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Five Roses
A sister. A baby. A man who watches from the trees.
Fara and her husband buy a house with a disturbing history that reawakens memories of her own family tragedy. Maddy still lives in the house, once a hippie commune, where her daughter was kidnapped twenty-seven years ago. Rose grew up isolated with her mother in the backwoods north of Montreal. Now in the city, she questions the silence and deception that shaped her upbringing.
Fara, Maddy, and Rose meet in Montreal's historic Pointe St-Charles, a rundown neighbourhood on the cusp of gentrification. Against a backdrop of abandonment, loss, and revitalization, the women must confront troubling secrets in order to rebuild their lives. Zorn deftly interweaves the rich yet fragile lives of three very different people into a story of strength and friendship.
Fara and her husband buy a house with a disturbing history that reawakens memories of her own family tragedy. Maddy still lives in the house, once a hippie commune, where her daughter was kidnapped twenty-seven years ago. Rose grew up isolated with her mother in the backwoods north of Montreal. Now in the city, she questions the silence and deception that shaped her upbringing.
Fara, Maddy, and Rose meet in Montreal's historic Pointe St-Charles, a rundown neighbourhood on the cusp of gentrification. Against a backdrop of abandonment, loss, and revitalization, the women must confront troubling secrets in order to rebuild their lives. Zorn deftly interweaves the rich yet fragile lives of three very different people into a story of strength and friendship.
360 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2016
4 people are currently reading
480 people want to read
About the author
Alice Zorn
6 books18 followersAlice Zorn lives in Montreal, Canada. Her new novel, Colours in Her Hands, welcomes the reader into Mina's curious, sometimes puzzling, sometimes frustrating world.
Her novel, Five Roses, was nominated for the Ontario Library Association's 2017 Evergreen Award and has been translated into French.
She has also published a novel, Arrhythmia, and a book of short fiction, Ruins & Relics, which was a finalist for the 2009 Quebec Writers' Federation First Book Prize.
She will have a new book of short fiction forthcoming in 2026.
Her novel, Five Roses, was nominated for the Ontario Library Association's 2017 Evergreen Award and has been translated into French.
She has also published a novel, Arrhythmia, and a book of short fiction, Ruins & Relics, which was a finalist for the 2009 Quebec Writers' Federation First Book Prize.
She will have a new book of short fiction forthcoming in 2026.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
June 17, 2016
3 stars--I liked the book.
This is a love song to Montreal--its diverse multiculturalism, its urban growth, its French heritage, its food and people and community. I've never been to Montreal, so I appreciated "visiting" the city through this novel. This book is also a character study, more about growth and "slice of life" than plot.
The good: The characters are clearly drawn, and I especially enjoyed how others viewed them compared with how they viewed themselves. (Especially Rose. She appeared dull and withdrawn to others, but had a rich inner life.) I liked the wide range of women in this book, and found their stories fascinating.
The not so good: Since the focus is on characters, this book is slow paced. I didn't mind this (in fact, I kept thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it--a sign I was immersed), but if you're expecting gripping suspense, you won't find it here. There's one plot point that's not resolved, though there's hints it WILL be resolved. This didn't bother me, but it might bother some.
The thing that DID bother me: Rose . I probably would have given this book 4 stars ("I really liked it") except the treatment of this event was really disappointing.
Still, overall an enjoyable read. Highly recommended for Canadian readers or those interested in Canada's past and future.
I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!
This is a love song to Montreal--its diverse multiculturalism, its urban growth, its French heritage, its food and people and community. I've never been to Montreal, so I appreciated "visiting" the city through this novel. This book is also a character study, more about growth and "slice of life" than plot.
The good: The characters are clearly drawn, and I especially enjoyed how others viewed them compared with how they viewed themselves. (Especially Rose. She appeared dull and withdrawn to others, but had a rich inner life.) I liked the wide range of women in this book, and found their stories fascinating.
The not so good: Since the focus is on characters, this book is slow paced. I didn't mind this (in fact, I kept thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it--a sign I was immersed), but if you're expecting gripping suspense, you won't find it here. There's one plot point that's not resolved, though there's hints it WILL be resolved. This didn't bother me, but it might bother some.
The thing that DID bother me: Rose . I probably would have given this book 4 stars ("I really liked it") except the treatment of this event was really disappointing.
Still, overall an enjoyable read. Highly recommended for Canadian readers or those interested in Canada's past and future.
I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!
September 1, 2017
This novel has engaging characters, each with their own backstory; and the Montreal setting was unfamiliar to me, but no doubt fascinating to those who know the city. The plot meandered somewhat and I kept waiting for some new revelation. Nevertheless, there were some very strong scenes and some memorable characters, and I enjoyed the description of this well-known Canadian city, as well as the cabin in the woods in rural Quebec. I especially liked the way the author referenced the iconic Five Roses sign so familiar to Montrealers.
June 28, 2016
This novel has a very interesting historical focal point - the Five Roses is for the Farine Five Roses sign in Pointe St-Charles, in Montreal. The characters are linked to this Five Roses sign, and/or Pointe St-Charles. Two of the characters are closely linked, and my impression when starting out the book was that all of the characters coming into the Pointe would connect, especially the characters of Rose and Maddy. However, they really don't. It's different stories that we are reading - all separate stories of their lives in a way - and a brief and very loose connection is made at the very end, but again, not really. It was kind of not at all what I was thinking. While I enjoyed the stories of Fara, Maddy and Rose - the lack of connection to each other, and only to the Pointe was strange reading for me.
Thank you to Dundurn for sending the advanced reading copy - I'll formulate more thoughts on it for the site for the blog tour for Five Roses.
Thank you to Dundurn for sending the advanced reading copy - I'll formulate more thoughts on it for the site for the blog tour for Five Roses.
May 1, 2016
3.5
Set in a poor multicultural suburb of Montreal and in rural Quebec, Five Roses follows the lives of 4 women: 27-year old Rose, who is trying to get used to city life after growing up in an isolated cabin in the woods with a mystery surrounding her birth and parentage. Maddy, who at 43 is still living in the same house which bore witness to a secret loss she suffered as a teenage girl. Yushi, the talented Indian pastry maker who is bullied by her boss at work and whose friendship with Maddy and Rose will change her life. And Zara, who has just moved into a house where death recently claimed a young life, which reminds her of a tragic event in her own past. As the four women are brought together by the circumstances of their work and place of residence, they connect in ways that bring out the secrets and emotions of their different pasts and will shape their lives in ways none of them could have imagined.
Five Roses is a wonderful, rich story of four women from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds who are connected by one place – the neighbourhood of Pointe St-Charles in Montreal, its landscape dominated by the luminous sign Farine Five Roses. The author does a great job creating a sense of place and a rich background history for each of her characters, which kept me reading on hungrily, thoroughly engrossed in the atmosphere of the story. A beautifully written book which will take you on a journey into a different world, with vibrant and wonderful characters who must overcome the obstacles of their pasts to shape their future. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Set in a poor multicultural suburb of Montreal and in rural Quebec, Five Roses follows the lives of 4 women: 27-year old Rose, who is trying to get used to city life after growing up in an isolated cabin in the woods with a mystery surrounding her birth and parentage. Maddy, who at 43 is still living in the same house which bore witness to a secret loss she suffered as a teenage girl. Yushi, the talented Indian pastry maker who is bullied by her boss at work and whose friendship with Maddy and Rose will change her life. And Zara, who has just moved into a house where death recently claimed a young life, which reminds her of a tragic event in her own past. As the four women are brought together by the circumstances of their work and place of residence, they connect in ways that bring out the secrets and emotions of their different pasts and will shape their lives in ways none of them could have imagined.
Five Roses is a wonderful, rich story of four women from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds who are connected by one place – the neighbourhood of Pointe St-Charles in Montreal, its landscape dominated by the luminous sign Farine Five Roses. The author does a great job creating a sense of place and a rich background history for each of her characters, which kept me reading on hungrily, thoroughly engrossed in the atmosphere of the story. A beautifully written book which will take you on a journey into a different world, with vibrant and wonderful characters who must overcome the obstacles of their pasts to shape their future. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
April 11, 2016
I am reading a handful of strange stories lately. What happens here is bizarre. Therese makes a choice and with a child she names Rose in tow, returns back to the place she abandoned after the death of her parents, and so begins a life in the backwoods of Montreal (which I knew nothing about) full of secrets. Isolated with her strange mother, Rose grows up to be a very confused young woman, wondering who and where her real father is. Everything she knows about her mother's time away from this cabin does't add up. On the heels of this confusion, her sexual awakening clouds her knowledge of what real love means. A man does so much more than just watch from the trees. Rose has a hunger inside of her, as most young girls do, but cut off as she is with her straight ,yet not sinless,mother she makes choices that stain her for years to come. It's only later, as she converges with Farra and Maddy in the city that she begins to gain more clarity, to reach an understanding of the wrongness of things. I usually don't like to go from character to character and flashback through time but it works here. The novel is sad for different reasons, as a woman I was able to put my feet in each of the women's tired shoes and understand some of the reasons for their choices. I don't excuse Therese but her own sheltered beginnings made her different, fueled her choices. I really enjoyed this story.
June 30, 2016
4 stars review. I would like to thank NetGallery for allowing me to read this book in return for my honest review.
For me, this was a slow paced book, however I kept wanting to go back and read it when I had the time. I don’t know if this is how the author normally writes, as this is the first book I’ve read by her, so I have nothing to compare it to. The characters were developed well and believable. There are so sad parts to the book which I felt help bring it to live.
The story takes place in Montreal, and centered around four women; Rose, Fara, Maddy, and Yushie, each women has her own secrets, torments, and ghost surrounding them. They are brought together and connect with each other in one way or another that helps them share their secrets and past. They each come from a different cultural, that takes the reader on a journey and watch as their past with help make their future.
One thing that I didn’t like was that there were still some unanswered questions and loose ends, that didn’t tie up the stories. I don’t know if there is going to be another book that will tie everything up and answer the questions or if this is how the author intended on leaving the books. Even through it was a slower pace book, the story was good, the characters were likeable and over all, I did enjoy the book.
For me, this was a slow paced book, however I kept wanting to go back and read it when I had the time. I don’t know if this is how the author normally writes, as this is the first book I’ve read by her, so I have nothing to compare it to. The characters were developed well and believable. There are so sad parts to the book which I felt help bring it to live.
The story takes place in Montreal, and centered around four women; Rose, Fara, Maddy, and Yushie, each women has her own secrets, torments, and ghost surrounding them. They are brought together and connect with each other in one way or another that helps them share their secrets and past. They each come from a different cultural, that takes the reader on a journey and watch as their past with help make their future.
One thing that I didn’t like was that there were still some unanswered questions and loose ends, that didn’t tie up the stories. I don’t know if there is going to be another book that will tie everything up and answer the questions or if this is how the author intended on leaving the books. Even through it was a slower pace book, the story was good, the characters were likeable and over all, I did enjoy the book.
May 11, 2016
Many thanks to Dundurn Press for giving me the opportunity to read and review the ARC for Five Roses.
I finished reading this book a week ago, but I had to wait a while before I could write this review.
Five Roses is beyond touching; it’s a powerful evocation on life in rural Quebec and the cosmopolitan Montreal, bringing four women together and revealing the mystery that surrounds their past. There’s Fara, who has recently bought a house in Pointe St-Charles with her husband. However, the last owner was a young man who killed himself, which led many to be hesitant about living there. Fara, on the other hand, is more willing to buy the house due to an event in her own life which has made her increasingly curious about suicide. Then there’s Maddy, an older women living in a house that was once a hippie commune in the 1980s, where her daughter was kidnapped. Rose, unlike the others, grew up in an isolated cabin in the woods with no idea who her father was. When her mother dies, Rose moves to Montreal, but finds it difficult to get used to the city life. As these three stories unfold, we find out more and more about the painful pasts that haunts them all.
Full review here
I finished reading this book a week ago, but I had to wait a while before I could write this review.
Five Roses is beyond touching; it’s a powerful evocation on life in rural Quebec and the cosmopolitan Montreal, bringing four women together and revealing the mystery that surrounds their past. There’s Fara, who has recently bought a house in Pointe St-Charles with her husband. However, the last owner was a young man who killed himself, which led many to be hesitant about living there. Fara, on the other hand, is more willing to buy the house due to an event in her own life which has made her increasingly curious about suicide. Then there’s Maddy, an older women living in a house that was once a hippie commune in the 1980s, where her daughter was kidnapped. Rose, unlike the others, grew up in an isolated cabin in the woods with no idea who her father was. When her mother dies, Rose moves to Montreal, but finds it difficult to get used to the city life. As these three stories unfold, we find out more and more about the painful pasts that haunts them all.
Full review here
May 19, 2016
Alice Zorn writes a beautiful story against the backdrop of rural Quebec. Montreal is certainly on my bucket list of places to check out and thanks to Zorn’s description of the rural outskirts of Montreal as well as the city, the reader gets a chance to be transported to this side of the world. I loved the way Zorn depicted each one of these characters allowing the reader to truly empathize with each one of them.
This novel has some sad parts, some slow parts, but for most of the book, you get a well-crafted story with believable and captivating characters.
I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This novel has some sad parts, some slow parts, but for most of the book, you get a well-crafted story with believable and captivating characters.
I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
June 28, 2016
This is a character driven novel which can be slow at times and how much you enjoy it will depend on how much you like- or can sympathize with- these women. For me, however, I most enjoyed the sense of place. The settings in rural Quebec and Montreal were wonderful as they played into each woman's complex character. I have to admit that I sometimes wanted to tell Rose to get over it and grow up. Recommend this if you're interested in the lives of women. Thanks to netgalley for the arc. I'd like to read more from Zorn.
September 29, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. The characters and their stories were so diverse yet so similar! I liked that the characters were all strong women and yet for the most part they got along! The setting was most enjoyable to me since I recently spent some time in Montreal. This author did a wonderful job of weaving together the lives and relationships of these quite varied characters-- and all while holding our attention. Kudos to this author!!
October 30, 2018
I liked this book for the author's passion for her Montreal. She displays a sensitivity for the 'hoods, the residents, the transformations. Her characters are all outsiders, transforming themselves, searching for shelter in identities. Her resolution is a bit of a tease, and comes for me a bit too fast after a middle section which drags a bit. However, still very readable as the triad of journeys dance around each other until the inevitable ending. For me, a bit odd that after the first 40 pages I knew the full story but the characters were still locked on their own path, with no idea of the big picture of their lives. Would be a great book club selection.
August 11, 2016
Please read all of my reviews at http://ultraviolentlit.blogspot.ca!
Five Roses is named after the “Farine Five Roses” sign in Pointe St. Charles in Montreal, and the main characters in the novel are all connected by the sign in ways that are not obvious to begin with. As the story develops, we gradually see how their lives are tangled together in surprising ways.
As Pointe St. Charles becomes gentrified, Fara and her husband buy a house in the up and coming area. They find out that their house was the setting of a disturbing tragedy that reawakens Fara’s own sad history, and they soon discover that their house may be frequented by one of the survivors. Maddy lives next door to Fara, in the same house where her infant daughter was kidnapped years before – she was a teenager living in a commune, and the loss of her child still haunts her.
Rose is the most ethereal character in the novel – she grew up in a cabin in the woods outside of Montreal, and she doesn’t feel that she belongs in the city, as she seemingly floats down its busy streets. Once she gets her footing in Pointe St. Charles, she becomes a new person and rethinks her past. Her mother’s secrets link her with the other women in surprising ways, but it is not until the ending that we even see these connections.
The neighbourhood is rundown and needs care and attention to bring it back to its best self – much like these three women. This is a historical Canadian setting, and Montreal is featured here as its own character. It is an ode to this particular neighbourhood and it’s interesting to read about, but I felt like I had a hard time connecting to the story because I don’t know the area. Even so, Zorn does a good job at describing the multicultural, old world feel of the streets of Pointe St. Charles.
The novel has a slow pace, although several dramatic incidents are treated without enough depth – the issues were skimmed over and it was disappointing. The book is less about story and more about character, although I wanted to learn more about them too – especially several of the minor characters that were featured prominently and then just sort of disappeared. One of the main themes is the difference between our inner world vs. how people see us, and I think Rose was the greatest example. She developed throughout the novel, but just not quite enough.
It was disconcerting because I expected the separate storylines to converge a bit sooner – and then when they finally did come together, the connections were tenuous for some. It made the entire novel feel a bit disjointed, and I think it may have worked better as a series of loosely connected stories with Pointe St. Charles and the Farine Five Roses as the common theme.
I received this novel from Dundurn Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Five Roses is named after the “Farine Five Roses” sign in Pointe St. Charles in Montreal, and the main characters in the novel are all connected by the sign in ways that are not obvious to begin with. As the story develops, we gradually see how their lives are tangled together in surprising ways.
As Pointe St. Charles becomes gentrified, Fara and her husband buy a house in the up and coming area. They find out that their house was the setting of a disturbing tragedy that reawakens Fara’s own sad history, and they soon discover that their house may be frequented by one of the survivors. Maddy lives next door to Fara, in the same house where her infant daughter was kidnapped years before – she was a teenager living in a commune, and the loss of her child still haunts her.
Rose is the most ethereal character in the novel – she grew up in a cabin in the woods outside of Montreal, and she doesn’t feel that she belongs in the city, as she seemingly floats down its busy streets. Once she gets her footing in Pointe St. Charles, she becomes a new person and rethinks her past. Her mother’s secrets link her with the other women in surprising ways, but it is not until the ending that we even see these connections.
The neighbourhood is rundown and needs care and attention to bring it back to its best self – much like these three women. This is a historical Canadian setting, and Montreal is featured here as its own character. It is an ode to this particular neighbourhood and it’s interesting to read about, but I felt like I had a hard time connecting to the story because I don’t know the area. Even so, Zorn does a good job at describing the multicultural, old world feel of the streets of Pointe St. Charles.
The novel has a slow pace, although several dramatic incidents are treated without enough depth – the issues were skimmed over and it was disappointing. The book is less about story and more about character, although I wanted to learn more about them too – especially several of the minor characters that were featured prominently and then just sort of disappeared. One of the main themes is the difference between our inner world vs. how people see us, and I think Rose was the greatest example. She developed throughout the novel, but just not quite enough.
It was disconcerting because I expected the separate storylines to converge a bit sooner – and then when they finally did come together, the connections were tenuous for some. It made the entire novel feel a bit disjointed, and I think it may have worked better as a series of loosely connected stories with Pointe St. Charles and the Farine Five Roses as the common theme.
I received this novel from Dundurn Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 24, 2016
I was so sorry when it ended. It was easy to read and the prose was smooth. The characters all have tough things in their backgrounds and there is a certain amount of coming together, but the threads don't all tie together in the end which is good because had all loose ends been tied up, it would have been beyond believable. I started off thinking it was a book about cooking, because of the five roses, but it isn't.
Very good feel for Montreal.
All in all, a winner.
Very good feel for Montreal.
All in all, a winner.
September 13, 2016
this was a thoroughly enjoyable book. i loved the characters, the setting of Pointe Claire. the serendipitous connections. at first i had a bit of a hard time with all the characters, keeping them straight, remembering who was who, but that worked itself out with patience. this is a good book for the lonely. Zorn writes about lonely people & their connections. it was satisfying without having a tidy ending, which i've never liked. i'm going to read her first book now.
July 25, 2016
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Having lived in Quebec at one time, I was drawn to the accurate descriptions of Montreal and environs in this book. With a deftly woven plot and expansive characters, Ms. Zorn has written an outstanding novel complete with family values explored and values questioned accurately. Outstanding!
Having lived in Quebec at one time, I was drawn to the accurate descriptions of Montreal and environs in this book. With a deftly woven plot and expansive characters, Ms. Zorn has written an outstanding novel complete with family values explored and values questioned accurately. Outstanding!
September 26, 2016
I just have to say, that I did not want this book to end. You will understand why, when you read it.
I wanted more! It is a story of hardship, broken relationships, loss and finding new friendships. I could not put the book down.
I received this book through Goodreads for an honest review.
I wanted more! It is a story of hardship, broken relationships, loss and finding new friendships. I could not put the book down.
I received this book through Goodreads for an honest review.
December 1, 2015
A beautiful depiction of rural Quebec life in the 1980s and of contemporary cosmopolitan Montreal. Loved it!
August 25, 2016
A fascinating novel about compelling women who, despite their painful histories, find redemption and friendship in a vividly-rendered setting.
December 3, 2016
Remember those "hobby" books, where the selling point was that the protagonist(s) shared some niche-ish interest with the reader, had few other characteristics, and retreated from tidily-solved problems into a cozy fantasy universe where baking cookies or knitting is always an apropos (or at least narratively justified) response to trauma? This is several of those books, pages shuffled together, with the cover of a totally different book about urban development and overcoming the pain of a traumatic upbringing.
The book fakes you out by implying that one of the protagonists is Therese, a young woman in the late 1970s adjusting to a liberal Montreal and the challenges of motherhood after a lifetime cloistered in the woods with two aged, religious parents. Then it turns out the baby she's caring for is actually one she spirited away from a hippie commune, and a timeskip reveals that this kidnapped/adopted daughter, Rose, is one of the real protagonists! Unfortunately, if you thought you were going to observe Rose adjusting to 2005 Montreal after a lifetime cloistered in the woods with a secretive weird mother, you're understandably mistaken. Rose changes not at all from beginning to end, instead acquiring things like friends and a new apartment after a year while retaining the same spaced-out, barely engaged personality she had after a couple of months. This isn't me being harsh: this is how other characters describe her in the book.
Speaking of other characters, the reason the book can fit in so many hobbies is by splitting the narrative between 3 POV characters: Rose (weaving), her birth mother Maddy (cooking), and Maddy's neighbor Fara (home renovation). Fara's arc, about coming to terms with the suicide of her sister after moving into a house where the seller's son hanged himself, is the most complete but is basically totally unattached to any of the other plots. There's a hasty bit at the end where Maddy tells Fara that she's lucky to have known her sister at all (to which Fara reacts shockingly well), which sort of ties it to the Maddy-Rose plot, but it's totally complete on its own with no connection to the other protagonists. Fara knows Rose only as a distant coworker and doesn't even learn her name until the end, and Maddy's presence in her life hurries along the closure that the arc promised in the first place. The fact that the arc involved the suicide's disgruntled brother Ben breaking into the sold house in an attempt to come to grips with the tragedy gave this arc an entirely convincing out without Maddy's involvement at all.
The Maddy-Rose plot dominates the book partly as a consequence of its structure: the dramatic tension of two characters' meeting is built in when both characters take turns narrating. It falls flat anyway. The trauma of Maddy's youth is directly related to her pregnancy and the loss of her child, and her friendship with Rose's (same-age) roommate Yushi brings to the forefront her desire to reunite with her daughter. Importantly, Rose does not reciprocate these desires. She grew up believing that Therese is her real mother with no cause to believe otherwise, and when directly asked by Yushi, says she's not interested in finding her father. Because Rose's arc entirely concerns moving forward, it never intersects with Maddy's retrospective arc. It could have gone somewhere if Rose were somehow identified by Maddy and forced to pause in the establishment of her new life to consider the past, but it's entirely unsurprising that this doesn't happen. This is especially frustrating because Rose being Maddy's daughter isn't so much spelled out as printed on an anvil dropped on the reader's head and because Maddy is really the actual protagonist of the book.
And oh, what a protagonist. Maddy's characterization is the most schizophrenic of all the characters', which is honestly not saying very much because the characters are quite one-note even when they do have fleshed-out arcs. Fara's a yuppie , Yushi is an eccentric culinary prodigy, Rose is a hick, Rose's friend Kenny whom she naively raped in his sleep (???) is her questionably gay friend who's really into camping. Maddy is 43, which makes her the oldest and theoretically gives her the most room for life story. A lot can happen between the misplacement of your child at 16 and your midlife crisis, but it probably doesn't account for the wide range of personalities she displays. Her first section details her simple life renting out rooms of her house and working in a patisserie. In another scene where she's required to rant about the cover-up of her neighborhood's dismal history as a byproduct of industrial progress, she offhandedly mentions that she went to university for sociology for a while. This stint at school never comes up again and the critical aspects of her character arise again only for jerks on the metro and smugly judging her brother for doing things like having a remodeled kitchen and knowing what home equity is. It's jarring that a character who's been managing a rental house for years also thinks a talented friend should "just" quit her job and start a business.
Confusingly, the POV characters mostly sound the same, even though they have very different priorities. They all have a bit of the rebellious teen on them, especially when they're silently complaining about public transit or those silly yuppies (although as mentioned, one of them is a yuppie). And this doesn't change to help indicate any character development. Things just happen to these characters; by far the most interesting characters are Ben and Yushi, whose backstories are described in a few conversations and make their own fates between scenes.
One point in the book's favor is that none of the characters sound like they expect a happy ending, however ridiculously naive they might still be. Everyone gets a happy ending, which is evident about 2/3 of the way in when the Gilmore Girls opening feeling sets in, some more hastily than others. Rose's friend Kenny gets paired up with an old friend from Rose's past and the fact that she had sex with him in his sleep just becomes an embarrassing story neither of them will ever mention. Ben's ex-girlfriend comes back out of the blue and they marry, distracting him forever from the pastime of breaking into his old house. All the plots have legs upon introduction, but they're neatly tied up with irrelevant conclusions.
Plots aside, the book has pretensions of social commentary that it really doesn't live up to. Maddy gets three pages on the inadequacy of academia to describe real poverty. Fara notices that her new neighborhood has hookers. Rose makes a few racial gaffes toward Yushi that are brushed off like most things people say to Yushi. The characters lack the perspective and inclination to make off-the-cuff observations. This is also why the book doesn't work as a "hobby" book, either. Neither Maddy nor Fara are actually experts in the hobbies they narrate. Maddy observes Yushi cooking Trini food and complex European pastries, which get uncharacteristically detailed scenes that don't even serve to advance their relationship. Fara's involvement in the refurbishment of her home is limited to painting and observing her husband and his hilariously assholish cousin install doors and appliances. Rose is described as a great weaver, but resorts to purple prose and technical descriptions to convey, sort of, why weaving is so awesome. "Hobby" books are in general not very successful because reading about hobbies is not the same as doing hobbies, but books about people watching other people do hobbies are even worse.
I was pretty enthusiastic about this book because the author's first book, Arrhythmia, which I can't find near me, looked promising, but so did the blurb of this book. This book isn't so much awful as bizarrely misadvertised.
The book fakes you out by implying that one of the protagonists is Therese, a young woman in the late 1970s adjusting to a liberal Montreal and the challenges of motherhood after a lifetime cloistered in the woods with two aged, religious parents. Then it turns out the baby she's caring for is actually one she spirited away from a hippie commune, and a timeskip reveals that this kidnapped/adopted daughter, Rose, is one of the real protagonists! Unfortunately, if you thought you were going to observe Rose adjusting to 2005 Montreal after a lifetime cloistered in the woods with a secretive weird mother, you're understandably mistaken. Rose changes not at all from beginning to end, instead acquiring things like friends and a new apartment after a year while retaining the same spaced-out, barely engaged personality she had after a couple of months. This isn't me being harsh: this is how other characters describe her in the book.
Speaking of other characters, the reason the book can fit in so many hobbies is by splitting the narrative between 3 POV characters: Rose (weaving), her birth mother Maddy (cooking), and Maddy's neighbor Fara (home renovation). Fara's arc, about coming to terms with the suicide of her sister after moving into a house where the seller's son hanged himself, is the most complete but is basically totally unattached to any of the other plots. There's a hasty bit at the end where Maddy tells Fara that she's lucky to have known her sister at all (to which Fara reacts shockingly well), which sort of ties it to the Maddy-Rose plot, but it's totally complete on its own with no connection to the other protagonists. Fara knows Rose only as a distant coworker and doesn't even learn her name until the end, and Maddy's presence in her life hurries along the closure that the arc promised in the first place. The fact that the arc involved the suicide's disgruntled brother Ben breaking into the sold house in an attempt to come to grips with the tragedy gave this arc an entirely convincing out without Maddy's involvement at all.
The Maddy-Rose plot dominates the book partly as a consequence of its structure: the dramatic tension of two characters' meeting is built in when both characters take turns narrating. It falls flat anyway. The trauma of Maddy's youth is directly related to her pregnancy and the loss of her child, and her friendship with Rose's (same-age) roommate Yushi brings to the forefront her desire to reunite with her daughter. Importantly, Rose does not reciprocate these desires. She grew up believing that Therese is her real mother with no cause to believe otherwise, and when directly asked by Yushi, says she's not interested in finding her father. Because Rose's arc entirely concerns moving forward, it never intersects with Maddy's retrospective arc. It could have gone somewhere if Rose were somehow identified by Maddy and forced to pause in the establishment of her new life to consider the past, but it's entirely unsurprising that this doesn't happen. This is especially frustrating because Rose being Maddy's daughter isn't so much spelled out as printed on an anvil dropped on the reader's head and because Maddy is really the actual protagonist of the book.
And oh, what a protagonist. Maddy's characterization is the most schizophrenic of all the characters', which is honestly not saying very much because the characters are quite one-note even when they do have fleshed-out arcs. Fara's a yuppie , Yushi is an eccentric culinary prodigy, Rose is a hick, Rose's friend Kenny whom she naively raped in his sleep (???) is her questionably gay friend who's really into camping. Maddy is 43, which makes her the oldest and theoretically gives her the most room for life story. A lot can happen between the misplacement of your child at 16 and your midlife crisis, but it probably doesn't account for the wide range of personalities she displays. Her first section details her simple life renting out rooms of her house and working in a patisserie. In another scene where she's required to rant about the cover-up of her neighborhood's dismal history as a byproduct of industrial progress, she offhandedly mentions that she went to university for sociology for a while. This stint at school never comes up again and the critical aspects of her character arise again only for jerks on the metro and smugly judging her brother for doing things like having a remodeled kitchen and knowing what home equity is. It's jarring that a character who's been managing a rental house for years also thinks a talented friend should "just" quit her job and start a business.
Confusingly, the POV characters mostly sound the same, even though they have very different priorities. They all have a bit of the rebellious teen on them, especially when they're silently complaining about public transit or those silly yuppies (although as mentioned, one of them is a yuppie). And this doesn't change to help indicate any character development. Things just happen to these characters; by far the most interesting characters are Ben and Yushi, whose backstories are described in a few conversations and make their own fates between scenes.
One point in the book's favor is that none of the characters sound like they expect a happy ending, however ridiculously naive they might still be. Everyone gets a happy ending, which is evident about 2/3 of the way in when the Gilmore Girls opening feeling sets in, some more hastily than others. Rose's friend Kenny gets paired up with an old friend from Rose's past and the fact that she had sex with him in his sleep just becomes an embarrassing story neither of them will ever mention. Ben's ex-girlfriend comes back out of the blue and they marry, distracting him forever from the pastime of breaking into his old house. All the plots have legs upon introduction, but they're neatly tied up with irrelevant conclusions.
Plots aside, the book has pretensions of social commentary that it really doesn't live up to. Maddy gets three pages on the inadequacy of academia to describe real poverty. Fara notices that her new neighborhood has hookers. Rose makes a few racial gaffes toward Yushi that are brushed off like most things people say to Yushi. The characters lack the perspective and inclination to make off-the-cuff observations. This is also why the book doesn't work as a "hobby" book, either. Neither Maddy nor Fara are actually experts in the hobbies they narrate. Maddy observes Yushi cooking Trini food and complex European pastries, which get uncharacteristically detailed scenes that don't even serve to advance their relationship. Fara's involvement in the refurbishment of her home is limited to painting and observing her husband and his hilariously assholish cousin install doors and appliances. Rose is described as a great weaver, but resorts to purple prose and technical descriptions to convey, sort of, why weaving is so awesome. "Hobby" books are in general not very successful because reading about hobbies is not the same as doing hobbies, but books about people watching other people do hobbies are even worse.
I was pretty enthusiastic about this book because the author's first book, Arrhythmia, which I can't find near me, looked promising, but so did the blurb of this book. This book isn't so much awful as bizarrely misadvertised.
May 29, 2019
A book set in multicultural Montreal, by a writer originally from Hamilton (and I received the book as winner of a raffle at a Hamilton literary event), and I read this book while on vacation in Trinidad, and so was particularly amused that one of the main characters is from Trinidad and the author describes Trini food such as "buss-up shut" in great detail. The book was an enjoyable vacation read, but overall I am not sure I was completely convinced by the three intersecting story lines... particularly about the part where Maddy meets Yushi and Rose, and Maddy is more drawn to Yushi than Rose, and in fact dislikes Rose... none of that rang true for me. A big lead up to a mystery that is never really solved. But a great sense of the neighbourhood known as the Pointe in Montreal.
Read
May 4, 2017Enjoyed this story as it brought back many memories of where I was born and lived there til my teens (St. Henri, Montreal).
Did the author live there or knew someone who did at that time?
What inspired the author to write about this era?
I am looking forward to reading other of her books.
Thank you.
Irene Compagnon (Baggott)
Did the author live there or knew someone who did at that time?
What inspired the author to write about this era?
I am looking forward to reading other of her books.
Thank you.
Irene Compagnon (Baggott)
January 17, 2018
Five Roses did not convince me. I perceived it as a novel and thriller in-between. Same sentences repeated along the novel too many times. Too much details on details on cooking and sewing that has no interest for the reader. I appreciated instead descriptions of places and characters, despite I believe that the three women could have depicted much far better.
November 6, 2018
A lovely, gentle book. Great characterisation, not just of the three central characters - Rose, Fara, and Maddy - but equally of the main supporting cast - Yushi, Kenny, and Leo. Not all the ends are tied up neatly, and this is good - you're left wishing them all well, and trusting that their lives will be fulfilled.
October 6, 2021
Ah, Canadian lit, how I love you.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and the fact that the ending just let us drift away from the characters with a little hope for their futures. I loved the fact that the BIG SECRET was handled and resolved/not resolved (no spoiler!) in the way that it was.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and the fact that the ending just let us drift away from the characters with a little hope for their futures. I loved the fact that the BIG SECRET was handled and resolved/not resolved (no spoiler!) in the way that it was.
October 15, 2017
I enjoyed the Montreal setting of this book and it was fun to read about the familiar neighbourhoods, streets and iconic buildings as well as the historic Lachine Canal and the corner depanneurs. The characters were believable and I like that the ending was not as predictable or obvious as I thought it might be, thereby elevating my response to it. I thought it was very neat that Five Roses Flour not only served a s a symbol and a beacon but also was probably used throughout the book in all of the baking and cooking that went on, thereby uniting the characters even further.
Her face was concerned like a teacher's or a social worker's - useless concern that never made anything happen. Ch. 15
Her face was concerned like a teacher's or a social worker's - useless concern that never made anything happen. Ch. 15
October 30, 2017
3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading this book but some of the events felt a bit too convenient to be truly plausible.
October 7, 2018
Funky ending.
February 23, 2018
Book Club Choice February 2018
March 16, 2017
I started this reluctantly but it was on my bookclub list. It turned out to be a lovely title. The story was well written and full of surprises.
July 17, 2019
You can read all of my reviews on my blog -> Cover2CoverMom Blog
*3.5 Stars*
Five Roses follows three women living in Montreal: Rose, Fara, and Maddy. Rose is a young woman that comes to the city of Montreal after living a very secluded and destitute life in a backwoods cabin with her late mother. Fara is a newlywed looking for a starter home with her husband. Fara & her husband seemingly find the perfect fixer upper in the historic district of Pointe St-Charles, but the house is not without its own history. Maddy is a single middle-aged woman that works at a bakery. Maddy also lives in Pointe St-Charles in a home that was a former "hippie house" in the 80s that she has since rehabilitated. At first, it appears that these three characters' lives are unrelated, but as the book progresses we start to see the little threads weaving their stories together. We also begin to realize that each of these women have secrets from their past that haunt them.
Five Roses is one of those books that does not fit neatly into a specific genre. It has lots of contemporary elements to the story, but also had many darker & mystery elements as well. Would I tag this as a mystery or thriller? No. Would I tag this as a contemporary? Not exactly. Literary fiction? Possibly. I would peg this as a darker contemporary/literary fiction with heavier themes sprinkled throughout the story. This is very much a character driven story, thus is not action packed or fast paced, but rather a slow meandering type of read.
I think where Five Roses came up a bit short were the unresolved plot points, lack of connection of Fara's story to Rose & Maddy's, and jarring POV switches. There were many instances where I feel like events/situations were not tied up or explored fully.
For example:
In my opinion, Fara's story did not really fit in with Rose & Maddy's stories. In reality the author could have taken Fara's story out completely and focused on developing Rose & Maddy's stories further - this I feel would have made the book feel more cohesive. This isn't to say that Fara's story wasn't interesting, just that it didn't seem to connect well with the rest of the book. I also had a few issues with the POV changes throughout the book. For example, Maddy's POV is not introduced until the 23% mark, which felt a little odd to be introduced to a new perspective so far into the story. There were also a few times where the perspective changed and we were following a new character within each woman's section - for example Ben's in Fara's section.
Despite these issues, I did enjoy reading Five Roses. I really can't put my finger on why exactly, but I was invested in this story. I don't think Five Roses is going to be for everyone, but rather those that like atmospheric and eclectic types of reads.
***Trigger/content warning: suicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, homelessness, etc.***
*Big thanks to Dundurn for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
*3.5 Stars*
Five Roses follows three women living in Montreal: Rose, Fara, and Maddy. Rose is a young woman that comes to the city of Montreal after living a very secluded and destitute life in a backwoods cabin with her late mother. Fara is a newlywed looking for a starter home with her husband. Fara & her husband seemingly find the perfect fixer upper in the historic district of Pointe St-Charles, but the house is not without its own history. Maddy is a single middle-aged woman that works at a bakery. Maddy also lives in Pointe St-Charles in a home that was a former "hippie house" in the 80s that she has since rehabilitated. At first, it appears that these three characters' lives are unrelated, but as the book progresses we start to see the little threads weaving their stories together. We also begin to realize that each of these women have secrets from their past that haunt them.
Five Roses is one of those books that does not fit neatly into a specific genre. It has lots of contemporary elements to the story, but also had many darker & mystery elements as well. Would I tag this as a mystery or thriller? No. Would I tag this as a contemporary? Not exactly. Literary fiction? Possibly. I would peg this as a darker contemporary/literary fiction with heavier themes sprinkled throughout the story. This is very much a character driven story, thus is not action packed or fast paced, but rather a slow meandering type of read.
I think where Five Roses came up a bit short were the unresolved plot points, lack of connection of Fara's story to Rose & Maddy's, and jarring POV switches. There were many instances where I feel like events/situations were not tied up or explored fully.
For example:
In my opinion, Fara's story did not really fit in with Rose & Maddy's stories. In reality the author could have taken Fara's story out completely and focused on developing Rose & Maddy's stories further - this I feel would have made the book feel more cohesive. This isn't to say that Fara's story wasn't interesting, just that it didn't seem to connect well with the rest of the book. I also had a few issues with the POV changes throughout the book. For example, Maddy's POV is not introduced until the 23% mark, which felt a little odd to be introduced to a new perspective so far into the story. There were also a few times where the perspective changed and we were following a new character within each woman's section - for example Ben's in Fara's section.
Despite these issues, I did enjoy reading Five Roses. I really can't put my finger on why exactly, but I was invested in this story. I don't think Five Roses is going to be for everyone, but rather those that like atmospheric and eclectic types of reads.
***Trigger/content warning: suicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, homelessness, etc.***
*Big thanks to Dundurn for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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