2013 Book Review #7: The Language of Flowers

Mom picked up The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh for her book club, and after she read it, handed it to me, insisting I would love it. She was very right.

The book is told through the eyes of Victoria Jones, who has spent her life in foster care and group homes. Now eighteen, she is on her own in a world that doesn't want her any more than she wants it. From the book's description:

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.

Diffenbaugh tells a tremendously sad story with depth and empathy; Victoria is not always a loveable protagonist, but you can't help but continue rooting for her even as she tries to push everyone away. Her decisions, always made out of desperation, are often not the "right" ones by most people's standards; however, I felt sympathy for her, as the book veered back and forth between her life in the present and her past as an unadoptable foster child.

To talk too much about the plot would be to give away more details than I want--the plot twists and turns in such a way that any little detail is potentially a spoiler. But I whole-heartedly recommend this book, because it was impossible to put it down. Even as I wanted to scream at Victoria, I still wanted to see things work out for her. Even better, the ending of the book didn't wrap everything up in a pretty little bow, but rather showed that Victoria was making small steps in her attempt to let people into her life, and heart.

Just read it. Trust me.