- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: Carroll & Graf; Carroll & Graf ed edition (May 8 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 078670733X
- ISBN-13: 978-0786707331
- Product Dimensions: 23.7 x 16.1 x 3.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 680 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
July 14, 1789, Montsignac, Gascony. The Saint-Pierre family is caring for American artist Stephen Fletcher after he's fallen from his balloon and landed in a haystack. Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Pierre is a magistrate with three daughters. Claire, the eldest, is beautiful and married (in a way that seems to require little personal involvement) to the odious and malodorous aristo Hubert. Sophie is plain, single, intelligent, good, competent, and obsessed with growing roses. And Mathilde is 8 and entertainingly precocious: when Stephen remarks on how he adores children because "they are so ... innocent and yet so perceptive in their apprehension of the world," Matty dismisses him instantly. "'Oh no--another Rousseauist,' said the child with unconcealed disappointment. 'I'm not like that at all.'" And then there's Brutus, a dog that "only bites people whose smell he doesn't like."
But the Saint-Pierres' lives, like those of everyone else in the locality, are about to fracture as the Revolution gathers momentum and the shock waves from Paris push out into the provinces. The novel's epigraph--"Small change, small change," Napoleon Bonaparte's reaction to a battlefield full of casualties--signals it to be an exploration of small people caught up in big events. And, indeed, Michelle de Kretser takes us from the optimistic start of the Revolution as it manifests in Montsignac, through factionalization, fanaticism and Terror, denunciations and betrayals, through love and loyalty to a quiet, damaged aftermath, with a vivid cast of surprising heroes, unexpected villains, and not-quite-innocent bystanders. The Rose Grower is a hypnotically engrossing work, illuminating the biggest of issues with the lightest, most fragrant of touches. --Lisa Gee
From Publishers Weekly
In an ambitious first novel, de Kretser records five years of the French Revolution (1789-1794) from the perspective of one family in southern France. Relying on passive recitation rather than action, however, her writing is neither nuanced nor direct enough to meet the challenge. Even before the uprisings, Sophie de Saint-Pierre's aristocratic but ruined family have been reduced to living in their rundown country estate outside of Castelnau, a small provincial town. Capable and kind but too plain and impoverished to attract the attention of suitors, Sophie expresses her passionate nature by tending a magnificent rose garden. When American artist Stephen Fletcher crash-lands his hot-air balloon in the Saint-Pierre's yard, his attentions are immediately captured by Sophie's beautiful older sister, Claire, whose unhappy marriage leaves her vulnerable to Stephen's courtship. Sophie pines for Stephen in silence, and doesn't notice that her own charms have at last been detected by Joseph Morel, a young physician. Joseph's humanitarian nature, humble upbringing and ideas for reforming contemporary medicine make him a prime candidate for revolutionary fervor, and he quickly becomes involved with Castelnau's pro-Revolution faction. This turn of events propels the Saint-Pierres out of their sequestered environment and into the political spotlight. De Kretser makes a valiant effort to paint an accurate picture of 18th-century life, and the book is grounded in atmospheric historical detail. However, the protagonists become defined by their broadly outlined positions, and eventually they are reduced to mere mouthpieces (Stephen for sanitation reform to prevent disease, Sophie for unmarried women, etc.) without internal conflict. Though the characters never really come to life, the novel's end gains momentum as the family finds its personal stake in the political turmoil. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely focus,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Rose Grower (Hardcover)
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.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous Prose, Fascinating Characters,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Rose Grower (Paperback)
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.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Michelle, Less sex!!! Please it takes away from the book,
By "beatrice_asira" (????) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rose Grower (Paperback)
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.
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