Review: A House Like a Lotus

A House Like a Lotus by Madeleine L'Engle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a difficult book to review. First of all, it is a GREAT book, but because we expect perfection from Madeline L'Engle, the flaws in this one were hard to handle.
1) The plot switching from
South Carolina to Greece was confusing and hard to follow, which is why it took me several months to get started on it. I realized that the transitions she used would have been perfect for a movie, but not for a book.
2) Polly's character does change significantly from the two prequels and the sequel, "An Acceptable Time". These changes weren't due to adolescence. She appeared to be a different character entirely.
3) SPOLIERS: Max. Here is my opinion on the incident. I don't think Max was drunkenly trying to come onto Polly. There was nothing homophobic about that scene. Max had become a mentor that Polly began to idolize. In her naiveté, Polly expected Max to be perfect in every way. As adults, we know that's not possible. When Max was drunk out of her mind and her inhibitions were erased, she couldn't maintain the image of strength that Polly had come to expect. Remember, this part is told through Polly's memory of it. In the panic of facing her own demise, Max loses control and lets loose all the bottled up anger and resentment not fully realizing that poor Polly who is really still a child, will remember this as an act of violent monstrosity rather than an act of human weakness. Again, there os nothing homophobic about this. The fact that Max is a lesbian is irrelevant. This book is driven by Polly discovering layers of the world and learning to accept them. At first, she can't cope, so she runs away and seeks comfort in the arms of an older boy. Again, I think this has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It's about a teenage girl seeking solutions in the wrong place, as many teenagers (and adults) do.
3) Greece and Cyprus. Honestly, I think the story is about Max and Polly and the entirety of Greece and Cyprus was out of place. Zachary, Omio, Khris, Norine, Vee, and even Sandy and Rhea didn't really belong in this story. With that said, I really liked those parts and all of it deserves to be its own book titled "Saranam".
4) Ultimately, it was a wonderful coming of age story. Madeline L'Engle is still my favorite.

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