Tending Roses

What a wonderful story of a broken family and how love can help mend long-held (and misunderstood) hurts. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered two more of this author's books. While I didn't have a grandmother in my life, I could still relate to it.

This book, the first 50 pages were so depressing, I tossed it. I dont do this very often, but this was one! They owed money, Her company was in a missing money deal, His company lost a contract they needed. He couldnt get on line where he was. Everyone elses fault. Anyway, that book is GONE!

I was looking for books on the Walmart shelving and this one caught my eye. I don’t usually like to read fiction but thought I would give it a try. From the first page I couldn’t put it down. I laughed, I cried and and cried some more. It taught some great life lessons and I will look at things differently now. Read this book!!!!

I have purchased about a dozen of these books. It is a clean, thoughtful story of a grandmother who is getting aged and needs either a care facility or live in help. This is such a tender warm story. I love giving this books as gifts to special people.

"Tending Roses" was a book picked for an online book club I am in. It is not a book that I would have ever picked up on my own, so I am extremely glad that I am a part of this book club.Kate Bowman and her husband Ben and infant son Joshua have temporarily moved from Chicago to Hindsville, MO to prepare Kate's grandmother, Rose Vongortler, for an impending move to a nursing home. Grandma Rose has recently had a stroke and though she has physically recovered, her mental abilities come and go. Her daughter, Jeane and son Jack (Kate's father) decided a nursing home was best when Grandma Rose left the iron on and nearly burned down her house. While Kate is there, Grandma Rose has a few other household accidents. The focus of this book is how Kate comes to realize that though Grandma Rose is unable to care for herself, she still has much wisdom to impart - which she does by means of a journal that she places strategically for Kate to read.This book has many messages about us and our society - simplifying life, caring for the elderly and so on. It is a wonderful read and will certainly make you think!

As a professor of literature, I must admit, I did not expect to like this book. I generally approach "feel good" books with trepidation, yet Tending Roses is one I find myself recommending to everyone. Yes, it is a sentimental read, but it also contains passages so beautiful they caused me to cry. I commend this author's ability to contradict the contemporary wisdom that quality fiction must be dark and centered around characters who have survived horrible trauma. The reality is that most people are much like the characters in Tending Roses, struggling to find a place in the world. The words of this author caused me to feel, to experience, to consider my own life. In the end, this must be the mark of great fiction. Tending Roses is a novel not to be missed.