Customer Reviews

Rose's Garden

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"Rose's Garden" marks a stunning debut for author Carrie Brown.

When Conrad's wife of many years passes away, he falls into despair. A few years later, the garden Rose kept so carefullyon Paradise Hill shows neglect, also. But one spring, the garden blooms with a remarkable abundance, paving the way for the appearance of an Angel in Rose's Garden.

Conrad strives to share his visitation with the town's folk who knew and loved Rose. In doing so, he discovers a world he never knew in the townsfolk who knew and loved Rose.

Ms. Brown's unusual tale artfully weaves the magical into the ordinary. The end result is a rare, one of a kind, expression of the power of love.

Don't miss this haunting story.

At last, I've finished all of Carrie Brown's novels. I started backwards when I had to review "The Hatbox Baby". Then, I moved backward on my own through "Lamb In Love" and now "Rose's Garden".

I confess I didn't harken to "Rose's Garden" at first. It seemed slower than the other two novels - slower in a way that was more appealing in Ms. Brown's last two offerings. But having read her other works, I felt I could trust her to lead me where I was supposed to be going, and she did.

The story of Conrad's widowhood - how he copes with the loneliness, the pain and his fears of moving on through life without his beloved Rose - is pretty devastating to read. Such are Ms. Brown's writing abilities that I think even if you have not lost a spouse, you can feel the weight of her character's absolute grief without any trouble. At these times, when one instinctively wants to pull back, to grasp that which is lost to the physical world, the best cure often lies in reaching outward, towards the future. Conrad's increasing awareness of the strength and depth of Rose's love, coupled with the renewing power that comes when he takes his own love and flings it into the air like one of his beloved homing pigeons, is remarkable. Like his birds, who return to settle on his outstretched arms, Conrad finds his love winging back towards him in ways he neither expects nor anticipates but which come as no surprise to the reader of "Rose's Garden".

If you remain patient through the first 100 pages, you'll be richly rewarded. As with "Lamb In Love" and "The Hatbox Baby", Ms. Brown's ethereal writing style and her very human characters will haunt you long after you're done reading.

Once in a great while a writer with the talent and eloquence of a Carrie Brown graces us with her work. As a reader, I knew on page one I was in for a special treat. As a writer, I am in awe of the manner in which Brown crafts each phrase, describes each scene, wrenches your heart as you feel the emotions of each character. "Rose's garden" is the story of a older man struggling to deal with the loss of his life partner. It is the simple, beautiful story of a life-long love--and how one chooses to go on once that love is torn away. Brown deals with a most difficult subject while pulling us into the lives of these two people and the other colorful characters in the small town where they live. If you like novels with contrived plots and hip 90's slang, "Rose's Garden" isn't for you. If, however, you long for novels written with love and care, crafted to make you think and feel, then give Carrie Brown a try. You won't be disappointed.

I was mesmerized by the lyrical quality of Carrie Brown's writing. The beauty of the book is not so much in the substance of the story -- though that's good -- but in the way the text lifts you away to a dearer, purer place. The soaring doves and the verdant garden transported me. I kept thinking how wondrous the book would be as a movie, with Paul Neuman as Conrad Morrisey, the widower. It would take great skill, however, to convey visually the mystical and moving quality of this work. I loved it!

To speak of "Rose's Garden" is to describe a masterpiece of writing using only one of our many senses. It is only when you open the novel and begin to turn the pages that you find a delectable assortment of sensations and wondrous happenings.

Conrad Morrissey is an elderly man mourning the loss of his beloved wife, Rose. Feeling dejected and alone, oblivious to a horrible storm as it rages outside, he feels drawn from the shelter of his home into Rose's garden. It is there that he receives a "visitation"...but not from Rose...from an "angel with a rutted Abraham Lincoln face." It was his father-in-law, Lemuel.

Conrad watches in amazement, his eyes fixed on Lemuel as his great wings unfurl. At that moment Conrad knows that this is the end for him and he's glad. He'll soon be reunited with Rose. But Lemuel's only message to Conrad is to "Go back home." Home is the last place Conrad wants to be. It is there that he feels the depth of his despair over the loss of Rose.

During their life together he'd held Rose gently in his hands like a delicate bird in need of his nurturing touch. But one by one as the townsfolk begin to creep into his life, he discovers that Rose existed in more places than his life. Through the effect she had on the townspeople, they begin to nurture Conrad and he learns that although paradise with Rose awaits him, he can live again--Mary Hughes (author of The Last Slow Dance available on Amazon.com)

There is no greater gift than a book found at a bargain price ..., new and lovely, WITH a fabulously, gentle tale of love. No syrupy love this, but a romance of everlasting grace, the story of aged Conrad who so deeply grieves the loss of his Rose, his wife and life's companion, that he would like to die. Then, early on, Conrad sees the Angel Lemuel, and other mystical things begin to happen which transform his death wish into the rest of his LIFE!

This lovely little story reaffirms the belief that life is to be lived, that a great love need not die, that grief is just another step in life's journey. And with the graceful story telling style of a Jan Karon, Carrie Brown's first novel, though only discovered a few week's ago by me, becomes a new treasure in this reader's life. How could someone so young as Carrie Brown imagine the great truths of life? Well she has; and they are waiting in this little book for your opening. There is a beautiful message here as one grieving man finds the wider world just outside his grief in his own community, one his Rose always knew.

I completely loved this novel, which is beautifully written. I don't usually read this type of book, but picked it up on a whim and have reread it twice. The prose is quite moving. Highly recommended.

A touching love story and picture of a man discovering the place he holds in his community. Haunting prose and a vivid sense of place make this novel brilliant.

I thought this was a very spiritual book. It was a gentle, loving story about a man's love affair with his wife and what he learns about her and himself after her death. I smiled and some times cried through the whole book. At the end I felt renewed. I plan to give copies to friends and family.

Carrie Brown is a wonderful and rewarding find. Her touch is both gentle and firm as she investigates the persistence of love after death. She is wise without being didactic, full of immediate feelings without being sentimental. The sense of infinite return, of journeys outward and inward is carefully and lovingly given voice. Brava!