The Language of Flowers

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For years my message-laden flowers had been faithfully ignored, an aspect of my communication style that gave me comfort. Passion, connection, disagreement, or rejection: None of these was possible in a language that did not elicit a response. But the single sprig of mistletoe, if the give did indeed understand its meaning, changed everything." How about: “He sat in a chair. She pulled her feet beneath her. He slumped over in exhaustion. She bent over in pain. She curled herself underneath the bush.” A woman also had to be pretty precise about where she wore flowers. Say, for instance, a suitor had sent her a tussie-mussie ( a.k.a. nosegay). If she pinned it to the 'cleavage of bosom', that would be bad news for him, since that signified friendship. Ah, but if she pinned it over her heart, 'That was an unambiguous declaration of love'." [10] I know some readers have to 'like' or care about the characters to enjoy a book. I don't: loved 'Gone Girl' for instance which I don't think had one likeable character in it. But the main character in this never felt fully fleshed out to me, I couldn't quite believe in her.

So, again, not that first doctor visit and she knows a midwife, willing and ready to help her, but she doesn’t want that either. She’s going to give birth at home, alone, all by herself, because ... I have no idea what is wrong with her at this point. Jobes, Gertrude (1962). Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore, and Symbols. New York: The Scarecrow Press. And, nearly done, here is some raspberry. Not to make a fruit salad with the pineapple but to represent remorse that it took me so long to read this book.... but you can eat it if you want.I've always believed that giving flowers meant something . I knew that red roses meant love and somewhere along the line I learned that Baby's Breath , almost always in a bride's bouquet signified everlasting love . However, that was the extent of my knowledge of the meaning of flowers , originating in the Victorian era - until I read this book . Do flowers speak to us in this way ? I really don't know but it's nice to think so and the author has creatively wrapped this language around this story. I received this book through a postal book swap and we were just permitted to post online as we are through our rotation. Roses Color Meaning and Symbolism". www.petalrepublic.com. 2 March 2021. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022 . Retrieved 2021-04-20.

Why would Elizabeth, the foster mom who loves Victoria so much, risk losing her completely simply because, decades of estrangement from her sister, she decides she can't adopt Victoria without her sister's agreement? How could Grant fall in love with Victoria immediately after seeing her for the first time since she was 10 years old? How could Renata tell that Victoria would be a wonderful assistant after meeting this homeless looking creature just once. And how did Victoria learn to make such beautiful floral arrangements? There was no mention of this activity when she lived with Elizabeth. They just worked on the meanings. I don't think they even grew many flowers. The floral nursery and gardens belonged to Grant and his mother. How could Victoria get enough money to start her own business? And wasn't it a betrayal of Renata to go into competition with her? Furthermore, wasn't it too contrived that Victoria found the perfect assistance in her former group home? Plus, wasn't it too much of a coincidence that Renata's mother was a midwife? And what about the coincidence that Renata had a sister with a space to rent cheaply? The Language of Flowers is a mesmerizing, unforgettable hopeful story that beautifully weaves the past and present while exploring abandonment, love and finding what triggers a person to open up to others. In the past, we see Victoria’s self-destructive ways as she grows up in foster homes. Now through her connections to flowers, she starts to open up by speaking the language of flowers to help people find some joy through flowers. Flowers start to connect Victoria to others as she tries to learn to trust herself.Abandoned at birth Victoria is now 18 years old and "emancipated" from being a ward of the state . Her narrative alternates between her life at age ten, when she is taken in by Elizabeth and is finally looking at a chance to have a mother and present day, as she turns 18 and is being released from a group home. We learn of Victoria's " gift " for helping people convey their feelings , hopes and thoughts , through flowers and we learn what happened when she was ten. What did you think of the structure of the book—the alternating chapters in the past and the present? In what ways did the two storylines parallel each other, and how did they diverge? I present you with a trilliam to represent modest beauty. I was prepared for this book to lose me completely because of high-brow, literaryness, and get too tangled up in a vine-like metaphor. But it didn't. It's a very subtle and quiet book and it's wonderful.