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From:Jane Green , Broadway ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#21184 |
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 Quick, Light and Fluffy ..., 2008-09-22
It's been awhile since I've read Jane Green's books and I definitely needed a lighter and fluffier read to get through the busy days of early autumn. This book fit the bill. It's not one of Green's better books, but it fit the bill.
This one is an inlook in a marriage where the husband cheats and the wife willingly turns a blind eye. In love with the dashing Joe Chambers, Alice remade herself into the woman he claims he needs, tall, blonde, wearing Jimmy Choos and always waiting for him. By the time they moved to the States, Alice had begun to tire of the so-called exciting life of being a promient businessman's wife. She was tired of spending hours beautifying herself so he could go to parties and show her off. When they discovered a little house in a town outside of NYC, that was when their lives started to drift apart even more. Finally.
Unlike the other reviewers who found Alice annoying, I didn't find her annoying. I was once in her shoes wanting nothing more than a little house out in the country surrounded by animals and kids and the love of her life. I was never the trophy wife but was married at one time to a man who just couldn't stop chasing women. I may not have stayed in that marriage for long but do understand why Alice would turn a blind eye to all the signs that Joe was cheating on her because it's easier that way and two, she didn't want to rock the boat. In this book, I found Joe to be smarmy and just a little too unappreciative of his good luck. Josie deserves him ... Alice deserves the house and the happy ending she has been looking for.
It is a cute book and very fluffy. As one of those women who live in a small town, I can relate to Alice's feelings of coming home once she found the charming house in Highfield. This is not Green's typical book of singlehood and dancing all night through in the quest for the perfect man. It is a refreshing change from all of the other chick lits she has written and it kept my interest till the very end.
This is also a perfect book to read in the hospital waiting room or on a long plane ride ... it is not too deep and yet, it is a fun story told of a marriage that has gone awry and a woman realizing that she doesn't have to have the man to make her feel complete.
9/22/08
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 Disappointed, 2008-01-05
I wrote this review on British Amazon early in 2004. The book is called Spellbound in Europe.
Spellbound is a disappointing novel from Jane Green, who usually writes enjoyable "modern fairytales" like Bookends and Jemima J. In Spellbound we meet Alice and Joe, married for 5 years. Alice was the little mouse who was saved by the love of her life, Joe, who turned her into a fashionable trophy-wife. On the very first pages, it is clear that theirs is not a happy marriage. Alice is feeling insecure about everything, most of all her husband Joe, who is a serial adulterer. Alice does not know about Joe's affairs, and she ignores all the typical signs of adultery. When Joe takes it one step too far, he is transferred to USA, and Alice, who does not know why her husband is being transferred, comes along. In USA they start all over again complete with Manhattan flat and Connecticut weekend house, and for a while they seem happy. Pretty soon they start drifting apart, and after a year of keeping himself on a tight leash, Joe once again falls into the arms of a woman other than his wife. The question is,m how much more can Alice take? Is she perfectly happy in her Connecticut house, without Joe? And what about her English best friend Emily and her boyfriend Harry?
The plot is thin in this book. Alice is an annoying woman, and more than once, I found myself having more sympathy with Joe and his girlfriends than with Alice and her friends. I know it is supposed to be the other way round, but the "good guys" in this story are more often than not unbelievably good and perfect, while the "bad guys" seem much more human. I would have rated this only one star, but ended upgiving it two, as I, after all, did finish it, and also recognizes Ms. Green's effort and work. It is a looong book, and not overly enjoyable.
 Wonderful imagery, 2007-12-21
Jane Green is one of my favorites, and this book was just wonderful. I've read it many times (I always re read my books, sort of akin to visiting with old friends)
Anyway, the thing that I most loved about this book was Jane Green's descriptive genius. She paints such a gorgeous picture of the Cotswolds, and of Connecticut, reading this book is like taking a journey through a really great garden, or a fabulous, out of the way flea market. It really appealed to my sense of vision, I love antiques, and pretty things, and this book seemed to just paint a picture of those things,
making me wish that I, too, was hanging out with Alice.
The story is good, but the scenery is what makes this book a favorite :)
Pretty good, 2007-08-15
Short book but I liked it. I really wanted to slap Alice and be like OPEN YOUR EYES!!! HE'S A SCUMBAG!! It was hard to read because of my feelings on cheating and whatnot. But still a good book and I really liked the ending.
An interesting look into one woman's journey to self, 2007-06-05
To what extent will a woman go to preserve the illusion around her? How far will she drift from her true self before she begins to paddle back to shore? This is the story of a wife living a carefully balanced life--of contrived appearances and comfort on one side...fear and complacency on the other. By tipping that scale, she finds satisfaction and fulfillment.
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