Flowers of Darkness by Tatiana de Rosnay

Flowers of Darkness Reviews

• 
  TXGAL1

  RATING: ***
  RECOMMENDED: If you’re a fan of de Rosnay and want to read ALL of her books.
  TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide and depression
  
  The main character of this novel is Clarissa—a grandmother, wife, and bilingual author living in Paris who has recently separated from her husband Francois, and is desperately looking for a new place to live and to write her next book. She goes from place to place to find her perfect “shelter”, but as she is sensitive to the emotional feelings she receives from each, Clarissa becomes increasingly frantic. Clarissa has always been obsessed with the personal memories or secrets a house contains. The walls “whisper” to her. She cannot return to her former home with Francois—he has done something so unforgiveable and reprehensible Clarissa cannot bear to hear his voice or be in his presence.
  
  Throughout this story we are presented with duality. Clarissa is of two homelands, both English and French. She speaks fluently, easily switching between both languages within the same conversation. And, Clarissa’s latest book is to be written in both languages…at the same time. As she has a conversation with someone, Clarissa has a more truthful, separate conversation with herself at the same time. And, two authors have had a great influence on Clarissa’s development as a writer: Virginia Woolf and Romain Gary.
  
  Paris is the Paris of the not-too-distant future. In fact, the world has changed and is impacting everyone’s lives. People are ever dependent on technology and that brings with it an increasing intrusion into their private lives.
  
  When Clarissa finally installs herself into a new apartment, she finds it totally unlike her past residences. This will be a new experience, but will it be one that will enhance her life or take a turn down a dark road?
  
  THOUGHTS: When I picked this book up to read, I was struck by the modern cover. It’s primarily blue and gray. After reading the book, I’m thinking the color choice was made intentionally due to the blue color “thread” running through the story and the blue and gray overtones to the mood of the subject matter.
  
  I was very happy when I won this copy to review for St. Martin’s Press as I am a fan of the author and LOVED Sarah’s Key. Not wanting to be influenced by the impressions of others, I did not read reviews prior to reading my own copy.
  
  Sadly, I did NOT care for this book. I’ve since read a review that called this story “riveting and emotionally intense”—I disagree as I was never emotionally invested in this story. The pacing dragged and some things that were mentioned numerous times were never explained—so why introduce them to the storyline? I feel that de Rosnay achieved her writing objective, I just did not like it, hence the 3 stars.
  
• 
  Elyse Walters

  UPDATE....
  The first 70% of this book was great.... The last 30% got a little too bizarre for my taste.
  I’m going hiking I’ll write a review later today or tomorrow.
  
  UPDATE ....REVIEW:
  “Moments like this are buds on the tree of life. Flowers of darkness they are...”
  .... Virginia Woolf,
  Mrs. Dalloway, 1925
  
  “Instead of screaming,
  I write books”
  .... Romain Gary
  
  The breathtaking writing in “Flowers of Darkness”, is like a delicious fruit salad. The ingredients include:
  ....a unique-creative story,
  ....memorable characters, .....and C.A.S.A residents.
  ....literary mystery suspense,
  ....consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.
  ....a little blindsiding
  ....betrayal, lies, secrets, distrust, skepticism,
  ....compelling place and setting....with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Surveillance cameras.
  ....loneliness- sorrow - love - hope - threats - courage, intrigue,
  ....dystopia/ science fiction-‘light’. [the last 30% was a little over the top for my taste], ...but I LOVED sooooo many other things about this book ...which both energized my ‘old-school’ thinking—in the first 70% .....yet challenged me in a ‘REALLY????’.....kind-of-way....in the last chapters....( don’t mind me - I bumped up against my ‘yuck’ judgement)....
  ........THE PART I AM NOT GOING TO SHARE...( no funny- business-spoilers from me)...
  ....outrageous possibilities.....THEY SHOULD MAKE A MOVIE from this novel.
  ....Chablis: the purring soft-fur cat, is a spotlight-scene-stealing heart-warmer, luv-bug.
  ....You’ll meet ‘Mrs. Dalloway’.....Clarissa’s virtual assistant.
  ....AND.....there are wonderful tidbits mentioned about Virginia Woolf, and Romain Gary.
  
  We meet Clarissa Katsef....an older woman - author - who didn’t publish her first book until she was fifty years old. Clarissa had just left her second husband, Francois, after twenty years.
  She moves into an ultra-modern apartment in Paris. The building is brand new. Artists all had to apply to get into the residency called C.A.S.A. Many people/artists were turned away, ( it was competitive), but for those who were accepted, rent was inexpensive.
  Rule/protocols were expected to be followed.
  Clarissa was on the top floor - the eight floor - her view was spectacular.
  Not everything ‘inside’ her apartment is spectacular....but the storytelling is fascinating.
  
  Jordan was forty-four...(a hydrologist). She was Clarissa’s daughter - lived in London.
  Toby, was Clarissa’s first husband. He lived in London.
  Clarissa’s father, ( also lived in London), was 98 years old.
  Francois was Clarissa’s second husband. He could have lived in a dirt hole as far as Clarissa was concern.
  Andriana, (Andy), was Jordon’s daughter; Clarissa’s granddaughter.
  Andy, is a spunky, adorable, bright, wise, charming, kick ass fourteen year-old. She calls her grandmother, ‘Mums’.....and I loved it!
  
  There’s a lot going on in this story - easy to follow - but it wasn’t a speed-rush. I savored the writing, and enjoyed my thoughts between readings.
  This novel was constantly on my mind; cinematically visually real....( reading and/or on reading breaks)....this book remained in the thoughts a lot.
  
  This book might not be for everyone - ( parts definitely might be though)....
  Personally- I’m THRILLED I READ IT. It’s soooo interesting!!....I hope to have lengthy conversations with other readers.
  
  Lots of LOVELY writing:
  “Physically, Jordan had inherited her father dark hair, his green eyes; she had her mothers startling height, her powerful yet graceful shoulders. She had Toby’s kindness, his interest in other people. She had Clarissa‘s belligerence, her sense of humor. But she was also very much herself: both clever and dreamy, tolerant and demanding. You couldn’t fool Jordan. She was rude and highly intuitive”.
  
  
  “Virginia Woolf didn’t write to seduce readers, to hook them in from the start with glib techniques, no, not at all. Virginia Woolf cast a spell on her readers, leisurely, gently, so that they did not know at first how they had been lured, so that they followed, enchanted and docile. But she made them think; she made them wonder. She surprised them at times; she destabilized them. And that is what Clarissa admired the most: The beauty and the depths of her prose, and how Virginia Woolf let her readers into her characters’ minds, how Mrs. Dalloway‘s entire life was revealed in one single day, by dint of the ceaseless coming and going between past and present”.
  
  
  And great dialogue:
  ....Clarissa is speaking with her granddaughter, Andy.
  
  “Remember what you said about my apartment?” ( Clarissa begins speaking)
  “Yes. That I felt someone was watching me all the time”. ( Andy speaking)
  “Well, that’s exactly what’s going on. The artists who live in the residence are all spied upon”. ( Clarissa)
  “Have you talked with Mom about this?”
  “No”.
  “Why not?”
  “Your mom thinks I exaggerate. She worries about me. She thinks I forget stuff. She sees me as a disturbed old lady”.
  “That’s because she loves you. And you do forget stuff, sometimes. You repeat things, too. It doesn’t bother me”.
  
  Clarissa wanted to know why she was being watched. Were her dreams being tampered with? And Dr. Dewinter, ( the AI hotshot owner of C.A.S.A), what did she want?”
  
  Last.... you’ll learn more about Clarissa’s two husbands- Toby and Francois. ( the what, why, when, and how comes).
  
  Much more I could share....but I haven’t given any spoilers.
  Perhaps a few flaws.... but I found this book ( overall)....very engaging.
  
  Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Netgalley, and Tatiana denRosnay
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Faith

  After leaving her husband following some unspecified wrongdoing on his part, author Clarissa moves into an apartment building reserved for artists. The building is operated by a secretive organization, and the terms of the lease are intrusive, to say the least. Building security and amenities are furnished by an AI that is tailored to each resident. The book is set in a near future, post apocalyptic France.
  
  The beginning of the book was good, while Clarissa’s physical and mental well being slowly deteriorated under the constant surveillance of the AI. It had a good creepy vibe. Then, it all fell apart. A million loose threads were just dropped and the ending was really insipid. It felt like the author ran out of time and simply said The End. 3.5 stars, which I am rounding up because this is the first book by this author that I actually managed to finish, so at least it’s a step in the right direction.
• 
  Theresa Alan

  I had wanted a novel that grabbed me right away and didn’t let the tension ease, but this wasn’t that book. In the first third, there are hints that something sinister is afoot, but no actual threat to worry about.
  
  I liked that the protagonist is a grandmother. So many novels deal with people struggling in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, that having a character with an adult child is refreshing. Clarissa is separated from her second husband after discovering a secret that repulsed her—this was beyond mere cheating. She has to find a new place to live as soon as possible, and she has to do it on her own salary of being a writer—a way of making a living that not a lot of people can survive on, let alone find a dwelling in Paris that she can afford. So, when she gets a low-cost place that’s for artists, she doesn’t question much, she just signs the papers. At first, the idea of having a device that’s like an Alexa, but with much, much more power, seems like a good safety feature. Surely the feeling of being watched is just her imagination . . .
  
  Unfortunately, this moved at a slow place. It had some good points to it, but I just didn’t enjoy reading this book.
  
  Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, which RELEASES FEBRUARY 23, 2021.
  
• 
  Dave

  Tatiana de Rosnay is bilingual and has published books in both French and English. Flowers of Darkness, like some of her more well-known books (Sarah's Key and A Secret Kept), is set in one of the neighborhoods of Paris. Clarissa Katsef, the main character, presents two parallel threads of story.
  
  One of these threads is the backstory of how Clarissa came to apply for and live in C.A.S.A., a special artists' apartment retreat entry to which requires a thorough and very personal interview. Clarissa's backstory, which she comes back to time and time again, is that of a successful and perhaps world-renowned writer, who discovers quite unexpectedly that her husband of twenty five years is having an affair. As Clarissa comes to turns with this betrayal, she plays detective and finds the secret love shack and eventually steels up the nerve to confront the vile adulteress who tore her world apart. Clarissa immediately walked out on her husband and decided to start life anew, leaving the wreak of her old life behind. It is a haunting, dreamlike story and Clarissa's bold decision to leave her life set her adrift and closed her off from her old world.
  
  The second thread of the story is all about C.A.S.A., a gorgeous penthouse artist's retreat in a modern building where the occupants' every need is catered to by a virtual assistant extraordinaire, named Mrs. Dalloway. Move over Siri. Step aside Alexa. And this perhaps is where things get strange. The virtual assistant is quite personal and there are cameras everywhere. And mysterious feelings that someone is always watching. At times, it is so creepy that it feels more like a B.F. Skinner experiment than a modern apartment. And that's where perhaps we are in modern life with Google and Facebook and the ubiquitous cameras that are everywhere always watching, always knowing, always analyzing. What kind of strange mind control experiment has she gotten herself into?
  
  Both threads of the story have a closed-off feeling, a sense of being caged up, separated, and corralled. It is a slow story, not filled with wild action, but there is a sense of a build up, of expectations rising, of a master reveal like when the curtain is lifted to reveal the wizard in the Emerald City throne room. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! For me, the ending was more a whimper than a bang and the build up of the expectations that were never fully realized, leaving the read oddly dissatisfying. I expected more at the end.
  
  
• 
  Judy

  This is a unique and interesting story of loneliness and sorrow, love and courage. The writing is lyrical and inviting. There is a little mystery and intrigue as well. Overall, an enjoyable story.
  
  Set in a near-future Paris, Clarissa Katsef, an author, has just left her husband of 20 years, Francois. In looking for a new place to live, she gets accepted into an artist community called C.A.S.A. which has some strange rules, but Clarissa is willing to agree to them.
  
  Clarissa and her first husband, Toby, are still close friends. They have a daughter together, Jordan, who lives in London. They also had a son died in the womb, but Clarissa still had to go through birthing him. Her sorrow and ability to handle it was the source of Clarissa and Toby's divorce. Jordan has a daughter, Ariana, who goes by Andy. Clarissa and Andy are very close and spend time together whenever they can.
  
  Since moving into C.A.S.A., Clarissa becomes suspicious of being watched. And there are other little things that add to her suspicions that something is going one that shouldn't be. She enlists her granddaughter, Andy, to help investigate.
  
  I really liked the writing and most of the story. But there was a part of the story that didn't feel complete enough for me and I found that frustrating. Don't get me wrong - it's a really good story and I enjoyed my time with the book.
  
  Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.
  
  
• 
  Erin

  3.75 stars
  Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  In a futuristic Paris, a writer moves into an apartment where all the tenants are being watched and monitored. It will take Clarissa and her quick thinking granddaughter to try and figure out what is going on. In between the chapters, there are hints as to what pushed Clarissa to leave her second husband.
  
  I appreciated that our protagonist was a grandmother. So often protagonists tend to be in their 20's and 30's trying to figure out life. #tatianaderosnay has always been an up and down author for me in terms of liking versus loving. But she has certainly created a very memorable read in her latest novel.
  
  #erinrossreads2021 #readersofinstagram #goodreads #teachersandbooks #stmartinspress #netgalley #marchbreakread
  
  
  Goodreads review published 04/04/21
  Publication Date. 23/02/21
• 
  Bam cooks the books ;-)

  *3.5 stars, rounded up. I always enjoy this author's superb writing. Her latest novel is a bit of a departure, branching a bit into fantasy and futuristic speculation. It is set in Paris in the near future with electric cars and A.I., but many catastrophic things have shaped their world--terrorist attacks, severe climate change that has brought intense heat waves, killing off forests, flowers, gardens, insects. And as the story begins, we learn that the main character's personal life has also been shaken up when she discovers her husband's secret passion and leaves him.
  
  Her name is Clarissa Katsef, the bilingual daughter of a French mother and an English father who retains a dual citizenship. In the past she worked as a property examiner and was fascinated by dwellings and their effect on people. In her 50s, she began writing and published a well-received book about Virginia Woolf and Romain Gary, favorite authors who both committed suicide. Clarissa herself has a darkness within her, has suffered bouts of depression, the most-prolonged one after her son was stillborn many years ago.
  
  Now, with latest her marriage in shambles, she seeks to start a new life and is thrilled to be granted living space in a new high-rise that is exclusively for artists. The place is high tech, run by an artificial intelligence she has nicknamed Mrs Dalloway. But it isn't long before she starts to feel watched and has trouble sleeping. If 'they' are spying on her, to what purpose? Is she being paranoid? Delusional? Or is she deliberately being driven crazy?
  
  Meanwhile, what she learned about her husband is slowly revealed to the reader in excerpts from her notebook. She has told no one, not even her adult daughter or friends. They assume he must have been having an affair...
  
  "Moments like this are buds on the tree of life. Flowers of darkness they are..." growing inside her head.
  
  (Virginia Woolf, from Mrs Dalloway, 1925)
  
  This is very much a character-driven novel. Being of a similar age as Clarissa, I could relate to many of her emotions and reactions--how she related to her elderly father, adult daughter, teenaged granddaughter. The way de Rosnay writes about Europe in the near future is fascinating and all too believable if our planet-destroying ways of living aren't halted soon.
  
  In the story, Clarissa says readers occasionally ask her to explain the endings of her books. One might wish to do that with this novel but as Clarissa thinks to herself, 'She wrote to make others think, not to give them answers.' Enjoy!
  
  I received an arc of this book from one of my favorite authors and her publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Many thanks for the opportunity.
• 
  Shannon Rochester

  Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Honestly? I was not really into this book at all at first and right at the moment I was going to look and see what the reviews were, I hit the spot that got my attention. And THEN I was so into the book that I literally did not want to do anything else in life until I finished. And it was going to be a four star review all the way until the last few pages. But I was personally not a fan of the ending...
  
  The story is about Clarissa Katsef, an older woman who has caught her husband cheating for the last time. She is determined not to go back to him this go around and she finds herself a new place to live. It has some extra security measures in place by having artificial intelligence involved in everyday life. When strange things start to happen, that's when the story got interesting...we also hear about the backstory of why she went out on her own and what exactly happened between her and her husband. Which is also bizarre. :) All in all, this was a very good read but like I said, I wasn't a fan of the ending. I would have liked it to go on a bit more.
• 
  Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

  Clarissa left her husband and moved into a secret housing complex where you had to be interviewed before you could live there.
  
  You had to be an artist or writer or any type of creative person.
  
  Are they really looking for talented folks or looking for someone who won’t suspect the reason for the security and scrutiny of your life as you live there?
  
  Clarissa definitely felt as though someone was watching her besides her virtual personal assistant. Her cat seemed to feel the same way.
  
  Something was going on in this extremely secured building with cameras in every room. It is a futuristic building where your every move was watched.
  
  I don’t know why Clarissa didn’t move out of the building.
  
  The writing is excellent as always, but FLOWERS OF DARKNESS was a slow read for me even though it wasn’t very long and had a bit of a mystery.
  
  The futuristic things which were the major gist of the book are not something I read so this book wasn't as enjoyable as I would have liked. 3/5
  
  This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Karen

  FLOWERS OF DARKNESS
  BY TATIANA DE ROSNAY
  
  Many, many years ago in my Introduction to Psychology class at my university my professor lectured on artificial intelligence. He had said so far with all the progress that has been made in the field not yet was it developed to be equivalent to the human brain. But what would happen in life if it in fact was able to think for itself or create or have its own imagination? That is what one of the main question's this novel explores.
  
  It also gives a nod to great writer's such as Daphne du Maurier by naming one of the artist's residence benefactors called Dr. Dewinter. C.A.S.A is a state of the art ultra modern apartment building in Paris that is dedicated to providing homes to every kind of artist. There are writer's, sculptor's and painter's who all live there and they are all bilingual. It is very hard to get accepted to this program.
  
  Clarissa is the main character who names her virtual assistant who is artificial intelligent Mrs. Dalloway which beckons her love for Virginia Woolfe. Clarissa can't escape the eery feeling that she is always being watched and studied. That is because her perfect penthouse apartment on the top floor has cameras in every room except the bathroom. As time goes on this feeling of being continually spied on deeply unsettles her.
  
  Clarissa has just left her second husband Francois for cheating on her. Her first husband Toby is still a close friend of Clarissa's and father to her daughter Jordan and grandfather to their granddaughter Andy. Andy often stays with Clarissa at the C.A.S.A. residency and believes Clarissa's growing unease of her new apartment. Is Clarissa paranoid or is her growing sense of believing that their is something more sinister going on?
  
  This was a very unique premise and it is executed very well with beautiful writing from Tatiana de Rosnay. This novel was creepy and fast paced and can easily be devoured in one sitting. I highly recommend this well written book to reader's of all genres. I really loved, loved, loved this narrative that is peppered with quotes throughout from Romain Gary and Virginia Woolfe.
  
  "Moments
  like this
  are buds
  on the
  tree of
  life.
  Flowers
  of
  darkness
  they are." Virginia Woolfe, Mrs. Dalloway, 1925
  
  Publication Date: February 23, 2021
  
  Thank you to Net Galley, Tatiana de Rosnay and St. Martin's Publishing for generously providing me with my ARC of this breathtaking novel in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
  
  #FlowersofDarkness #TatianadeRosnay #StMartin'sPublishing #NetGalley
• 
  Frank Phillips

  3.49 Stars, rounded down. This was actually much better than I anticipated, however that ending really left screaming for more!! In this novel we are in a near-future Paris and introduced to author Clarissa Katsef, who has been accepted into an artists' residency and moved into her new flat. Clarissa has Recently experienced a traumatic break-up, and needs a tranquil space in which she can focus and begin her second novel. Her new high-tech flat comes with a built-in virtual assistant, who conversates with her and completes any task for her at any time of day, all she need do is ask. This is the perfect setting for Clarissa, who as of late has been struggling with writer's block and had procrastinated in beginning her second novel. With everything seemingly perfect, Clarissa feels as though she's being watched...all the time. Is she just paranoid? Why are there so many protocols for the residents? Why is Clarissa experiencing so many disturbingly vivid dreams? What's the deal with the peculiar Dr. DeWinter, and why does he/she seem monitor every single movement the residents make? What happened to Clarissa's neighbor and confidant, Jim, who has also voiced his frustrations with the residency? Needless to say, as Clarissa slowly began to unravel, I had many questions and theories as to what the heck was going on!! At about 3/4 of the way in, I was hooked, desperately needing answers and was quite literally at the edge of my seat. The ending, unfortunately, was quite disappointing, as it left so many of my questions unanswered. Did I just not get it? Did this novel go way over my head? It's a head-scratcher for sure!
  Some of my issues (beside the ending), were that Clarissa was quite unlikable. I would go so far as to say she came across as snooty, entitled and OBSESSED with Virginia Wolfe! She named her virtual assistant Mrs. Dalloway, for Christ's sakes! She also seemed obsessed with the fact that she was bilingual and so were her friends and family, as though it were not a common thing in Europe for a person to speak two, sometimes more, languages! It also seemed like at times Clarissa was not only simply imagining all of the strange incidents, but perhaps even fabricating them for the sake of her new novel, I wasn't quite sure.... Everything was really just left kind of open-ended....
  This would be a great selection for a book club, as I would love to get other's opinions on what was really going on here! More thoughts will probably come as I mull this one over, but overall I'd really say this was good, with a lot of potential, but the execution failed. It initially read eerily similar to JP Delaney's debut The Girl Before, which I loved. I'd definitely recommend this one for those who love Sci-Fi, psychological suspense, drama, etc.
• 
  Desiree

  A fascinating tale in near-future Paris, de Rosnay brings the sense of place and atmosphere that she’s known for in spades. I was utterly fascinated with this Paris of the future and in unraveling the multiple mysteries layered throughout the novel.
  
  I was particularly absorbed by how this novel is so much like, and also yet so different from one of my favorite novels, de Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key. While Sarah’s Key takes us back to Paris of World War II, Flowers of Darkness takes us about 15-20 years into the City of Light to come, as de Rosnay envisions it.
  
  It is a world where an unnamed catastrophic event has decimated the city, as well as other national capitals, not to mention the decimation of the Earth’s climate due to global warming. Yet, the main crux of the story centers around a mystery for the reader, as to why main character Clarissa recently left her husband of 20 years, along with a riddle that Clarissa is trying to solve for herself.
  
  If I had a complaint about this tale, it would be that while intriguing, I didn’t feel like the story wrapped up all the loose ends by the conclusion; and the imaginative future that pulled me through the story with ease, didn’t wrap-up with an obvious lesson for the reader.
  
  Yet, de Rosnay is an excellent novelist, who writes finely crafted and compelling prose that makes you think, and for that I do recommend Flowers of Darkness for anyone who enjoys a bit of spooky suspense or a touch of a post-apocalyptic future.
  
  A big thank you to Tatiana de Rosnay, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for this honest review.
  
  Tatiana de Rosnay is the author of over ten novels, including the New York Times bestseller Sarah's Key, which has sold over 11 million copies in 44 countries worldwide. Together with Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, and Stieg Larsson, she has been named one of the top ten fiction writers in Europe.
  
  Flowers of Darkness is available February 23, 2021 in Hardcover, Audio CD, Audible Audiobook, and for Kindle. Please consider buying from BookShop.org, the online bookstore that has donated over $8 million to independent bookstores since starting operation in early 2020.
  
  #FlowersOfDarkness
  #TatianaDeRosnay
  #StMartinsPress
  #NetGalley
  #GeneralFiction
  #WomensFiction
• 
  Dennis

  In a not-so-distant future Paris, Clarissa Katsef is moving out of her home and leaving her husband after a cheating scandal. As an author, she is given the opportunity to live in a compound where artists can reside in a community together. This compound is called C.A.S.A., and when they give Clarissa authorization to move in, she feels a weight may be lifted off of her—maybe her life can go back to normal. As Clarissa moves into her new flat, she starts feeling as if she’s being watched and tenants go missing. Clarissa can’t escape her past demons with her ex husband, but her new residence may also not be the best place for her to be.
  
  I battled with this one for the last couple of days. I’d read some and then stop. I’d struggle with the writing, because it felt as if it was translated from French in a very specific way (hard to describe but when you read it you’ll know). Once I was able to get through that, the story was better. It’s a slow burn at heart, but you kept help but feel like you want to root for Clarissa. As the story developed, I began to hold out hope for the best of her. Overall, I did end up enjoying the story, but it took too long to get to the main conflict. I think if the story cut up a lot of the exposition and developed the second half of the book further, it would’ve been a home run.
• 
  Mary

  This was wonderfully weird and utterly depressing, because the not-too-distant future described in this speculative novel is not all that different from what we’re already seeing.
  
  Clarissa is a writer in terror-attack devastated Paris, in an era where not only does no one read physical books anymore, but they’ve long lost interest in electronic ones too. People do little more than stare at their phones watching videos. Her apartment is fitted with an intrusive and passive aggressive AI assistant. The Eiffel Tower is a hologram. The bathroom mirror monitors health. The brothels are filled with robots.
  
  I was engrossed and uncomfortable and saddened by the world described in this book – a world that is almost our own – a world without privacy, without thinking, without reading, without human connection, without truth, without reality, without fear. Perhaps if you’re trying to gain a semblance of comfort in this broken and frivolous post-Trump Covid ravaged world, this might not be the book for you. It was the book for me though, on yet another socially distanced weekend.
  
• 
  Doreen

  I panned Tatiana de Rosnay’s 2018 novel The Rain Watcher but thought I’d give the author another chance so I requested a digital galley of her latest, Flowers of Darkness. I’m afraid this one is not an improvement.
  
  The novel is set in Paris in the near future after the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, “the devastation of the Piazza San Marco, bombed-out Big Ben, and the obliteration of the Sistine Chapel.” Clarissa Katsef, a novelist who writes in both English and French, moves into an ultra-modern, high-tech apartment in a complex owned by C.A.S.A. (Center for Adaptive Synergy for Artists). She is looking for a refuge after a betrayal by her second husband, but she becomes uncomfortable when she feels herself being constantly watched by “the tiny cameras in each room, like little black eyes, always following her around.” She sets out to find out why her privacy is being invaded and enlists the help of her granddaughter Andy to help her.
  
  This book is a commentary on climate change. For example, there is more than one comment about the plight of the planet. Abby laments, “’Look at what’s happening to the planet. Look what we did to it. Look what’s left of the forests. . . . Heat waves, floods, hurricanes, pollution.” Clarissa ponders “The perpetual heat waves, scorching summers, scarcity of water, brutal storms, end of natural pollination, and slow extinction of insects.”
  
  Artificial intelligence is another target. The roles of robots in health care and security are mentioned, but they also take care of most human needs, even pleasure. Clarissa foresees a time when “’we could be forced to appreciate a fake culture entirely conceived and controlled by machines. We will no longer have any choice at all. For a long time, we’ve been getting those notifications telling us, “You liked so-and so’s book, so then read thingy’s one.” But what’s ahead could be even worse. Art, in each and every form, could be anticipated, made to order. Humans will stop creating, stop imagining. The end of surprises, make-believe, the end of possibilities, of the unexpected. On every front, it’ll be the victory of robots.’”
  
  Another complaint Clarissa has is that people do not read books. In one paragraph, this is mentioned three times: “Hardly anyone read books anymore . . . it seemed no one yearned for books anymore. No one bought them . . . it appeared no one had the time to read or write anymore.” Later, she goes on and on about how “Pictures took precedence over words. No one read newspapers. People watched videos . . . Literature no longer held its own . . . People preferred to come and listen to the writer, to applaud the writer as he or she read from his or her book, and no longer purchased signed copies. Reading was no longer comforting. Reading no longer helped to heal.” She worries about piracy, which is understandable, but she just seems to object to people reading books on devices. Reading an ebook doesn’t qualify as reading? So I didn’t really read this book?!
  
  The author, who has written books in both French and English, seems obsessed with people who have “hybrid brains” which she defines as people “who live and who dream in two different tongues.” Clarissa is simultaneously writing two versions of a book, one in English and one in French. The author seems to suggest that people who are bilingual are more creative. But what does bilingualism have to do with creativity in non-verbal arts? The creativity of bilingual sculptors and painters and musicians would be of more interest than that of monolingual sculptors, painters and musicians?
  
  It is difficult to connect with Clarissa. She is in her late sixties, but she acts so immaturely. She needs to wear “high-heeled rock-star boots” which she admits are inappropriate for her age so she can feel “badass”? Over and over again, it is mentioned that she is particularly interested in the relationship between writers and their living environments, yet she doesn’t check out her new apartment before moving in. After she moves in “she suddenly realized she had moved into a dwelling she had never seen beforehand”?! She “blindly” signs a contract and even allows C.A.S.A. to monitor her health and only after moving in does she look up “the meaning of C.A.S.A.”? She starts to feel tired and thinks she should “slow down, write less and with less passion” yet she is never shown writing? Her most successful novel is improbably titled Topography of Intimacy?!
  
  Other characters are unconvincing as well. Fourteen-year-old Andy seems too mature for her age, giving advice to her grandmother. Meanwhile, her forty-four-year old mother Jordan seems immature. For instance, Jordan is jealous of her cousins who received an inheritance from their aunt?! Clarissa’s father calls two of his granddaughters “sluts” and “tarts” and “twits”?!
  
  Writing style is a major problem. It is stiff and flat, like something that could have been written by a robot. I kept thinking it had been poorly translated into English. There is so much awkward phrasing: “single tawdry cotillion” and “bloody pearls on a steadfast necklace of violence” and “sturdy, slightly stubby-legged outline” and “prodigious calm” and “lacustrine ballet” and “infinitesimal dark zone behind Mia White’s luminous smile” and “the choppy outcome of Aunt Serena’s will” and “imperious sensation.” A wedding band is a “jewel”? A person who is understanding is “marvelously comprehensive”? A person who remains expressionless is described as not losing “countenance”? The author seems to want to impress with her vocabulary but she uses words incorrectly.
  
  It is not only the diction that is an issue. Short, choppy sentences abound. Then there are the long series of interrogative sentences: “Had he gone crazy? After everything he’d done? Did he really think she was going to shut up and stick around? Act like nothing had happened?” Exclamatory sentences are also overused: “Seriously, she looked like a lunatic! A madwoman!” Transitions are often missing so paragraphs are disjointed: “Jordan had lost many friends in the attack. Clarissa said good-bye to her daughter, and then asked Andy to go dry her hair. The president’s face appeared on the screen.” Why is Mia White always spoken of as Mia White? Her surname has to be given even though there is no other Mia in the narrative?
  
  There are events that make no sense or are left unexplained. Why are we only told Clarissa’s pseudonym and not her real name? What happened to Jim? Why does Clarissa rush to London because of concerns about her father only to return home immediately? What is the purpose of the squabble over inheritance? Who is responsible for the destruction of European landmarks? Andy can roam around the C.A.S.A. complex, where surveillance is everywhere, and not be observed? It is possible to bargain with a robot? A cat joins a woman taking a shower and “installed himself on her thighs”? What are “Brexit’s unsettling consequences, steeped in complication”? To re-create “vanished beaches swallowed up by the rising sea level,” people are trying “to find sand, which had become so rare”?
  
  Reading this book was laborious. Neither the plot nor the characters nor the style is noteworthy in a positive way.
  
  Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
  
  Please check out my reader's blog (
  https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
  
• 
  DeAnn

  3.25 technology stars
  
  Another futuristic book for me! This one set in the Paris of the future with well-developed personal assistants (think Alexa on steroids), terrorists destroying world monuments, next generation robots, delivery drones, and AI.
  
  Clarissa is an older author who is apartment hunting after betrayal by her husband. She lucks into a new development with low prices and exclusively for artists. Things start out very well, but her cat is having trouble settling and it feels like she is being watched all the time. Is she just being paranoid or is there something more sinister afoot?
  
  Along the way, we get flashbacks to her first marriage, tragedy, and her second marriage. She’s got an adorable granddaughter who is her biggest fan!
  
  Tatiana de Rosnay is great at describing the setting and makes me want to visit Paris! I don’t think I want to visit this version of the City of Lights though! I do wish that there were some loose threads that had been tied up, but I guess it’s up to the reader to decide. A cautionary tale of how we can’t always replace humans with robots and technology addiction is dangerous.
  
  Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins' Press for the early copy of this one to read.
  
• 
  Clarabel

  Étrange, très étrange... mais fascinant aussi ! Ce roman distille un délicat parfum qui donne le vertige tout en inspirant attrait et curiosité.
  
  Clarissa Katsef vient de s'installer dans une résidence d'écrivains après avoir quitté son mari. Sa décision a été prise sur un coup de tête. Trahie, blessée, pleine d'amertume, Clarissa préfère se calfeutrer. Par chance, la résidence Casa lui offre le confort espéré avec un assistant virtuel aux paramètres soigneusement personnalisés. Clarissa cohabite donc une Mrs Dalloway attentive à sa santé, ses fréquentations, ses allers et venues. Rien ne lui échappe. Engluée dans son chagrin, Clarissa s'y conforme sans résister. Et pourtant... un doute s'installe. Pernicieux. Pesant. Inquiétant.
  
  De là, moi j'ai complètement adhéré à cette ambiance brumeuse et qui laisse place à l'imagination (j'ai tout supposé mais j'étais à côté de la plaque). Par conséquent, le dénouement ne m'a pas fait chavirer. Tout simplement parce qu'après de longues heures d'une lecture qui a habilement joué avec mes fantasmes, la fin m'est apparue déstabilisante. J'étais encore ancrée dans la sensation d'être au cœur d'un épisode de la Quatrième Dimension entre cette Mrs Dalloway hyper flippante et Clarissa assez borderline. Mais la réalité est autre - plus intime et émotionnelle. Pourquoi pas ?
  
  Quoi qu'il en soit, j'ai longtemps apprécié naviguer en eaux troubles et j'ai aimé tout ce mystère enveloppant l'histoire, la résidence, les personnages, le vrai du faux... oui, c'était vraiment bien de se projeter vers l'inconnu. La mémoire des murs, l'ombre d'écrivains torturés, des sujets forts et obsédants, encore et toujours, qui viennent eux aussi imprégner ce roman. Ma foi, cette lecture a filé en toute subtilité... Le format audio est divin : texte lu par
  Tatiana elle-même ! Quel chic.
• 
  Chrissie

  An author who goes by her pseudonym, Clarissa Katsef, has left her husband after a shocking discovery and taken up residence in a newly built, modern apartment building catering specifically to artists. At first, installed on the upper floor with a wonderful view of Paris, Clarissa thrills in her new freedom and independence. But as she slowly comes to terms with how every move of hers is being surveilled by the cameras installed throughout her apartment and how her health is being monitored through daily check-ins and vitamins/supplements administered by the apartment's artificial intelligence system, which she has dubbed Mrs. Dalloway (the residents are allowed to choose their own AI's names), Clarissa finds herself unable to write, unable to sleep, and unable to figure out whom to trust.
  
  As the story develops through the first 70%, it reads almost like a thriller...a literary(ish) novel of suspense, if you will, but whatever. Despite these pulls from the plot about the nefarious nature of the apartment, I never felt fully invested in Flowers of Darkness or Clarissa, namely because I couldn't decide how she was written. And I was very aware the entire time that she was a written character. What de Rosnay falls into is a lot of telling and not enough showing, particularly when she wants to express how Clarissa has come to a decision. These are simply done and relayed to the reader as though it were an item to be ticked off a grocery list. Check. Decision made. Easy peasy.
  
  But alternatively, de Rosnay writes rather beautifully when relating Clarissa's passion around what she writes about and her two subjects on whom she has focused in the past,
  Virginia Woolf and
  Romain Gary. In particular, when Clarissa is speaking about the way she relates the houses in which these writers lived and its inhabitants. That is what connected her to writing and inspired her to begin writing in the first place — drawing a connection between houses and the people who occupy them.
  
  Also, Clarissa is a true bilingual — having been raised speaking both French and English. She is experimenting with writing her newest novel in both languages — switching between them as she needs to for the right phrasing and as the mood strikes her. She discovers over some length of the novel, the other inhabitants of the apartment complex are also true bilinguals.
  
  So thinking all this was leading directly into how Clarissa's house theory — this very deep emotional resonance she recognizes in homes — and how the bilingual application of thought could apply to this ultra-modern, never-before-lived-in apartment that was constantly watching her and collecting information on her and her neighbors, I pushed through some of the blander sections. I also pushed past the name of the person who seemed to be heading up the C.A.S.A. residency, Dr. Dewinter.
  
  Now, de Rosnay is very clear on Clarissa's pseudonym and on Clarissa's choice for her apartment's AI, so I never had to really deal with those being obvious. But the text does mention that Clarissa briefly considered naming the AI Mrs. Danvers, which is the name of the obsessive maid in
  Rebecca, but Clarissa deems that to be a less than favorable choice (obviously) and chooses Mrs. Dalloway instead. So why does de Rosnay choose to drop the name Dewinter so heavily with no other acknowledgement at how similar and almost identical that name is to the husband's name in
  Rebecca — Max de Winter...de Winter? There was never a time when her name wasn't mentioned that I didn't roll my eyes — Dr. Dewinter.
  
  However, once that 70% mark is passed...the novel takes a sharp turn into Absurdville. I have no idea how or why this novel ended the way it did, or included the reveals it did — but it felt so wholly like another book had been pasted to the end that I would've honestly questioned this if the character names hadn't been easy to spot and I had a print copy in hand rather than an electronic one. Not only that, but the build up that the first two-thirds gives amounts to almost nothing. I am so angry at and baffled by this book and its last act. I felt the only interesting and thoughtful parts were completely abandoned and left utterly unresolved.
  
  I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book, nor the content of my review.
• 
  Kristen

  This is a really great book. It's what I hoped Mexican Gothic would be. It combines futuristic AI with a very human story, & includes a creepy condo that's "watching & listening" to the protagonist. It reads like a very modern Gothic novel.
• 
  Carrie

  Review coming soon.
  
• 
  Jessica Haider

  My book club (and I think every other book club) read
  Sarah's Key back around 2006 when it first came out. That is the only book that I've read by Tatiana de Rosnay, so in my mind I had her in the WWII Historical Fiction author category. Well, color me surprised when this latest release from de Rosnay is NOT historical fiction but is instead near future fiction. The book is still set in Paris, like Sarah's Key, but has a completely different vibe.
  
  Clarissa Katsef is an author living in Paris in the years following a series of terrorist attacks and climate change. The city is a much different place than we know today. Bees are extinct so flowers are very rare, deadly heat waves strike regularly. Clarissa has recently left her 2nd husband after he's betrayed her. She winds up living in a new ultra modern artist's residence where all of the apartments are occupied by writers, painters and the like. Each unit is wired with a Virtual Personal Assistant (think Alexa or Siri) and the residents must undergo regular health evaluations run by the mirror in their bathrooms. Clarissa starts becoming paranoid about her living situation and ropes in her teenaged granddaughter to help her investigate.
  
  So, this ended up being way more suspenseful than I would've thought initially. But, I really enjoyed the ride! There were themes of betrayal, grief and moving on. There was also a lot about "sense of place", which was actually on of the main focuses of Clarissa's writing. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that the Siri, GoogleHome, and Alexa are going to take over the world. ;)
  
  Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
• 
  Jennifer

  Flowers of Darkness is my first book by this author.
  
  The genre is very unclear. It has some science fiction aspects. It has some suspense aspects. The publisher has it listed as a combination of Women's Fiction and general fiction.
  
  I did not read the blurb before reading this book. And because of this I was completely confused as to the time period. The story takes place in Paris in the future. But we are never given an exact date. At first I thought that the story was taking place in the present. But then things had happened that had not happened in the real world. So I was a bit confused.
  
  The narrator is 70 something author Clarissa Katsef (3rd person POV).
  
  There were definitely things that I liked. I loved Clarissa's granddaughter Andy. Every scene with her in it was amazing. Their relationship was so fun. And I really enjoyed the character.
  
  There were parts at the end of many chapters called "the notebook". This was Clarissa trying to figure out what was up with her husband (this already happened). I really enjoyed this part of the story.
  
  The apartment that Clarissa lived in was pretty interesting and futuristic. Clarissa was a writer. And I enjoyed that aspect of her story. And I also enjoyed the neighbors that she interacted with. I was also very fascinated by Mrs. Dalloway (the apartment's virtual assistant). And the idea of being watched was intriguing.
  
  There were a few things that I didn't like as much. I wish that the time period and genre were more fully established. And I also wish that the last part of the book had made more sense. I wanted things spelled out. I wanted closure. I wanted to have a more succinct ending. Overall, the book was definitely much different than I was expecting.
  
  
  Thanks to St. Martin's Press and netgalley for allowing me to read this book.
• 
  Elsa Bakker

  De boeken van Tatiana de Rosnay trekken altijd mijn aandacht. In het verleden heb ik eerder verschillende titels van haar gelezen en ik ben altijd positief over haar verhalen en verwondert over haar mooie schrijfstijl. Via onze boekenblog ‘Mustreads or Not’ kreeg ik deze keer de kans om haar nieuwste boek, ‘Bloemen van de duisternis’, te lezen en te recenseren.
  
  De cover van dit boek vind ik persoonlijk erg mooi. Het witte vrouwelijke silhouet gespiegeld, omringd door kleurrijke stralen die uitwaaieren als bloembladen. De kleuren bestaan uit onder andere zacht roze, blauw, rood, oranje op een donkere achtergrond. In het hart van de bloem een donker gat waaruit in lichtblauw de titel naar voren komt. De overige tekst, zoals de auteursnaam, in wit complementeert en maakt het geheel. De boekrug en achterzijde hebben een zachte blauwtint als achtergrond waarop de tekst in wit, licht oranje en zwart goed te lezen is. Door het kleurgebruik passen beide zijdes ook weer bij de frontcover.
  
  “Boeken lieten je nooit in de steek. Ze waren er altijd voor je.”
  
  Vanaf de eerste regels die ik las in dit boek merkte ik wederom dat de schrijfstijl van Tatiana de Rosnay prettig leest. Geen extreem lange, moeilijke zinnen of alinea’s maar vlotte, soepel verlopende zinnen die gemakkelijk voortkabbelen in mijn lezersbrein. Ondersteund door de hoofdstukken opdeling en overige opmaak van de tekst. Ik ervaar een fijn leesritme tijdens het lezen van dit boek. Toegankelijke bewoording voor een serieus verhaal. Hierdoor lees ik het boek snel, maar wel bedachtzaam, uit.
  
  “Een ander beeld, dat van een nijvere bij die twee verschillende bijenkorven met zijn waardevolle stuifmeel voedt, vond Clarissa ook mooi.”
  
  Het is een ander soort verhaal dan ik eerder van deze schrijfster gelezen heb door de futuristische kant. Het geheel voelt realistisch ook al speelt het zich af in een verdere toekomst doordat er hedendaagse politieke problematiek aangehaald wordt. Dit zorgt er bij mij voor dat soms de rillingen over mijn rug lopen als ik laat doordringen waar het verhaal allemaal daadwerkelijk overgaat. Hierdoor is het niet alleen een mooi, intrigerend fictief verhaal maar bevat het ook een duidelijk aanwezige spanningsboog van begin tot eind en een stuk besef over hoe de wereld er nu aan toe is. Ik blijf geboeid doorlezen omdat ik wil weten hoe het verder gaat met de hoofdpersoon Clarissa en haar persoonlijke ontdekkingstocht ontvouwt.
  
  “Waar bestaat ons leven uit, Clarissa? Uit een mozaïek van liefde, verlangens, berouw, voorbijgaande momenten, en de sporen die deze wereld achterlaat op onze gevoelens, ons intieme leven, onze dromen.”
  
  De personages voelen voor mij echt, ik leef met Clarissa mee door wat zij meemaakt en moet doorstaan in het boek. Zowel heden als verleden komen aanbod en haar trauma verwerking vind ik prachtig om te volgen. Tatiana heeft haar weergegeven als een vrouw die ik zou kunnen kennen of zelf zou kunnen zijn in de toekomst. Juist dit inlevingsgedeelte maakt het nog ietwat spannender en enigszins griezelig tijdens het lezen. Ook de familieleden die aanbod komen, zoals de kleindochter, zijn zo tastbaar als personen die in de nabije toekomst je naasten kunnen zijn. En dan Clarissa’s kat, tja wat kan ik daar als enorme kattenliefhebber over zeggen, heerlijk om in zo’n boek, wat toch wel een ietwat beangstigende toekomst neerzet, alsnog zo’n lieflijk karakteristiek huisdier tegen te komen.
  
  Door het hoge realiteitsgehalte, technologie die we al kennen in een basic vorm en de sterke beschrijving van de contreien waarin zich alles afspeelt kan ik alles gemakkelijk voor me zien. Ook dit spreekt weer voor de verbeeldingskracht en schrijfstijl van de schrijfster als je het mij vraagt.
  
  “Een donderbui naderde boven de zee, voorafgegaan door enorme zwarte schaduwen die over het zilverkleurige water werden geworpen, als lange, vervaarlijke vingers die naar hen toe gleden, als die bloemen van duisternis die in haar hoofd zaten.”
  
  Dit is weer een verhaal wat mij lang bij zal blijven, ik niet snel zal vergeten en wat ik van harte aanraad bij mij mede leesliefhebbers. Wat mij nog meer doet beseffen dat ik al de boeken van Tatiana wil lezen. Juist door de diversiteit in haar verhalen zullen de boeken van de Rosnay mij nooit vervelen.
  
  Lieve leesgroet, Elsa.
  
• 
  Erin Clemence

  Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Expected publication date: February 23, 2021
  
  After her husband’s infidelity drove Clarissa out of the family home, she finds herself being accepted into CASA, an exclusive community of artists. Initially overwhelmed by her luck, Clarissa is excited to begin writing again, and is finally feeling positive about starting over. However, after just a few days, Clarissa starts to feel that something is off about CASA. Her cat hisses and growls at nothing, and like Clarissa herself, struggles with bouts of sleeplessness. Clarissa is exhausted all the time, feeling older and more sluggish by the day. Determined to find out the secret of CASA, Clarissa begins to ask questions- but even her own daughter begins to think she’s simply “losing it” and suffering from a “depressive episode” after the dissolution of her marriage. Is Clarissa having a mental breakdown, as her daughter suggests, or is there something more sinister behind CASA?
  
  Tatiana DeRosnay’s beautiful “Flowers of Darkness” is creative, powerful and futuristic. Set sometime in the near future, society is completely tech-driven, all of their demands are met by highly-functioning robots, and books and culture have become a thing of the past. Clarissa’s CASA residence is designed and catered specifically to her needs and wants, and is completely interactive. But, like all seemingly good things, there is a brutal dark side.
  
  Clarissa is spunky, eccentric and intelligent, and she is a character you root for right from the page one. Starting over in a funky artist commune in Paris is perfectly appropriate for Clarissa, and her daughter, Jordan and granddaughter, Andy, are also completely adorable and likable. In fact, there isn’t an unlikable character in the bunch (with the exception of the minds behind CASA, and perhaps Clarissa’s ex Francois, although he is not completely detestable) .
  
  Obviously, DeRosnay’s writing is poetic and beautiful, highlighting Clarissa’s love of literature and languages alongside the science-fiction aspects of the novel. I wanted to know more about CASA, the creation and the development, its purpose, and its future. I did not get enough of the tech-savvy community and its developers, and I wish DeRosnay had focused on this more than Clarissa’s past as a budding writer.
  
  That being said, this novel is enjoyable, creative, beautifully written and charming. Like “
  Sarah's Key” and "
  The Rain Watcher”, DeRosnay does not disappoint and provides pages of eloquent, pretty words with a meaningful plot.
  
• 
  Carrie

  I am forever grateful to #netgalley and #saintmartinspress for the ability to read and review this novel before it publishes on February 23, 2021. I’m ready to just pretend it’s 2021 already. Is that okay with y’all?
  
  …
  I’ve been a fan of Tatiana de Rosnay since Sarah’s Key, so when I spotted this new release, I knew I had to read it.
  The themes of this new novel are ones we can all relate to (see description below), but the author so subtly takes you there that the act of reading seems like hypnosis (protagonist Clarissa happens to be a fan).
  
  Reading this was like gliding on a kayak with your best girlfriend for several hours on a perfectly clear, sunny day, while leisurely eating a peach, and letting your guard down only to be pleasantly surprised by some rapids that aren’t terrifying — just entertaining and interesting — and then turning to your friend and saying, “well now! That wasn’t what I was expecting! Let’s do it again.”
  
  
  Please check out this book when it is available and also get your hands on her backlist!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Description
  New York Times bestselling author Tatiana de Rosnay's Flowers of Darkness explores how artificial intelligence tampers with love, sex, and the basis of artistic creation in a new future Paris.
  
  CASA is a brand new artist residency in an ultra-modern apartment, with a view of all of Paris. A dream for any novelist in search of tranquility. But is this residency a dream or a nightmare? Since moving in, Clarissa Katsef has had ominous discomfort, the feeling of being watched. Who is behind CASA? Is Clarissa right to be wary or does she too easily give in to paranoia, falling victim to an overly fertile imagination? Meanwhile, Clarissa is still haunted by the betrayal that led her to divorce.
  
  Staying true to her favorite themes—the imprint of the place, the weight of secrets—de Rosnay weaves an intrigue of thrilling suspense to explore the threats hanging over a precious asset: our privacy.
  
  
  
  
  #books #bookstagram #bookblog #bookworm #bookblogger #bookstafeatures #literaryfiction #reading #bookish #bookworm #booknerd #booklover #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #goodreads #currentlyreading #fortheloveofbooks #readersofinstagram #bookstack #booksonbooks #coffeeandbooks ⁣⁣
  ⁣⁣
• 
  Claire Ehrenfeld

  This book was very disappointing to me. It describes a time in the not too distant future when terrorism and climate change has significantly changed the world, but has not completely obliterated the world as we know it. The main character is a author whose books are based on the idea that houses retain the essence of the people who lived in them. She is particularly focused on Virginia Woolf and Gary Romain and references abound throughout the book about them. She has named the Alexa-like electronic device that runs her apartment (in this weird building she lives in) Mrs. Dalloway, and has taken the name Clarissa for herself.
  
  Clarissa has left her husband of many years. You will have to read for yourself to find out why, as I don't wish to put in any spoilers. She moves to this weird complex where they monitor everything the residents do. After a short while she discovers that she does not feel comfortable there, is unable to sleep well, having uncomfortable dreams.
  
  I found all of this quite interesting and was enjoying it, but it bogged down after awhile and although I did finish it I was disappointed. It was almost as though there were too many themes to keep track of and I didn't feel she brought them together very well at the end.
  
  The only thing I got out of it was a renewed interest in Virginia Woolf. It makes me want to tackle Mrs. Dalloway again.
• 
  Heidi

  Hmmmmm... I finished reading this book yesterday (I read it in one sitting) but I wanted to wait 24 hours before leaving a review as I’m not sure how I feel about it. It wasn’t what I was expecting - the Artificial Intelligence/robots/cameras etc jarred with the narrative of the bilingual, elderly protagonist (I’m not sure if this was intentional?!)
  
  I did however, love the relationships between mother, daughter and granddaughter. I also didn’t guess the twist about the protagonist’s husband’s infidelity!
  
  Overall, some beautiful prose, some lovely relationships but something just didn’t gel for me.
• 
  FZ

  Un roman profond quand on s'y immiscie . ça donne à reflexion. il traite deux thèmes différents : le deuil , ses conséquences et l'impact de l'intelligence artificielle sur l'humanité.