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Blue Flowers
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
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Blue Flowers
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Summary
"Ravishing...as if Saavedra were a modern-day Borges." (Luis Alberto Urrea, O: The Oprah Magazine)
A novel of dark obsession, missed connections, and violent love.
Marcos has just been through a divorce and moved into a new apartment. He feels alienated from his ex-wife, from his daughter, from society; everything feels flat and fake to him. He begins to receive letters at his new address from an anonymous troubled woman who signs off as "A." and who clearly believes she is writing to the former tenant, her ex-lover, in the aftermath of a violent heartbreak. Marcos falls under the spell of the manic, hypnotic missives, and for the first time in years, something moves him.
Blue Flowers alternates between the letters detailing the dissolution of A.'s relationship, and Marcos' growing fixation with this damaged person. The letters become a kind of exorcism as both A.'s epistolary affair and Marcos' personal life reach a crisis point. Possessed by A., he is driven to discover her true identity. Blue Flowers is a dark portrait of desire, undermining accepted truths about love and sex, violence and fear, men and women.
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Critic reviews
"Ravishing...as if Saavedra were a modern-day Borges. Translated brilliantly from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn, Blue Flowers plays out in a musical dance between A’s letters and the slow immolation of Marcos’s world as he grows addicted to them. It’s a mystery, yes. It might be a ghost story. It is sexy, and often unsettling. By the end, you could be forgiven for chewing your fingernails, wondering whether it’s all a figment of Marcos’s imagination. Or not." (Luis Alberto Urrea, O: The Oprah Magazine)
"Saavedra’s writing, particularly in the raw and vulnerable epistles, feels relentless and evocative in Hahn’s translation and creates intensity inside this tale shaped by characters strongly preoccupied with words and meaning. Thematically layered and psychologically demanding, this is a book for readers willing to explore uneasy relationship dynamics." (Booklist)
"Captivating... In chapters alternating between letters and Marcos’s reactions, Saavedra steadily unveils the darkness permeating the lives of her protagonists, and in doing so creates a literary psychological thriller that questions what is real and what is imagined. This tale of desire and yearning is impossible to put down." (Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about Blue Flowers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Roza-Maria MAVROMATI
- 20-05-20
Almost like Marmite
I have mixed feelings about this book. I was keen to pick it up every day as the story kept me invested and interested. The words were flowing, the pace was very easy to follow. The ending left me thinking the journey was definitely more interesting than the destination. Female narrator's voice was really ear piercing at times, occasionally going to high pitches that I thought were not necessary. I would have appreciated listening to the words with a much calmer reading style.
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