I Read Wild Beauty

Several weeks ago, I read Wild Beauty, YA fantasy by Anna-Marie McLemore.

For generations, the Nomeolvides girls (5 girls in each generation) have tended the garden of La Pradera with their magical abilities to grow flowers.  The Nomeolvides are cursed to never leave La Pradera and to have everyone they love vanish.  When all five girls realize they're in love with the same girl, they know that their love will kill her, and they offer sacrifices of beloved objects to La Pradera, praying for her safety.  In return, La Pradera returns a mysterious boy to them from the dirt, a boy with no memory of where he came from.

McLemore's writing is so rich, dark dark chocolate, that I had to read slow to take it all in and read only in small bites.  She works marvelous metaphors, that make you stop and appreciate them.

I've heard it explained that the difference between "literary" fiction and "mainstream" fiction is that mainstream fiction focuses on story so the methods of telling that story become invisible and you can forget that you're reading, while literary fiction wants you to notice what it's doing.  Literary fiction presents its structures and uses of language and says, "Look at this and marvel!"  So I think it's interesting that this book has easily accessible characters and plot, which would clip right along like any other YA novel if the language wasn't presented the way it is.  It's a really good way to have literary YA.