Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin - A Review

 

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I picked up Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin with high expectations, but soon realized the story I was reading was not quite the one I was expecting. 

The premise sounded promising. One blurb about the book described it in this way 

"Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne, France. Traversing the grounds by unicycle, tending to her many gardens—and being present for the intimate, often humorous confidences of visitors—Violette’s life follows the predictable rhythms of mourning. But then Violette’s routine is disrupted by the arrival of Julien Sole, the local police chief."   

I suppose I was expecting a book that was quirky and funny and beautiful. But as I got further into the book I found myself struggling to understand what was supposed to be so spectacular about this story. 

First, let's talk about the writing. Some might call it poetic, but I found it to be meandering and a bit overindulgent. The plot was so disjointed and all over the place. And while I did like Violette, the main character, it was difficult to connect with any of the other characters in the book. None felt developed enough to be more than stage props. 

The story itself wasn't necessarily bad. Violette's story is one that is full of heartache, but also resilience. Some of the passages describing her journey through grief were indeed poignant. But as a whole it was bogged down with melodrama. It was as if the author tried so hard to be poetic and profound that instead of lifting the story up into something great, it merely dragged it down into the doldrums.

And while I certainly don't expect characters in the books I read to act like saints, it was often difficult to read this book with its blatant and unrepentant acceptance of infidelity. In most cases the act was glorified as romantic. In reality the characters engaged in the behavior seemed selfish, childish, and more concerned with physical attraction than love. 

In the end, this book just wasn't for me. It tried too hard to be deep and introspective, and the plot suffered for it. 

Have you read Fresh Water for Flowers? I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if your experience was different from mine!