A review by leahnoel
Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively

2.0

The premise is the most interesting part of this book. There were brief moments of insight that redeems the second star in my review, but otherwise this book is mostly surface-level rambling drivel of gardening for color (especially white), specific plants (mostly flowers such as roses, dahlias, tulips…), and famous writers who were or weren’t gardeners. With the premise of examining the garden as metaphor for life, I was expecting a grittier discussion… instead there was an exhausting discussion about short-sighted style choices with no regard for wider or deeper implications. The author is unapologetically close-minded, out of date, and confidently colonial… even to the point that in chapter 5 she literally prefaced her gushing preference for English gardens with the statement that she is slightly xenophobic… As if that excuses it? (No!) There were several times in the book when I questioned if her editor was paying much attention, but at that statement I wondered if she had an editor at all. Like, if those ideals can’t be pruned from her mind, at least prune them from the book!

Overall, I think this might be a decent starting point for anyone interested in thinking/writing about gardens in literature, but not a source of useful perspective.