“Well, it’s one thing to have a quick flick to the last page of a book. It’s quite another to read it to all and sundry.”
Another one of RW Bookclub’s pick and what a breeze it was to read. Initially it reminded of ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ because of its introverted protagonist but as the story picked up in ‘The Cactus’ it took a completely different turn in its own warm and quirky way.
Suzan Green is an independent woman living in London with a satisfying career. Suzan doesn’t like dependencies on people, she is happily set in her own terms and rather live her life on those terms. She is engaged in a 12 year relationship with carefully drawn out rules that they have to follow. She collects cactus plants and somehow the prickly nature of the plant tends to reflect in her own personality.
She prefers to limit herself to things that she has control over. But it all starts to take new turns when her a family is hit with a sudden death and when she finds out she’s having a baby at 45, Susan suddenly starts to find herself losing her grip over the control she was so tightly holding onto.
The narration takes us through the nine month journey of her pregnancy and how Susan gradually comes to terms with becoming a mother. As if dealing with these changes were not enough, her mother’s death came with its own perks of family drama she didn’t see coming.
Haywood draws out the characters around Susan so well, giving all of them their own story to tell. Susan’s longtime neighbour Kate, who has now become a very good friend. Her brother Edward, who she wasn’t particularity close to growing up. Her Aunt Sylvia who she wasn’t very fond of either. Along with it surfaced family secrets and Susan suddenly sees her life getting more muddled than ever.
Though a little slow initially, it picks up with its intriguing family drama and secrets. What I enjoyed reading was the arc Susan’s journey took through the book and just embracing her new self. “Its never too late to bloom” indeed.
“But, these days, fairy-tale endings come in all shapes and sizes. It’s okay for the princess to end up with the prince, it’s okay for her to end up with the footman, it’s okay for her to end up on her own. It’s also okay for her to end up with another princess, or with six cats, or to decide she wants to be a prince. None of those make her any more or less a feminist.”