En commençant ce livre, j’ai eu le sentiment qu’il s’agissait d’un roman à l’eau de rose, dans lequel je retrouverais le schéma amoureux traditionnel, appliqué à une ambiance estivale et adolescente (avec un peu d’inceste pour pimenter l’ensemble, d’après ce que j’avais compris de la quatrième de couverture ; je rassure immédiatement ceux que cela pourrait déranger, je me trompais tout à fait à propos de cette relation père-fille). J’ai progressivement compris mon erreur et ai été très agréablement surprise par ce texte, bien moins léger qu’il n’y paraît et soulevant des problématiques amoureuses assez intéressantes. Il y a une certaine lenteur – qui a déplu à ceux qui s’attendaient à un roman sentimental classique, d’après ce que j’ai pu lire sur Babelio – qui permet le déploiement de ces questions et de la psychologie de l’héroïne, Lara. Malgré la narration à la troisième personne, la perception des évènements est centrée sur son regard, et ce sont ses sentiments qui nous sont livrés. Nous assistons donc à son « éducation sentimentale » et sexuelle : en effet, sans être une jeune vierge effarouchée, l’héroïne est encore mal à l’aise avec son corps et apprendra peu à peu à se sentir mieux dans sa peau. Elle fera également connaissance avec son père, qu’elle connaît très peu, découvrant notamment des bribes de son passé. Elle sera confrontée à un autre univers social, passant d’une modeste mansarde à une société de jeunes riches oisifs. Le roman est totalement centré sur cet été italien et sur les apprentissages de Lara : cela place le lecteur dans la même situation que la jeune fille, mais m’a personnellement laissé sur ma faim. J’avais envie de poursuivre encore un peu ce voyage, d’en connaître l’après et de voir les intrigues familiales démêlées. De (trop) nombreuses questions restent en suspens à la fin du roman, c’est un peu frustrant.Excepté ce final trop brusque – à l’image du début in medias res – et ce manque qui me reste, j’ai beaucoup aimé ce roman et être ainsi plongée dans l’ambiance toscane, grâce aux descriptions des paysages, ainsi qu’à ce rythme lent propre aux vacances et à la dolce vita. J’ai également eu envie de connaître ces personnages très secrets, à défaut de m’attacher véritablement à ces « riches qui s’ennuient ». http://minoualu.blogspot.be/2012/12/n...
I was expecting a pale shadow of Rumer Godden's unmatchable Battle of the Villa Fiorita and for about the first three-quarters of this book, that is exactly what I got. In fact, I was starting to wonder if Ms. Freud was just repaying some travel debts and writing a bit of a soft blurb for the Siena Chamber of Commerce. And then - somewhere between growing boredom and my habit of making a strong effort to finish every book I start - something clicked. I am not even sure if the click was intentional, but the last quarter of the book definitely raised some interesting questions and held my interest. I have several questions, but I don't want to plot spoil. So one non-spoiler question only: why, oh why, do the adults in this book pay so little attention to what is going on around them, i.e. how can they be SO incredibly selfish? I agree that the parents in the Villa Fiorita were similarly wrapped up in themselves, but that was a different generation. Our parents threw us outside after breakfast and expected us to show up again, reasonably unscathed, for supper. But this novel takes place in the 80's when surely parents were far more heavily into pro-active parenting - some might say TOO heavily. By the end of this book, I was very angry on Lara's behalf. She deserved better.
What do You think about Love Falls (2007)?
I read this book shortly after a trip to Italy where I visited Sienna and Florence, both settings in this novel. I liked the all the characters and the underlying mysteries about the main character's father's past and the boy she falls in love with. The title seemed to be a play on words since a major scene takes place at Love Falls and throughout the book people seem to be falling in and out of love. At first glance, the urgent romance between the main character and the young man seems to be the centerpiece of this novel, but in the end, it is a tale about loyalty and connections that endure.
—April
"You, me and Piers, Lulu, Roland, Kip. That's six. Tabsy, will you come along?'Tabsy?I was constantly asking myself as I read this novel why I would care about any of these obnoxious toffs and their obnoxious world. I guess I kept reading because EF does know how to construct a plot. On the other hand, i found the writing itself pretty flat and uninteresting. there were also pages and pages about the palio, almost as if she was trying to write a travelogue - perhaps a way of distracting readers from the book's weaknesses. wouldn't recommend.
—Rhonda
La trama ricorda alcuni aspetti della sceneggiatura del film “io ballo da sola”: giovane ragazza inglese in vacanza nelle colline senesi, in una bella villa con vicini aristocratici e anticonformisti. Il suo soggiorno diventa una specie di passaggio di maturazione: si chiarisce il suo rapporto con un padre amato ma distante, si incontra/scontra con le ambiguità e le bassezze del mondo adulto e si innamora. Il tutto avviene nell’estate del 1981 e sullo sfondo c’e’ il matrimonio fra Carlo e Diana, seguito con solo apparente disinteresse dalla comunità aristocratica inglese in vacanza. Ho un giudizio contrastante su Innamoramenti: le due stelle sono sicuramente basse ma le tre sono un po’ alte; per un verso il libro è scritto bene: ho trovato molto efficace la descrizione dei turbamenti adolescenziali e del continuo altalenare della protagonista fra il suo mondo noto e quello nuovo, che la incuriosisce, ma in cui si sente fuori luogo, avendone soggezione. Non ho molto apprezzato, invece, gli sfondi e le situazioni; secondo me, sono un po’ di maniera: campagna senese con ville aristocratiche, nobili inglesi che conoscono a perfezione il Palio, tifando come contradaioli, il lord mascalzoncello e sciupafemmine, il figlio bello e scansafatiche, il genero un po’ infame, e cosi via. Diciamo due stelle e tre quarti, arrotondate a tre.
—Mara
