sono qui per parlarvi di un'altra bellissima opera arrivata nelle nostre librerie,
Come sapete sono una grande amante del genere, quindi potevo mai farmelo scappare
Assolutamente no,
Se ricordate, tempo fa vi parlai di un altro libro di Amanda Grange
che amai: il volume dedicato alla storia di Orgoglio e Pregiudizio dal punto di vista di Mr Darcy.
Così come amai quello, sapevo che ormai fosse scontato avrei amato anche questo, tanto da sperare che escano molti più libri sullo stesso genere, sugli uomini di Jane.
La storia la conosciamo bene ma andiamo comunque a parlare un po' del nostro bel protagonista:
James Brandon è uno studioso di Oxford i quali desideri sono quello di diventare avvocato e sposare sua cugina Eliza, che ama da sempre.
Purtroppo però, il padre di James costringe la ragazza a sposare il figlio maggiore così, il nostro povero sfortunato, si unisce all'esercito per partire verso le Indie e sperare di dimenticare il dolore.
Non appena però viene a conoscenza della morte del fratello, torna subito a casa sperando di poter così avere una nuova opportunità con lei,
Ma poteva essere così facile Ovviamente no, e chi ha già letto il romanzo originale da cosa succede: Eliza muore e James dovrà prendersi cura di sua figlia, anche lei di nome Eliza.
Dopo tutto questo dolore, diversi anni dopo James incontra un'altra giovane donna che gli ricorda la sua amata, non tanto nell'aspetto quanto nell'indole, e nonostante lo credesse impossibile, ha una seconda possibilità di amare.
. . anche stavolta per nulla facile per tanti fattori che non starò a dirvi per non farvi spoiler qualora non abbiate mai letto Ragione e Sentimento,
" Non riuscivo a staccare gli occhi dal suo viso, L'emozione che si leggeva era alternativamente ombra e luce tristezza e rimpianto poi la stanza è scomparsa: ho visto Marianne solo fino alla fine della canzone, "
Questo libro è stato pazzesco, non avrei immaginato fosse possibile ma l'ho amato anche più del volume su Darcy,
È stato meraviglioso il modo in cui l'autrice è stata in grado di dare maggiore profondità alla storia di James, a tutto il suo dolore prima di incontrare Marianne e anche il suo successivo turbamento.
Ho amato ogni passaggio, ogni momento, Tantissimo. Una lettura leggera ed emozionante che non può mancare nelle librerie delle vere austeniane, Colonel James Brandon, you're a sweetheart, lt.rounded up. This book is entertaining, enjoyable, and sweet, I'll probably buy it and reread it, Every book gets Eliza Williams' age wrong, She wasnotor. There were other details that she got wrong, but the spirit of the book is Austen, The duel was well done, I wish this book was longer, The ending feels very rushed and par for the course for several other books of this sort have Marianne fall in love with Colonel Brandon before marrying him.
The biggest problem I have with this book is that I never had a strong emotional reaction to what happened, Colonel Brandon goes through the wringer and I have yet to read a book from his perspective that makes me feel like I got dragged through hell with him.
I want his story to eviscerate me and then bring me to the sense of his joy, I love Amanda Grange's style, She keeps very true to Regency writing in this series on the hero's side of Jane Austen's novels, With Colonel Brandon's Diary, we get to dislike Willoughby more than ever, which is cathartic in itself, but we also see the source of his patience with Marianne.
The whole saga of his lost love Eliza is laid out, as are the particulars of the young woman seduced by Willoughby, She gets a happy ending, Even knowing how it would all end, I found the happy finale very satisfying, Brandon understands much more of what is going on around him than the young ladies in the original, He has a corresponding depth of emotional development and awareness, I very much liked the way virtues and vices were examined in this volume, The original novel exposed characters this one plumbs them,
I should warn others that I'm a serious Jane Austen fan, so my high rating has at least a bit to do with my love of the characters in Sense and Sensibility.
If you don't like the Austen novels, you may not like the spin off, What a genius idea! To take Austen's most loved stories and retell them from the point of view of the men! So fun and entertaining to revisit these classic stories from a different angle.
I started with my favorite Austen hero and I can't wait to work my way through the other ones, Well done Ms Grange! Well done! Do you find Colonel Brandon romantic Do you sometimes think he is better suited for Elinor than Marianne Do you think he fell in love with Marianne because she resembles Eliza Perhaps you'd like to get to know Colonel Brandon a little better and discover the answer for these questions yourself.
. . If you are unfamiliar with this series, it is the retelling of Jane Austen's novels from the perspective of the male hero, No, it isn't all new and original material, but there is much understanding to gain by hearing the same story from another person's pointofview, In “Colonel Brandon's Diary,” Amanda Grange brings us new insight and comprehension for the seemingly silent and grave Colonel Brandon, In addition, she illustrates a heartrending backstory of his tragic love affair with his father's ward, Eliza,
As a young man studying law at Oxford University, James Brandon is looking forward to only one thing on his holiday from school, and that is spending time with his beloved Eliza.
He anticipates spending hours in her company, basking in their love for each other, and discussing future plans of marriage together, When his father announces that Eliza is to marry his libertine and alcoholic brother, James desperately seeks for a way to save Eliza from this fate and unsuccessfully attempts to elope with her.
Unfortunately, James is unable to stop the marriage and in his anguish decides the best course for him is to join the army and leave England,
Fourteen years later Brandon returns to England and inherits Delaford since his father and brother have both passed away, The only family he has remaining is Eliza's orphaned daughter, also named Eliza, who spends most of her time away in a boarding school, Colonel Brandon takes on the position of estate owner with adroitness and determination, and he works on restoring and improving Delaford and the land surrounding it to its former state before his mother died.
He establishes a nice quiet life for himself with friends, tenants, and a ward, Yet this quiet life of his he will soon discover is not complete, . .
Having read all the other books in this series, I was very eager to read “Colonel Brandon's Diary, ” Although “Sense and Sensibility” is not my most favorite Austen novel and Colonel Brandon is not my most favorite hero, I was looking forward to seeing him in a new light and acquiring a new sense of appreciation for him.
Ms. Grange did not disappoint, just like with “Captain Wentworth's Diary,” she created a viable and enlightening history for Colonel Brandon, I was delighted that she spent one third of the book outlining his life prior to meeting Marianne Dashwood, and I took pleasure in witnessing the emotional and poignant journey he experienced as a youth and observing how it impacted his character.
In “Sense and Sensibility,” Colonel Brandon is portrayed as a quiet and unassuming hero, not a dashing, passionate, and Byronic hero like Willoughby, However, after reading “Colonel Brandon's Diary,” the reader will conceive that Colonel Brandon, with his strong character, devotion, patience, and yearning for Marianne is one of the most romantic heroes Jane Austen created.
I enjoyed the accurate characterization of Colonel Brandon as well as the seamless integration of “Sense and Sensibility” with Ms, Grange's original material. Ms. Grange always approaches Jane Austen's novels and characters respectfully and knowledgeably and I admire her creativity and perception, My only wish is that she would dig deeper into these characters, tell their story a little more leisurely with more specifics and details,
Depois de já ter lido alguns livros baseados nas obras de Jane Austen, são "Os diarios de, . . " de Amanda Grange que mais gosto e acho mais fiel as histórias, Depois de ler o diario de Mr Darcy et o do Capitão Wentworth, foi a vez do Coronel Brandon de Senso e Sensibilidade, onde ele conta a sua trágica história de amor com Eliza aosanos e mais tarde o seu encontro e amor por Marianne.
A história é fluida e interessante, dandonos uma visão mais intíma deste homem e a razão pela qual ele é tão sério, Para quem gosta de Jane Austen e gostaria de ver as histórias pelo ponto de vista dos homens do universo de Austen, então recomendo "Os diarios de.
. . " de Amanda Grange. Agora espero por as mãos no Diario de Mr Tilney de Northanger Abbey, Enjoyable fluff. I like Austen fan fiction, I like the idea of the "heroes" backstories, I thought this one was well done, bringing a character that we don't really know much about in the original book to life, I don't think the diary format always works well, because it reads too much like a novel than real diary entries, but it's a different way to attempt what others have tried to do in more straightforward ways.
I liked it enough to check the next two out of the library, That says something! OK, to begin with I just want to make a couple of things clear, One the fact that I gave this Diary four does not mean that it won't be worth five to some people it just didnt live up to my expectations, which were admittedly high.
Two the fact that some of the other Diaries are rated higher does not mean that Colonel Brandon is not my favourite Austen hero, WHICH HE IS. OK, on a good day Henry Tilney is his equal, but I dont need to admit that, do I And three this review will contain spoilers for Sense and Sensibility, but I dont know why you would read Colonel Brandons Diary if you hadnt read the original to begin with.
Right. Now that weve cleared that up I can get on to actually reviewing the book,
From what I have observed of Amanda Granges writing, I am of the opinion that she works best when she has a pretty good idea of what happened behind the scenes.
Because of course, in stories like Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, or Emma, we essentially know from the original what must have happened behind the scenes.
As you will see from my other reviews of the Diaries, Amanda Grange handles those backstories unbelievably well, But Sense and Sensibility is a little more ambiguous in its background, and I think that Amanda Grange floundered slightly when faced with that challenge.
So then, to the first section of the book, showing Brandon as a young man in love with his fathers ward, Eliza, I think what Amanda Grange did best in this Diary is showing us how young Brandon was still the same Brandon wed always known, but how something inside him was lost when he lost Eliza.
Grange does a beautiful job of showing James Brandons and Elizas time together, but it felt brief and a little hurried to me, The whole sequence where Eliza is taken away from Brandon was very sad, yes, especially as we had been shown how awful James father and brother were.
But again, I didnt feel that the parting was the heartwrenching affair it could have been with better quality and more confident writing,
The next section is probably the part of the book that I have the biggest problem with, Grange deals with Brandons time in the West Indies with diary entries that are few and far between, and seem rather superfluous, only put in to briefly show the reader how James becomes friends with Sir John Middleton, and puts in little bits of news that we need to know.
Though I do not pretend to be a better nor more experienced writer than Ms Grange, I would have thought that it would have been more constructive to skip those intervening years, and have Brandon pick up another diary upon his return to England, with a longer introductory entry to catch us up on the few essentials weve missed.
I mean, did we really need to know how Brandon saw an elephant Gosh, how exciting,
The part where Brandon finds Eliza dying in a poor house is beautifully written, but again I felt it did not reach its full potential.
For example, when Eliza died, there was a very short entry, something along the lines of ”Eliza is dead, She died in my arms, Oh God, Eliza!” Yeah, that was all, in essence, I personally felt a bit robbed at that point, It would have been far more powerful to have a painful, beautiful, sad, tearridden entry of Brandons, an outpouring of his emotions upon her death, Brandon is a very deep character, and particularly in the instance of Elizas death I felt that Grange was not entirely capable of portraying his depth at times.
The second half of the book improves considerably as Grange is on more solid ground in terms of backstory, She does a wonderful job of showing us how the “young Brandon” fits into the “older Brandon” he doesnt become a new person, which is good, The other great job that Grange does in terms of characterization is the villain, Willoughby something she consistently does well in the other Diaries as well, She manages to show us how despicable Willoughby is through the eyes of Brandon, yet how he can be such a knight in shining armour for Marianne for a time.
One of the most touching and perhaps chilling scenes of the book is the duel between Brandon and Willoughby and spoiler alert Brandon very contemptuously spares Willoughbys life for Mariannes sake, by firing his gun into the air.
Amazing scene you realize that Brandon has probably killed in the Army before, and was entirely capable of killing Willoughby for how he treated Eliza and Marianne.
And yet his love is stronger than his anger, which is what makes the scene so touching,
My last complaint is that I think at one point Amanda Grange slightly misjudged Mariannes character but perhaps thats just me, For the most part she got Mariannes character right, but I honestly do not believe that Marianne is rude enough to tell Colonel Brandon to his face just how cold and unfeeling she thought him before he helped her or words to that effect.
And I think it was also slightly out of character for Brandon to not feel any pain at all at Mariannes description of him, However his immediate forgiveness of her, or his ignoring of her faults, is certainly in character,
Aside from that instance, Granges characterisation was great on all fronts, Her description was also beautiful not to mention the cover of the book, which was also very pretty, The Diary was well set out and dated aside from the Unfortunate Incident of the Elephant in the West Indies,
Colonel Brandons Diary was a beautiful book, fully deserving of the four I have given it, But I just didnt feel that the Diary lived up to the wealth of depth, sentiment and beautiful romanticism present in Colonel Brandon, and for that reason for me at least the book does not deserve five.
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