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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
slow-paced
Looove this book! I really need to read the second one (movie was dumb, by the way, and not like the book!)
Absolutely nothing like the movie, but still makes me want to move to Tuscany.
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
I found this book to be extremely long and not full of much. There were moments of interesting events, but overall it is just a journal of events exploring and building a house in Tuscany. I do think it's my error because I was expecting something else from this book. I was thinking it would be like the movie I loved watching with my grandma when I was a teenager. So I fully acknowledge while I didn't enjoy this book, it is my own fault for expecting something it was not.
I do not even know where to start with this book.
I read it because I loved the movie. I mean really LOVED the movie, and I have seen it numerous times. I love the story of Frances and her recovery from divorce, that amazing resilience a person can find in the face of such a devastating life change. I love the friends and family and the characters that surround her. I love her house. I wanted to read more about it.
But Disney got their hands on this book, and they did what Disney does best - made it marketable. So while the movie is something that I love, the book just irritates the hell out of me. And maybe it would have been different had I read the book first, but that is just not the case.
So here I am, not really feeling this book. It is not a novel - it a memoir of the author's purchase and restoration of a house in Tuscany. There is no plot. Just her words about all the different trials and tribulations with each project, all the various food she cooked and ate, and various little self-realizations along the way.
So. Many. Words.
There is this scene in the movie where Diane Lane's character writes a postcard for a young man, and she uses some flowery language about how the grapes "taste purple". The young man is annoyed because it completely does not sound like him. It doesn't really sound like anyone unless you're a poet or an English professor.
Oh, wait. The author is both of those. So every description goes on for pages. And at first, it's all very charming. Then after awhile, it's mildly annoying. I mean, yay for restorations and gardening, but I really do not need pages upon pages of it. There are also two sections that include recipes (summer and winter). By the end, I really just want her to shut up.
Now all of this would be very interesting (like the people around her, the history of the area, that kind of thing) if the book didn't start to feel like this overly reverential journey of self. It feels as if she is yearning and searching through the entire book, but you don't really get to know anything about her life until right at the end.
I guess I am just not the type of person who wants to delve into another woman's psyche while she finds her bliss. Or something. Don't quote me on that.
I read it because I loved the movie. I mean really LOVED the movie, and I have seen it numerous times. I love the story of Frances and her recovery from divorce, that amazing resilience a person can find in the face of such a devastating life change. I love the friends and family and the characters that surround her. I love her house. I wanted to read more about it.
But Disney got their hands on this book, and they did what Disney does best - made it marketable. So while the movie is something that I love, the book just irritates the hell out of me. And maybe it would have been different had I read the book first, but that is just not the case.
So here I am, not really feeling this book. It is not a novel - it a memoir of the author's purchase and restoration of a house in Tuscany. There is no plot. Just her words about all the different trials and tribulations with each project, all the various food she cooked and ate, and various little self-realizations along the way.
So. Many. Words.
There is this scene in the movie where Diane Lane's character writes a postcard for a young man, and she uses some flowery language about how the grapes "taste purple". The young man is annoyed because it completely does not sound like him. It doesn't really sound like anyone unless you're a poet or an English professor.
Oh, wait. The author is both of those. So every description goes on for pages. And at first, it's all very charming. Then after awhile, it's mildly annoying. I mean, yay for restorations and gardening, but I really do not need pages upon pages of it. There are also two sections that include recipes (summer and winter). By the end, I really just want her to shut up.
Now all of this would be very interesting (like the people around her, the history of the area, that kind of thing) if the book didn't start to feel like this overly reverential journey of self. It feels as if she is yearning and searching through the entire book, but you don't really get to know anything about her life until right at the end.
I guess I am just not the type of person who wants to delve into another woman's psyche while she finds her bliss. Or something. Don't quote me on that.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
This is a lovely, warm memoir full of stories about the life of Frances Mayes and her husband as they restore a villa in Tuscany. Don't expect a romantic comedy, like you get in the movie. This simply paints a picture of Mayes' time in her summer home. The writing is lyrical and colorful. There were times when I felt myself tearing up at the descriptions of beautiful land and weather; peace and consciousness brought about by this world. Sometimes the poetic writing got a bit too lengthy for me, and I'd find myself zoning out and having to reread lines. But so much of it brought up a sense of longing for the hot summer days and warm evenings in the garden. This is a lovely book.