Rose by Rami Ungar

Castrum Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1912327430

Available: Paperback, Kindle Edition

Rose wakes alone from a deep sleep, disoriented, unable to remember most of the past two years, and, in a horrific discovery, discovers she is part plant. She is soon joined by Paris, who tells her he is her fiance, and saved her from a stalker who had fatally harmed her by taking her to his greenhouse and casting a Japanese spell on her that saved her life but appears to have gone somewhat awry. Since it’s winter, and freezing outside, as a plant she is trapped in his greenhouse and connecting apartment with no choice but to trust that he is telling her the truth, although observations of his behavior show that he can be disturbingly erratic and possessive.  Despite her memory loss, Rose’s character hasn’t changed, and she finds it difficult to believe that she would have willingly agreed to marry Paris. A search of his apartment one day when he is out leads to the discovery of a secret diary (in Dutch, a language Rose happens to know) as well as his Japanese spellbook. The diary details Paris’s relationship with Rose, but something about it doesn’t seem right. When Paris’ father breaks into the apartment and discovers Rose, he is shocked, because it has been in the news that Rose was kidnapped and her fiance was killed by a stranger who violently attacked them. The two of are caught and dragged away on a cross-country journey where neither of them knows what might happen next, except that it won’t be good.

Paris reveals that his actions toward the women who reject him and their lovers stem from a traumatic incident that occurred when his father sent him to a camp that promised to “make him into a man”.  He has learned to command spells from the Japanese spellbook that give him the ability to take what he wants, control other people, and torture and kill people, and intends to use these on Rose and his father.  However, a cruel, mischief-making Japanese demon controls the spellbook, and after enough mayhem ensues, gives Rose an opportunity to end Paris’ cruelty and madness and save herself… at a price.

The first half of this book is creepy because the reader is getting only Rose’s perspective, and with her trauma and amnesia she is not a reliable narrator. In addition, only the least observant of readers will miss the way Paris gaslights and terrorizes Rose, while at the same time expressing his adoration for her. The setup screams “abusive, violent scenario” and watching Rose come around to this understanding is kind of like watching a trainwreck in slow motion. There’s also some pretty strong and heavy-handed foreshadowing about societal expectations of boys and men and the unintended consequences of toxic masculinity and bullying, which Paris claims is the origin of his behavior.  The second part is where Ungar’s fantastical imagination of ways to torment people comes into its own (although I’m curious about his idea to use of acupuncture needles to cause pain, since they’re supposed to awaken self-healing and cause soreness at the most). He does not shy away from describing the impact of Paris’ spells and insanity. I don’t think I will ever get the vivid descriptions of tormented trees out of my head. One thing I found particularly disturbing was that Paris used a spell on the young teenage sisters of the women he tortured to make them fall in love with him, assist in torturing their siblings, and become his willing sexual slaves (this isn’t graphically depicted, but what you do see is bad enough).

Rose is supposed to be a tale of the supernatural, but with the exception of the protagonist, the supernatural aspect takes a backseat to the human antagonist and his agenda for almost all of the book. And for most of the book, the supernatural terrors are more of an enhancement of the methods and agenda of the villain, rather than the main force driving the story. The ending is pretty close to being a deus ex machina, and left me feeling unsatisfied. However, I did like the character of Rose and her resilience in spite of baffling and frightening circumstances, and I feel like the book successfully spotlighted the damage gaslighting and toxic masculinity can have on individuals trapped by circumstance and those they touch. Ungar successfully evinced feelings of dread in this reader, and while readers of extreme horror probably won’t be fazed, it was more than gruesome and stomach-turning enough for me.

It isn’t often that a novel with a sentient plant as narrator comes along, so Rose is worth checking out just to see what Ungar did with the concept. And although I found the ending somewhat unsatisfying, the journey there with Rose was worth taking.