Dundurn Press, July 23, 2016.
Three Stars
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.
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