Rating: 
Summary: A magnificent exploration into the philosophy of life & love
Review: "The Blue Flower" recently won the outer book critics circle award and it is well-deserved. Eventhough it may be considered a short novel the material presented is enormous. For such a complicated piece, Ms. Fitzgerald does not waste a single word, nor a single punctuation mark and her thoughts, as complicated as they are, are presented neatly without any extemporaneous circumstances - that, in itself, is masterful. The novel is based on the life of Fritz Von Hardenberg who later became the great poet and philosopher, Novalis. Under the guise of his father he is trained to be a businessman. Studying at the top universities, Fritz realizes his true passion for poetry and philosophy. He meets 12 year old Sophie Von Kuhn on a visit with a friend of his father who he is staying with to study administration for his business career. Upon meeting Sophie ("in a half-hours time" according to Fritz) she becomes his "true philosophy" and he falls in love. This relationship may seem peculiar, even wrong. But in the hands of Penelope Fitzgerald this relationship seems justified. Sophie represents what the great philosophers teach us thru their writings - she is the guiding spirtual force which leads us to question romance and the search for the meaning of life. Fritz even engraves Sophie's engagement ring with the inscription "Sophie be my guardian spirit." Like all great romances, tragedy results not only for their relationship but for them as well. The title "The Blue Flower" is a story Fritz is writing; he reads his opening chapter to various people. "What is the meaning?" he asks. People respond, but is there an answer? Is Sophie the blue flower? Philosophers extrapulate life and love in trying to find the meaning which governs our existence. Our lives are subject to questions and interpretaions which often need to revisited. No doubt, reading of "The Blue Flower" will have to be revisited to explore further the art of life and love. Isn't life about interpretation and soul-searching? Bravo, Ms. Fitzgerald!
Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting, but unsatisfying, metaphysical love story
Review: Penelope Fitzgerald's Booker prize-winning novel THE BLUE FLOWER is the story of Friedrich "Fritz" von Hardenburg, who later became the Romantic poet Novalis, and his love for Sophie, an adolescent with whom he has little in common but who illuminates the world for him. Among the book's strengths is its vivid depiction of life in late-1700s Germany.Much of THE BLUE FLOWER is concerned with mood and the inner lives of its characters, and may disappoint those who favour a smooth and moving plot. The ending is particularly abrupt and I didn't find it satisfying. Among common criticisms of the book is that the issue of Fritz's consuming love for Sophie is unrealistic because they have nothing in common, and in fact Sophie is quite a dullard. Nonetheless, every man has at times fallen in love with some woman who may display few intellectual qualities but who is beloved because she is a glass through which the universe is seen. Thus, Fritz calls Sophie his "Philosophy. Plus, there is much emphasis on the fact that it is Sophie's mysterious aura, not her mind, that is the real draw. Fritz cannot help but love her. THE BLUE FLOWER raises some interesting questions to ask of oneself, although after the reading it is somewhat forgettable. Nonetheless, it's a quick read, and I'd recommend it to anyone who might find the setting interesting. I should mention that the book does change a few details of Novalis' life, so if you are already acquainted with the poet it may annoy you.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I found this to be a disapointing book It's been lauded as bringing an earlier German period to life, but I don't find it more convincing than other novelists. The writing is terse, leaving too much to the imagination, and there is not enough details about the characters to care much about them. It portrays the early life of genius student Fritz von Hardenberg, before becoming the famous Romatic poet Novalis.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Odd, but I Did Like It
Review: I found "The Blue Flower" to be an odd little book both in style and in content. Set in eighteenth century Germany, "The Blue Flower" tells the true story of university student, Friedrich von Hardenberg, (the man who was later to become known as the poet, Novalis), and his love for a simple-minded young girl of twelve, Sophie von Kuehn. I have to admit that were this story not true, the plot would have been preposterous. Somehow, Fitzgerald made me believe in this improbable love and in the families involved. This was quite a feat, I think, especially given the fact that Fitzgerald never allows us to become too emotionally involved with the characters but keeps us rather distanced instead. "The Blue Flower" isn't a conventional novel with a straightforward narrative. Instead, it's episodic and told in fifty-five very short chapters (quite a few for a book of just about 200 pages). If you think this makes the book seem choppy, let me asssure you, it doesn't. Fitzgerald's writing, and the story of Fritz and Sophie is as smooth as silk. This episodic quality, however, is what causes us to feel somewhat distanced from the characters. If you're a reader who needs or wants a lot of involvement in a story, you might be disappointed with "The Blue Flower." Even though "The Blue Flower" makes use of some rather unusual stylistic techniques, Fitzgerald doesn't seem to have been employing them simply for the sake of either art or experimentation. Given the subject matter, I think she made perfect choices throughout. "The Blue Flower" is a book set in the Germany of Goethe and it's peppered with German words and phrases. Luckily, German is a language in which I'm fluent so I didn't find the inclusion of so much of it off-putting in the least. I do think that readers who are unfamiliar with either German or the German speaking world might have a little problem, though. For example, I think there are some who could read the entire book and, at its conclusion, still be wondering what a "Freiherr" was. Fitzgerald offers us no explanations and, on the whole, I thik her choice was a perfect one, but the reader needs to be warned. "The Blue Flower" is also peppered with humor and wit. I found this surprising and I'm in awe of Fitzgerald's abilities. On the surface, one would expect this to be a rather dull, dry story or one given to excessive melodrama. It's neither. Both its humor and its pathos are perfectly tuned. To repeat, "The Blue Flower" is a book based on highly improbable, yet true, facts. It's episodic in style and never permits the reader full engagement with the characters. If any of these elements cause you to to dislike a book, then you'd be better off choosing one of Fitzgerald's other offerings. Be assured though, this isn't a case of "style over substance." The substance is definitely there; it's just presented in a rather innovative manner. Penelope Fitzgerald was a writer whose books are truly "little gems." I know readers who feel she let us down with "The Blue Flower" but she didn't. It's different, but it's still wonderful. The fact that some readers may not care for this difference does nothing to detract from the book itself. If you read it with an open mind and accept it for what it is, I think you'll love it and be enriched by it as much as I was.
Rating:
Summary: This is a souffle, not Hamburger Helper.
Review: The reviewer who wrote you either love this book or hate it is right. Those who hate it seem to do so because it did not live up to their preconceived notions of what "a great book" should be. Obvious plot development, blatant character growth, a quick rundown of history ... if those are the only reasons you read, definitely don't get this book. I thought it was a light, wonderful collection of vignettes that brought the world of late 18th century Germany to life. *But* I wasn't reading to see how Sophie would develop into a girl worthy of a great poet's love. At the risk of sounding like a snobby "real" reviewer, let me recommend the kind of readers who will like this book: (in the words of the late Iris Murdoch, another British novelist) "someone who likes a jolly good yarn and enjoys thinking about the book as well, about the moral issues." The key is putting in a little mental effort of your own.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: After reading the reviews I was very excited about reading this book.
It was just awful. No character development or plot, and turgid writing. If anyone else had written this it would not have been published.
For the past 10 years or so the books that won the Booker prize have been bad bad bad.
Rating:
Summary: yes, a masterpiece...
Review: It is easy to put down other readers. Beauty is in the eye...etc.
But, I'm sorry, strong negative responses to this incredible imagining are simply misguided. It is, as a previous reviewer remarked, one of the great novels of recent times. I thought as I read that I could think of no good reason why readers a hundred years from now would not be equally moved by it seamless mix of sympathy and insight. Its strangeness is the strangeness of life itself, an opening onto another world which is just this world. An amazing thing altogether. It's also very funny!
Rating:
Summary: Not for Fitzgerald neophytes.
Review: Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower (Mariner Books, 1995) The Booker Committee finally honored Fitzgerald with a prize in 1995 for The Blue Flower, her retelling of the early life of celebrated Romantic poet Novalis. Finally, after a string of books that left the reader wanting more, Fitzgerald expands her spare prose style to give us enough. Fritz von Hardenburg, later Novalis, is a poet and philosopher who is expected to go into the family business if inspecting salt mines. A thrilling job for a poet, of course, and his academic colleagues are quite horrified. But, good son that he is, he accepts the charge with aplomb and goes to apprentice at the house of Coelestin Just, an accountant (from the way his duties are described, we'd likely call him an auditor today) who travels from mansion to mansion making sure the books are in order. While accompanying him one day, von Hardenburg meets Sophie von Kuhn, described by von Hardenburg's associates as a dullard (again, translating into the modern, an airhead; Fitzgerald makes gestures towards the idea that Sophie is slightly mentally retarded, but never actually comes out and says it, and her behavior is delightfully ambiguous in this regard), and is instantly captivated with her. Modern readers of this tale will probably be more incensed at the age difference (when they meet, Fritz is nineteen, Sophie twelve) than the difference in mental capacity, while the families themselves couldn't seem to care less about a nineteen-year-old suitor for a twelve-year-old girl. (One thinks, perhaps, with a jaundiced eye, that Ms. Fitzgerald may be subtly comparing Novalis' time to ours, and finding ours wanting.) Fitzgerald's books are usually minimal in both style and plot, and in The Blue Flower, less actually happens than in most of her novels. Such is the peril of biography, even when fictionalized. At the core, our lives are pretty much boring. And apprenticing to be a salt mine inspector? Few things could possibly be more boring. Fitzgerald keeps the book strong not only with her usual spare style, but also by switching back and forth between viewpoints so that we're not always stuck with Fritz and his books. We do get some scenes of such, though, and the effect is amusing rather than dull, as Fritz, for example, reads from a book of laws on salt mining as he would a book of Goethe's poetry. And, of course, being a Romantic poet, von Hardenburg's work is unintentionally (one assumes) hilarious of itself. The overall effect is that of great amusement; not that this is a light novel, per se, but there is always at least a shadow of satire surrounding it, even within the tragedy. Honestly, despite all the above, I had a hard time figuring out if I actually liked the novel or not. It does drag in places, though I put that down to my expectation, when reading Fitzgerald, of finding a hundred fifty pages instead of two hundred fifty. And I had a hard time telling, at times, whether the humor was intentional or unintentional; it's impossible to tell whether Ms. Fitzgerald actually likes Novalis or whether she's satirizing him. But overall, the book isn't a bad one. Fitzgerald has certainly done better (The Bookshop, passed over for the Booker, is the best of her novels I've read to date), but for the reader who has already sampled and enjoyed Fitzgerald, there is a good deal to be liked here. ***
Rating:
Summary: Great history but . . .
Review: I think your feelings about this book will depend on your expectations. I didn't get it either -- the exploration of genius and the profound meditation of love and loss. But if you appreciate historicals that evoke the life of the time in details and dialogue, this book is a wonderful example of that. I'll read more of Ms. Fitzgerald's books, but I think I'll skip the editorial reviews.
Rating:
Summary: Help me to understand
Review: Some of the most wonderful voices I respect cannot say enough good things about Fitzgerald. I long to be able to understand the exquisite sublimity of her writing! I've read The Blue Flower only twice and all I can remember is the chilling commentary inscripted in the front of the book something to the effect, "the account of surgery without anesthetic was taken from real account of Mrs. Someone to her sister Mrs. Another writing a letter regarding her mastectomy..."
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