Elizabeth GILBERT : The signature of all things

5th January 1800. Alma Whittaker is born into a perfect Philadelphia winter. Her father, Henry Whittaker, is a bold and charismatic botanical explorer whose vast fortune belies his lowly beginnings as a vagrant in Sir Joseph Banks' Kew Gardens and as a deck hand on Captain Cook's HMS Resolution. Alma’s mother, a strict woman from an esteemed Dutch family, is conversant in five living languages (and two dead ones). An independent girl with a thirst for knowledge, it is not long before Alma comes into her own within the world of botany. But as Alma’s careful studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she comes to love draws her in the opposite direction.

I wanted to take some time to think and write an intelligible review, but it seems the review is going to be far from polished, be warned. It's very hot here today, it doesn't help.

First, let's just say that the book came to me, I didn't go get it. I thought Elizabeth Gilbert was writing chick lit with some sort of meditation thrown in (Eat, pray, love) and I wasn't very keen to read any of her books. I looked at the reviews on Goodreads and concluded I risked nothing in giving it a try. Plus, it is about botany and I love plants, so...

Then, I found the book wasn't at all what I expected because the characters were really unusual, not formulaic at all, which I duly appreciated. Even the dog was unusual ! It was very refreshing. At the same time, I enjoyed reading about them but I felt like I was looking at them live and grow, detached, which bothered me some. But after all, I think it's the way Alma was raised, in a non conformist education but strictly proper at the same time. There is not much physical touching in here - from character to character - but there is a lot of observing, studying, analyzing. So that's what we do with them. Those poor people who lacked physical touch so much...

 

My heart went out to Alma all the same, and later to her sister Prudence, or Retta, so I think the author managed to get a hold on me. And yet, I started reading the book, enjoying it, putting it down, felt no hurry to pick it back up, then reading, enjoying, and so forth. But one of my coworkers died at the same time, so it didn't make reading easy.

 

Maybe it's because of my personal tastes, but I also enjoyed the scientific aspect that never bore me and was surprised to see Darwin mentioned - I recently bought his book on the theory of evolution, and I saw another author mentioned that I do want to read because to see him in the book made me widely curious.

It's hard to summarize the story (the life of one woman and those who gravitate around her ?), and it's hard for me to find the words that might make you want to read it, just let me say that I wasn't keen on reading this novel at first but finally, the book won ! And not only did I love it, but it's a book that will remain distinct from all those I read for a long time and is still making me think. Which is very good, because the characters were great and how many books have that effect on us readers, uh ?