Soon to be a Netflix feature film starring Reese WitherspoonA Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club PickA New York Times Bestseller“Fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine will love The Cactus.” —Red magazineIn this charming and poignant debut, one woman’s unconventional journey to finding love means learning to embrace the unexpected.For Susan Green, messy emotions don’t fit into the … will love The Cactus.” —Red magazine
In this charming and poignant debut, one woman’s unconventional journey to finding love means learning to embrace the unexpected.
For Susan Green, messy emotions don’t fit into the equation of her perfectly ordered life. She has a flat that is ideal for one, a job that suits her passion for logic, and an “interpersonal arrangement” that provides cultural and other, more intimate, benefits. But suddenly confronted with the loss of her mother and the news that she is about to become a mother herself, Susan’s greatest fear is realized. She is losing control.
Enter Rob, the dubious but well-meaning friend of her indolent brother. As Susan’s due date draws near and her dismantled world falls further into a tailspin, Susan finds an unlikely ally in Rob. She might have a chance at finding real love and learning to love herself, if only she can figure out how to let go.
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What happens to self-imposed isolation when your mom dies, your brother is creating issues, and oh, right, you find yourself pregnant at the age of 45? Susan is not a people person…but people don’t give up on her. I was charmed by this book.
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
Reviewed by Leah DeCesare
THE CACTUS is a beautifully crafted story filled with hope and tenderness. It’s a touching, thoughtful debut exploring family relationships, the nature of motherhood, and the value in letting ourselves be vulnerable.
Susan Green is a rigid, standoffish rule-follower who feel safely in control of her life and future until an unexpected turn knocks over the first domino challenging her to question everything she believed to be true. Haywood takes the reader on Susan’s journey from an uncompromising, prickly, and insulated cactus to a joyful flower opening to life’s possibilities. As the cover tagline says: It’s never too late to bloom.
Emotional and full of humanity, I found myself chuckling out loud at Susan’s thoughts, language, and actions; she has a humor of which she’s unaware. I completely adored Susan even when I was shaking my head or rolling my eyes at her decisions and logic. As her story unfolds and we learn more about her childhood and upbringing, we are better able to understand her way of being in the world and to empathize.
Fiercely feminist and independent to a fault, Susan and her transformative story show us that true character shines through during life’s biggest changes and surprises. I appreciated the friendship and discussions between Susan, with her hard-and-fast, unwavering definition of feminism and her need for control, and Kate. Bit-by-bit, her neighbor, Kate, infiltrates Susan’s defenses and helps her step out of her regimented box. She and an unlikely ally, Rob, walk along side Susan as she confronts extreme conflict with her brother, the alcoholism and tumult of her past, and a secret that was never intended to be exposed.
THE CACTUS is richly layered with generosity and avarice, birth and death, compromise and obstinacy. We experience the push and pull within families, both nuclear and extended and the pursuit, whether accidental or intentional, toward self-acceptance.
For writers, THE CACTUS is a fantastic study in creating memorable, distinctive characters and in developing their growth and arc toward transformation. The characters’ goals and motivations are clear and in conflict with one another while being soundly rooted in their backstory which offers readers empathy and understanding. It underscores the relevancy in real life of having compassion for others across circumstances. One never knows what is held deep within or what pushes someone to act in a particular manner.
While distinct and wonderful in its own right, THE CACTUS is reminiscent of Gail Honeyman’s ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE. Both give us wholly curious, original characters to remember long after the last page is turned.
I truly loved this story and can recommend it without reservation. As a bonus, the cover is gorgeous.
If my last read was educational, THE CACTUS by Sarah Haywood is pure, unadulterated entertainment, thanks to a clever plot, witty dialogue, and a phenomenal job done by the audiobook narrator.
Susan Green, a 45-year-old Londoner, is intelligent and independent, if totally lacking in social grace. Though she does grow cacti on her windowsill, the title refers to her own prickly personality. She is blunt to the point of rudeness and cynical of the motives of nearly everyone she meets. She doesn’t have friends, doesn’t go for drinks with her coworkers, has never in her life been to a party on New Year’s Eve.
Not surprisingly, Susan has never married. Rather, she has been involved in a long-term relationship with a man who is an art critic and wants a companion at the theater or art shows, but doesn’t want formal commitment any more than she does. They meet every Wednesday night in an arrangement so satisfying that those Wednesday nights evolve into late night sex.
Despite preventative measures, Susan becomes pregnant. She is horrified – believes she’s too old, too pleased with her orderly life, too dogmatic and unemotional to love a child. Then, in quick succession, her own mother dies leaving a vexing will, her troublesome brother starts causing, well, trouble, and she cuts off communication with the father of the baby, lest he think she deliberately trapped him – or worse, that she wants or needs his help.
The book follows her through the pregnancy, which has enough emotional ups and downs to become life-changing for her. Without quite planning to, she forms a solid friendship, unearths family secrets, and falls in love. Precisely because she hasn’t planned any of this, she grows beyond the rigid woman she was.
Those readers who find Susan at the start are simply too impatient or unable to read between the lines. I found her totally worthy of my sympathies, especially as the book goes on. And I loved the people who eventually become her friend. Watching her grapple with change in her life is alternately heartwarming and hysterically funny.
Given all of the above, and the fact that this book is not ultra-long, it’s a great weekend read.
Hmmm, I do my best to see the upside in a person’s writing. I know how much sweat it takes to create a publishable piece, but sometimes, as I weed through the mire, I find little but the spines of the cactus; which I feel I found here.
The book was well-written and styled but never grabbed me. The quirkiness felt too…forced? Too much? Not enough? Something. And, as I don’t want to slam another’s hard work, I need to say that I chose and read this book immediately after reading what I thought was the best-written quirky book of recent times; perhaps that is the reason The Cactus fell short for me – timing.
I would certainly not want to dissuade others, so I suggest you take this book on its merits, review other’s thoughts and consider the same when deciding whether or not to read it – mine is but one opinion.
Tolerable, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I enjoyed the acerbic wit of the main character and how she gradually transformed to allow her more vulnerable side to show through. Very entertaining!
Held my interest, was sorry to have it end.
This book really captured me. At first I wasn’t drawn to the main character, but the writer did such a masterful job of telling her story that I was soon drawn into each of the characters. It was a satisfying tale from beginning to end and I highly recommend it.
I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed going through the journey with her and dealing with losing a parent. I knew how the book would end pretty early in the book. I would recommend this book.
The Cactus reminds me so much of Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine. And guess what? That’s exactly what it says on the cover, which I didn’t take the time to see until I was about halfway through. Susan is very similar to Elinor in how she views the world. The biggest difference though is that while Elinor was a little more depressed and tragic, Susan took the proverbial bull by the horns and commanded her life and everything in it.
It did take me a little bit to be invested in Susan. She is a bit off-putting. Her character arc is interesting and I appreciate how it ended. Susan is an unforgettable heroine.
I was irritated and bored.
The main character was very one dimensional and predictable for maybe too long, She did change and open up at the end, but getting there was work.
Poignant
Narrator is a bright, funny woman who has totally rationalized her life, and the reader is privy to her thought process as the old logic no longer works. I smiled throughout the book.
Loved the characters Quirky chick love story!
Unexpected twists.
Eleanor Oliphant vibes. I really liked it.
the characters are very unlikable until the very end.
It was an entertaining light read. Enjoyable.
I still want more. It was like family talking about the past year. The characters were so human, so normal. I think I’ve known the brother’s role model. I laughed. I cried. I got angry. I loved this story.