
A review by admacg
Desert Flowers by Simon Bruni, Paul Pen
3.0
In ‘Desert Flowers’ by Paul Pen, Rose and Elmer live an idyllic existence in the Baja California desert in Mexico with their five daughters. They’re raising their family far from the problems posed by modern society, with a local teacher visiting daily for some basic schooling. They’re raising their family how they want, and dealing in their own way with some recent grief.
However, all is not as it seems. And when a young hiker calls looking for a glass of water, their carefully cultivated existence is under threat. Are they strong enough to withstand this unwelcome intrusion and will the secrets they have hidden from the girls be unravelled?
It’s incredibly hard to review ‘Desert flowers’ without spoiling it for the potential reader. I’m going to be as careful as I am in my criticism but if the opening blurb above makes the book sound like something you might be interested in, I’d say go ahead and read it. If you chose to go ahead, I’ll be as vague as I can but I cannot talk about this book and hide my true feelings about it.
Firstly, it takes a while for something to happen. It felt like Paul Pen was building up the setting for half the book, establishing character and setting, but maybe it was shorter than that. It felt to this reader that it was taking a long time, and I found myself asking; what the hell is going on here?
But he does a good job of establishing the setting in ‘Desert Flowers’, especially the remoteness of the family home, surrounded by rocks and cacti. It does feel that the family are being raised far away from modern society and all the dangers it poses - there is mention of a town and filling station maybe an hours drive away, but that’s it. There’s a local teacher that visits but no one else bothers the family.
At this point I kept reading because I was intrigued by the set up, and you just felt that something was coming. When I did, I was glad - it definitely needed an added impetus. I should say at this point that I was reading this for my book club so I was going to finish it no matter what.
Rest of review contains spoilers and can be found here
However, all is not as it seems. And when a young hiker calls looking for a glass of water, their carefully cultivated existence is under threat. Are they strong enough to withstand this unwelcome intrusion and will the secrets they have hidden from the girls be unravelled?
It’s incredibly hard to review ‘Desert flowers’ without spoiling it for the potential reader. I’m going to be as careful as I am in my criticism but if the opening blurb above makes the book sound like something you might be interested in, I’d say go ahead and read it. If you chose to go ahead, I’ll be as vague as I can but I cannot talk about this book and hide my true feelings about it.
Firstly, it takes a while for something to happen. It felt like Paul Pen was building up the setting for half the book, establishing character and setting, but maybe it was shorter than that. It felt to this reader that it was taking a long time, and I found myself asking; what the hell is going on here?
But he does a good job of establishing the setting in ‘Desert Flowers’, especially the remoteness of the family home, surrounded by rocks and cacti. It does feel that the family are being raised far away from modern society and all the dangers it poses - there is mention of a town and filling station maybe an hours drive away, but that’s it. There’s a local teacher that visits but no one else bothers the family.
At this point I kept reading because I was intrigued by the set up, and you just felt that something was coming. When I did, I was glad - it definitely needed an added impetus. I should say at this point that I was reading this for my book club so I was going to finish it no matter what.
Rest of review contains spoilers and can be found here