reddyrat 's review for:

The Florist's Daughter by Patricia Hampl

3.0

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This is a memoir contrasting between Hampl's childhood in St. Paul and scenes of Hampl dealing with her parents' illnesses and deaths. Hampl grew up in St. Paul in the 1950s, before the highways arrived and made the connections between the Twin Cities easier. Minneapolis and St. Paul were divided into two very different worlds: the Scandinavian, Lutheran city of Minneapolis and the Catholic world of St. Paul where one identified their neighborhood by stating which parish they attended. Hampl's father owned a flower shop in downtown St. Paul and much of the book describes his interactions with his customers, the high society of St. Paul. This book dragged at a lot of points. It is artfully written, but rather dull. It was interesting to me mainly because of all the St. Paul references. A reader without a connection to St. Paul probably wouldn't like it very much.