You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
My enjoyment of this book varied wildly through the whole thing. Two of the women seemed bound and determined to be absolutely awful, and then when the men start showing up I got extra irritated. Strangely, I think I liked it overall, but I won't be reading it again.
Also, I think the endingwas meant to be happy, but who knows if any of those personal changes would stick around for daily life?
Also, I think the ending
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Estimada, Elizabeth:
No sé cómo explicar lo bien que me has hecho sentir; me complace decir que por segunda vez me has cautivado. Con “Vera” pude sentir esa rabia interior que destilabas con tus palabras por todas las injusticias que tuviste que enfrentar como mujer en tus relaciones amorosas y ahora, con qué sutileza, con qué extrema simplicidad y delicadeza me has hecho sonreír, ser feliz y creer en segundas oportunidades.
“Un abril encantado” publicado por @hermida (han hecho una maravillosa labor publicando esta obra), comienza con el encuentro entre Lotty y Rose, dos mujeres amas de casa, que tienen una existencia monótona y rutinaria en sus casas y con sus maridos. Viven infelices pues han dedicado toda su vida a la felicidad de los demás, aunque ni ellas mismas son conscientes de ello. Todo cambia cuando al conocerse se fijan en un anuncio: se alquila un castillo medieval junto al mar en Italia. Deciden tomarse un respiro y alquilarlo durante el mes de abril y al plan se sumarán otras dos mujeres.
Te felicito, no hay nada malo que pueda decirte de tu novela, salvo quizá (perdóname), me ha sorprendido que lo que empieza siendo un viaje de autoconocimiento y lucha femenina luego vuelva a tener presencia de aquellos maridos que no echaba en falta. Tranquila, entendí rápido lo que pretendías trasmitir y fue algo también digno de abarcar en una obra.
Tu estilo narrativo es tan especial… Con qué ligereza me has transportado a la costa italiana, con qué facilidad he sentido el sol en mi piel y el aroma sutil y embriagador de las flores. Además, también me he sentido reflejada en tus protagonistas, he sido madre joven y me he dejado de querer demasiado rápido, casi sin darme cuenta olvidé hacer cosas para mi único disfrute y poco a poco las estoy haciendo y qué bien sienta.
En fin, ¿qué más se puede pedir de una lectura primaveral, querida? Esta nos ofrece todo: una buena dosis de naturaleza, una ambientación idílica, relaciones, representación de cuatro mujeres en distintas edades y situaciones, profundas reflexiones y amor, mucho amor. Porque al final esta novela trata sobre eso y nos manda un mensaje claro: aprender a quererse a una misma y a disfrutar de nuevo de la vida, de la juventud y del presente. Gracias por haber creado arte, por haber sido tú, seguiré leyéndote. No quiero despedirme, hasta pronto Elizabeth.
No sé cómo explicar lo bien que me has hecho sentir; me complace decir que por segunda vez me has cautivado. Con “Vera” pude sentir esa rabia interior que destilabas con tus palabras por todas las injusticias que tuviste que enfrentar como mujer en tus relaciones amorosas y ahora, con qué sutileza, con qué extrema simplicidad y delicadeza me has hecho sonreír, ser feliz y creer en segundas oportunidades.
“Un abril encantado” publicado por @hermida (han hecho una maravillosa labor publicando esta obra), comienza con el encuentro entre Lotty y Rose, dos mujeres amas de casa, que tienen una existencia monótona y rutinaria en sus casas y con sus maridos. Viven infelices pues han dedicado toda su vida a la felicidad de los demás, aunque ni ellas mismas son conscientes de ello. Todo cambia cuando al conocerse se fijan en un anuncio: se alquila un castillo medieval junto al mar en Italia. Deciden tomarse un respiro y alquilarlo durante el mes de abril y al plan se sumarán otras dos mujeres.
Te felicito, no hay nada malo que pueda decirte de tu novela, salvo quizá (perdóname), me ha sorprendido que lo que empieza siendo un viaje de autoconocimiento y lucha femenina luego vuelva a tener presencia de aquellos maridos que no echaba en falta. Tranquila, entendí rápido lo que pretendías trasmitir y fue algo también digno de abarcar en una obra.
Tu estilo narrativo es tan especial… Con qué ligereza me has transportado a la costa italiana, con qué facilidad he sentido el sol en mi piel y el aroma sutil y embriagador de las flores. Además, también me he sentido reflejada en tus protagonistas, he sido madre joven y me he dejado de querer demasiado rápido, casi sin darme cuenta olvidé hacer cosas para mi único disfrute y poco a poco las estoy haciendo y qué bien sienta.
En fin, ¿qué más se puede pedir de una lectura primaveral, querida? Esta nos ofrece todo: una buena dosis de naturaleza, una ambientación idílica, relaciones, representación de cuatro mujeres en distintas edades y situaciones, profundas reflexiones y amor, mucho amor. Porque al final esta novela trata sobre eso y nos manda un mensaje claro: aprender a quererse a una misma y a disfrutar de nuevo de la vida, de la juventud y del presente. Gracias por haber creado arte, por haber sido tú, seguiré leyéndote. No quiero despedirme, hasta pronto Elizabeth.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
I was hoping that this would be more like an Austen novel, but it just didn’t grab me. Even the description of the Italian setting wasn’t quite enough to set the scene.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Initially gave this 2 stars, but thinking about other books I've 2-starred, this has way more charm and merit, despite my problems with it, so boosting to 3. I'm still going to rant about it.
The Enchanted April was written before any talk of women, men, fish and bicycles, so I should probably be more forgiving. Still, its beginning seemed to promise a story of emancipation! From the humdrum of everyday life, from marital disharmony, from putting everyone else first... With this in mind, I found the directions the plot took later on infuriating.
If I were rating the book on setting alone, it would be a winner. A fragrant paradise full of flowers and sunshine.
Main character Lotty certainly embraces it, and from the moment she sets foot in the castle, she floats around presciently giving off "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne vibes.
Once the initial joy of escape has taken place, we are into the territory of administrative gripes and holiday bickering. For a while, I was hoping someone would shove Mrs Fisher off the battlements and we'd have a lovely Riviera cosy mystery! Alas, it was not to be.
I did find some of the power dynamics amusing. This might have turned into a rather lovely novel about female friendship, if the men hadn't shown up.
I'm impressed von Armin managed to write such a bunch of shallow, amoral, self-important creeps.
I was hoping this would be a book about finding freedom, independence, joy, and self-love in an idyllic setting, but the moral of the story seemed to be that if your husband is an asshole, it's probably because you're no longer glowing enough for the both of you.
Solution: spend lots of money on a holiday so that he'll remember that you were hot once.
The blokes in this book were such deceptive fickle twerps that I didn't WANT things to all work out hunky dory for them.
I wanted Lotty to ditch her pompous bully of a husband. I wanted Lady Caroline to be the one to enjoy the chase for once. I wanted Rose to crack a vase over her philandering, inattentive husband's skull and run off with a fiery-but-devout Italian Catholic who shared her moral principles. And I wanted Mrs Fisher to be the one to point out that the three of them could all do a lot better.
The Enchanted April was a depressing reminder of how the world favours the beautiful, the unbothered, and the paired-up.
Not my idea of romance.
If you're trying to persuade yourself to stay with your good-for-nothing husband, whilst also contemplating a holiday to Italy, this is the book for you! I, sadly, came away feeling more annoyed than enchanted.
The Enchanted April was written before any talk of women, men, fish and bicycles, so I should probably be more forgiving. Still, its beginning seemed to promise a story of emancipation! From the humdrum of everyday life, from marital disharmony, from putting everyone else first... With this in mind, I found the directions the plot took later on infuriating.
If I were rating the book on setting alone, it would be a winner. A fragrant paradise full of flowers and sunshine.
Main character Lotty certainly embraces it, and from the moment she sets foot in the castle, she floats around presciently giving off "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne vibes.
Once the initial joy of escape has taken place, we are into the territory of administrative gripes and holiday bickering. For a while, I was hoping someone would shove Mrs Fisher off the battlements and we'd have a lovely Riviera cosy mystery! Alas, it was not to be.
I did find some of the power dynamics amusing. This might have turned into a rather lovely novel about female friendship, if the men hadn't shown up.
I'm impressed von Armin managed to write such a bunch of shallow, amoral, self-important creeps.
I was hoping this would be a book about finding freedom, independence, joy, and self-love in an idyllic setting, but the moral of the story seemed to be that if your husband is an asshole, it's probably because you're no longer glowing enough for the both of you.
Solution: spend lots of money on a holiday so that he'll remember that you were hot once.
The blokes in this book were such deceptive fickle twerps that I didn't WANT things to all work out hunky dory for them.
I wanted Lotty to ditch her pompous bully of a husband. I wanted Lady Caroline to be the one to enjoy the chase for once. I wanted Rose to crack a vase over her philandering, inattentive husband's skull and run off with a fiery-but-devout Italian Catholic who shared her moral principles. And I wanted Mrs Fisher to be the one to point out that the three of them could all do a lot better.
The Enchanted April was a depressing reminder of how the world favours the beautiful, the unbothered, and the paired-up.
Not my idea of romance.
If you're trying to persuade yourself to stay with your good-for-nothing husband, whilst also contemplating a holiday to Italy, this is the book for you! I, sadly, came away feeling more annoyed than enchanted.
“Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful… …She didn’t want to grow sentimental. Difficult not to, here; the marvellous night stole in through all one’s chinks, and brought in with it, whether one wanted them or not, enormous feelings—feelings one couldn’t manage, great things about death and time and waste; glorious and devastating things, magnificent and bleak, at once rapture and terror and immense, heart-cleaving longing. She felt small and dreadfully alone. She felt uncovered and defenceless. Instinctively she pulled her wrap closer. With this thing of chiffon she tried to protect herself from the eternities.”
What a delight! The Enchanted April is a story of blossoming, of rooting and blooming. This classic novel explores the juxtaposition of beauty and duty, the suffocations and liberations of love, all set against the stunning backdrop of the Italian Riviera in the 1920s.
In a predominately character-driven narrative, the plot lazily meanders along in the same way the main characters wander through castle gardens, replete with dripping wisteria and crystal seas. Yet, I couldn’t help but devour the story in only a couple sittings.
The Enchanted April is about love, but it’s not a love story. Instead it’s a celebration of girlhood, and of womanhood. It’s a multilayered tale of female friendship, found family, and coming into one’s own feminine identity. Told with an effortlessly light hand, the story is never cloying in its sweetness, but magic in the effervescent sparkling of a transformative spring in Italy.
Each character embarks on this journey with a purpose: Lotty, to live; Rose, to heal; Scrap, to think; Mrs. Fisher, to remember. Written 6 years before, it feels in some ways like a precursor to Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, as each woman is allowed to bloom when given the space, freedom, and privacy to do so. And in that blooming, they come together, their self-imposed isolations begetting the formation of authentic community. In other words, their blooming gives them roots.
I could gush on and on about all the little details: the lush and vivid imagery, the lyrical and intimate inner dialogues, the biting wit and gentle humor throughout. I could ramble on about the way Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot are only given first names upon entering the castle, Lotty and Rose respectively. I could wax poetic about the character’s transformations: Lotty’s liberation, Rose’s redemption, Caroline’s softening, and Mrs. Fisher’s revitalization. I could dig into the way each of the male characters is transformed merely by proximity to unadulterated female joy.
Instead, I’ll simply end with this: Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel is a triumphant tale of what happens when one is allowed to feel true joy and share that joy with others without pretense. If I have any criticism at all, it’s only that I wish there was more to the story. I love these characters dearly and feel as though I, too, have been changed irrevocably by their glorious, enchanted April.
What a delight! The Enchanted April is a story of blossoming, of rooting and blooming. This classic novel explores the juxtaposition of beauty and duty, the suffocations and liberations of love, all set against the stunning backdrop of the Italian Riviera in the 1920s.
In a predominately character-driven narrative, the plot lazily meanders along in the same way the main characters wander through castle gardens, replete with dripping wisteria and crystal seas. Yet, I couldn’t help but devour the story in only a couple sittings.
The Enchanted April is about love, but it’s not a love story. Instead it’s a celebration of girlhood, and of womanhood. It’s a multilayered tale of female friendship, found family, and coming into one’s own feminine identity. Told with an effortlessly light hand, the story is never cloying in its sweetness, but magic in the effervescent sparkling of a transformative spring in Italy.
Each character embarks on this journey with a purpose: Lotty, to live; Rose, to heal; Scrap, to think; Mrs. Fisher, to remember. Written 6 years before, it feels in some ways like a precursor to Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, as each woman is allowed to bloom when given the space, freedom, and privacy to do so. And in that blooming, they come together, their self-imposed isolations begetting the formation of authentic community. In other words, their blooming gives them roots.
I could gush on and on about all the little details: the lush and vivid imagery, the lyrical and intimate inner dialogues, the biting wit and gentle humor throughout. I could ramble on about the way Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot are only given first names upon entering the castle, Lotty and Rose respectively. I could wax poetic about the character’s transformations: Lotty’s liberation, Rose’s redemption, Caroline’s softening, and Mrs. Fisher’s revitalization. I could dig into the way each of the male characters is transformed merely by proximity to unadulterated female joy.
Instead, I’ll simply end with this: Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel is a triumphant tale of what happens when one is allowed to feel true joy and share that joy with others without pretense. If I have any criticism at all, it’s only that I wish there was more to the story. I love these characters dearly and feel as though I, too, have been changed irrevocably by their glorious, enchanted April.
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes