A wondrous and redemptive debut novel, set in a stark world where evil and magic coincide, The Enchanted combines the empathy and lyricism of Alice Sebold with the dark, imaginative power of Stephen King.
”This is an enchanted place. Others don’t see it, but I do.” The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in … his books and in re-imagining life around him, weaving a fantastical story of the people he observes and the world he inhabits. Fearful and reclusive, he senses what others cannot. Though bars confine him every minute of every day, he marries visions of golden horses running beneath the prison, heat flowing like molten metal from their backs with the devastating violence of prison life.
Two outsiders venture here: a fallen priest and the Lady, an investigator who searches for buried information from prisoners’ pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, honesty and corruption—ultimately revealing shocking secrets of her own.
Beautiful and transcendent, The Enchanted reminds us of how our humanity connects us all, and how beauty and love exist even amidst the most nightmarish reality.
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The most brilliant prose I’ve read in a long while. The first page was near perfect.
There was something incredibly haunting about this book. Well, it must be the prison setting. But Denfeld’s writing is so compelling, particularly the prisoner’s voice. I purchased her other book, the Child Finder because I loved this book so much, but I couldn’t bring myself to read it as I have a child at home–I’m not really one for scary stories. This book was the exception for me, though.
Rating:
Genre: Contemporary + Magical Realism
This is the story of a prisoner who sits on death row in a dungeon-like prison that he terms as the enchanted place. All this prisoner does is listen to the story of York, the prisoner in the cell next to him. Then there is a lady investigator who fights hard so that men like the protagonist will not be taken to their death.
I bought this book blindly based on the excellent ratings on Goodreads. I did not have any high expectations but I was expecting this would fall between excellent and very good ratings but unfortunately that was not the case. First, let me start with the good stuff, the writing is beautiful. It is poetic and at times thought-provoking. The subject here will make you question many things about humanity and society and I appreciate that aspect a lot in the book. What I did not like was the different styles of narration. The book keeps switching between a first-person POV and third-person narration. This caused confusion to me. At times I did not understand whose POV I was even reading. The story had the required depth but sadly the characters felt superficial to me. The author did not give them any kind of physical description, she did not even give the important characters any names which I don’t like and did not make any sense to me. I mean what was the purpose of keeping the characters without names? Referring to the investigator as the lady again and again just made me feel she had no significant role in the flow of the story. I really hoped to love this story as much as many other readers did. This is still a good book but if you care for a character-driven story then you should look somewhere else.
I have to read this book! I read the first pages online and I loved it! René Denfeld is a writer and a poet, like Laura Kasischke! I already commanded “Enchanted”!
Overall: Enjoyable
Overall, I think this is the strangest book I’ve ever read. I thought this was going to be about prison in a fantasy world, but it is definitely not in a fantasy world no matter how many times it talks about golden horses. I loved the way it was written, I just wish the messaging was spread throughout the book rather than just on the very last page. I felt the plot was taxing to follow, but engaging nonetheless.
For my full review, please visit: https://www.krwardbookreview.com/
Interesting view of life in prison in solitary.
This book broke my heart, both for the people it talked about and for the people that they hurt. It humanized terrible people without forgiving them for the choices they made. Wondrous.
This book was so fascinating. The mental illness of one of the characters is richly portrayed and believable. The complex story lines were wonderful and fascinating. This is truly a great book.
A very surprising book, a harsh reality, beautifully, almost lyrically created.
A good good book but painful ugly things that happen to people in and employed by a prison. There should be a trigger warning on it. Much of it is the historys of inmates than include being continually abused in childhood.
It is ugly facts and beautiful words.