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A review by mynameismarines
The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
5.0
I always like to read the low-star reviews of books I love, to see if I understand the gripes, despite my appreciation for the work. From what I saw, it seems that people who felt disconnected from this work struggled with the magical realism, or else with feeling far away from all the characters within. Yes, I understand that, but I'm happy to report that both of these aspects worked for me.
It worked, though, in the most devastating way. This was a difficult read, to be sure. It was dark and gruesome and in a lot of ways, the imagined world of the narrator made it all sharper for me, and did nothing to soften the reality of the world presented by Rene Denfeld. I'm not sure I'm explaining myself correctly, but it is almost as if Arden's need to create this world deep within in dungeon of the unnamed prison was part of the heartbreak.
One of the themes of Denfeld's book is that of being seen by others. Longing to be seen, or else, yearning to be forgotten. Denfeld presents us a cast of criminals, but treads lightly around their crimes. The most detail is said of the crimes that happen within the enchanted prison, not really what landed them in prison. We learn of some of their lives, the crappy environments that fostered them as criminals, but not much about their original crime. Arden says he doesn't talk about it because ideas infect people, and he doesn't want people infected by the idea of what he did. It was one of my favorite passages, because of Arden says that an idea isn't like something you taste and spit out. It lingers. I also think, though, that Denfeld treads lightly here to keep us whatever level of sympathetic to these characters.
I loved the writing. My favorite part had to be the narrative POV. Arden tells the story, but he becomes almost omniscient as he tells us about The Lady and the fallen priest. It worked well for me. I also like that the magical bits ebbed and flowed. It's a creation of an inmate's mind, so that it would be stronger at some points rather than at others makes complete sense to me.
I'm confident this will turn out to be a must read for 2014. It's definitely a book to be experienced.
It worked, though, in the most devastating way. This was a difficult read, to be sure. It was dark and gruesome and in a lot of ways, the imagined world of the narrator made it all sharper for me, and did nothing to soften the reality of the world presented by Rene Denfeld. I'm not sure I'm explaining myself correctly, but it is almost as if Arden's need to create this world deep within in dungeon of the unnamed prison was part of the heartbreak.
One of the themes of Denfeld's book is that of being seen by others. Longing to be seen, or else, yearning to be forgotten. Denfeld presents us a cast of criminals, but treads lightly around their crimes. The most detail is said of the crimes that happen within the enchanted prison, not really what landed them in prison. We learn of some of their lives, the crappy environments that fostered them as criminals, but not much about their original crime. Arden says he doesn't talk about it because ideas infect people, and he doesn't want people infected by the idea of what he did. It was one of my favorite passages, because of Arden says that an idea isn't like something you taste and spit out. It lingers. I also think, though, that Denfeld treads lightly here to keep us whatever level of sympathetic to these characters.
I loved the writing. My favorite part had to be the narrative POV. Arden tells the story, but he becomes almost omniscient as he tells us about The Lady and the fallen priest. It worked well for me. I also like that the magical bits ebbed and flowed. It's a creation of an inmate's mind, so that it would be stronger at some points rather than at others makes complete sense to me.
I'm confident this will turn out to be a must read for 2014. It's definitely a book to be experienced.