All Flowers Die [Paperback]

Andrew K. Stone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

"Why should there be just one answer...?" asks Phiz Tarleton, the hero of "All Flowers Die." Phiz, also known as "The Optiontunist" due to his passionately inquisitive nature, is in search of all life's options. But when his eager questioning leads to his teacher's fatal heart attack, he blames himself for cutting short the options of another. Greatly affected by this tragedy, Phiz carefully manipulates his destiny to preach the importance of grasping all that life has to offer. As the leader of the successful rock band, Brian's Sandbox, Phiz attempts to spread his message through his music. But when circumstances beyond his control thwart his plans, Phiz's mission takes a devastating turn, resulting in his most poignant gift and ultimate sacrifice.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"All Flowers Die conjures specters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby" -- Anchorage Daily News

"Stone is a gifted, inspiring author." -- Fresh! Literary Magazine

"The character development is outstanding, the plotline enticing, and the story is delightfully thought provoking" -- A Writer's Choice

"The definitive Boston rock 'n' roll novel." -- "The Buddah" -- 106.1 FM Cambridge

"The literary equivalent of turning the amps up to eleven" -- The New Haven Advocate

"The prose is rich with detail" -- The Warwick Beacon

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: So There Books; First Edition edition (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967907306
• ISBN-13: 978-0967907307
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,432,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four Thumbs Up for ALL FLOWERS DIE, February 20, 2000

By 

Rod Haynes - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Flowers Die (Paperback)

Andy Stone has a winner in ALL FLOWERS DIE, a thoughtful, intelligent, and enticing story about friendship, sorrow, and, ultimately, loss.

For those readers who've lived in southern New England you will easily recognize the setting and feel of the tale. And for others who have never lived in Boston or Providence but might have wanted to, you will gain a decent sense of the region through Andy Stone's writing.

The settings he paints by his pen are rich and authentic.

ALL FLOWERS DIE is a real page-turner, in the sense it is hard to put it down once you start to read it. The dialogue of the main characters is crisp and full of humor and irony. Complex character development is thoughtfully accomplished.

You WILL come to better understand yourself by reading this book, as you empathize with the plights of the hero Phiz and his best friend. There is a slight hint of rawness in the author's writing, but not to the detriment of the plot development. The book really works.

For those searching for a broad, sweeping fiction of immense proportions and numerous complex characters over a broad landscape, this is not the book you want to read.

ALL FLOWERS DIE is a neat, tight slice of life that smacks of truth and reality, carefully and lovingly conveyed. You really come to understand and care for the characters.

No one paid me a dime or asked me to write anything about ALL FLOWERS DIE. I will simply conclude that it is obvious Andy Stone has put some of his soul into writing this story.

Although I've never personally met Andy Stone I feel that I have met him by reading this book.

I recommend this book highly.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The World of the "Optiontunist", June 24, 2002

By 

Humanoid5 (Richmond, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Flowers Die (Paperback)

All Flowers Die

This first novel by Andrew K. Stone is a quick and captivating page-turner that melts away under your fingers. Stone's prior work in television scripting adds richly to a real and vivid sense of dialogue between clearly differentiated characters, and his years in the music scene in Boston bring those portions of the book to life.

The theme is of friendship, coming of age, and vision as told through the eyes of Kevin as he ventures through the years with his fascinating friend Dale Tarleton (Dale later adopts the name Phiz.) We follow the boys from boisterous childhood through the college years. Phiz is an idealist who sees the world a bit differently from everyone around him, a questioner and a thinker who discovers his life mission early on, although Kevin and the reader see it slowly unfold and culminate in the book's ending. The foreshadowing is masterfully done, reminiscent of A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving.

A game on a tire swing which the boys christen "reach for the stars," the untimely death of a stuttering grammar school teacher in front of the class following one of Dale's more outlandish questions, the cloudy eyes first manifested in Dale's father and later in Dale all hint at the book's true story. They are wonderful in retrospect, as we follow hints and emotions to the conclusion. I was left questioning whether the cloudy eyes image meant literally a life view of "clouds in the eyes" similar to rose colored glasses, or whether the cloudy of eye saw the world too clearly, were not quite of this world. It is a powerful question to be left with, and generates wonderful discussion.

One of the most pleasant surprises is how easily the reader is pulled into personal memories, again due to simple direct descriptions that hit home. Some examples of zoning in with ease to a more or less universal memory:

"For some reason--even though we never used then--adolescent boys in the 1970s had to carry black combs."

"Our classroom had the antiseptic smell and freshly painted walls on the first day. The virginal chalkboard faced us blankly while its wooden ledge unsuccessfully hid the unused sticks of chalk--powdery bullets of education."

"I was a skinny kid who wasn't the least bit athletic; instead, I worked on the yearbook staff. The coolest thing about me was my defiant refusal to wear a Members Only jacket."

"Streaks of gray ran like indiscriminate cracks through her mahogany hair."

"I stared at her; spiders of anticipated fear crawled behind my eyes, taunting them into blinking."

The examples are countless, but will hopefully begin to give an idea of Stone's unique descriptive style. The best testament may be to click on the first few pages of the book, which can be viewed on line. The first page alone should be more than enough to draw you into the spell that is the "optiontunist" Universe.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have read in ten years., March 6, 2001

By 

Michael G. DeFilippo (Lebanon, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Flowers Die (Paperback)

I just finished reading a wonderful piece of literature called All Flowers Die. This is a book that should be read by high-school students and adults alike, as it proves to us, once and for all, something we have always known: there are no coincidences; everything happens for a reason. It teaches us all to look at life's options in a new perspective.

Andrew K. Stone is a master story-teller who has written a novel in which the beginning, middle, and end all make perfect sense. He has an ability to tie up loose ends as a boats man at sea ties his life-saving knots. If you are tired of novels that leave you wishing you could rewrite the ending, then don't miss a word of All Flowers Die. I promise you won't be disappointed.