The Language of Flowers: A Book Review
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh Published by Random House Publishing Group on April 3, 2012
Genres: Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Psychological, Fiction / Sagas
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.
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My thoughts…
Victoria Jones is the first character I’ve loved in a long time.
She also has no idea how to love or to accept love, which makes it a bit uncomfortable.
I knew right then that you felt unworthy, that you believed yourself to be unforgivably flawed.
Victoria grew up in foster home after foster home, and as far as she knows, she was always unwanted and unloved. The story shifts back and forth between two periods in her life — when she has “aged out” of the system at eighteen and needs to figure out her place in the world; and when she was ten, when she was sent to a last-ditch effort of a foster home. The last chance she was given to find a family.
There she met Elizabeth, a strong, independent, single woman who ran a vineyard and taught young Victoria everything about the language of flowers. When older Victoria gets a job at a florist, she uses that language to create almost magical arrangements for her customers. It’s the only way she knows how to communicate.
But what happened to Elizabeth, is the central mystery.
The conflict in the book stems entirely from Victoria’s belief that she is unworthy of other people. Her struggle pushes others away, and at the same time, brings them closer to her. But she is consumed by one thought — how can someone so broken be deserving of a family?
I don’t personally know the type of childhood Victoria had; I came from a very stable home, with two parents that I never doubted loved me. But the way Diffenbaugh writes her, I completely understood how Victoria felt, how this little girl believed herself disposable in a system that failed her time and again. Within the first chapter, I knew exactly who she was.
She didn’t trust other people, but most of all, she didn’t trust herself.
I had loved, more than once. I just hadn’t recognized the emotion for what it was until I had done everything within my power to destroy it.
It’s not a perfect novel, but it’s pretty close. Not all of the side characters were very interesting, and most of them a little more understanding than could be believed. And there were a couple of threads that all but disappeared pretty early on, even though I kept expecting to circle back.
But Victoria jumped right off the page, and into my heart. And hopefully without spoiling it very much, I loved the ending — it wasn’t clean, things didn’t magically right themselves. To love, to connect to others — it takes work.
And maybe a bouquet of aster flowers (patience), cyclamen (timid hope), and protea (courage).
What do you think? Have you read (or want to read) The Language of Flowers?
