I have to give The Girl in the Garden 4 stars because of the writing, although there were some small things about the story that irked me. Despite the use of the word “girl” in the title, this is not a thriller or mystery, and it’s certainly not any kind of popular fiction wannabe. This is a book to be read slowly, less about plot and more about damaged reclusive characters and their inner thoughts and feelings. To the extent there is a plot, The Girl in The Garden is about a teenage girl who arrives in a small town with a baby, and how a small group of people in the town find a way to make room for her. The story is told from a few points of view. We learn about the girl’s backstory and about the complex stories and inner lives of the people who take her in. The narration moves back and forth in time, the sentences go on and on and the paragraphs are sometimes longer than a page, and there is very little dialogue and what little there is has no quotation marks. Because of this, there is no reading this book in fits and starts. It requires attention, patience and calm. But I felt rewarded for slowing down -- I felt like I really got into the heads of these quiet, complex and reserved characters. I can’t say what irked me about the story without giving away spoilers. Suffice it to say that the explanation offered for one of the character’s reclusiveness and the fallout from that explanation was jarring and didn’t ring true. Otherwise, I really liked the way in which the author created a harsh world balanced by significant acts of kindness and decency. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

The first thing you'll notice once you've read the first few pages is the writing. Wallace writes beautifully and it does require focus to really appreciate this novel. This book doesn't necessarily have a strong plot, it's one of those novels you read because the writing is so great that you can't get enough of it. Her style is her own and for that I'm a fan!

I can highly recommend this one for lovers of smart, beautiful, even poetic writing.

I liked this despite its odd style. The characters of June and Oldman got me especially, but I liked them all.

When June arrives on the coast of New England, baby in arms, an untrustworthy man by her side, Mabel—who rents them a cabin—senses trouble. A few days later, the girl and her child are abandoned. June is soon placed with Mabel’s friend, Iris, in town, and her life becomes entwined with a number of locals who have known one another for decades: a wealthy recluse with a tragic past; a widow in mourning; a forsaken daughter returning for the first time in years, with a stranger in tow; a lawyer, whose longings he can never reveal; and a kindly World War II veteran who serves as the town's sage. Surrounded by the personal histories and secrets of others, June finds the way forward for herself and her son amid revelations of the others' pasts, including loves—and crimes—from years ago

I really enjoyed the author's writing prosaic writing style, and the cast of characters. Most of their life stories revolve around their "brokenness" but also give them growth and new chapters when they interact with each other. There are plenty of sad parts throughout, but it wasn't depressing. When I finished, I felt a sort of lovely melancholy. The author was able to show the despair while leading to redemption. There isn't really any specific plot point, but rather a portrait of a small community of people, their lives, and pieces of grace.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I had a difficult time gathering my thoughts and deciding how I wanted to rate this book. When I closed the book after the final page, I wasn’t even sure whether or not I liked it. The primary reason for this was because I spent most of the book wondering where the story was going and waiting for the plot to start taking shape, which didn’t really happen until the end. The book appeared to start off strong, with Mabel taking in a teenage mother abandoned by an older gentleman, but from there the story just sort of meanders. The story jumps from character to character, talking about their lives and what led them to where they are. After a while the story is barely about June and baby Luke, or any character in particular, with several stories running alongside each other. There were several love stories, and all of them made me ask why they all of them seemed to involve an older man and a woman far too young for them? I didn’t find any of them all that romantic, just mildly uncomfortable.

The book spends such a lengthy amount of time introducing and talking about characters it carried on almost to the 70% mark. All the characters were interesting, and some I could even find believable, but after a while it just kind of got overwhelming. Characters talked about at length earlier in the novel basically disappear except for a few scenes at the end, and it makes me wonder why they are even there at all, or why I spent so much time reading about them. The ending focuses in on a character that is barely present throughout most of the novel but connects to June and the baby.

The prose was beautiful but at times confusing and heavy handed and became tiresome to read. Run on sentences that carried on for an entire paragraph. The writing is almost overly descriptive, and sentences were so heavily spliced with commas that things get convoluted. I had to re-read several of these blocks of text a few times just to make sense of it. There were also no quotation marks to denote the beginning of a conversation, which wasn’t the end of the world since the speaker was usually noted after, but this style was still not favorable. The pacing is dreadfully slow. I got into the story at certain points, but it was the type of book that I could read for a chapter, then put it down and forget about it for a week.

The sentiment I got from this boiled down to the idea that happiness, love, and healing is always possible, even for those of us that are the most damned. I love this idea, but it just felt like it was executed poorly and made the whole book and its characters, as interesting as they were, feel like they lacked any real substance. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did but I just didn’t enjoy it.

Some of the most refreshing, gentle and beautiful prose I have ever read. It would be a challenge not to fall in love with the world Melanie Wallace has created and all the people who live in it.

True rating: Somewhere at a 3.6 - 3.8

Hmmm . . . I can't really decide whether I liked this book or not. It has a deep plotline, but for some reason I felt as though the story was told from a very far distance so that the readers never really got to know/love/care for any of the characters. It's weird. I've never seen a book have that sort of disconnect before -- especially if it was unintended. My favorite character was Luke -- doesn't hurt that he's 3 either.

Readers who might enjoy this one are fans of victorian literature

THE GIRL IN THE GARDEN BY MELANIE WALLACE
This beautiful story is crafted with long descriptive, poetic prose. There are wonderful characters who shine bright with their humanity. There are also characters who are not likable. I was struck by the devastated emptiness June feels as she is walking to her death with her baby Luke in her arms. It is a heartbreaking scene very vividly described. I can see the cobalt blue Atlantic ocean and feel the freezing cold temperature of the ocean as it almost swallowed June and baby Luke. The black dog that appears barking on the beach and swims out to snap June back to her senses as a spiritual being. As if that dog was an angelic creature to intervene and stop June from drowning herself and her beautiful baby. I can see and feel the warmth of the sunshine as June and baby Luke are back on the sandy beach. I could feel June's desolation.

I am also thinking about how June's old Aunt advised her on how to be a mother by telling June to remember how her mother would handle a situation and do the opposite. June is only sixteen and is utterly abandoned by her baby's father Ward. There is hope for June and her baby. This book is filled with so much more. It is filled with poetic prose and lush descriptions of both setting and characterization.

Thank you to Net Galley, Melanie Wallace and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest and fair review.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28266951-the-girl-in-the-garden" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Girl in the Garden" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1455172132m/28266951.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28266951-the-girl-in-the-garden">The Girl in the Garden</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/459016.Melanie_Wallace">Melanie Wallace</a><br/> My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1801059593">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /> The year is 1974, you have a sad, but beautiful story that begins with sixteen year old June and her infant son being left stranded by her baby's father, an older man, at a cottage near the ocean, far away from the desolate trailer park where she had lived with a really awful mother.<br /><br />So many characters in this novel that you will come to care for, in this new place where June ended up, some who are very sad, some just lonely, some who have about given up on life, characters of all ages, who become a part of June's story and her future. I really enjoyed this book.<br /><br />Thank you to Netgalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Melanie Wallace for the ARC. <br/><br/> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/12851291-karen">View all my reviews</a>

Such an awesome story and different from others I've read in a long time. I loved the different view points and the character development. Seeing the same situations from other's point of view opened up the plot line in such an intriguing way!

Really liked this book--great character development and flow.
I liked the characters and foundd the ending quite satisfying. Thank you!!