Genealogy Books - The Florist's Daughter

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Summary: A rich, rewarding meditation
Comment: Patricia Hampl's newest memoir, THE FLORIST'S DAUGHTER, opens with an indelible image. The author
sits in her mother's hospital room. At her side lies her mother, who has suffered a serious stroke
and is expected to die at any moment. In her lap lies a yellow notepad, on which Hampl is composing
her own mother's obituary. For Hampl, whose way of dealing with the contradictions and complexities
in her life has always been to write about them (in memoirs such as A ROMANTIC EDUCATION), writing a
mini-biography of her mother even as the woman lays dying seems a fitting image.

Of
course, as Hampl extends her mother's obituary beyond the mere facts and figures of a long, full
life, she casts her mind back to her own memories of her mother, to those mundane but unforgettable
kitchen-table moments that form the bulk of memories but are unlikely to appear in any sort of
formal obituary.

Almost immediately, Hampl sets up a contrast between her mother, a
biography-reading, pragmatic library clerk who balances the family's checkbook down "to the penny."
Fond of telling cautionary tales and of reading her horoscope (her astrological sign and its
accompanying personality traits cause Hampl to dub her mother "Leo the Lion"), Hampl's mother is an
Irish Catholic, ironic, cautious and distrustful. Hampl muses that she may have inherited her own
penchant for writing from time spent with her mother, who has the gift of remembering --- and
describing in minute detail --- every aspect of the glamorous parties she sometimes attends. Hampl's
mother certainly has a writer's eye, even if the only thing she ever published were vitriolic
letters to the editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Or perhaps Hampl inherited her
craft from her father, a quiet "man of many projects" but few words, a florist whose artistic eye,
naïveté and utter lack of practicality made for beautiful floral arrangements but occasionally bad
business decisions. Born into a family of Czech immigrants, Hampl's father learned both the
greenhouse trade and eventually flower arranging as a young man, and excelled at both, particularly
as he created whimsical, unforgettable arrangements for high-society functions: "He wanted a certain
kind of formal, purchased beauty to exist, and especially for this elegance to mean something ---
something good, something hopeful."

In addition to these two dynamic characters, and
the background presence of Hampl herself in their lives, the city of St. Paul also plays a key role
in Hampl's memoir. Set in a time between Fitzgerald's tales of the city's robber barons and mansions
and the more diverse population of today, Hampl's St. Paul is simultaneously romantic (especially
when set in contrast with its more staid sibling, Minneapolis) and stifling to a young woman who
just wants to experience the Great World.

In THE FLORIST'S DAUGHTER this setting,
family history and personal memoir intersect to make for a rich, rewarding meditation on how we
become the people we are, why we end up where we live, why we make the choices we do. Hampl's story
is at once intensely personal and surprisingly universal, as her reflections on what it means to be
a lifelong child of one's parents have implications for almost all her readers.

---
Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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Summary: How Sweet it Is!
Comment: The Cake Bible
How Sweet it Is!!!

I've always imagined (and secretly envied)
novelists who have the possibility of experiencing the pleasure of their stories come to life in the
form of a movie or miniseries. I never thought there would be anything comparable for a cookbook
writer but I was wrong and it has happened and in a way I never could have dreamed!
Dear
friend and esteemed Canadian colleague Marcy Goldman of "A Passion for Baking"e-mailed me the
following:
"you've been immortalized...in case you don't know - I am reading The Florist's
Daughter by Patricia Hampl - a memoir - and there you are mentioned for several pages 203-217 - It
is a lovely tribute - just the mention!"
Intrigued, I ordered the book immediately from Amazon
and it arrived 2 days later. For starters, I was struck by the quote on the cover written by my
favorite novelist and much admired friend, Pat Conroy: "Patricia Hampl writes the best memoirs of
any writer in the English language."
I turned to page 203 and instantly was caught up in a
spellbinding web of some of the most exquisitely poetic prose I've ever encountered--and it was
describing my book and my cake--"the White Lilac Nostalgia" from The Cake Bible! Here's a
sample:
The Lilac Nostalgia stood at attention, its lavender medallions fastened like so many
medals for valor on its soldier chest. A cake in dress uniform, in service to a sweetness worth
fighting for.
Interestingly, never once did she mention my name--I'm always referred to as
author. But what could be better? The word author derives from authority. And I see that the author
of The Florist's Daughter chooses each word with wise and loving care.
Life doesn't get much
sweeter than this tribute. I wonder what I could do to get her to write all the head notes for my
upcoming book! Just kidding--but I must write to her care of her publisher--a note of undying
gratitude for this blessing. I am now reading the book from the beginning and plan to read all of
her other books--both poetry and prose.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Lovely and lyrical
Comment: I really liked this book and it was a quick and pleasant read. Hampl is a talented writer who
chooses words for their beauty as well as their weight. The memoir opens with the impending death
of her mother, a difficult but independent minded woman of Irish descent. She muses on the
immigrant world of "old St Paul," a place that is described as somewhat ordinary and a world away
from the booming city of Minneapolis. She and her parents are decent, hardworking and ultimately
likable people (unlike the characters in Sebold's latest) with the kinds of stories, flaws and
challenges that we all might encounter in our family tree.

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