Diane L

What was disappointing to me was the predictability of this plot.

Trudy is a highly educated young woman at the turn of the century who begins to become self aware that the planned course of her life (finish college, then scrap that and get married to a nice but stolid, unimaginative young man) is more constrictive than she would like. Enter Oskar, a passionate, brilliant romantic who has prescient ideas about the future. Does any of this sound familiar?

Of course Trudy ditches the seemingly looming boredom of her life and latches her fate with Oskar. He has obtained a job as a lighthouse keeper off the remote coast of California. This position is attractive to Oskar because he will have plenty of quiet time to work out his latest great idea. Although it is because of Oskar they make this leap into the unknown, it is Trudy who falls in love with the island.

Initially Trudy thinks that she, her husband and another family are the only occupants on the island. Then mysterious homemade gifts begin to appear for Trudy. The children have been telling her stories about a "mermaid" that Trudy has initially put down as over-imaginative minds. But, could there be some truth to their tales? Enter The Island of the Blue Dolphin.

These two stories crash together in a predictable climax. Although this story is nicely written, it's not worth more than a casual read.

A Hundred Flowers is a simple yet elegant novel set in China during the months of July through November of 1958. The book begins with the young boy Tao and his mishaps from climbing a tree. The author uses the framework of an unfolding flower to advance the story--Tao first speaks, then his mother, grandfather, onward to close friends, to strangers who intersect the growing story. Having different people speak about the developing stories is very engaging.

My problem with the book is that I feel the author has established a wonderful "tree" structure for the book but has failed to fully develop the "flowers". Only Tao and his grandfather Wei are given below the surface character development. Everyone else is a bare "branch".

The novel does resolve the major question of the story, what happened to Tao's father, but I felt the story left many questions about the characters (including Tao!) unanswered. It was like the author decided the tree was sketched and that was all she had to do; we would enjoy speculating on the rest.

If you like a light read and are comfortable with open endings, you will enjoy this book. If you are like me and don't like loose endings, I'd advise you to look elsewhere.

This book is a marvelous glimpse into: 1. a true shape shifter who is a sociopath 2. just how gullible and shallow people can be. The book leaves you with the question did he or didn't he commit murder. You'll have fun tossing this question in your head.