Flowers of Darkness is my first book by this author.

The genre is very unclear. It has some science fiction aspects. It has some suspense aspects. The publisher has it listed as a combination of Women's Fiction and general fiction.

I did not read the blurb before reading this book. And because of this I was completely confused as to the time period. The story takes place in Paris in the future. But we are never given an exact date. At first I thought that the story was taking place in the present. But then things had happened that had not happened in the real world. So I was a bit confused.

The narrator is 70 something author Clarissa Katsef (3rd person POV).

There were definitely things that I liked. I loved Clarissa's granddaughter Andy. Every scene with her in it was amazing. Their relationship was so fun. And I really enjoyed the character.

There were parts at the end of many chapters called "the notebook". This was Clarissa trying to figure out what was up with her husband (this already happened). I really enjoyed this part of the story.

The apartment that Clarissa lived in was pretty interesting and futuristic. Clarissa was a writer. And I enjoyed that aspect of her story. And I also enjoyed the neighbors that she interacted with. I was also very fascinated by Mrs. Dalloway (the apartment's virtual assistant). And the idea of being watched was intriguing.

There were a few things that I didn't like as much. I wish that the time period and genre were more fully established. And I also wish that the last part of the book had made more sense. I wanted things spelled out. I wanted closure. I wanted to have a more succinct ending. Overall, the book was definitely much different than I was expecting.

I went into Flowers of Darkness blind. I like the author and the cover looked intriguing. I don't normally read science fiction, but this wasn't hard core science fiction and I didn't mind that aspect of it. I enjoyed the characters and plot building and of course, detested C.A.S.A. I liked everything until the end. I feel like it ended too soon and I didn't get the answers I expected.

I can honestly say that I have not read another book like this.

This is my 3rd Tatiana de Rosnay novel, second through NetGalley. That being said, I firmly believe that each book is very different.

This one centered around a not too far off future, where climate change is the forefront of the daily life, as is robots, drones, and all other forms of technology....technology that is inherently designed to make our lives easier. However, by trying to make our lives easier, to keep us happy, we lose a certain parts of ourselves. We lose the human interaction, the emotions, the creativity, the independence.

In this book, as is with many of her others, the main character is based in Paris, France. A terrorist attack had previously occurred sometime prior to the story....the Eiffel Tower was destroyed. The way this was described, in such heartbreaking detail, reminded me of the terrorist attack on 09/11, where the Towers were attacked in NYC. Maybe she used that to get inspiration(?) but I couldn't manage to get that out of my mind while reading it.

This book is marketed as a "thriller" and while there are thriller-like elements.....it is not a thriller. If you buy it for that, you will be sorely disappointed. I won't even get to the part surrounding the cause of her separation from her husband....and it was a rather anticlimactic ending.

This one caught me completely off guard. Having read Sarah's Key and The House I Loved, I was anticipating a captivating historical fiction here. Clearly, I was in for quite a surprise right from the beginning.

The older I get the more I find myself increasingly unsettled by novels set in the near future, a bleak and dystopian future. And the reason is because with each descriptor by de Rosnay about advancing technology and automation or the extinction of crucial species to our planet, the more my heart sinks at the reality of it. This COULD be our future. If I think too much about it, I'll honestly spiral so I'll try my best to be a good inhabitant of planet Earth and also keep this future firmly in this novel.

Clarissa Katsef is a published author living in France. It appears to take place about 10 years in the future. Clarissa is a bilingual artist who came into her passion for writing "later" in life and when we meet her she's not quite sure where to go next. She's just left her husband of 20 years and isn't looking back. It's most fortuitous when she is recommended to a new complex specially meant to house artists, C.A.S.A.

C.A.S.A is run by a Dr. Dewinter who specializes in A.I. She's interested in housing artists in a low-rent, high-tech, high-comfort apartment complex. She wants to give them the freedom to create without worrying over the basic fundamentals of survival or even the most trivial elements of life. These apartments are "smart." Residents have a built-in virtual assistant who is finely catered to their needs and desires. The residents even pick the assistant's name and voice.

Clarissa becomes increasingly wary of the place. Is it too good to be true? She hadn't realized the control C.A.S.A. would have over it's occupant's lives. In her contract Clarissa agrees to be under constant video surveillance, supposedly for security purposes. She undergoes a medical examination in her bathroom every morning. Her phone and other smart devices are tracked. Her virtual assistant knows everything about her life from her emails to her schedule to her family members.

You'll try to decide if Clarissa is becoming more and more paranoid and experiencing a break from clarity or if C.A.S.A. is more insidious than it seemed.

Tatiana de Rosnay covers an astounding amount of topics within this book. It's done in such a way that it doesn't feel calculated. You only realize it's prompted these internal monologues and consideration after you've set the book down. It stays with you. This novel has many elements, grief, betrayal, depression, and anxiety. It touches on relationships and how they shape you. It questions our technological advances when it comes to "smart" devices and asks "how far is too far?" It shows us a world that isn't altogether pleasant but also has moments of beauty and love and hope. And as if this wasn't enough to make a novel great its also full of suspense and quick heartbeats and your brain rushing to figure it out.

This one will haunt me longer than most other suspense and thriller books I read because woven throughout every page is a reflection of our current reality. It's the reminder that this isn't too far out of reach.

Another futuristic book for me! This one set in the Paris of the future with well-developed personal assistants (think Alexa on steroids), terrorists destroying world monuments, next generation robots, delivery drones, and AI.

Clarissa is an older author who is apartment hunting after betrayal by her husband. She lucks into a new development with low prices and exclusively for artists. Things start out very well, but her cat is having trouble settling and it feels like she is being watched all the time. Is she just being paranoid or is there something more sinister afoot?

Along the way, we get flashbacks to her first marriage, tragedy, and her second marriage. She’s got an adorable granddaughter who is her biggest fan!

Tatiana de Rosnay is great at describing the setting and makes me want to visit Paris! I don’t think I want to visit this version of the City of Lights though! I do wish that there were some loose threads that had been tied up, but I guess it’s up to the reader to decide. A cautionary tale of how we can’t always replace humans with robots and technology addiction is dangerous.

I panned Tatiana de Rosnay’s 2018 novel The Rain Watcher but thought I’d give the author another chance so I requested a digital galley of her latest, Flowers of Darkness. I’m afraid this one is not an improvement.

The novel is set in Paris in the near future after the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, “the devastation of the Piazza San Marco, bombed-out Big Ben, and the obliteration of the Sistine Chapel.” Clarissa Katsef, a novelist who writes in both English and French, moves into an ultra-modern, high-tech apartment in a complex owned by C.A.S.A. (Center for Adaptive Synergy for Artists). She is looking for a refuge after a betrayal by her second husband, but she becomes uncomfortable when she feels herself being constantly watched by “the tiny cameras in each room, like little black eyes, always following her around.” She sets out to find out why her privacy is being invaded and enlists the help of her granddaughter Andy to help her.

This book is a commentary on climate change. For example, there is more than one comment about the plight of the planet. Abby laments, “’Look at what’s happening to the planet. Look what we did to it. Look what’s left of the forests. . . . Heat waves, floods, hurricanes, pollution.” Clarissa ponders “The perpetual heat waves, scorching summers, scarcity of water, brutal storms, end of natural pollination, and slow extinction of insects.”

Artificial intelligence is another target. The roles of robots in health care and security are mentioned, but they also take care of most human needs, even pleasure. Clarissa foresees a time when “’we could be forced to appreciate a fake culture entirely conceived and controlled by machines. We will no longer have any choice at all. For a long time, we’ve been getting those notifications telling us, “You liked so-and so’s book, so then read thingy’s one.” But what’s ahead could be even worse. Art, in each and every form, could be anticipated, made to order. Humans will stop creating, stop imagining. The end of surprises, make-believe, the end of possibilities, of the unexpected. On every front, it’ll be the victory of robots.’”

Another complaint Clarissa has is that people do not read books. In one paragraph, this is mentioned three times: “Hardly anyone read books anymore . . . it seemed no one yearned for books anymore. No one bought them . . . it appeared no one had the time to read or write anymore.” Later, she goes on and on about how “Pictures took precedence over words. No one read newspapers. People watched videos . . . Literature no longer held its own . . . People preferred to come and listen to the writer, to applaud the writer as he or she read from his or her book, and no longer purchased signed copies. Reading was no longer comforting. Reading no longer helped to heal.” She worries about piracy, which is understandable, but she just seems to object to people reading books on devices. Reading an ebook doesn’t qualify as reading? So I didn’t really read this book?!

The author, who has written books in both French and English, seems obsessed with people who have “hybrid brains” which she defines as people “who live and who dream in two different tongues.” Clarissa is simultaneously writing two versions of a book, one in English and one in French. The author seems to suggest that people who are bilingual are more creative. But what does bilingualism have to do with creativity in non-verbal arts? The creativity of bilingual sculptors and painters and musicians would be of more interest than that of monolingual sculptors, painters and musicians?

It is difficult to connect with Clarissa. She is in her late sixties, but she acts so immaturely. She needs to wear “high-heeled rock-star boots” which she admits are inappropriate for her age so she can feel “badass”? Over and over again, it is mentioned that she is particularly interested in the relationship between writers and their living environments, yet she doesn’t check out her new apartment before moving in. After she moves in “she suddenly realized she had moved into a dwelling she had never seen beforehand”?! She “blindly” signs a contract and even allows C.A.S.A. to monitor her health and only after moving in does she look up “the meaning of C.A.S.A.”? She starts to feel tired and thinks she should “slow down, write less and with less passion” yet she is never shown writing? Her most successful novel is improbably titled Topography of Intimacy?!

Other characters are unconvincing as well. Fourteen-year-old Andy seems too mature for her age, giving advice to her grandmother. Meanwhile, her forty-four-year old mother Jordan seems immature. For instance, Jordan is jealous of her cousins who received an inheritance from their aunt?! Clarissa’s father calls two of his granddaughters “sluts” and “tarts” and “twits”?!

Writing style is a major problem. It is stiff and flat, like something that could have been written by a robot. I kept thinking it had been poorly translated into English. There is so much awkward phrasing: “single tawdry cotillion” and “bloody pearls on a steadfast necklace of violence” and “sturdy, slightly stubby-legged outline” and “prodigious calm” and “lacustrine ballet” and “infinitesimal dark zone behind Mia White’s luminous smile” and “the choppy outcome of Aunt Serena’s will” and “imperious sensation.” A wedding band is a “jewel”? A person who is understanding is “marvelously comprehensive”? A person who remains expressionless is described as not losing “countenance”? The author seems to want to impress with her vocabulary but she uses words incorrectly.

It is not only the diction that is an issue. Short, choppy sentences abound. Then there are the long series of interrogative sentences: “Had he gone crazy? After everything he’d done? Did he really think she was going to shut up and stick around? Act like nothing had happened?” Exclamatory sentences are also overused: “Seriously, she looked like a lunatic! A madwoman!” Transitions are often missing so paragraphs are disjointed: “Jordan had lost many friends in the attack. Clarissa said good-bye to her daughter, and then asked Andy to go dry her hair. The president’s face appeared on the screen.” Why is Mia White always spoken of as Mia White? Her surname has to be given even though there is no other Mia in the narrative?

There are events that make no sense or are left unexplained. Why are we only told Clarissa’s pseudonym and not her real name? What happened to Jim? Why does Clarissa rush to London because of concerns about her father only to return home immediately? What is the purpose of the squabble over inheritance? Who is responsible for the destruction of European landmarks? Andy can roam around the C.A.S.A. complex, where surveillance is everywhere, and not be observed? It is possible to bargain with a robot? A cat joins a woman taking a shower and “installed himself on her thighs”? What are “Brexit’s unsettling consequences, steeped in complication”? To re-create “vanished beaches swallowed up by the rising sea level,” people are trying “to find sand, which had become so rare”?

Reading this book was laborious. Neither the plot nor the characters nor the style is noteworthy in a positive way.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an opportunity to read Flowers of Darkness

In a not so distant future... terrorism is on the rise... climate change has resulted in loss of insect life and flowers and heatwaves... technology has progressed and “AI personal assistants” are the norm ... Clarissa has moved into a new building for artists but things are not all what they seem..

I requested this novel because Sarah’s Key by the same author is one of my favourite books. Also, the plot sounded really interesting

But to be honest, this novel just didn’t work for me. It’s very slow placed and it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. Is it sci-if ?Is it mystery ? Is it contemporary fiction ? Do we really care that much about what Clarissa’s husband did or didn’t do ? Tbh not really 🤷‍♀️ And that ending was so disappointing 😒

Usually, I'm disappointed when a story teases danger and doesn't deliver but not here. Something else is given to the reader--something deeper--that leaves you thinking of our own near distant future. Yes, the first half or more I got LOCK EVERY DOOR vibes and thought we were on our way to a horror-type climax, but it took a few surprising turns that set up a more realistic creep-factor that I enjoyed. Had it delivered the ending I expected, I might think this was an unoriginal story, but this author crafted an intriguing look at loneliness, secrets, climate change, regret, and artificial intelligence.

Clarissa is an interesting character. She's a woman in the second half of her mid-life who's given in and made excuses for her cheating husband before but this time, she's left him. In that emotional haste where she struggles with doubts and anger, she interviews to live in an artist's community that seems like a wonderful opportunity for a new start. Through alternating chapters with the present experience of living in this artist's building and her past pursuit of her husband's secrets, you're led through an exploration of independence that came late in life that's mixed with uncertainty for technological innovation. I know I feel weary at times about automation in our lives and this book weaves those questions of whether it's good or bad--healthy or unhealthy-- into another story of boundaries and trust.

The subtle science fiction aspect of this story set in the near future made them more relatable. A mother. A grandmother. A granddaughter. These are the simplest classifications that we can all connect to as readers and hang on to our own memories while we see Clarissa struggle. The author tapped into our memories of the 9-11 in a few moments by crafting another fictional disaster in Paris that lingers in the character's psyche.

I really liked this book. It was entirely unique and kept me locked into the story in different ways throughout.

I was given this book as an arc, thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. I loved Sarah's Key, a couple of others I couldn't get into, so I was very happy when I pretty much devoured this book. Clarissa is an older woman, one who has been divorced and remarried, only to face a horrible sitiuation with her second husband. Stunned, she flees to a new residence, just for artists and writers like herself This residence uses AI technology and Clarissa starts to feel paranoid about their rules. Is it just her, or is something really going on in the building?

This book seems to be set in the near future, when we will be using robots and AI much more. There are a lot of mentions of drones making grocery deliveries, etc. This is something that I have often commented on, with so many companies relying on computers and the internet. What happens to the world when the power grid goes down? We can not allow ourselves to be completely reliant on the internet, computers, and robots.

I wanted so much to like this but it fell short. Felt contrived with trite futuristic ideas mixed with typical current realities and technologies ... the message of the story was like a repeated hammer. I won't write a review on Goodreads because I can't write a positive one.

Flowers of Darkness is set in a not-so-distant-future Paris, a city which had seen, years before, the destruction of the Eiffel Tower and the whole neighborhood around it, and is feeling the effects of climate change (bees have died, with devastating consequences for gardens, for example). In the middle of this, Clarissa Katsef, a writer in her 60s, leaves her husband because of a very disturbing betrayal, and finds an apartment in a new building devoted especially to artists, run by a mysterious organization abbreviated as CASA. The problem is that Clarissa feels she’s being constantly spied on. CASA provides very advanced AI (artificial intelligence) to its artists, from the super-customized virtual assistant that Clarissa names Mrs. Dalloway (she’s a huge Virginia Woolf fan) to retinal scans instead of keys, to cameras everywhere - and I mean everywhere. Clarissa’s cat seems to pick up on the weirdness even before Clarissa does. The story bounces between Clarissa’s growing unease with her new surroundings, Clarissa’s backstory and a gradual revelation of why she left her husband.

It kept my interest but somehow didn’t move me very much, unlike her earlier book, Sarah’s Key. The ending - well, it was a letdown. This book felt much longer than approximately 250 pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

There’s no doubt that Tatiana de Rosnay is a gifted writer. I throughly enjoyed the creation of this slightly dystopian, future but not too distant future within which the book is set, Clarissa is a writer, wife, mother and grandmother. She is chosen as a resident in a new Parisian apartment building run by an organization called C.A.S.A., where all the apartments are occupied by artists of some sort. It’s very exclusive and hard to get into. Living there involves routine medical checks and surveillance, as well as having your own virtual personal assistant. Fairly soon Clarissa begins to notice strange happenings.

I really got addicted to this book! I loved how the effects of climate change were woven into the narrative, and how much more dependent on technology society is depicted as being. I can only give it 3 stars though because of all the unanswered questions at the end! It was really frustrating to wait for the final showdown and have it fizzle out. I don’t want to spoil anything but I wanted to know if Clarissa was right about C.A.S.A. What exactly they were doing in the apartment building and why? I wanted to know what happened to some of the minor characters. Was Clarissa correct in her assumptions about them? SUPREMELY frustrating.

An excellent read up to the last portion.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I think the setting being in the future was interesting with the dystopian kind of view of Paris. Clarissa was an ok character with somewhat interesting side characters (2 ex-husbands, daughter, granddaughter, & a couple of neighbors). The notebook entries were confusing & I did not like how it ended. I feel ripped off or something. Not sure I would recommend this book to many people.

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the advance digital copy.

Clarissa moves into a state of the art apartment in Paris set in the near future. She begins to feel like she is being watched by someone in her new residence. A residence that is equipped with cameras in every room and unique requirements for its residents.

Although the plot is a bit weak, the storytelling pulled through enough to make this a worthwhile read. I really enjoyed following Clarissa as she finds her new apartment, tries to get over her husband's recent betrayal, and deals with the demons from her past. It was interesting to be witness to her journey of paranoia as she becomes more and more convinced that something sinister is underway in her new home.

Clarissa is a well written character and I was invested in her story.

I wanted more. I felt like as the reader, I was left hanging on some of the major plot points of the story and it left me frustrated. Even if it was the purpose of the author to leave questions unanswered, it made the plot points that were left unfinished feel pointless.

There is a twist in the story that felt too strange. For me, it didn't co exist well with the rest of the book. I understand that it is supposed to be the reason for Clarissa's uncertainty in her new home, but it just felt too strange when set along the rest of the book.

I was happy with the ending and with Clarissa's growth as as character.

Overall, it was a unique read that kept me interested but left me a bit unsatisfied and a little weirded out.

So the book is set in Paris in the near future, and there are two threads - Clarissa’s present, where she lives in an “artist’s residence” that has lots of technology that seemingly makes life easy for the residents and her past where we learn about her marriages, a stillborn son, and her break up with her second husband (with the reason for the break up being slowly revealed). In the present, Clarissa becomes more and more paranoid about being spied upon. Is her paranoia justified – we never know, because at about 75% of the way through book, it just diverges into fact that Francois had a secret life with a sex doll and his long letter trying to justify his actions. I didn’t feel that Francois was particularly well-developed and that his letter was a lot of telling, not showing. I honestly felt like the book needed to come back around and address the privacy issues and I felt let down about that. An interesting near future world was presented and the book as well written, even beautifully written at times. The book grabbed me at the beginning and disappointed me at the end as it just tapered off.

Clarissa's second husband betrayed her= what happens comes out slowly- so she's moved out into an apartment complex meant for artists. Run by a mysterious organization known as CASA, it's got AI, which, as it turns out, is more creepy than helpful. There are cameras everywhere, but that doesn't, ultimately, make Clarissa feel secure. Odd things begin to happen and Clarissa begins to dream about her stillborn child by her first husband, who is still a friend. Luckily, she's got a tech savvy grandchild- Andy-who helps her. This doesn't really know what it's meant to be. Is it a thriller? Sci-fi? Psychological drama? It's set in Paris but there's little sense of the city. All of that said, it's an intriguing read with a sympathetic character in Clarissa (and Andy). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction that crosses genres.

Tatiana de Rosnay's "Sarah's key" was a book that so moved me that I'm always anxious for anything by her. This book is very different - set in a futuristic Paris where technology, climate change and pollution have dramatically changed the world. I really wanted to like this, but I didn't get there. I felt a lack of closure in the end.

The Flowers of Darkness takes you into the future in Paris, France dealing with climate change and global warming. It is a bit of a mystery, thriller, dystopian science fiction and a bit of a love story. The story is nothing like any of Tatiana de Rosnay’s earlier novels, which I throughly enjoyed. Sarah’s Key is one of my all time favorite books. Titiana de Rosnay’s earlier books are the reason I requested this book. I really wanted to like this book. But, it wasn’t for me too with many different story lines and that never came together.

Thank you #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress and #TatianadeRosnay for the advance readers copy for my honest review.

Set in the future with climate change causing uncomfortably warm temperatures and technology taking over, de Rosnay looks at what happens if technology is used for evil rather than good. Filled with long paragraphs and the slow disclosure of Clarissa’ past, I found the book hard going. Dark, futurist books aren’t my favorite to begin with. If you are looking for Tatiana de Rosnay’s historical novel you be disappointed here.

I thought this one was right up my alley -- a thriller about a writer moving into an apartment in a high tech apartment building. It's the type of book I gravitate towards but this one just felt slow. And confusing. It's set in Paris in the near future and is deliberately vague about things like "the attack" until chapters later when it finally reveals what was attacked, but not by who. There are no more bees, or gardens....I guess due to global warming? But that's all a vague background to the events of Clarissa's life. Her too-good-to-be-true apartment is starting to make her uncomfortable. Maybe if I was more familiar with the works of Virginia Woolf or had ever heard of Romain Gary I would have appreciated the book more. Instead, I'm left wondering why someone would knowingly move into an apartment filled with cameras and then decide that being watched is sinister.