Helpful Score: 3
Review first posted on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-signature-of-all-things.html
The Signature of All Things starts with Henry Whittaker, a poor but enterprising young man who makes his living as a thief. He gets caught, but is allowed leeway because of the respect people have for his father. He is put to work, and through his work and some shady dealings becomes a very wealthy man. The bulk of the book is about his daughter Alma.
Alma is an only child living a rather secluded life. She develops an interest in botany, and her specialty becomes, of all things, mosses. Along the way, discoveries come into and change her life. The book has much description of her discovery of and secret use of a text on sexual pleasure and of her work with plants. Along the way, people come in and out of her life. Prudence is adopted in to the family and becomes a sister until a rift drives them apart. Ambrose is the artist who steals her heart but is unable to be a husband to her. Along the way, places come in and out of her life. White Acres with its large indoor botanical gardens is the Whittaker estate in England. Alma also travels the world, some for botanical research and some searching for the people in her life.
I am not even sure where to start with this book. Given the previous writing of Elizabeth Gilbert, I expected a lot more. This book is slow moving and difficult to read - boring with a set of unlikable characters. The most interesting component of the book is probably some of the descriptions of the natural world and plant life. However, if that's what I want to read, I would pick a nonfiction book about the topic. If this had not been a review copy, I would have abandoned the book. However, I did read it and am left wondering .... What was the point?
*** Reviewed for GoodReads First Reads program ***
The Signature of All Things starts with Henry Whittaker, a poor but enterprising young man who makes his living as a thief. He gets caught, but is allowed leeway because of the respect people have for his father. He is put to work, and through his work and some shady dealings becomes a very wealthy man. The bulk of the book is about his daughter Alma.
Alma is an only child living a rather secluded life. She develops an interest in botany, and her specialty becomes, of all things, mosses. Along the way, discoveries come into and change her life. The book has much description of her discovery of and secret use of a text on sexual pleasure and of her work with plants. Along the way, people come in and out of her life. Prudence is adopted in to the family and becomes a sister until a rift drives them apart. Ambrose is the artist who steals her heart but is unable to be a husband to her. Along the way, places come in and out of her life. White Acres with its large indoor botanical gardens is the Whittaker estate in England. Alma also travels the world, some for botanical research and some searching for the people in her life.
I am not even sure where to start with this book. Given the previous writing of Elizabeth Gilbert, I expected a lot more. This book is slow moving and difficult to read - boring with a set of unlikable characters. The most interesting component of the book is probably some of the descriptions of the natural world and plant life. However, if that's what I want to read, I would pick a nonfiction book about the topic. If this had not been a review copy, I would have abandoned the book. However, I did read it and am left wondering .... What was the point?
*** Reviewed for GoodReads First Reads program ***
Helpful Score: 2
This was an interesting read. The story line is very plausible and it kept me moving forward, wanting to know what happened next. I learned quite a bit about nature, especially about mosses, and other plants and about cultural mores in the 19th century. I was a bit surprised at some of the sexual themes, so I would not share this book with young teenagers. Which, to me, is a shame because there is so much more to recommend it.
Although I read this book avidly, I ended up not liking it much because of its flaws. It starts off as an old-fashioned family saga full of fascinating historical detail. However, the characters are overdrawn - exaggerated in their distinctiveness - and therefore sometimes less than believable. In addition, at the end it appeared that the author was trying to make a point rather than letting the story take its natural course. Two points, actually - one about women in science and the other about altruism and evolution. Not sure I would read another book by this author!
This book tell the intimate and social changes one women goes through in her life time. This story captured my attention from beginning to end. It is filled with intricate details. I enjoy how Mrs. Gilbert has a way of writing that can transport you to this time era.(1800-).
I loved!
I loved!
Hard to believe this was written by the same author as Eat Pray Love (hated it) because I really enjoyed this book. But totally different kind of book. That was memoir and this was HF. Alma Whitaker is born in 1800 the daughter of a prominent botanist and pharmaceutical magnate. She becomes a botanist herself, her adopted younger sister is an abolitionist. In her 50s she travels to Tahiti, then to the Netherlands. This story is not just of Alma's life, her family, her sexual longings and relationship with her husband, her study of mosses, but also of so much history of the time - slavery, colonialism, imperialism, science vs religion, etc. And really throughout, but especially at the end, the meaning of life. The struggle to survive and thrive (Darwin, but also Alma's theory) and how altruism and religion fit in with that. A very long book at 500 pages, and slow reading because of the history and ideas, but good.
I was nervous about reading Elizabeth Gilbert's fiction because I have a great connection to her non-fiction and I worried this wouldn't hold up but that was far from the case. This book was beautiful, sweeping and epic. It's different from anything I've read in as long as I can remember. It is long but it flowed well and never felt slow for me despite the amount of scientific info that is tucked into the story. Alma's story is compelling and heart wrenching. Despite her life being different from mine, I could relate to her and came to love her. The end left me feeling dissatisfied but I can also see why the author would leave things that way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction or just a well written novel.
