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Allison Tebo's Reviews > Ella Enchanted
Ella Enchanted (Ella Enchanted, #1)
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Allison Tebo's review
bookshelves: mary-recs, fairy-tales-retellings
Apr 12, 2018
bookshelves: mary-recs, fairy-tales-retellings
Read 2 times. Last read April 11, 2018 to April 12, 2018.
A unique retelling with some truly surprising plot twists. Quite different from the other Gail Carson Levine’s fairy tale retellings that I have read. Ella Enchanted and more lush writing style and less deliberately comical and stilted interactions and it possessed quite an enjoyable style.
Shock of all shocks - my favorite part of the book was undoubtedly the romance (I know. You don’t see me say that in a review very often!). The relationship between Char and Ella was sweet and well developed and a highlight of the book. I thought Ella’s sacrifice love for Char and her resolution to protect him from herself was very poignant and believable.
The other element that stood out to me was Ella herself. At last – a rebellious character that makes sense and actually has a reason for being rebellious! Ella is definitely not a placid Cinderella and fights back against her tormentors with a stubbornness that almost borders on the heroic. This was really a brilliant bit of characterization and kept the book from being overwhelming disturbing (which it would have been if Ella had been taking all the abuse without a murmur) and gave me a feisty non-annoying heroine I could actually root for. For once!
Ella Enchanted also contained some nice world building that still retained a streak of Levine’s signature zaniness and pacing moved along at a good clip and kept me turning the pages quickly to see what happened next.
But in spite of all this . . . when I closed the book I found it forgettable. It’s not a book that I’d treasure or a new favorite—I’m not even sure I’d read it again. For some reason, this book wasn’t one that stayed in my mind or claimed a permanent part of my emotions.
Perhaps it was because I felt slightly worn after reading Ella Enchanted. I found Ella’s situation pretty stressful and much of the book focused on her impossible and worrying situation and her families endless abuse. Obviously, people taking advantage of Ella’s *gift* was what the story was about, but I found it genuinely stressful at points to read. However, I have read other stress-producing books that I loved so I still can’t quite articulate what ingredient this book was missing to make me like it more. I really wish I had loved this book more than I did – and I suspect that missing element shall puzzle me for some time.
Overall – an enjoyable book, though.
Content: Ella is taken advantage of constantly by cruel people. Some magic and a few eye-rolling moments with the infatuated Ella admiring Char’s physicality – the hairs on the back of his neck, for one. *SNORTS*
Shock of all shocks - my favorite part of the book was undoubtedly the romance (I know. You don’t see me say that in a review very often!). The relationship between Char and Ella was sweet and well developed and a highlight of the book. I thought Ella’s sacrifice love for Char and her resolution to protect him from herself was very poignant and believable.
The other element that stood out to me was Ella herself. At last – a rebellious character that makes sense and actually has a reason for being rebellious! Ella is definitely not a placid Cinderella and fights back against her tormentors with a stubbornness that almost borders on the heroic. This was really a brilliant bit of characterization and kept the book from being overwhelming disturbing (which it would have been if Ella had been taking all the abuse without a murmur) and gave me a feisty non-annoying heroine I could actually root for. For once!
Ella Enchanted also contained some nice world building that still retained a streak of Levine’s signature zaniness and pacing moved along at a good clip and kept me turning the pages quickly to see what happened next.
But in spite of all this . . . when I closed the book I found it forgettable. It’s not a book that I’d treasure or a new favorite—I’m not even sure I’d read it again. For some reason, this book wasn’t one that stayed in my mind or claimed a permanent part of my emotions.
Perhaps it was because I felt slightly worn after reading Ella Enchanted. I found Ella’s situation pretty stressful and much of the book focused on her impossible and worrying situation and her families endless abuse. Obviously, people taking advantage of Ella’s *gift* was what the story was about, but I found it genuinely stressful at points to read. However, I have read other stress-producing books that I loved so I still can’t quite articulate what ingredient this book was missing to make me like it more. I really wish I had loved this book more than I did – and I suspect that missing element shall puzzle me for some time.
Overall – an enjoyable book, though.
Content: Ella is taken advantage of constantly by cruel people. Some magic and a few eye-rolling moments with the infatuated Ella admiring Char’s physicality – the hairs on the back of his neck, for one. *SNORTS*
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
December 24, 2017
– Shelved as:
mary-recs
December 24, 2017
– Shelved
December 28, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 21, 2018
– Shelved as:
fairy-tales-retellings
April 11, 2018
–
Started Reading
"
April 12, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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R.F. Gammon
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Apr 18, 2018 04:03PM
Glad you enjoyed it :)
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Great Review!
I remember finding the writing style a little dry? Or something? Maybe that was what bothered you?
Red_Queen_Lover wrote: "Great Review!"Thank you!
Katie wrote: "I remember finding the writing style a little dry? Or something? Maybe that was what bothered you?"Mmm - no. It wasn't the style that was unappealing to me - just....huh! Somehow the *love potion* that makes me fall in love with a story wasn't there. :)
Allison wrote: "Katie wrote: "I remember finding the writing style a little dry? Or something? Maybe that was what bothered you?"Mmm - no. It wasn't the style that was unappealing to me - just....huh! Somehow th..."
Sometimes I have that feeling, too! It can be a real puzzler . . .
Katie wrote: "Allison wrote: "Katie wrote: "I remember finding the writing style a little dry? Or something? Maybe that was what bothered you?"Mmm - no. It wasn't the style that was unappealing to me - just......"
Haha yes!! I'm just....staring at the book with a puzzled frown on my face and KNOWING that for years, I will be trying to figure out why I didn't like it more!
Isn't it odd when you like a book but you also don't like a book??? T'is a puzzling thing. But I feel you! (Not with this book, but with others. ;D)
Olivia wrote: "Isn't it odd when you like a book but you also don't like a book??? T'is a puzzling thing. But I feel you! (Not with this book, but with others. ;D)"It IS odd! - and rather frustrating for I cannot put my finger on my exact feelings! :/
I think there are some books, like this one, that fit better with who we are at different times in our lives. I read this book as a child and adored it. I still adore it because of that. But it is a middle grade read that, reading for the first time as an adult, might not have the same magic it does when you're younger. I've experienced that with a few books. For example, my sis-in-law read Harry Potter growing up and loved them. They really spoke to what she was going through and she adores them to this day. I read them in my twenties and while they are well-written and I liked them well-enough, they didn't connect with me the way they did her in part because I didn't have the beloved memories of childhood attached to them. So for me, Ella Enchanted was one of the books I read that really sparked my imagination and love for fairy tale retellings that made sense. It's a book I read out loud to my brothers (and at the time, they also enjoyed it). But for you, you don't have that. You're reading it for the first time as an adult and it's a completely different experience.
Tricia wrote: "I think there are some books, like this one, that fit better with who we are at different times in our lives. I read this book as a child and adored it. I still adore it because of that. But it is ..."That's so cool that it meant that to you! I'm glad you (and your brothers) enjoyed it!
Well, I've read lots of Middle Grade books for the first time as an adult and absolutely adored them and they went straight to my heart - reigniting my imagination and the childlike wonder. So for me, it's rarely an age thing - somehow it just didn't stick with me. :)
Lovely review! Hmm, that's interesting, and now I consider it, even though I loved the book as a young teen, it never really stuck with me afterward, either. :P So I can see what you're saying. I did read it at a great age for it - first at age 12 and several more times as a young teen - but I cared less about it as I got older and haven't read it in years, though it remains a pleasant memory and a book I like. Not an all-time favorite, but one of the best fairy tale retellings I've read.
Mary wrote: "Lovely review! Hmm, that's interesting, and now I consider it, even though I loved the book as a young teen, it never really stuck with me afterward, either. :P So I can see what you're saying. I..."
Thank you, Mary! *nods* I can imagine that I might have enjoyed it more a bit younger - but as I mentioned above, I've still read plenty of children's books in this last year that had major sticking power.... Hmm. It was definitely a nice one - though I have a few other's that I really love! :)
Allison wrote: "Olivia wrote: "Isn't it odd when you like a book but you also don't like a book??? T'is a puzzling thing. But I feel you! (Not with this book, but with others. ;D)"It IS odd! - and rather frustra..."
Yeah, I don't like it when I don't even understand WHAT my feelings are, let alone why I'm feeling them. :-P
Olivia wrote: "Allison wrote: "Olivia wrote: "Isn't it odd when you like a book but you also don't like a book??? T'is a puzzling thing. But I feel you! (Not with this book, but with others. ;D)"It IS odd! - an..."
It's a puzzle and a frustration.... :/
Maybe the mssing element is the climax. I feel like it could have been built a little better.
R. wrote: "Maybe the mssing element is the climax. I feel like it could have been built a little better."Perhaps! It was a nice realization and moment (that Ella loved Char so much she was willing to suffer like that for him - and that's what broke the spell) but it didn't have as much emotion as I would have expected.
Allison wrote: "R. wrote: "Maybe the mssing element is the climax. I feel like it could have been built a little better."Perhaps! It was a nice realization and moment (that Ella loved Char so much she was willin..."
Exactly
