When May receives an unexpected chunk of time off work, she decides to visit a few old friends. These aren't bosom buddies. They are merely women May once considered close. She needs this time to contemplate the role of friendship in life because she is forty and still living at home. Although she keenly observes her surrounding neighbors, she doesn't connect with anyone besides her father and her work colleagues.
Her work is as fascinating as her thoughts on friendship. She is a university gardener. Her elderly father suggests various trees they might select for a memorial after his death and she reviews each suggestion. Interspersed with observations about etiquette and modern communication, May presents an array of information about various flowers and trees. I was thrilled to see her explanation of the Brahma Kamal since I named a character in one of my YA novels after this plant. She also parallels life today with snippets from Beowulf and The Odyssey (both appropriate because, like Grendel, she is an outsider, and like Odysseus, she goes on a journey).
Her consideration of what makes a good friend moved me. May mentions an author whose death leads to myriads of recollections posted online. In the back of the book, Kane identifies the real author behind this example, a woman named Amanda Davis. She died with her parents in an airplane accident on her way to a book tour for a novel she had published. I spent a fair amount of time, myself, reading the fascinating and gushing remembrances posted by her friends and acquaintances. What a marvelous thing to have influenced and blessed so many lives!
I also felt intrigued by the story of May's dead mother. At one point in the book, May observes: "Sometimes I think my mother slowly removed herself from the story until the story simply no longer had a role for her to play.... We had happy times, though our happiness was always a little desperate because it was never an adequate fix for whatever was making her sad. That is how grief infects families." Having battled chronic depression for years, I worry about its effect on my children (I was especially bad off when my youngest two were small, sometimes struggling to get off the couch and care for them). So much to mull over and process.
If you are interested in thinking deeply about friendship or if you plan on taking a trip to visit friends, you might enjoy this book. It is also a great fit for individuals curious about plant life. It left me with a melancholy wish to read through the book again. If you're still not sure about this book, pull it from the shelf and read the seven endorsements on the back cover. I agree with each and every one! It is "engaging," "passionate," "moving," "rich," "lyrical," "smart," and "uplifting."
No comments:
Post a Comment