If this book doesn't become a movie,
Ivory and Merchant have missed an opportunity.
Amor Towles', THE RULES OF CIVILITY
is a stylish, end of the Depression era,
cocktails at a Manhattan jazz club,
snappy dialogue, kind of book.
Mainly told in flashback, from the point of view
of Katherine Kontent,
it's the story of how a single incident, chance meeting
or decision made, when young, can influence and determine
the rest of one's life.
It's the story of reinventions, friendships, and heartache.
I'm a sucker for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway,
and this book's style and tone was reminiscent of theirs.
This may be one of my favorite books this year.
Although I liked THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh too,
I had some difficulty getting into it.
It weaves back and forth between
the past and present of it's main character
Victoria Jones, as a nine year old
and as an eighteen year old.
Once I got into the groove of it,
the story completely kept my interest.
Victoria is an orphan, a child of foster homes,
and finally an emancipated adult on her own.
She has an inability to connect with people,
and very severe anger issues.
What she does have is an affinity with flowers
and has learned that every flower has a meaning.
Through them she slowly finds a way to
confront a terrible secret in her past,
and recognize that she has the ability to love
and be loved.
