"In Memoriam: White GardenI said she was a moth, fluttered spirit, delicate;/ That bumped against the lamp of life. No mention made/ Of how they tortured her, prey to nameless fears,/ With such exact descriptions of the night;/ Its quality, deception, unnumbered shades of grey;/ Crept in to suffocate the plangent souls she loved./ The glow of blanched flowers and pale birds/ Her soul security for sleep./ O Virginia, whose cobweb fingers trailed/ Among our thorns, jabbering in tongues and fractured/ Semaphore, your madness is a comfort to us now./ What sense you made of bowler hats and bombing runs,/ The water meadows drown; it will not stand for long/ Against the ministry of lies, the sopoforic song we utter in our darkened rooms, mere lullabies/ Before final sleep.// I told you not to meddle. Not to worry you poor head./ I should have held you up as sane/ Before the men, instead./ Fatuity, indifference; a bitter soul-deep blight-/ A weariness with war and bombs/ And blackout shades pulled tight./ And when I paid attention-/You had slipped off, in the night.// White clematis, white lavender, anemone and rose/ The lists go on and on, my dear, remorse that barely shows./ I've planted you a garden here, against the pitchy black;/ Pure white, my virginal, my owl; pure white,/ Now just - Come back-" Yeah, this book was ok. The entire time I was reading it I kept thinking, "wait, what's happening, again?" And I just found the characters to be static, flat, and bo-ring. Not enough development for me, although the premise was interesting enough...it fell short of my expectations. I'm a big Woolf fan, and studied her a bit in college, so some of Barron's history was interesting...but not that interesting.
What do You think about Le Jardin Blanc (2013)?
I read about 40 pages and lost interest. Meh. Too much contrivance. Not enough actual plot. Oh well.
—Edryan69
I'll wait for the book club read to finish before I do this.
—alevega
This book takes place in England and has a lot of flavor.
—boomer
