He estado unos dos meses leyendo este libro y aunque pareciera que no iba a acabarlo nunca, por fin he podido cerrarlo. Y digo por fin, por ciertas razones que paso a explicar a continuación.Elegí este libro por mi gusto por los libros sobre viajes a otros países, aunque la estética de romance suela echarme para atrás en la mayoría de ocasiones, pero pensé "bueno, la trama pinta bastante bien, la vida de una artista y sus experiencias (buenas y malas) hasta llegar a lo más alto, y encima, de hace décadas atrás", y no lo dudé a la hora de leérmelo en mi ebook.Y he aprendido algo. Que hacerse con demasiadas expectativas con un libro sólo con su sinopsis puede traer malísimas consecuencias. Porque eso es lo que me ha pasado con este libro. Apenas empecé a leerlo lo puse por las nubes porque a)el estilo de la autora está bastante bien y b)los inicios de Simone en su vida bohemia son más que realistas (uno empieza siempre desde más abajo en todos los trabajos habidos y por haber), pero a medida que la historia avanza, empezó a haber pegas, que se fueron multiplicando a medida que pasaba las páginas.Entiendo el tema de la evolución de los personajes, pero lo que no me cabe en la cabeza es la transición de una campesina sin nada especial a un ser perfecto que tiene la vida resuelta gracias a un cúmulo de casualidades que la ponen en un escenario sin comérselo ni bebérselo. Y que a partir de ahí, todo sean éxitos, uno tras otro. Un camino de rosas sin giros de trama, sin dificultades (quitando la tragedia con el novio, que me pareció metido con calzador, personalmente). Que no digo que todo sea drama y tragedia para los personajes, pero sí pido un poco de sentido común a la hora de contar una historia. Que en este caso no he podido encontrar.En conclusión, que no me ha gustado en general lo que ha contado. No me ha transmitido nada en especial, y eso que el libro es lo bastante largo como para haber tenido oportunidades y de sobra... pero no.
Overly long epic about Simone, a teenager from Provence who is sent away from her family's lavender farm by her miserable uncle to work for an elderly relative in Marseilles and finds her way into a music hall in 1920s France. She decides she wants to be a singer and the first 300 pages describes in tedious detail every step of her meteoric rise. As with White Gardenia, the young heroine is difficult to like because of her obnoxious vanity, and I now suspect this is deliberate and we are supposed to make allowances for her youth, but it meant the first half really dragged for me - on the good side it meant I got a lot of other stuff done this week. Mid book, we leap forward to WW2 and Simone's work for the French resistance, which was much more interesting. Considering I don't like war books, probably because of all the nastiness that went on that was probably real, I've read a few recently, and at least feel I've learned a bit about the history of the time. The author has lots of actual historical characters blended into her fiction and I found I was using Wikipedia to look people up when I wasn't sure if they were real or not. The ending was sad, although I'm always more upset when an animal dies in a book than a human, which is a bit disturbing. Overall not bad if you like this sort of thing.
What do You think about Wild Lavender (2006)?
This story covers the life of Simone Fleurier from just after WW1 when she is 14 to the end of WWII. We meet her family, friends and work comrades and the many people who shape her life.Simone’s father died when she was 14 and she was sent from her home on a Provençal lavender farm by her Uncle to work in Marseilles at the house of her Great Aunt. Her life there is hard and impoverished, but Simone discovers the music hall and dreams that one day she would be a famous entertainer.She becomes that famous entertainer with the help of Andre Blanchard, who after 3 years as her manager asks her to marry him and she agrees, but his father says they must wait until Andre turns 30 before they can marry. With Andre she visits, London, Berlin, New York & South America where she dazzles them all. There is unhappiness waiting for her when Andre turns 30 though.When war threatens, Simone makes a decision that will lead to great danger - yet ultimately prove that love, just like wild lavender, can grow in the least likely of places...Belinda Alexander weaves her story amongst the real event and people of France so that I almost believed Simone was a real person rather than a fictional character. A beautiful story.
—Bronwyn Rykiert
Three and a half starsThis story starts on a lavender farm in France. But Simone has no inclination or aptitude for farm work. At fourteen her life changes when her father dies and she is sent to work at her aunt’s boarding house in Marseilles. Life is hard and drab until she discovers the music hall. Simone also discovers the great gift she has – singing and entertaining people.Over the years she falls in love and pursues her singing career. But then the darkness of war comes and Simone is forced to make some hard choices. I really liked the character of Simone. She is plucky and loyal even when sometimes others don’t deserve her loyalty. There is a lot of detail about life in Paris. It shows a lot about the attitudes of the times, which were in many ways very self centred and pleasure loving. It also shows life in the music scene before it transfers to Germany and America. This is not a fast moving plot much of the time. The story is filled with details, so much so that at times it felt a bit weighed down by them. I especially found the time in Germany held my interest less and actually picked up another book and read it before coming back to this novel. But the pace certainly picks up as the story goes along. Towards the end I was turning pages as fast as I could. The book has romance and danger as well as being the story of a woman committed to standing by what she believes in. Simone is a great character.On the whole an enjoyable read that shows a lot about the attitudes and reactions of various people in society at the times.Worth reading.
—Dale Harcombe
