The Enchanted April by E von Arnim

[BeardySchnauzer]

Just finished this after I was given rave reviews and I was really disappointed! The ending was so trite and I suppose ‘of it’s time’. Am I alone in this!!

is it worth reading any of her other books or will I be equally disappointed?

Agree, couldn’t understand the hype. Never read anything else by the same writer, but given life is short and the time we have to read is even shorter I’d try a different author.

Ok phew. The bookseller was so complimentary about it and compared it to A room with a view. I had already decided to buy it so don’t feel it was a sales tactic!

I was just so disappointed that they all ended up with such horrible men and that was supposedly the prize. But I am tempted by her book about her dogs

It did make me think it was a wonderful idea though - well the first week of the holiday anyway

the first few pages of Enchanted in August - a modern version of the story - at the back of the book which looked awful

I like it a bit because it felt a bit like time travel. Reading something written for a contemporary audience that had such different lives and experiences. However that wasn’t enough to sustain me for the whole novel. The ending was just silly.

Yes - i couldn’t understand why lady Caroline changed her mind on Briggs’s just because he owned the house

and it seemed that roses epiphany was that her religious beliefs were tosh and she should just focus on her husband

i guess divorce was never going to be an acceptable outcome in those days but it was very sad that the outcome of their strike for freedom was that they climbed back in their boxes

I read it donkey's years ago, liked it then. The film is lovely though, with great actors and beautiful scenery.

Just read the film plot and they have changed it to make it more ‘modern’ - the Caroline SL is better

Absolutely agree! It was just so daft. I suppose it's of its time. I enjoyed the adaptation though which was I felt better than the book.

Felt the same about Room with a View - crap book, excellent and memorable adaptation.

I loved the concept of the book - maybe I’ll watch the film but the actors don’t really look as I imagined them!! I suppose I could watch as a completely separate artistic endeavour

I agree. It appears very often on, "must read," lists. I really don't understand why.

a sequel set 12 months later showing how miserable they all are stuck with the arsehole men would have been good!

i Love EvArnim. She can be very funny.

in one of her books, her sister comes to visit, who is a childless widow who has pots of money and does what she wants and has a lovely life. E v Arnim is talking about her sister over dinner with her husband and kids and says ‘ oh the best thing in the world would be to be a childless widow: I’d love that!’ Cue silence from husband and kids!

I've not read the book, but have watched the film and loved it, although it is very much of it's time.

Surely Caroline changes her mind about Briggs when she discovers he is so short-sighted. He wasn't interested in looks (in the way that most of the men she had encountered before were), but in the inner person.

I loved it! In fact it's one of the few books I've read twice.

That was in the film not the book. I suspect they added things in don’t made a bit more sense

I feel I was missold as it ended up centring the men and i’d hoped for something more focussed on the women