Hot House Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire

Some time over the summer, I answered an invitation for garden bloggers to review the book  Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire. With a title like that, what garden blogger wouldn’t want to read this book? I had visions of expanding my semi-green thumb from newbie veggie gardening to exotic plants. Perhaps I shouldn’t mention that my plants are currently revolting against  neglect and kittens? Though, I do have a packet of catgrass to plant for the kittens, somewhere. That should distract them from my plants, which really need to be able to thrive on neglect. Cacti may suffer if they are watered too often, but they still want a bit of water now and then. Who am I kidding, I can’t keep an ivy alive. How could I possibly care for an exotic?

Exotic plants everywhere are certainly rejoicing Hothouse Flower is not what I expected. If it had been a guide to caring for exotic plants, I would have surely killed a few of them by now. As it turns out, Hothouse Flower is a novel. There are bits of plant information drizzled throughout the book, but it is fiction. I might have had an easier time reading it if it wasn’t. Since buying my first house and starting a garden, I’ve absolutely devoured gardening books. That wasn’t the case with Hothouse Flower.

I tried. I really did. I’ve had the book for several weeks, now. I started it many times, and didn’t get past the first chapter. Whether it was children, gardening, my new job, or whatever, something kept me from getting caught up in this book. In the end, it worked out alright. I didn’t know how I would ever read Hothouse Flower in time for my review. It turned out to be a nice companion to have while I was waiting at the hospital during my sister’s surgery. That was on Tuesday, when I should I have been writing the review.

Anyway, about the book. I’m not quite sure how to sum it up. I thought it would turn out to be a romance. Lila, the main character, develops relationships with three men, but romance doesn’t feel like the right description. Despite the slow start, it feels more like an adventure, perhaps with a bit of the supernatural or mystical thrown in. By the time I had to put the book down to check on my sister, I was eager to finish it. Lila doesn’t exactly embrace her adventure, but she certainly lets herself be led on one. If she seems a bit chaotic and unsure of herself, I suppose that’s normal for a divorcee. Finding your footing can be challenging after a divorce. While my own experience was much calmer, there were similarities. I found myself doubting the credibility of a woman in today’s world just picking up and following a strange man to another country. Now, thinking back, I did that too. It’s hard to remember how flighty and immature I was, then. But really, when I got divorced, years ago, I hopped on a plane and went to another country for a fling with a guy I met online. I spent two months there. Reality can be just as strange as fiction.

There were some surprisingly insightful passages hidden amidst the fantasy. This is one of my favorites:

“If you can hear the quiet while being woken up by the garbage trucks, you have power. If you can feel the stars when all you can see are the lights in the skyscrapers, that’s power. If you can smell the forest in front of the dumpster, then you have power. Never let the events in front of you, or the people around you, tell you what to see, feel, taste, smell, or hear.”

I’ve had experiences like that. They do make you feel powerful and peaceful all at once. Unfortunately, this is not the type of book I’d pick up in search of enlightenment.

It’s interesting to note that I currently have two of the nine plants growing in my yard. One, lily of the valley, was here when I bought the house. The other, datura, is an annual that I grew this year for the first time. If it had a showy bloom time, it was while I was away for a funeral. Before I left, there were several buds. When I returned, they were mostly gone. I’ve seen a stray bloom here and there, since then, but nothing spectacular.

What’s most interesting is that datura is supposed to bring visions and dreams of the future. I’ve had deja-vu and dreams that felt prophetic, in the past, but nothing much in the last few years. Caring for an infant was just too tiring for dreaming. Lately, though, I’m starting to have visions of a wonderful future. I won’t be ingesting any of the datura to find out more. I’m content to enjoy the present and let time and experience bring the future to me.

My review is part of a virtual book tour, of sorts. I encourage you to check out some of the other stops on the tour, which can be found here. Now that I’ve read and reviewed the Hothouse Flower on my own, it’ll be interesting to visit the tour and see what others thought. From there, there is a link to a reader’s guide, which might have been useful, had I found it earlier. Although, I’m not sure what to make of this bit:

13. The movie rights to Hothouse Flower were bought by Julia Roberts. The book combines adventure, mystery, and romance in a dangerous, lush, and breathtaking setting—did you think of it as a movie as you were reading? Do you think Roberts should play the part of Lila? Who would you cast in the other roles?

At first, I thought, “Wow, Julia Roberts is making this into a movie?” Pretty cool. I could picture the movie being better than the book. Now, I’m wondering if this is a hypothetical question posed for discussion of the book?

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