Fresh Water for Flowers

TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH. Intimately told story of Violette, survivor of foster childhood, marries a man without ambition, supports them both and their child raising/lowering train stanchions about 20 hours a day. In spite of all that, she strives for a happy life. Daughter died at 6 in tragic accident which devastated V. Eventually becomes caretake of cemetery where daughter is buried. Her life, though lived in solitude, was full of colorful characters and a lot of daily activity. Her husband eventually disappeared from her life when he found out that his parents were responsible for the accident that killed their daughter. It's written in the first person and reads almost like a personal journal of her life and that of the people and events around her. emotional - hopeful - inspiring - reflective - tense Well-developed characters. Loved it.

And here it is, the worst book of 2022 even though we're just a week in. This book is a mess. The author changes pov so many times it's difficult to keep track. She also switches frequently from first person to third and I don't know how to tell you, but it's not something that you should be doing. The plot itself it's the most boring thing ever. Everyone has a trauma and has sex. That's it. That's the plot. Are the straights ok? Frankly all the sex scenes are unnecessary. Even more so because the majority of them are just people cheating on their spouses. It's impossible to understand which genre this books falls under because Perrin decides to mix a bunch of them without a clear logic. 

the book is tragic because 4 children die. The author literally said “I want to write something sad. What's the saddest thing ever? Children dying.” Innovative.  

Finally, the prose is... not it. Perrin wants to create this nostalgic, poetic atmosphere but the result is a style exercise with random phrases and quotes thrown at reader to show how serious and dramatic the book is but contribute nothing to the story. 

you understand that Léo is dead before reaching page 50 but the author tries to make it the book's turning point along with dickhea- I mean, Philippe's death. I was rolling my eyes at this point because of how predictable this is.

“As I go to bed, I think how awful it would be to die in the middle of reading a good novel.”

This was one of the most beautiful books I've read in recent years. Valérie writing is beautiful, and I lost count of how many times the story broke my heart and put it together just to break it later again.
It is one of those books you just need to slow down the reading speed to savor each words and let the sentences fill your heart and soul. I cried, smiled, and now I'm not sure what to do with myself.

Violette is a cemetery caretaker, and though this might appear to be a terrible sad job and environment, it ends up being more about a celebration of love and life. About picking up broken pieces and find ways to move on, watering what can grow and keep living. It depends on the lens we choose to use when looking at death, and this novel shows it perfectly.

”Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow.”“When we miss one person, everywhere becomes deserted”

This story, as life, is full of lovely and awful characters, good, neutral, bad and terrible moments. It shows different forms of grief, love and the normalcy of living.

“It will avoid unspoken resentment, lamentment, and all that.” “What's lamentment'?”“It's a word I invented to combine melancholy, guilt, regrets, steps forward, and steps backward. Everything that really bugs us in life, in other words. That holds us back.”

I might reread it in Portuguese as, although the English translation is beautiful, I just know it would translate better to other neo-latin language. I wished I knew French enough to read the original version.

“Make love. I'd like to take off all your beige and make you see all the colors of the rainbow.““I have absolutely no desire that, one day, your ashes end up on my tomb. I couldn't care less, in fact. I want to live with you now, right now. While we can still gaze at the sky together . . . Even when it's pouring like today.”

This novel is also a mystery book, and although I enjoyed it a bit less when the mystery kicked in, I couldn't rate something that left me this emotional with less than 5 stars.

It might not be for everyone one as it is very “French”/ “European” and it includes themes that I know bother a lot of readers. If you don't mind reading about those, do pick up this book! It is worthy!

TW - Cheating, loss of a child, sexual assault, death