Mostly Uncomfortable with Only Slight Appreciation

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Hello blog friends. I am finally having the time to blog. Hurray, tis a good day. (Though, I would like to say I'm home from work because I puked--shocker. Some Italian food didn't sit well with me. But still a good day.)

First of all, ladies, thank you for agreeing to read and discuss! Maureen, the blog name is much better. Thank you also for finishing the book. I respect you for reading it through. I will say that I actually got through the whole thing BECAUSE of you guys. When I don't like a book, I don't finish it. But I was encouraged by the two of you and felt accomplished to be done with it (even if I did some hard core skimming. Though it's more than I would have done.)

Victoria was a weirdo. I think a significant reason I did not care for this book was because I slightly identified with her grossness: sleeping all day, not talking to people, being oddly emotional and abrupt. These are all things I see myself prone to and was frightened beyond belief to see them sort of immortalized. I kept thinking, "oh gosh, what if I end up like that..." Her character was unique though. I think the idea behind her was successful, but I never really felt connected to her or close to in the way I wanted to. I'm not a very literature-oriented person so I guess there could be a technique behind writing a semi-repulsive main character but this one didn't work for me. I respect contemporary ways of writing characters but there was something I did not quite like about Victoria and this story.

The idea behind the language of flowers and the way Victoria helped people communicate through it was cool. Interpersonal communication seemed to be a theme. Victoria was the only one who hardly reached out to others. Everyone reached out to Victoria even though she was a hag and she eventually was converted by their persistence. Love won out in the end and she learned to allow people to love her. That was cool. But I did not get this sense until THE END of the book. The whole time I felt uncomfortable with Victoria and it was not until I finally heard her say "I plan to take my life one step at a time and learn to love and allow myself to be love..." (paraphrased). I hope that makes sense.

Heavy criticism: didn't like the descriptive sexual stuff. I skipped over that. Also didn't like the descriptive pregnancy stuff. I just feel uncomfortable reading that, especially if I dislike the character.
You probably could have seen this comment coming.

What do you think the overall theme was? Can we talk about that? I feel like I need some help appreciating this book.

Ciao.