Although the subject of this book is emotive and internalized, I felt that it is treated in a somewhat detached style. I don't know if something was lost in the translation but the words never really came together and barely rose above a bland cadence throughout. There is imagery of life and death, difficult emotions of grief, anger and jealousy to work through but I never quite believed in its treatment here. I wanted more intimacy and to be made to feel more than I did.

Learning to Talk to Plants by Marta Orriols is about a woman who suffers a bereavement and makes a discovery and so becomes mired in confusing feelings of grief and hurt and anger.

When I read the first line of the synopsis for this one, I knew I had to read this. Paula’s long term boyfriend dies in an accident mere hours after he told her over lunch that was leaving her for another woman. I don’t know what it says about me but I love a book about grief (don’t send the psychiatrist I am well adjusted otherwise). I particularly love grief narratives that remain firmly in the woman’s head as time passes and the grief changes. Paula is a neonatal paediatrician who cares for babies in the ICU mostly premature births. Her entire life is about the line between life, survival and death, but how could you prepare or even cope with that dual blow of grief and anger. I absolutely loved this. Translated in perfection by Mara Faye Lethem.

When Mauro suddenly dies, Paula, his partner, has to deal with grief, along with the anger she felt towards him for breaking up with her and confessing he was cheating on her, mere hours before his death.
It is a beautiful novel, although it did take me a long time to read it, for the themes and literary style.
Marta Orriols does a great job of portraying a character that isn't super likeable, that makes flawed choices, and therefore is REAL, and for this I really recommend this book.

This book starts off in a hospital and a new baby being brought into the world. There is a hint that a death has occurred and this creates a great contrasting first scene for the story. We get to learn about our protagonist early on, Paula. We focus on the small things that she does to get through every day. The book is laid out as if Paula is talking to someone. She says you and as the reader, it feels as though she is addressing you directly. I thought this was great, because as the story goes on and we learn more and more about what happened and how it happened, I feel like the connection Paula establishes with us the reader makes the feelings that are stirred up become more relatable and real. I really felt myself going through what she was recounting.

There is a big focus on the relationships that Paula has in this book. Over the course of the story and as new details and events occur, the relationships and the way Paula views the relationships change and I feel that the connection we develop with Paula had me backing her opinion. It was really easy and felt natural to side with Paula and feel how she would in those situations. There were some instances where we are told how she feels, but for the most part, we are left to interpret the feelings for ourselves from the events that occur.

As well as the coping mechanisms and the direct addressing to the reader; there are a lot of memories that Paula dips into and through this, we come to understand Paula and what she was like before the incident. No spoilers here. There are a range of emotions attached to these memories and we get a deeper insight into relationships from her past. The tone of the story can sometimes become bitter and negative when she recollects some memories, but others are tinged with regret. That again was contrasting and for me made the character of Paula more complex and almost conflicting. She wants to feel close to people and experience close relationships, but then she shies away from any real commitments. She only wants surface emotions. Her relationship with her father I think is what opens her up and makes her more receptive. A lot of her reluctance comes from self-doubt but there are a lot of relate-able moments where I said to myself: ‘yeah, I’d react that way too.’ I think Paula’s stand-offish attitude was a mechanism to cope to protect herself from giving away parts of herself.

Throughout the story, there is a theme of change and growth. It is very evident that Paula has internal struggles trying to change how she thinks and acts. But the main focus that this stems from is Paula wanting to go back to the way she was before. The evolution of change that occurs in the character development of Paula slowly comes from her wanting to go back to how she was, to figuring out what her future will look like after all the changes and coming to terms with those differences in her life. In order to go forward though, there are some points in the book that focus on her regressing. She begins to act like a teenager, or younger, getting lost in the thrills that come her way.

There becomes some focus on her physical appearance and the need for physical closeness. It becomes an obsession with her, her own and others. I think after her dabbling, it becomes tough to read. I felt like her friend and I wanted to support her but I was also yelling at the book. Don’t do it!

Paula has a good work ethic and that remains constant throughout the book. I feel that this is her safe space and she does call it home at one point. I think this adds another dimension to Paula as a character, because I felt that the information in the story felt accurate and real; the scientific jargon and doctoral procedures made it feel authentic. It definitely made me believe that Paula is a good person and she dedicates a lot of her life and time to her job. It comes up about what she had sacrificed for her work and how much she loves it, this for me spoke volumes for her character and her identity. It added another dimension to the story.

Through her inner turmoil, she often projects an ideal that people expect to see when they interact with her. This made me feel as though Paula was tired of having to face others, and that she needed a mask to hide behind. It very much told of grief and the daily struggles that one struggles with when experiencing it.
The language felt mixed. I gathered it was set in Barcelona, but some of the terminology felt American and then there was the use of a British slang word.

There was a terrace which contained plants from Paula’s partner. There are points in the book where their care and well-being is addressed and often, Paula will talk to them, is if they were children of her partners, tiny pieces of him left behind. The eventual ending for the plants, I won’t spoil but I think it was a fitting end about healing and summed up the story really well. I feel that the plants signposted the trauma and stages that Paula went through herself.

In the end (without spoilers) I think Paula understood that she was at a place that she would have arrived at anyway, regardless of the grief, because she would have had to go through the soul-searching anyway, to find out who she was. The book was disguised as a story about grief and pain. What I felt at the end was more to do with finding yourself and building a life for yourself on your own. I felt that Paula changed through the story and as a reader, I very much felt that I witnessed and experienced this change with her.

Overall I rate this book: 4/5 stars.