Review: The Flower BoyEditorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsFrom a Sri Lankan–born writer now living in California, a cool-blooded first novel, an emotionally cool debut luminously detailing the course of unlikely loves and friendships on a tea plantation in the days before independence. In this stately narrative, thoughts and feelings are sensitively reported, and characters, with rare exceptions, behave decently. The story therefore often seems more a portrait of colonial life than a searing tale of crossed lovers and doomed friendships. When Lizzie Buckwater is born on Chandi's fourth birthday in the early 1930s, the two seem unlikely to become best friends. On the Glencairn tea plantation managed by Lizzie's English father, Chandi lives next to the kitchen with his mother, Premawathi (the housekeeper), and his two elder sisters, Leela and Rangi. John Buckwater and his family inhabit the spacious rooms of the plantation's bungalow. Chandi, who dreams of living in England, secretly starts saving the money he makes selling flowers to passersby. When Lizzie's mother Elsie, tired of living in Sri Lanka, returns to England, Chandi and Lizzie are soon inseparable, freely roaming the estate. As the years pass, Premawathi falls out of love with her husband, who has been working in the capital, and one night she and John, a tolerant and decent man, become lovers. Chandi worries about his mother's relationship with John, fears the vengeance of Krishna, a former servant who's been fired for lewd behavior, and feels responsible for his sister Rangi's suicide. Then in a brief interlude of tranquility, Premawathi accepts her feelings for John, daughter Leela makes a good marriage, and Chandi, still Lizzie's best friend, develops into a bright young man with prospects. But like all Edens, Glencairn's happiness is precarious, and, when Sri Lanka gains its independence, life for the English colonials turns dangerous and uncertain. Memorable people in an equally memorable setting, but their fates seem determined more by plot than passion. User reviewsReview: The Flower BoyUser Review - Meredith - Goodreadsthis was a beautiful and moving book, though some of the characters are just too good to be true. It lovingly describes an exotic place that has not been written about very much -- Ceylon before and ... Read full review Review: The Flower BoyUser Review - Iman - GoodreadsThis is that book of nostalgia- the sights and smells, sounds of my childhood resonate in this wonderful piece set in colonial Sri Lanka.... It's an adventure, a story, vivid with life... I enjoyed every page! Read full review Review: The Flower BoyUser Review - Alesia - GoodreadsBeautifully worded, bittersweet historical fiction. Read full review Review: The Flower BoyUser Review - Katy - GoodreadsThis book was so beautiful, I read it years ago but still remember the story and how emotionally engaging it was. Read full review Review: The Flower BoyUser Review - Janet - GoodreadsThe Flower Boy is Karen Roberts' debut novel and the 'blurb' doesn't really do it justice. Although Chandi and Rose-Lizzie are the central characters the story deals with the relationships of all the ... Read full review Review: The Flower BoyUser Review - Margali - GoodreadsI should have guessed from the review blurb that described this as "remarkably calm" that it probably wasn't going to set my world on fire. I finished it, but already remember little of it, and wouldn't recommend it. Read full review Review: The Flower BoyUser Review - Jade - GoodreadsLoved this book! It may have been a bit underrated as it came out at around the same time as The God of Small Things and had a similar theme. It's easily its equal, probably even better. Read full review Review: The Flower BoyUser Review - Cahners Business Information.Set during the 13 uneasy, final years of British rule in Ceylon, Roberts's debut novel relates in simple yet eloquent prose the story of two children and their families whose lives, despite cultural ... Read full review | User ratings| 5 stars | | | 4 stars | | | 3 stars | | | 2 stars | | | 1 star | |
All reviews - 9 1 star - 0 All reviews - 9 All reviews - 9 |
