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Cereus Blooms at Night
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
15 posts | 11 read | 26 to read
Shani Mootoos haunting debut took the international literary world by storm. A Book Sense selection and a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, Cereus Blooms at Night is an exquisite cross-generational history filled with thrilling passion and alluring mystery. Set in the fictional Caribbean town of Paradise, Cereus Blooms at Night unveils the mystery surrounding Mala Ramchandin, an aging, notoriously crazy woman suspected of murdering her father. When a judge finds Mala unfit to stand trial, she is delivered, frail and mute, to the Paradise Alms House and into the care of Tyler, a vivacious male nurse, who becomes the unlikely storyteller of Malas extraordinary life. In luminous, sensual prose, Mootoo explores identity, gender, and violence in a celebration of our capacity to love despite cruelty and despair.
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Cathythoughts
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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Pickpick

All the threads come together to make this story so haunting and brave.
...... “ The gossip mill began to rumble but I listened instead to the leaves in the trees”....

What an ending scene in this book, memorable & beautiful, these characters have touched my heart.
The nurse in this story is unforgettable❤️ #CovidHeroes
#Booked2021
I read that Mootoo‘s grandfather told her to go out at night & wish on the stars

I loved this❤️ @Reggie

Cinfhen Beautiful photo and review💜You have peaked my interest 4y
TrishB Lovely review ❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @Cinfhen @TrishB Thanks! It‘s very good ... the writing & the storytelling .. 4y
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Cathythoughts @Cinfhen @TrishB And the story ❤️💔 4y
erzascarletbookgasm Sounds wonderful, yup peaked my interest too. Will go investigate this..😊 4y
Cathythoughts @erzascarletbookgasm oh good ! Let me know what you think 4y
Reggie Yay, I‘m so glad you liked this, Cathy! The writing was lovely and I just felt so bad for that poor woman. 4y
Cathythoughts @Reggie I did love it & yes that woman went through hell 4y
62 likes3 stack adds8 comments
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Cathythoughts
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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Hoping to start later today , or this week for #Covidheroes , doctor or nurse MC #Booked2021

Reggie Ooooh I hope you like this, Cathy. 4y
Cathythoughts @Reggie only just started ... I like it ! Early days yet 🤞🏻❤️ 4y
54 likes2 comments
review
Reggie
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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Pickpick

As hard as the story is to read in here at times, as it deals with sexual abuse, the writing is lovely. We meet Nurse Tyler, the new nurse at an old folks home on a tropical island where he is put in charge of resident, Mala Ramchandin, whose local boogeywoman history, much is made of by town gossip. This is her heartbreaking story. There is a lot of queerness in here, sexuality and gender, some cowardice, a lot of love and strength. Pick!

TrishB Great review Reggie ♥️ 4y
Reggie @TrishB Thank you! ❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts Sounds good ! I have this one stacked already 👍🏻 4y
tpixie @Reggie Love your review! 4y
59 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Reggie
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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All the senses! Thanks for this rec @Lindy I really liked it. Also, I felt this was one of the climaxes of the book.

Lindy Didn‘t this passage make you want to see this plant bloom? ❤️ 4y
Reggie @Lindy Yes, this passage and whole scene invoked a cinematic score in my head of shimmering strings with wondrous flute top notes. That‘s how strong her writing was. I heard music that wasn‘t there. 4y
39 likes2 comments
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Lindy
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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1. Hard to pick faves because I‘m such a CanLit fan, but I‘ve tagged the one I‘ve reread most often.
2. Helen Humphreys (and I‘m excited about her new one coming out next month)
3. Butter tarts (with saskatoon berries instead of raisins)
#happycanadaday
Kristine, thanks for hosting this giveaway @KVanRead

batsy Ooh, Helen Humphreys! I'd forgotten or I would have mentioned The Lost Garden 💚 4y
KVanRead Thanks for playing! Great choices and butter tarts with Saskatoon berries sound divine! 4y
Cathythoughts Exciting recommendations ✨✨✨ 4y
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LeahBergen Oh how I love butter tarts. ❤️❤️❤️ 4y
ReadingEnvy Butter tarts were the fav of the Canadian goodies I made! 4y
Lindy @ReadingEnvy Did I miss your Canadian goodies cook-off? Is it on your baking blog? 4y
Lindy @batsy There are just too many favourites! I‘m still thinking about my top 6 of 2020 so far. 4y
Lindy @LeahBergen Which team are you on? with raisins or without raisins? 😉 4y
Lindy @KVanRead Saskatoons can be a little dry, but that‘s not a problem when immersed in butter tarts. 😁 4y
Lindy @Cathythoughts There are plenty more where these came from. 😉 4y
LeahBergen Well, it‘s funny... I prefer without raisins if I buy them but when I make this mini tart recipe that I have, I add a few raisins. 😆 4y
Lindy @LeahBergen So you‘re saying you need to be in control of the quantity of raisins. Got it. 🍇 4y
LeahBergen That must be it! 😆 4y
33 likes13 comments
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Lindy
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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#friyayintro @howjessreads @4thhouseontheleft
1. Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo
2. Purple
3. Identifying wild plants
4. @bookandcat @JNSibanda
Thanks @EadieB for the tag!

BarbaraTheBibliophage Purple is getting a lot of love today! 💜 4y
ReadingEnvy Am I mistaken or is the Shani Motoo book mentioned in The Subtweet? 4y
Lindy @ReadingEnvy Yes it is. I‘ve read Cereus Blooms at Night four times and was delighted to find it mentioned in 4y
ReadingEnvy @Lindy both recommendations for it are solid then! 4y
Lindy @ReadingEnvy I think it‘s one you would like. 😊 4y
36 likes5 comments
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thelizflynn
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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This books is breathtaking so far. I had never heard of this 1996 book until my best friend lent it to me. #obscurereads

9 likes1 stack add
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Bertha_Mason
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo

"She wrote one line on a piece of paper, left the sheet on the kitchen table and, without discussing the matter with Ambrose, departed.
"You was simpler when you was sleeping."
When Ambrose found the note he shed a few tears, after which he took a red pen, made corrections to her grammar and saved the paper, just in case she were to return some day and he could explain the errors to her."

Bertha_Mason I'm awed by how in a few sentences of narrative, Mootoo can reveal so much about her characters, so direct about their flaws, but with so much humor and obvious love for them anyway. My heart. 7y
4 likes1 comment
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Bertha_Mason
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo

"I paced Miss Ramchandin's room. I desperately wanted to unstrap her, but when, for a moment, I came close to defying orders and removing them, I found myself afraid....I brought my face inches away from hers and whispered, "If I were strapped like that, I would hate it too." And then I felt foolish, for what was the point of empathizing without taking more positive action?"

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Bertha_Mason
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo

I waited way too long to read Cereus Blooms at Night. It's amazing, and it's been on my list since 2012.

4 likes1 stack add
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Sace
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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"Fell off the wagon again, didn't you?" #catjudgement

Just placed my first #thriftbook order. I may never go back to Amazon.

Back on the book diet tomorrow. #weakwilledontheweekend

rubyslippersreads Just concerned that book buying will cut into the cat food budget. 😹 7y
CoffeeCatsBooks And toys that kitty can gleefully ignore! 7y
Sace @rubyslippersreads @CoffeeCatsBooks 😂 I bet that's exactly what it is! 7y
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rubyslippersreads @RestlessFickleBookSlut @CoffeeCatsBooks The biggest reason is probably that ThriftBooks doesn't use boxes! 😹😹😹 7y
CoffeeCatsBooks @rubyslippersreads Lol! 😹😹😹 7y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🤣😂🤣😂 7y
Lmstraubie 😂😂😂 7y
MrBook I'd swear that's #Coale, right @BookBabe ?! 😹😻😻😻 7y
Sace @MrBook lol! Sometimes when you share a pic of him and I'm scrolling I think "why is Bat on Litsy?" and then "oh! It's Coale!" (Best black cat name ever!) 7y
MrBook So is "Bat". When we're playing and I splay his front paws, Coale looks like a bat. ? 7y
Sace @MrBook wish I could take credit for the name. My husband was inspired by Bat's huge kitten ears. I was lobbying for Guy Noir. 7y
MrBook Lol! I love it! 7y
107 likes13 comments
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Lindy
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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Mootoo is one of my favourite #southasianwriters.

@RealLifeReading

34 likes3 stack adds
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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For today's #AprilBookShowers prompt about #RuralSettings I thought it would be fun to highlight some #QueerBooks set in rural places since it's often assumed queer people only live in cities. Settings include Trinidad, Montana, and Georgia.

MCYmermaid BITTERSWEET by Nevada Barr could be included, IIRC. 8y
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @MCYmermaid oh cool, that's a mystery series right? 8y
MCYmermaid She has a series, but BITTERSWEET is a standalone -- almost a Western. 8y
30 likes4 comments
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Yamich49
Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo
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One of my reading stacks for #deweysreadathon or #readathon. Not exactly sure which hashtag to use on here yet. I have a few things I have to do tomorrow but I plan on spending as much time as I can reading and blogging about reading! (Yes I ordered the shirt and stickers to track my reading, I'm a nerd obvi) 🤓

Lindy Yay! One of my all time favourite books: 8y
Bibliogeekery I LOVE Shani Mootoo! 8y
Bibliogeekery @Lindy - just saw your comment #samies 8y
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Yamich49 @Lindy @Bibliogeekery Ahhh I knew I picked up that book for a reason! 😉 Its been on my TBR forever and I am determined to read it this weekend! I've heard such great things about it. ☺️ 8y
Bibliogeekery It's a heavy book, so be ready for that! 8y
Yamich49 @Bibliogeekery Ohhhh okay. Thanks for the heads-up! I'll try to sandwich it between two fluffy happy books. 😆 8y
Bibliogeekery Good call. I love that book but it still haunts me, too. 🙂 8y
Lindy @Yamich49 @Bibliogeekery I've read Cereus four times. For someone who rarely rereads, that says a lot. 😊 8y
Yamich49 @Lindy alrighttttt that's a pretty damn good endorsement! 👍🏽👍🏽 8y
58 likes2 stack adds9 comments