Hothouse

For this week, I read “Hothouse” by S. J. Rozan. This story is about a man named Kelly, who is an escaped con from a prison. He had been serving for the past 4 years for the horrible murder of his friend. He was very upset with this woman for making him move from the south to the north. It appears he never forgave her for making him so unhappy. I felt that he had a grudge against her for bringing him into an environment that was out of the norm for him. It appears he is not one to adapt to change to well. Once escaping from the prison, Kelly takes refuge in a Botanical Garden. Most nights he slept on the ground under some leaves with an old sleeping bag and tarp. One cold, snowy night made the sleeping conditions too unbearable for Kelly to stand. He took off on foot in search of a warm, dry place to reside. After much difficulty making it through the snow, he finds a building and meets a horticulturalist named Jan Morse. He introduces himself as a volunteer to help her save the garden. The glass top had caved in due to the heavy weight of the snow. Once completing the make-shift roof together, Jan Morse’s security guard comes to help her. She introduces Kelly to the security guard. The guard, Wilson recognizes the escaped convict from pictures sent to him from the prison and shoots him.
This story, “Hothouse” was a very short story. It was an extremely easy reader. The word choices were simple and concise. The story involved 3 people- Kelly, Jan Morse and Wilson the security guard. Contrary to Guardian Angle, this story was much shorter in length and had much fewer characters. Guardian Angel used words that I did not know, thus forcing me to use a dictionary quite frequently. I would also have to make reference on a regular basis and review past reading to clarify the role and importance of the vast number of characters and story lines. The only character of Hothouse that I was able to remotely get to know and understand was Kelly. As with Guardian Angel, the length of this novel allowed for much greater character development.
Although both stories, Hothouse and Guardian Angel claim to be a mystery, I only found Guardian Angel to fit in this category. I think part of my reasoning for this is that Hothouse was only 11 pages long, whereas, Guardian Angel was 417 pages. I did not feel that Hothouse was in anyway a mystery. To me it was just a short, fiction story. There was not enough time to develop a thick, juicy, mystery plot as in Guardian Angle. I feel that Guardian Angel had much more depth to it. There was a much larger number of relationships, secret meanings, and hidden agendas. The suspense in Guardian Angel was much more than that in Hothouse. Unlike Guardian Angel, Hothouse was straight and to the point. I did not feel there were any loose ends at the conclusion of the story.
Another comparison to be made was that both authors of Hothouse and Guardian Angel were women. I feel that this role made a much larger impact in Guardian Angel. This story focused on a female main character that was destined and determined to make it in a male dominated field. On the contrary, Hothouse focused on a male character that escaped from prison and tried to temporarily befriend a woman named Jan. Gender was much more a focus in Guardian Angel. There was no emphasis on a woman trying to function or maintain prestige in a male dominated field in the short story Hothouse.
After reading both stories, I have found likes and dislikes about each. I prefer to read the short stories. I find that these keep my attention much easier than the long, drawn out novels. On the other hand, I do not feel the connection nor that I get to know the characters in the short stories like I do in the longer novels. I am a people-oriented person, so I like to have the personable relationships. I liked the easier reading in Hothouse compared to the difficulty I found in Guardian Angle. And since I am not a big mystery fan, I did enjoy the quick, to the point short fiction story in Hothouse.