So I recently read the novel Garden Spells and found
the novel cute, sweet and charming. However, be warned that the book does have
a touch of darkness/sadness. The story focuses on two sisters, Claire and
Sydney Waverley, who grew up in a small Southern town where each family is
known for some “characteristic” i.e. Hopkins men always marry older women, whereas
the Waverleys are known for being “weird.”
Claire Waverley chooses to stay in the town following in the
footsteps of her grandmother, tending the garden and making food with
herbs/fruits/vegetables straight from the garden. While her sister Sydney is a
bit of a rebel and leaves the town to discover herself. Sydney ultimately
returns to the town, with her daughter Bay, some 10 years later, to live with
Claire. The plot of the book focuses on identity struggle, fitting in and the
two sisters coming to terms with their family name while the garden weaves its
own influence into the plot.
The book is described by some reviewers as a modern day
fairy tale much due to the use of the magical realism element. To give a simple
explanation, magical realism involves supernatural/fantasy events, but the
events are considered normal and no one seems to question the possibility of
the events being able to occur nor the unusualness or strangeness of the event.
An example straight from the book is when Claire is angered by a remark Sydney
makes: “The electricity from her frustration caused the portable radio on the
shelf to crackle to life as she passed it…”
Throughout the book the two sisters’ personalities are
strongly contrasted in the past and the present. Claire was unpopular in
school, is considered unapproachable and is known for her dependability while
Sydney was extremely popular, is willing to talk to a stranger and known for
taking off and leaving when she feels the need.
Overall I did enjoy the book and read it fairly quickly (I
finished it in3-5 days), the books sucks you into the small town setting and
the lives of the two sisters. However, I did find the character Claire a tad annoying;
she is almost too set in her ways, very stubborn and acts too old for her age
of 34, all of which to the point that they affect her enjoyment of life. How I feel
about the main character of a play/movie/book spills into my overall rating of
the play/movie/book and because of that I rate the book as a B+, as I said I enjoyed
the book very much but some of the character’s traits prevented me from giving
the book an A.
I am currently reading Girls in White Dresses by
Jennifer Close if you would like to read along with me and plan to post a
review as soon as I am finished reading the novel.
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