 Orwell's Roses, by Rebecca Solnit.
This book is hard to describe. My library shelved it as a biography. Some critics called it an essay collection. Elsewhere, Solnit noted approvingly that one critic said it has the structure of a rosebush. The first section begins: In the spring of 1936, a writer planted roses. Each of the seven sections starts with a variation on that sentence, and from that common root, each section blooms in a different direction. Part of the book is about Orwell himself: his commitment to socialism, his time in the Spanish Civil War and the factional spits that forced him to flee, his love of nature, his writing that culminated in his masterpiece 1984 shortly before his death at age 46. Orwell's love of nature informed his writing and his politics: he was a keen observer who reported what he saw, not what he wanted to see. This may explain why he recognized the failure of the Soviet experiment and the brutality of Stalinism, while so many of his compatriots clung to false utopianism. The book is also about roses. They have been used to symbolize love, sex, and the Virgin Mary, as well as various political factions (eg, War of the Roses). Varieties of roses imported from China were named after English people, and Solnit notes how many quintessentially "English" things are actually products of empire: Indian tea with Caribbean sugar drunk from cups made of Chinese porcelain. Solnit also explores the modern florist industry: most roses sold commercially in the US are grown in "rose factories" in Colombia under oppressive working conditions; there are similar factories in Kenya and Ethiopia for the European market. The book is also about the love of nature, and how different it is for country dwellers vs. the romanticized view offered to those who've never worked on a farm. Solnit notes how the longevity of trees offers perspective, and planting anything is an act of hope for the future. And that the brief bloom of roses teaches about finding joy in fleeting things. As fleeting as the brief life of Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell. I'm not sure I'm explaining it well in a short review, but Solnit's specialty is finding connections in seemingly disparate things, tracing the scattered blooms back to their inseparable roots. Popsugar Reading Challenge: Gardening is essential to the story. 52 Book Club Challenge: Title starts with "O". Booklist Queen Challenge: Set in the spring.
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