The Enchanted in MCLS Reading Challenge

Mar 14, 2017 Claire Talbot rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-across-the-states, as-the-page-turns, books-i-still-think-about

The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld is the 2017 "If All of Rochester Reads" pick, and the author is visiting my library later this month. In all honesty, I never would have picked up this book and read it of my own choosing - but I'm glad I did. Denfeld's writing is very descriptive, and you can feel that you are in the places she describes - the stone staircase of the prison, the forests and lakes of Oregon. It took me awhile to get into the narrating characters - a mentally ill man on death row, a The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld is the 2017 "If All of Rochester Reads" pick, and the author is visiting my library later this month. In all honesty, I never would have picked up this book and read it of my own choosing - but I'm glad I did. Denfeld's writing is very descriptive, and you can feel that you are in the places she describes - the stone staircase of the prison, the forests and lakes of Oregon. It took me awhile to get into the narrating characters - a mentally ill man on death row, a "lady" who researches appealed death sentence cases, a former priest, the warden, and a death row inmate named York. All of these characters are very damaged and flawed in their own way, and searching for a freedom from the pain in their lives. The descriptions of prison life are very disconcerting - young prisoners being sexually abused, illegal drug trades, and insider corruption are all mentioned. The fact that Denfeld actually is a death penalty investigator made the prison descriptions all the more frightening. Even in the depths of the despair and darkness though, each character clings to an idea of hope, or some type of redemption. They carry the guilt of past sins, and the pain of loss. The lady's research of the character York reveals a horribly damaged man and you can begin to understand why he committed the crimes he did. The crimes of the mentally ill character are described as "horrifying" but the author is rather vague - I wonder if this is to allow us to insert our own worst fears into the novel. Another character introduced in the story was "white-haired" boy -and that was the story that upset me the most. I don't want to spoil the story, so I won't divulge anything else. The author obviously loves literature, and the power of the written word, and gives this love of words and poetry to the most damaged inmate. Books are his salvation. With her descriptions, you can hear the horses running, feel the wing beat of the night birds, and hear the tap of the hammers of the little men in the walls - ...more

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Dec 01, 2017 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, library, fiction, kindle, mlc

Page: 3
Inside, the lies you tell become the person you become. On the outside, sun and reality shrink people back to their actual size. In here, people grow into their shadows.

Page: 12
The look in her eyes is of a person who drank from the end of a gun barrel and found it delicious. Her eyes are filled with a strange sort of wondrous sadness, as if marveling at all the beauty and pain in the world.

Page: 28
Everything was sacred when nothing was taken for granted, she thinks ruefully.

Page: 38 ...more

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Jul 31, 2017 Bridget rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2017

I give this book three stars because the strange narrative techniques, sometimes in first person, sometimes omnipresent, stood out and bothered me. However, the subject matter is fairly unique, and I was able to hear the writer speak, and she's an AMAZING speaker. She's a death penalty investigator, and as such, I think of this book as a platform for her to speak. This is a great book for discussion. One thing that I loved about it is how is didn't resort to tired cliches about such complex matt ...more

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Feb 13, 2017 Judy Mathis rated it it was amazing

Loved the writing and giving suggestions not graphic details. Leaves a lot open to discussion.

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Apr 30, 2019 Anne rated it did not like it

All Rochester Reads book - prison
Too dark for me

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Feb 03, 2017 Cathi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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Mar 29, 2017 Jason rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: not-comics, prison

Whew! Disturbing and intense and melancholy and sad and detachedly beautiful. Hard to get into at first and then hard to put down. The narrator is an enigma, as is his story and how he knows it and tells it. I have some ideas, but NO SPOILERS. A quick read and well worth taking a break from comics for :).
*2017 If All Rochester Read One Book selection

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