The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh [audio book]
Random House Audio; New York, 2011ISBN: 978037878939
Unabridged
9 sound discs (ca. 660 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Compact discs, duration: 11:00:00
Read by: Tara Sands
Plot Summary:
Victoria has just turned 18 and is now being turned out of a girl's home in San Francisco. She is rebellious and a loner that has not had good past relationships with people that she has encountered in life. She is reclusive and spends all of her time with flowers and with the language of flowers that was taught to her by a past guardian (the only woman that she was close to). The storyline switches back and forth between her life and the streets, eating off strangers plates and sleeping the wilderness, to her life with the guardian that she became close to. In her past she lived with Elizabeth whom she was difficult with at first and did everything she could to be kicked out, but with whom she finally bonds with and loves in her own way. Elizabeth lives on a farm and attends farmer's markets and lives her life for the plants that she grows; she instills a love for flowers and the meaning (or language) that every flower holds. But Victoria is a misguided young girl that, in the end, feels she will be left behind and on accident sets a fire that consumes almost all of Elizabeth's plants. After many missed connections and hurt feelings Victoria is taken away from Elizabeth and placed in the girl's home that she stays at until she is emancipated at 18.
In the current day story Victoria is hard from all of her disappointments in life and lives off of the street barely making it until she gets a job at a flower shop where she can use her talent and her love of flowers to make people happy and make business boom. She attends a flower market where she meets a boy that can communicate with her through the language because she knew him from her former life with Elizabeth. They end up having a tenuous relationship and eventually she gets pregnant and leaves him attempting to raise the baby alone. She is unsuccessful and leaves the baby with him, while she starts her own flower business and gets her life together. When she meets him again, he has left the child with Elizabeth, they all reconcile and work on trying to be the family that they always should have been.
Critical Evaluation:
Tara Sands did an excellent job reading this book. Her voice was hard at times when it needed to be for the character of Victoria and it was precise and knowing when she studied her language of flowers. The parallel stories in the book between Victoria's past and present life were wonderful to illustrate how she becomes the person that she is. Her character development and the past experiences enable the reader to understand how a young girl would prefer to be alone on the streets rather than doing something else with her life. The story is accented well with the language of flowers being how Victoria copes with talking to people and understanding the world around her. It shows that she had a connection with something that could not hurt her and in the end her dedication to it saves her. The book reads at a good pace and the Victorian language mixed with present day San Francisco give the novel a nostalgic tone.
Reader's Annotation:
When Victoria turned 18 she was put out of a girl's home and ended up on the streets of San Francisco; this book chronicles her love of flowers and how she got the life that she leads and where it will lead her if she wants it to.
Websites to look Into:
http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/features/vanessa_diffenbaugh/
https://camellianetwork.org/
The Author:
Vanessa Diffenbaugh is also the founder of the Camellia Network, and the mission of the Camellia Network is to create a nationwide movement to support youth transitioning from foster care.
Awards:
New York Times Bestseller
Alex Awards nominations, 2011 & 2012
Similar Books:
"Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn
"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed
Booktalking Ideas:
Discussing homelessness
Showing the actual book that describes the language of flowers that is used in the book.
Genre:
Adult Crossovers, Culture, Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Interest Age:
16+
Challenge Issues:
Homelessness
The main challenge of this book is that the main character is homeless and feels no need not to be for the most part. She faces situations that are dangerous to herself and also for a child. To combat this I would say that she makes her life better and attempts to improve herself over time, and in the end she succeeds. But it is also important to understand people that are homeless and that is present through her story that she tells.
Why this Audio Book?
I listened to this audio book on a road trip and I found the reader to be wonderful and the book so engaging and touching. It deals with homelessness and the pressures of family and society when you are on your own in the world. I think that it is a good book for young adults to read (or listen to) in order to get a different perspective on life.
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