Was this book... written... for me? Magical realism. Flowery, lyrical language. Plants. Spanish. Those are all my favorite things. This book is my exact aesthetic.
But these women have another curse-- if they love anyone too deeply, that person disappears. La Pradera swallows them up. The youngest generation of Nomeolvides girls sacrifice all their favorite things to the earth when they find out they're all in love with the same person. They hope it will protect her. Instead La Pradera gives them a boy who doesn't know who he is, and they try to understand why.
Estrella was a bit more elusive-- she was the main character, the shining star (haha) if you will, but we don't really get to know her as well as the others.
They all had such good, close-knit relationships with each other. We stan women building up other women.
Fel is soft and shy and lost-- he doesn't know who he is. He's guilty for the sins he can't remember. He just wants to help everyone. He's precious. He seemed to be the only character who received any development, and that was only because him figuring out who he was is critical to the plot. Speaking of which,
Also flowers. Flowers everywhere. Old stone mansion. Flowy dresses. Feminine charm. I want it all.
And I'm obviously a word nerd but tHe SPAniSh. Ugh. I love it so much. There wasn't a lot of it, but occasionally McLemore would drop a word or two of it and I'd be jumping up and down like "I KNOW THAT WORD!" And when I didn't know that word, I looked it up and learned a new Spanish word. YAY NEW SPANISH WORDS! Also descriptions of hispanic foods had me drooling.
The Gist
The Nomeolvides (forget-me-not) women have been the permanent gardeners of the Briar family estate, La Pradera (the meadow) for over a hundred years. Basically they have this magical green thumb and they can grow an abundance of flowers wherever and whenever they want-- and even when they don't want. The plants start growing out of bedroom ceilings and mailboxes and cars if they don't use their gift. Before La Pradera, they wandered the west as "las hijas del aire" being chased from town to town because people mistook this for witchcraft. The land has claimed them, and now they can't leave it or they die.But these women have another curse-- if they love anyone too deeply, that person disappears. La Pradera swallows them up. The youngest generation of Nomeolvides girls sacrifice all their favorite things to the earth when they find out they're all in love with the same person. They hope it will protect her. Instead La Pradera gives them a boy who doesn't know who he is, and they try to understand why.
The Characters
There are so many strong female characters in this book, even if they're not all 3D. Dalia and her quiet, determined strength. Bay and her wild heart and men's clothing. Azalea's sharp tongue and protectiveness of her cousins. The grandmothers who had courage and endurance because of their rosaries and prayers Bibles, not despite them.Estrella was a bit more elusive-- she was the main character, the shining star (haha) if you will, but we don't really get to know her as well as the others.
They all had such good, close-knit relationships with each other. We stan women building up other women.
Fel is soft and shy and lost-- he doesn't know who he is. He's guilty for the sins he can't remember. He just wants to help everyone. He's precious. He seemed to be the only character who received any development, and that was only because him figuring out who he was is critical to the plot. Speaking of which,
The Plot
was slower than what I've been used to lately and, when it finally developed, it wasn't terribly exciting. But that's typical of magical realism, and the wacky resolutions to the conflict usually makes up for it. This was the case here. Dead miners coming out of the ground like they're just popping out of the lake after a swim? Wack. The earth itself fighting to right the wrong done by historical rich people trying to cover their butts? Lit.
The Aesthetic
It made up for everything. I hate to be a high school AP English teacher here but thE IMAGERY. It was so beautiful. This book built a world around me and as I read I could reach out and touch the flowers and taste Fel's molletes and hear Bay's laughter. This writing is just so clear and lyrical and flowing and honestly I'm in love.Also flowers. Flowers everywhere. Old stone mansion. Flowy dresses. Feminine charm. I want it all.
And I'm obviously a word nerd but tHe SPAniSh. Ugh. I love it so much. There wasn't a lot of it, but occasionally McLemore would drop a word or two of it and I'd be jumping up and down like "I KNOW THAT WORD!" And when I didn't know that word, I looked it up and learned a new Spanish word. YAY NEW SPANISH WORDS! Also descriptions of hispanic foods had me drooling.
Favorite Lines (there's a lot)
The beautiful ones:
"He wanted so much to both run from her and be in her presence that she must have been some saint he did not recognize."
"Her sympathy was so heavy and covered in thorns he didn’t know how to hold it."
"There was magic to things that were familiar and ordinary. The way they were known was a kind of enchantment, and when they were gone, the spell broke."
"She looked amused by him. He didn’t mind. If she thought he was worth looking at, worth considering, he didn’t mind."
"Even in its first faint traces, love could alter a landscape. It wrote unimagined stories and made the most beautiful, forbidding places. Love grew such strange things."
The savage ones:
"They had pretended they were there to clean it, and because men who stood so proud in pressed slacks and wrinkled shirts were used to having brown-skinned women wait on them, he seemed not to notice."
"He was a man, and a rich one, and these together made him believe the planets and moons orbited around the single point of his desires."
"Her sympathy was so heavy and covered in thorns he didn’t know how to hold it."
"There was magic to things that were familiar and ordinary. The way they were known was a kind of enchantment, and when they were gone, the spell broke."
"She looked amused by him. He didn’t mind. If she thought he was worth looking at, worth considering, he didn’t mind."
"Even in its first faint traces, love could alter a landscape. It wrote unimagined stories and made the most beautiful, forbidding places. Love grew such strange things."
The savage ones:
"They had pretended they were there to clean it, and because men who stood so proud in pressed slacks and wrinkled shirts were used to having brown-skinned women wait on them, he seemed not to notice."
"He was a man, and a rich one, and these together made him believe the planets and moons orbited around the single point of his desires."
"'When they’re about to run you out of town…' 'Get in front of the crowd and make it look like the parade,'”
The Rating
Five Stars
This book is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but it was my exact Starbucks drink down to the amount of non-dairy milk I request in it. I'm a sucker for beautiful things and magic and this gave me all of it I could have asked for.
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