SharonC reviewed The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
Review of 'The Red Garden' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Beautiful watercolors. This book is series of brief tales spanning 200 years in a small town, each one a vivid, colorful sketch of its place and its generation. There is a strong visual element, as reds and blues unite the stories. It puts me in mind of the luminosity of watercolors, and the way watercolors convey impressions edited to only the critical details.
There is an appropriate jumble of grandsons and second cousins once-removed; like any small town. There is humor in the evolution of some of the place-names in town, too.
There is much of Hoffman's trademark fantastic realism, 85 percent Anne Tyler and 15 percent Mary Shelley. I am very drawn to this style because I like the way it captures how real stories change over time, with certain parts exaggerated, misremembered, or completely fabricated to suit the current teller of the tale.