VeganCleopatra

Initially The Language of Flowers intrigued me because of Victoria's troubled past and the use of the meanings of flowers to communicate via flowers rather than words. But unfortunately flowers were not able to cover up the fact that the protagonist of this novel is unbearably idiotic and moody. Victoria's actions, regardless of her past, made little sense a lot of the time. From about a quarter into the book until the end I was endlessly rolling my eyes at her or wishing she would seek therapy. I also do not understand how everyone around her continued to tolerate her. She was a miserable person, disappeared regularly, acted irrationally and never shared anything personal. Why, oh why, did the love interest even care? Seriously, he seemed too nice a person to tolerate the ridiculousness that is Victoria.

Also, the plot was not believable and it was far too slow in the middle. I appreciated the inclusions of foster care and the "language of flowers" but the plot was meandering and seemed to not have a goal in mind. The "twist" Victoria's pregnancy only felt like a plot device and method of keeping Victoria's obnoxious behavior going. The supposedly big reveals by the end of the novel did little to make up for the boredom in the middle and latter parts, or for the inexcusably irrational main character and her decisions.

Overall, I think The Language of Flowers will appeal more to those who enjoy the (sexist-named) "chick-lit" genre. The writing style was neither poor nor rich in my opinion and I do not quite understand the praise the writing style has received. The book simply was not for me, had it not been for the flowers I would have given this book a 1.