The average rating for Rose's Garden based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.
Review # 1 was written on 2014-09-01 00:00:00 Douglas Bond Reading this book is about liking a format (Kindle) and liking an author (Carrie Brown). I met Carrie a few years ago at the reading where she read part of a not-yet-published novel. She teaches creative writing at a college nearby. I have now read and enjoyed several of her books, including this one. For some reason I did not write a review when I read Rose's Garden the first time. I came upon it at my online e-book library today and thought it would be a fine time to revisit this author. She even has a new novel The Last First Day in this past year and I put my name on a wait list to get that e-book too. I have a relatively new Kindle Paperwhite and am still enamored of my new toy. I still have plenty of unread hardcover used books that I must read one day, plus Barnes & Noble seems to have figured out this summer that if they send me a 20% off coupon I will buy a new book off my wishlist so have a few of those as well. And there is that new independent book store on Main Street that I want to support. The bottom line: too many books to read and review! Our protagonist is a man of seventy-five whose dear wife of many years has died in recent months. The book is Rose s Garden and is maybe a meditation about or a psalm on this amazing woman. An elegy. It reminds me of some of Annie Dillard's nature writing. I love both Carrie and Annie! Sitting in the kitchen, he emptied Rose's sewing basket, took out each spool of bright thread, lined them up like a battery of soldiers, the pins and needles a sparkling pile of arms laid down, surrendered. One day, he told himself, the clematis would unwind its arms from around the windows, where its plate-faced blossoms pushed up against the glass and stared at him. The grandiflora 'Queen Elizabeth', with its pink vigorous ruff, would tremble at the touch and drop its multitude of petals. The poppies would fall, the phlox would scatter, and the air, now choked with drifting clouds of seed, white thistles with black, driving tips like arrows, would, at last, empty. In a strange way, Rose's Garden is about the power of the natural world even though the focus is on a garden created by Conrad and Rose. There is an angel who visits and there is a surreal reality that overlays the life of the space. I am somewhat at a loss for words to praise this underappreciated book but I think that the 1998 NY Times review is worth rereading: All his life, Conrad Morrisey has been a pigeon fancier. It's how, as a young boy in Brooklyn, he first met the ethereal Rose Sparks, who would later become his wife and whose father, Lemuel, raised a glorious flock of homing pigeons on his rooftop. Now Rose has been dead for four months after 50 years of marriage, and Conrad is paralyzed with grief. Aimlessly wandering through his wife's spectacular garden at the back of their house in a tiny New Hampshire town, he is perpetually dazed, carefully dosing his cherished birds with herbal tea while he himself forgets to eat. Conrad and Rose were like ''a matched pair of animals entering the ark, or the mirror images of a butterfly's wings, things that belonged together, that were not whole unless joined''; as the one left behind, Conrad cannot take flight. But then Lemuel, dead for 15 years, appears one night as an angel in Rose's garden. His message is simple: ''Go home,'' he tells his son-in-law, and that is exactly what Conrad does in Carrie Brown's magical first novel. Through the gift of remembrance, Conrad finds his way to a realization of just how astonishing Rose was -- not only in cultivating her garden but also in her careful, unheralded nurturing of the needy. And when a flood threatens the town, Conrad sees with a visionary's clarity that acts of heroism can be both small and large. In keeping with the memory of its absent heroine, ''Rose's Garden'' is both luminous and wise. Source: Part of the story of Rose's Garden is a story about homing pigeons. This is strange subject matter for me. When I was growing up, someone close by in the neighborhood had pigeons and, as a pre-teen, I would go and visit them somewhat secretly. There was something magical about them and there is also something magical about them in this book. I imagine Carrie Brown learning about homing pigeons so she can write about them. They are a part of nature but with a direct connection with their human owners. I think they are sometimes called pigeon fanciers. What a strange name. If I read a review that included the information that the book reflected on pigeons, I think I would not find that very attractive. So I understand your quizzical look! And yet, in this book, the pigeons are a fascinating and integral part of what nourishes our lonely hero and represents the strength and mystery of the natural order. I think a book with an angel should not be quite so sad and morose. That said, there is magic in Rose's Garden that includes much poetry of language. The widow has to work hard to find his way after the death of his partner who has been with him many years. The good news is that he does find his way to survive and move on after his loss. The ravages of life work to beat him down and the reader has to hang on tightly to hope that the pigeons will, in fact, come home to roost and that the "Come home" message of the angel will be heeded. I thought this book, although not a strong four stars, kept its strength and luster due to its language. The garden had a nourishing soil that overcame adversity. |
Review # 2 was written on 2008-10-26 00:00:00 Roger Wowk This is a book that I could read again and again, as the writing is lyrical and almost paints a picture, putting the reader in the hearts and minds of the characters. The book draws the reader into Conrad Morrisey's life as he tries to understand why his true love, Rose, died. Filled with beautiful, poetic descriptives, he survives with the help of the other characters and by witnessing moving events that occur after her death. |
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