Bloom

In Chapters 1-6, the book’s main conflict is between humans and nature. In his job as a botanist, Anaya’s dad routinely deals with invasive plants. Though these plants are unusually aggressive and harmful, there’s no initial reason to assume they’re not an aspect of the natural world. This understanding of the conflict is called into question when evidence begins to suggest bioterrorism. Both Anaya and her father take the first steps to combat the plants’ invasion. Anaya collects soil samples from the school field, where no black grass is growing. Her dad leaves for Cordova Island, where aerial photos show black grass is dying off. These efforts eventually become part of an archetypal journey—the quest to rid the land of danger. The novel will show how togetherness and cooperation are necessary to combat this ecological crisis, and it speaks to impending ecological crises caused by climate change. The author clearly suggests that people should learn how to work together and find unity against a global issue, speaking to Global Crisis, Heroism, and Togetherness.

Though author Kenneth Oppel drafted Bloom at least three years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, many descriptions in the book evoke a topical resemblance to public life in the year or two after its 2020 publication. Petra’s observation about illness and overcrowded hospitals almost seems inspired by real-life events of 2020 and 2021:

“For most people, it was like having a really bad cold, or the flu. But some people had much more severe reactions—lung infections, or life-threatening asthma attacks—and needed to be transferred to Victoria or Vancouver—where the hospitals were also packed” (88).

In another seemingly prescient detail, people wearing masks in public becomes a common sight. Beyond the plot’s resemblance to aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, Bloom explores how society responds to crisis. Depictions of shrinking work forces, supply-chain disruptions, conspiracy theories, shifting blame, fear, and the odd balance between chaos and daily life paint a broad picture of a world in crisis. The novel regularly speaks to Global Crisis, Heroism, and Togetherness as it looks forward to coming global crises caused by ecological disasters related to climate change. Although it did not necessarily predict the pandemic, it does speak to a general concern about global threats related to nature that will require group togetherness to solve.  

Bloom’s structure is shaped by its narrative point of view. The story is told in multiple third-person perspectives, switching focus from Anaya to Petra to Seth with clear delineations. The first three chapters are labeled by character name to indicate perspective. Subsequent chapters are unlabeled and include sections for each character’s perspective. Character-specific icons set the sections apart. Each point of view is narrated using a voice and worldview distinct to the character in focus. In Anaya’s section, for example, Petra is described as “a disloyal backstabber who’d chucked her aside when she got ugly” (58). Language that teenagers would use—like “Ev-er-y-thing”—lends authenticity to the narrative voice of a story about teenagers (58, 66). These characterizations also speak to Friendship and Loyalty as a Source of Strength. The novel is about teenagers, and it accurately characterizes their experiences and the difficulties they might face among each other. The teens’ language emphasizes the conflict they have with each other, making it realistic as well, but this emphasis prepares the reader for the reconciliation in which the teens will find strength in once again establishing that friendship and overcoming their rift.

The author uses several techniques to create suspense and escalate tension. Ambiguity in early descriptions of Seth’s scars—an allusion to an unspecified surgery—is designed to pique readers’ curiosity. Oppel doesn’t reveal that Seth was born with feathers along his arms, which were surgically removed, until later in the book. Chapter cliff-hangers also create suspense, like at the end of Chapter 5: “Hopping off [the tractor], he ran, and he knew he was running toward bad news” (77). These cliff-hangers contribute to the book’s fast pace and suspense. The relationships the teenage protagonists have to their parents and other adult figures, too, help define an important aspect of the book’s style and tone—its focus on treating teenagers with respect and dignity. Anaya loves hanging out with her dad because he includes her, lets her help, and doesn’t treat her as helpless despite her numerous allergies. Seth is pleasantly surprised when Mr. Antos asks Seth’s opinion about using herbicides to save his crops. Petra realizes her mother is honest about the bad things that might happen, not because she’s a killjoy, but because respecting her daughter’s ability to handle reality is the best way to keep her safe. These interactions continue to emphasize togetherness and Friendship and Loyalty as a Source of Strength.

Atmosphere plays an important role in making Bloom’s science-fiction plot relatable and evocative. Even the mundane setting of a supermarket becomes eerie when Seth uncannily guesses what Petra dreams about, making her feel “like he’d just looked inside her” (93). An empty allergy medication shelf with a lone box of Reactine, ripped open, emptied, and crumpled, gives the scene an “added touch of end-of-the-world frenzy” (91). Until Anaya, Petra, and Seth recognize their unique abilities in action, the book’s atmosphere evokes a sense of helplessness, fueled by a collision of youth, uncertainty, and otherworldly circumstances. Bloom doesn’t shy away from acknowledging major difficulties many teenagers face, like anxiety and even self-harm, though it does approach such topics with care.

Perhaps more indicative of the sociohistorical context in which the book was written, it normalizes the experience of emotional pain for teenagers and models the use of coping strategies. Petra deals with anxiety by taking “slow, deep breaths, the way her therapist had taught her” and looking “calmly back at all her catastrophic thoughts, and question[ing] them scientifically” (24). Seth prepares for painful news by making himself “leave his body a little bit, so it wouldn’t hurt as much” (98). In part, the characters’ emotional pain connects to a larger theme about Alienation From One Group as Belonging to Another. Although the teens at first feel alienated from other people because of their pasts and mental health concerns, they eventually learn that there are others like them, and this alienation becomes a source of belonging. This works in a meta-fictional way, too, as the novel itself helps the reader find belonging with other people, such as the teens, if they themselves have mental health concerns and pasts they feel insecure about.

One of Anaya’s sources of emotional pain is her belief that she’s ugly. She copes by envisioning herself in terms of a metaphor, that of a flower that hasn’t yet bloomed: “She wanted to believe her mother. She wanted to believe that, one day, she’d bloom. She imagined a dull flower suddenly opening its petals, and they were dazzling” (8). This use of the book’s title attributes the beauty and power of maturation to the concept of blooming. With the invasive cryptogenic plants, the concept seems at first to embody something much more sinister. In time, though, it’ll change Anaya’s understanding of the beauty and power inside her. She will learn to feel confident and happy in her own identity.