Scented Gardens for the Blind [Paperback]

Janet Frame (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

Vera is the mother who has willed herself sightless, Erlene, her daughter, has ceased to speak, and Edward, the husband and father, has taken refuge in a distant land. Beyond this is a mind that has burst the confines of everyday individual consciousness and invented its own tormented reality.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

New Zealand author Janet Frame a gift for psychological analogy. In Scented Gardens for the Blind, Erlene lives silently inside her mind, communicating only with imaginary Uncle Black Beetle. Her parents believe that she can and must be cured of her muteness, and that once she is cured, she will make a statement crucial to humankind. The novel twists in the last chapter to reveal another surprising world where Vera struggles to make the first statement, and only through the fracturing of silence by her new language can she escape her prison. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1989, Janet Frame has long been admired for her startlingly original prose and formidable imagination. A native of New Zealand, she is the author of eleven novels, four collections of stories, a volume of poetry, a children's book, and her heartfelt and courageous autobiography--all published by George Braziller. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Publishing+group Inc; paperback / softback edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0704338998
• ISBN-13: 978-0704338999
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,220,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, December 21, 2000

By 

mungo181 (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scented Gardens for the Blind (Paperback)

I know, i'm a loser. I wasn't aware of Janet Frame until I saw "Angel at My Table." Better late... The strange and estranged life of the Glace family, all sensory-deprived-- father Edward has left wife and daughter and now spends his time studying the geneology of another family, daughter Erlene has gone mute, and wife Vera has gone blind. Each character lives in a lush world of their own making, never quite understanding what the others want of them. Frame's writing is right on target--she never wastes a word.

3 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars very drab., July 28, 2004

By 

mailbox head (Pacfica, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scented Gardens for the Blind (Paperback)

The first thing that disappointed me about this book was that fact that the blurb on the back gives away what seems to be the only thing that would even come close to a plot twist. That has nothing to do with the acutal writing itself, but it was rather a spoiler.

Then I started to actually read the book, which was worse. Frame uses 40-word setences when being 'descriptive'. She ends up to near rambling, and using almost hackneyed descriptions of what the characters do.

Her whole idea is very intriguing, but she goes nowhere with it. The end of the book is in the blurb, and even if it was not, it would still be a very boring read. No empathy or connection was made with any of the charachters, false or not. They were stiff and dull.