January 21, 2008

Book Review: Roseflower Creek



I picked this book up at our local used book store, but my mom stole it off my bookshelf before I had a chance to read it. She finished it in two days. It was that good. And when she gave it back to me she made me promise I would put aside whatever other book I was reading and read this one.

I am so glad I did.


From the iside cover:

"The morning I died it rained. Poured down so hard it washed the blood off my face."

Thus begins the story of Lori Jean, whose short life and death are woven into this poignant, heart-wrenching novel set in the rural South of the 1950s. Told from the point of view of ten-year-old Lori Jean, a sensitive dreamer of a child who longs for a "normal" family, Roseflower Creek is raw with the emotions of a child burdened by the harshness of her life. Abandoned by her father when she was five, her world is filled with a self-absorbed mother who can't seem to hold her life together and an abusive, alocoholic stepfather who can't-or won't-keep a steady job. Yet Lori Jean is filled with the curiosity and hope common to all children.

Poignant and bittersweet, Roseflower Creek is a story of the loss of innocence. Told with an honesty and authenticity that only a child narrator could achieve, it is a remarkable first novel that will move readers with profound emotions and haunt them long after the last paragraph has been read.

I loved this book, and can be summed up in one word: Powerful.

But I warn you it is not for the faint-of-heart. It's raw. It deals with child-abuse, neglect and molestation. It is haunting. It's gripping.

And I think it is a must-read.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds tempting. I usually prefer classics, but I might give this a go. Thanks!

    Oh, and I love buying books at a used bookstore. I love the adventure of not knowing what you're going to get before you go in, plus the cheap prices make it all the more worthwhile!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That sounds kind of like The Lovely Bones, but much better. I really thought The Lovely Bones was terrible and didn't understand why it got such good reviews. This one sounds a lot better.

    ReplyDelete

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