The Rose Grower

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Prose, Fascinating Characters
Review: The Rose Grower contains such beautiful prose, such lush and lyrical description and such a wonderful sense of place (Gascony), that I almost feel guilty giving it only three stars. However, one thing The Rose Grower lacks is a clear and compelling storyline.

All through the reading of this lovely book I kept asking myself: "What is the story question around which this book revolves?" Well, there isn't one, and without a story question, there is no story. This is not a novel; it's 323 pages of lovely prose. The problem is, lovely prose does not make a book.

In the hands of a skilled writer, plot can often take a backseat to other literary devices. The Rose Grower, however, contains no such devices. Neither is it a character study. In fact, the author forces us to keep our distance from all of the characters, making it difficult to know them or care about their fate. The ending is particularly dismal. What little emotion and hope this book does contain is invested in the characters of Sophie and Joseph and De Krester sets us up for something she never delivers.

And what about that title? De Krester never lets us experience Sophie (the rose grower) as she struggles in her garden. We know nothing of her hopes or frustrations. I was as puzzled by this as I was annoyed.

In the Rose Grower, De Krester writes extremely beautiful prose. She also begins her book with an unforgettable image, yet she fails to develop that image. She definitely has the skeleton of a lovely and touching story; one she simply failed to develop. I felt like I was reading an outline; nothing was fleshed-out. De Krester seemed to be afraid to write the big scenes, the dramatic set-pieces.

De Krester's mistakes are common among new writers and they are easily corrected once recognized. Any editor or even first reader should have spotted them immediately and worked with De Krester to correct them. It's a shame they didn't; De Krester is talented, but both she and her readers were cheated out of what could have been a fascinating and poignant book.

Rating:
Summary: Michelle, Less sex!!! Please it takes away from the book
Review: this book was o.k, I bought it for [price] us and I would not pay that much again for it. the charactors though Pleasing were not three dimentinal enough. Some were to like a shadow and some where very good. The writing is good and fit with the idea of prose witing. It was the plot that was lacking, it was to predictable, I knew it befor it happend. If you like this book read Pride and Perjudice by jane Austen it has the sam theam of relationships with out the sex and it has much class. But The Rose Grower is a sweet book and is highly amusing. But as my title says less sex, why put it in? it ruins Joseph in my mind. Also it takes away from the book as a whole.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely focus
Review: This marvelous first novel is meticulously researched, yet the accuracy of the background remains a light pastel backdrop for an intimate story. The plot's quiet progress allows the characters to evolve subtly and effectively. This requires some patience on the part of the reader, but it is well worth the wait. Stylistically what seemed most important was the almost tunnel-vision-like focus, a precision of description which left the reader unaware of things occurring just outside the frame, much as we move through our own lives focused on the immediate surroundings and oblivious to potential joys or disasters lurking just around the corner. This not only explained the characters' misunderstandings of each other; it also allowed suspense to build to a stunning conclusion.
Upon finishing, I immediately loaned my copy to a friend who grows roses and loves novels with historical settings. She wept when telling me how much she enjoyed it and how many copies she has ordered for friends and family.