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snowmaiden's review against another edition
3.0
I'd been predisposed to like this book because I spent my childhood reading and re-reading [b:Nicholas and Alexandra|133486|Nicholas and Alexandra|Robert K. Massie|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333577599s/133486.jpg|2453716], just as the author herself says she did. Unfortunately, this fictional retelling of that story didn't quite live up to my expectations.
It's pretty common for people, including me, to say in their reviews that they liked the beginning and ending of a book but felt it sagged in the middle. Unusually, I felt exactly the opposite about this novel, which read like three separate books. The first is a straightforward story of how Rasputin's daughters came to live in the Imperial Palace after their father's death and remained there during the early days of the Romanov family's captivity. This part was fine, but I felt myself struggling to remember bits of Russian history that weren't explained very well, which broke the flow of things for me. The middle section consists of long stories told by Maria Rasputin to Alexei when he is recovering from one of his hemophiliac episodes. The stories exist in their own reality apart from real-life Russian history and are filled with magic-realism touches. I loved this part, which was very poetic and lyrical. The third section tells what happened in Maria's life after she was separated from Alexei, interspersed with flashbacks to earlier events. This section was really confusing and didn't really go anywhere or add anything to what we'd already read.
I'm still glad that I won the Goodreads First Reads giveaway that brought me this book, because it had some lovely moments, but all in all, it was not as good as I had hoped.
It's pretty common for people, including me, to say in their reviews that they liked the beginning and ending of a book but felt it sagged in the middle. Unusually, I felt exactly the opposite about this novel, which read like three separate books. The first is a straightforward story of how Rasputin's daughters came to live in the Imperial Palace after their father's death and remained there during the early days of the Romanov family's captivity. This part was fine, but I felt myself struggling to remember bits of Russian history that weren't explained very well, which broke the flow of things for me. The middle section consists of long stories told by Maria Rasputin to Alexei when he is recovering from one of his hemophiliac episodes. The stories exist in their own reality apart from real-life Russian history and are filled with magic-realism touches. I loved this part, which was very poetic and lyrical. The third section tells what happened in Maria's life after she was separated from Alexei, interspersed with flashbacks to earlier events. This section was really confusing and didn't really go anywhere or add anything to what we'd already read.
I'm still glad that I won the Goodreads First Reads giveaway that brought me this book, because it had some lovely moments, but all in all, it was not as good as I had hoped.
oleitorconstante's review against another edition
2.0
Opinião também disponível no blog.
O meu fascínio pela Rússia e, sobretudo, pelos últimos Romanov começou quando ainda era muito novo, na tenra idade dos cinco/seis anos, quando descobri que "Anastasia", o filme da Fox Animation Studios que eu adorava, estava baseado ao de leve em acontecimentos verídicos, acontecimentos esses que, ao contrário do filme, não tiveram um final feliz. Em particular, Grigory Rasputine atraia-me imenso: toda aquela aura mística, da sua capacidade de curar Alexei e do mistério à volta do seu assassínio, já para não falar do seu aspecto que, verdade seja dita, ainda hoje me causa alguns arrepios, com aquela densa barba negra sob esses olhos capazes de penetrar a mente...
Desde então tenho tentado ler tudo o que posso acerca deste tema e, dado que, infelizmente, não existem muitos livros no mercado nacional sobre ele (seja de ficção ou não), este não podia ser diferente.
Dito isto, como posso descrever a minha frustração com esta suposta obra de Encantamentos?
Em primeiro lugar, detestei profundamente, não só o comportamento sexual que a autora atribuiu ao pequeno czarevich, mas que esse fosse um dos temas centrais do livro. Compreendo que, com 14 anos, estivesse na puberdade. Porém, que eu tenha conhecimento, não existem quaisquer registos históricos que indiquem que estivesse tão obcecado em perder a virgindade a ponto de tentar entrar em "jogos manuais" (à falta de melhor termo, desculpem) com Masha, quatro anos mais velha, com 18! A própria química sexual entre estas duas personagens pareceu-me bastante forçada.
Outro aspecto negativo é a ausência de uma organização temporal na narrativa bem definida, o que acabou por dar-me a impressão de que não existe um argumento, com princípio, meio e fim, mas sim um conjunto de relatos apresentados por ordem quase aleatória.
Felizmente nem tudo foi mau (daí a minha pontuação não ser ainda mais baixa): são os excertos que falam sobre a relação entre Nicolau e Alexandra, sobre Rasputine e sobre a vida de Masha fora da Rússia que redimiram o livro de não ir parar projectado ao outro lado da sala.
O meu fascínio pela Rússia e, sobretudo, pelos últimos Romanov começou quando ainda era muito novo, na tenra idade dos cinco/seis anos, quando descobri que "Anastasia", o filme da Fox Animation Studios que eu adorava, estava baseado ao de leve em acontecimentos verídicos, acontecimentos esses que, ao contrário do filme, não tiveram um final feliz. Em particular, Grigory Rasputine atraia-me imenso: toda aquela aura mística, da sua capacidade de curar Alexei e do mistério à volta do seu assassínio, já para não falar do seu aspecto que, verdade seja dita, ainda hoje me causa alguns arrepios, com aquela densa barba negra sob esses olhos capazes de penetrar a mente...
Desde então tenho tentado ler tudo o que posso acerca deste tema e, dado que, infelizmente, não existem muitos livros no mercado nacional sobre ele (seja de ficção ou não), este não podia ser diferente.
Dito isto, como posso descrever a minha frustração com esta suposta obra de Encantamentos?
Em primeiro lugar, detestei profundamente, não só o comportamento sexual que a autora atribuiu ao pequeno czarevich, mas que esse fosse um dos temas centrais do livro. Compreendo que, com 14 anos, estivesse na puberdade. Porém, que eu tenha conhecimento, não existem quaisquer registos históricos que indiquem que estivesse tão obcecado em perder a virgindade a ponto de tentar entrar em "jogos manuais" (à falta de melhor termo, desculpem) com Masha, quatro anos mais velha, com 18! A própria química sexual entre estas duas personagens pareceu-me bastante forçada.
Outro aspecto negativo é a ausência de uma organização temporal na narrativa bem definida, o que acabou por dar-me a impressão de que não existe um argumento, com princípio, meio e fim, mas sim um conjunto de relatos apresentados por ordem quase aleatória.
Felizmente nem tudo foi mau (daí a minha pontuação não ser ainda mais baixa): são os excertos que falam sobre a relação entre Nicolau e Alexandra, sobre Rasputine e sobre a vida de Masha fora da Rússia que redimiram o livro de não ir parar projectado ao outro lado da sala.
regalexander's review against another edition
2.0
The previous novel I read was so good, I felt I needed a rebound.
I have mixed feelings about Enchantments, though. I'm fascinated by Russian history and the Romanovs are such an interesting part of that, but in Enchantments, the line between historical fact and imagination was so blurry I found it hard to really appreciate. The reader never quite knows whether something described is a dream, a story, or a memory. Sometimes, something could go on for pages and pages and you wouldn't know how much was in Masha's head. I'm sure loads of people like that, but it's not my cup of tea.
The sexual scenes were also quite disturbing, since Alexei was only 13 years old. The fact that Masha was 18 made it worse. The novel could definitely have done without that.
I have mixed feelings about Enchantments, though. I'm fascinated by Russian history and the Romanovs are such an interesting part of that, but in Enchantments, the line between historical fact and imagination was so blurry I found it hard to really appreciate. The reader never quite knows whether something described is a dream, a story, or a memory. Sometimes, something could go on for pages and pages and you wouldn't know how much was in Masha's head. I'm sure loads of people like that, but it's not my cup of tea.
The sexual scenes were also quite disturbing, since Alexei was only 13 years old. The fact that Masha was 18 made it worse. The novel could definitely have done without that.
mimima's review against another edition
2.0
I've never read Harrison before, but realized while reading that I have a high ick factor for her based on her first book. Blech.
Having said that, this book suffered as it was the sexual awakening of the Tsarevich, which is not particularly something I want to read about in great detail. Also, I felt that there was a lot of information dumping disguised as stories that Masha tells to Aleksei. Having said that, I thought the writing was beautiful and I was fascinated by the character of Masha. Did you know she became a circus performer in Western Europe and the US? Me neither.
Having said that, this book suffered as it was the sexual awakening of the Tsarevich, which is not particularly something I want to read about in great detail. Also, I felt that there was a lot of information dumping disguised as stories that Masha tells to Aleksei. Having said that, I thought the writing was beautiful and I was fascinated by the character of Masha. Did you know she became a circus performer in Western Europe and the US? Me neither.
miraeli's review against another edition
3.0
A little messy and all over the place, jumping between time periods in no real order, but I did manage to get sucked into the writing and the stories Masha told. I also enjoyed the different viewpoint of Rasputin, as Masha had a very positive opinion of her father. The romance was a little uncomfortable as one of the people involved is only thirteen, and it could have done without a lot of the sex at the end, but overall I still liked it well enough.
meghan's review
4.0
I really liked this book. It wasn't exactly what I had expected because it goes back and forth in time explaining different little stories, adding on here and there. But I did like it. I liked the Aloysha-Masha relationship because it was realistic, even though it became sexual at times. Why couldn't she like him? She was only about 5 years older than him and she liked him but she tried not to give into it. He was younger and perfectly willing to give into it. I also liked the little stories about the different Romanov family members. I became very attached to the characters and was so upset when Masha had to leave Aloysha and was even more upset when he died. Of course, I was upset the very most when I reached the end of the book. I'd give it 4.5 stars.
louisefbooks96's review
4.0
This book was beautifully written and it showed throughout the author clearly had researched the book and was well read on the subject which was good to see. As not knowing a lot about the subject it was refreshing to learn something new in history for me and something I found interesting and relished overall. However with positives there will always be negatives and this book had a couple I'm afraid, one of them being the words in Russian and Russian places which I couldn't understand and annoyed me throughout - once again well done to the author for the extensive research, another thing which annoyed me was the constant flicking back and forth but that was the overall charm of the book!
Overall I feel that I wouldn't read this book again however it was a good and interesting read and was incredibly well researched, no hesitations to read the author again, it has also made me more curious to read more about the subject. Overall a good entertaining light read.
Overall I feel that I wouldn't read this book again however it was a good and interesting read and was incredibly well researched, no hesitations to read the author again, it has also made me more curious to read more about the subject. Overall a good entertaining light read.
allisonthurman's review
4.0
Nice to read a story about Rasputin (through his daughter's memories) that doesn't make him out to be either a saint or a total charlatan.
I also enjoyed the author's take on Alexei, the doomed Tsarevitch. It's easy to imagine that with his continuous illnesses he might well have developed a fatalistic view of life at a young age and I found the characterization a refreshing change from thinking of him as a naive child.
I also enjoyed the author's take on Alexei, the doomed Tsarevitch. It's easy to imagine that with his continuous illnesses he might well have developed a fatalistic view of life at a young age and I found the characterization a refreshing change from thinking of him as a naive child.
bdietrich's review
2.0
Enchanments was an okay novel.
Harrison's syntax tripped me quite often with her habit of putting the subject after the verb or placing parenthetical information where it was slightly out of place syntactically. It took me nearly half of the book to get the hang of it.
Additionally, the first half -and perhaps even further- was not too interesting to me because it didn't seem to have any point. Each chapter was just Aloysha telling Masha a story from the past or Masha telling Aloysha a story. As such, there was no rising action or climax. When we do finally get a climax, it is not very exciting at all and seems to not be the central focus of the plot at all.
I understand that there are always two sides to a story, but Enchantments put too much emphasis on how Grigory Rasputin was wronged... that he was totally innocent, as were the current Romanavs not 100% guilty of poorly ruling their country. I am not an expert on Russian history, and I am of the generation that watched the animated Anastasia as a child in the '90s, but I felt that Harrison was too generous in her portrayal of Rasputin and the Romanovs, which sat poorly with me.
Harrison's syntax tripped me quite often with her habit of putting the subject after the verb or placing parenthetical information where it was slightly out of place syntactically. It took me nearly half of the book to get the hang of it.
Additionally, the first half -and perhaps even further- was not too interesting to me because it didn't seem to have any point. Each chapter was just Aloysha telling Masha a story from the past or Masha telling Aloysha a story. As such, there was no rising action or climax. When we do finally get a climax, it is not very exciting at all and seems to not be the central focus of the plot at all.
I understand that there are always two sides to a story, but Enchantments put too much emphasis on how Grigory Rasputin was wronged... that he was totally innocent, as were the current Romanavs not 100% guilty of poorly ruling their country. I am not an expert on Russian history, and I am of the generation that watched the animated Anastasia as a child in the '90s, but I felt that Harrison was too generous in her portrayal of Rasputin and the Romanovs, which sat poorly with me.
dashausfrau's review
4.0
A different take on the mysterious and notorious Rasputin though the eyes of his daughter. I rated the book highly because I thought the different stories weaved back & forth in time in a very effective story. This offsets the inevitable ending that everyone knows for the Tsar and his family. However, I hesitated to give it 4 stars because so much of the premise of the plot seems to revolve around how sad it would be if the Tsar's teen son died a virgin & creating a story where he was spared that horror.