Reviews for A Garden of Aloes

The average rating for A Garden of Aloes based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-09-15 00:00:00 Ian Hartless Aloes are not as prickly as they seem. They bear beautiful flowers, and endure under cruel conditions, just like the characters who people the pages of G. Davies Jandrey's novel, A Garden of Aloes. Their leaves forming a spiral leading to a hidden core, just like the scenes in this well-crafted tale. The novel is narrated in the voices of six different female characters, each unique, each wounded, and each powerfully vivid and real. Most amazing to me is Dee, whose complexly royal "we" becomes a metaphor for all our broken selves. Meanwhile Sam sees her better half making wise choices while her darker self stumbles. And the words from her mother's mouth are rarely the ones she most longs to say. When past hurts define present circumstances, it really doesn't matter how far in the past they are. And sometimes believing in the future is the wisest course. But a pre-teen girl has her own ideas of the future, fueled by an older sister's girl-talk, the television, and a longing for affection. Hilariously honest scenes depict Sam pondering how a guy's limp thing ever gets into a girl's little hole, while deep sorrows, past and future, lurk, and Dee struggles against a host of allies and friends. Abuses, sexual, physical, emotional, accidental, deliberate and cruel color these lives, and the slow drawing back of curtains is like stroking those aloe leaves'not as sharp as you might expect, allowing more beauty than you might imagine, and bound to endure in the mind long after the story's done. I love this book. Disclosure: I was given a free copy and I offer my honest review.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-12-15 00:00:00 Arnaud Perucca A Garden of Aloes is written so succinctly that I feel I know the characters intimately. Jandrey has written a wonderful interpersonal story of the lives of several people who live in a motor court in a lousy section of town. They are a diverse group of people who grow a symbiotic relationship. I found the writing compelling and needed to know what would become of each of these characters. An enjoyable read which I can heartily recommend to others.