A Single Rose (2020) by Muriel Barbery #NovNov24

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader):

It is said that in ancient China, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a prince who, every year, would have a field of a thousand peonies planted, and during the first days of summer their petals would ripple in the breeze. For six days he would sit on the floor of the wooden pavilion where he habitually went to admire the moon, drinking a cup of clear tea from time to time, and he would observe the flowers he called his girls. At dawn and at sunset, he would pace up and down the field.

🌹 From the first paragraph one might deduce that this novella is set in China, or the characters are Chinese. It is not. A Single Rose is a story set in Japan, but the main character is a French girl. So, how that Chinese opening fits in? Apparently, every chapter begins with a Chinese folklore, which is related to what the chapter is about. Interesting, no? Considering that this novella is written by a French author, makes it even special.

🌹 Rose is a forty something French botanist who comes to Kyoto for the will reading of her deceased Japanese father, whom she has never met. The father who left her mother years ago, and apparently never contacted nor acknowledged his daughter. This has wounded Rose and she grew up to be a bitter woman. Her intention of travelling for the first time to Japan is just to know what her father left her, and then go straightly home. But what awaits her in Kyoto is beyond her imagination, and that's the backbone of this novella.

🌹 Apparently, her father had tasked his trusted assistant Paul, also a French man, to guide Rose through some journeys for days before the will reading. Everyday Paul takes Rose from temples, Zen gardens, galleries, rivers, to tea houses and restaurants. And during those journeys Rose is getting to know more of her father, why he had left her, and most importantly, that he truly loved her and she's always on his thoughts. Little by little these excursions soften her heart, and she begins to embrace the Japanese culture, and with that, her own identity and root.

🌹 This was pretty unexpected read for me. I thought this was only a story about a daughter getting to know her father after his death, a reconnecting to her past. In a way, it is that, but there's more to it. It is a life-changing journey for Rose; she had been lost before, her life was stalled. But now that she reconnects with her past, Rose finds herself, what or who she truly is. A brighter future awaits her, a happier and more wholesome existence.

🌹 What I love most of this novella is Barbery's writing. I often forgot that it's written by a French author. It reads like a Japanese book; it feels like one. Like most Japanese literature, A Single Rose is tender, Zen, comforting, inspiring; and Barbery wrote it so beautifully it touched my heart and stirred something deep in me. The element of nature is pretty strong too. The flowers (azalea, peony, roses, and many more) seem to be living characters. So, too, the weather. These elements are not there as a background, but they have huge influence in reshaping Rose.

Friday 56 Quote (hosted by Heads Full of Books):

In the silence broken only by sips of beer, somewhere in a tenuous, immense place, as invisible as the sky, something changed position. She could sense rain coming, a smell of thirsty soil, grass in the wind. There was yet another shift, a scent of undergrowth and moss. She began to weep, huge sobs, tears of sparkling pearls. She could feel them forming, flowing, and bursting into the world, adorned with light.

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Novellas in November 2024 #NovNov24

hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books & Rebecca @ Bookish Beck