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Hot House Flower ***
Lila Nova is an advertising executive disillusioned with her glitzy life. A chance meeting with a mysterious plant seller results in an obsession that eventually takes her to Mexico and deep into the shamanic traditions of plants.
This is a rip-roaring tale and it is very cinematic (as evidenced by the fact that Julia Roberts has signed up to produce and star in the film of the book). However, the protagonist is a miserable excuse for a neophyte and it is hard not to feel extremely irritated at her. Even once you get to the end of the tale, Lila continues to come across as a selfish, self-obsessed nitwit so it is hard to imagine who would have sympathy for her. There is also the, by now hackneyed, device of teacher and doubting student made famous by Castenada as the main thrust of this novel. Thankfully it doesn’t jar too much in Berwin’s able hands. There are plenty of interesting new facts about plants interspersed throughout and I defy you not to want to grow plants from cuttings by the end of the book. A fun if flawed read.
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