Margaret Dilloway
Fiction
I read Ms. Dilloway’s other book, How to Be an American Housewife, and I really enjoyed it. Let’s just say I had the brief thought that maybe I read too many books when I grabbed this one off my pile and only when I read the author bio did I realize this woman had also written American Housewife. For some reasons, author names just do not stick with me.
The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns is the story of Gal, a thirty-something biology teacher in Southern California. She’s strict and harsh with her students, only really caring about her rose garden. In between dialysis appointments, of course, which she’s been going to for eight years now. Then Gal’s flighty sister lands a job in Asia and sends her daughter, Riley, to go live with her aunt for awhile. Gal finds her life even more complicated, but soon Riley is teaching her a few lessons.
I’ll be honest, I found Gal to be a real pill. Or bitch, to put it more bluntly. She only starts to soften about two thirds of the way through the book and that was almost too late for me. Yes, she has her reasons for being the way she is and Ms. Dilloway does an excellent job of showing us those reasons, but still. There were quite a few moments where I wanted to slap Gal. I loved everyone else, though. Riley, Gal’s best friend, a new teacher at Gal’s school, Gal’s parents. Also, even though the gardening/rose stuff was interesting at first, Gal’s detailed explanations got old fast. Towards the end, I was skimming anything having to do with plants and soil. But despite my few complaints, Ms. Dilloway is an excellent writer, her dialogue is great, and her characters are intriguing.
I would recommend this book to everyone.
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