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The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope is an unconventional and passionately romantic love story that is as breathtaking and wondrous as The Time Traveler's Wife and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
During WWII, teenager Evelyn Roe is sent to manage the family farm in rural North Carolina, where she finds what she takes to be a badly burned soldier on their property. She rescues him, and it quickly becomes clear he is not a man...and not one of us. The rescued body recovers at an unnatural speed, and just as fast, Evelyn and Adam fall deeply in love. In The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope, Rhonda Riley reveals the exhilarating, terrifying mystery inherent in all relationships: No matter how deeply we love someone, and no matter how much we will sacrifice for them, we can only know them so well...
During WWII, teenager Evelyn Roe is sent to manage the family farm in rural North Carolina, where she finds what she takes to be a badly burned soldier on their property. She rescues him, and it quickly becomes clear he is not a man...and not one of us. The rescued body recovers at an unnatural speed, and just as fast, Evelyn and Adam fall deeply in love. In The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope, Rhonda Riley reveals the exhilarating, terrifying mystery inherent in all relationships: No matter how deeply we love someone, and no matter how much we will sacrifice for them, we can only know them so well...
424 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
503 people are currently reading
5767 people want to read
About the author
Rhonda Riley
1 book147 followersI'm a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Florida. When I was an undergraduate I published several poems and some essays in small literary journals. The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope is my first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,012 reviews
January 7, 2013
This premise may catch a lot of people off guard. A young woman pulls a shapeless, disfigured humanoid mass out of the mud and as the creature heals, it starts to resemble her in every way. They fall in love, and the creature (now a woman named Addie) decides to morph into a male so the two of them can marry, have children, and be together without the judgment of their conservative North Carolina mill town.
Although it sounds like science fiction, this is more of a love story than anything else. Addie/Adam's origins are never clear and in many ways s/he is a regular human being with an uncanny ability to connect with people and animals.
What I loved most about the novel is the love Evelyn has for Addie/Adam and their lively, memorable children. I loved watching their family grow, deal with loss, move forward, and embrace life to the fullest. This novel is chock full of love. Love of landscape, love of family, love of life, the list goes on and on. At times Addie/Adam comes across as too good to be true, but I got so swept up in Riley's gorgeous prose that it didn't bother me too much.
People who like transportive, literary prose, like Edgar Sawtelle, or an unconventional love story, like The Time Traveler's Wife, should give this lovely novel a try.
Although it sounds like science fiction, this is more of a love story than anything else. Addie/Adam's origins are never clear and in many ways s/he is a regular human being with an uncanny ability to connect with people and animals.
What I loved most about the novel is the love Evelyn has for Addie/Adam and their lively, memorable children. I loved watching their family grow, deal with loss, move forward, and embrace life to the fullest. This novel is chock full of love. Love of landscape, love of family, love of life, the list goes on and on. At times Addie/Adam comes across as too good to be true, but I got so swept up in Riley's gorgeous prose that it didn't bother me too much.
People who like transportive, literary prose, like Edgar Sawtelle, or an unconventional love story, like The Time Traveler's Wife, should give this lovely novel a try.
March 30, 2019
Oh my goodness. Where do I start with this book? I guess I can only tell you that I cried and cried through the last harrowing pages of what I will sum up as this "insanely beautiful" story. One that about midway, I was thinking - this is really such a 'simple' story, I wonder what the fuss is about? And I mean simple, because it was implying something extraordinary, but all within such very ordinary lives.
The beauty of the dialogue often grabbed me by the throat. And then suddenly I knew. It was if I could feel it on my skin, then in my bones, a warning coming to me through the very spots where my fingertips touched the pages. My heart was about to be eviscerated. And I stopped near the end, thinking, "I will cry too much if I read this now - I'll save it for the morning".
Oh dear. Morning came, and with it I went through a packet of tissues. It literally set me up for a day of tears. I couldn't even talk about the book without bawling my eyes out. I'm welling up now, thinking about it again.
And perhaps its beauty lies in the fact that the extraordinary is indeed hidden right there in the ordinary that is all around us. I was delivered it beautifully in this story, and I saw it everywhere after I finished this book. And I cried for all the years I have been blind.
I can only tell you that I feel as if this book has changed me, or awakened me, on some deep, indescribable level. I almost fear recommending it, as I wonder - can any person read this, and not long for an Adam so deeply - that no other love will ever measure up? I feel blessed that I am single. That I didn't have to glance over at a lover who could never possibly 'know' me, the way Adam knew Evelyn. And yet again, perhaps there is an Adam within us all? Within every drop of rain running down my window, within every glint of light reflecting from the morning sun. And within every person I may ever meet?
Is it possible to feel blessed and bereft all at once? It seems so.
I wrote down a couple of passages of the book (before I could let it go and hand it on to another). Here is one of them ....
"Grief is a powerful river in flood. It cannot be argued or reasoned or wrestled down to an insignificant trickle. You must let it take you where it is going. When it pulls you under, all you can do is keep your eyes open for rocks and fallen trees, try not to panic and stay face-up so you will know where the sky is. You will need that information later. Eventually, its waters calm and you will be on a shore far from where you began, raw and sore, but clean and as close to whole as you will ever be again".
When I finished this book, and sat hugging it, staring out of the window, I realised - it was the 12th anniversary of the loss of two of my dearest friends. It always astounds me how books come to me, just exactly when I need the comfort or the lessons of the words they behold. This felt like a special gift. I most definitely feel that I have washed up on the shore - bruised, most definitely, but as close to whole as I needed to be again.
The beauty of the dialogue often grabbed me by the throat. And then suddenly I knew. It was if I could feel it on my skin, then in my bones, a warning coming to me through the very spots where my fingertips touched the pages. My heart was about to be eviscerated. And I stopped near the end, thinking, "I will cry too much if I read this now - I'll save it for the morning".
Oh dear. Morning came, and with it I went through a packet of tissues. It literally set me up for a day of tears. I couldn't even talk about the book without bawling my eyes out. I'm welling up now, thinking about it again.
And perhaps its beauty lies in the fact that the extraordinary is indeed hidden right there in the ordinary that is all around us. I was delivered it beautifully in this story, and I saw it everywhere after I finished this book. And I cried for all the years I have been blind.
I can only tell you that I feel as if this book has changed me, or awakened me, on some deep, indescribable level. I almost fear recommending it, as I wonder - can any person read this, and not long for an Adam so deeply - that no other love will ever measure up? I feel blessed that I am single. That I didn't have to glance over at a lover who could never possibly 'know' me, the way Adam knew Evelyn. And yet again, perhaps there is an Adam within us all? Within every drop of rain running down my window, within every glint of light reflecting from the morning sun. And within every person I may ever meet?
Is it possible to feel blessed and bereft all at once? It seems so.
I wrote down a couple of passages of the book (before I could let it go and hand it on to another). Here is one of them ....
"Grief is a powerful river in flood. It cannot be argued or reasoned or wrestled down to an insignificant trickle. You must let it take you where it is going. When it pulls you under, all you can do is keep your eyes open for rocks and fallen trees, try not to panic and stay face-up so you will know where the sky is. You will need that information later. Eventually, its waters calm and you will be on a shore far from where you began, raw and sore, but clean and as close to whole as you will ever be again".
When I finished this book, and sat hugging it, staring out of the window, I realised - it was the 12th anniversary of the loss of two of my dearest friends. It always astounds me how books come to me, just exactly when I need the comfort or the lessons of the words they behold. This felt like a special gift. I most definitely feel that I have washed up on the shore - bruised, most definitely, but as close to whole as I needed to be again.
May 10, 2019
10 MAY 2019 UPDATE This moving and involving read is only $1.99 on Kindle today only. Worth it at full price, a *steal* at $2!
Rating: An easy four stars of five.
Still not giving Goodreads monetizable data. The culture shift still ticks me off, and its tacit abetment by management makes me feel like a salable commodity not a member.
So my review is, as always, on my blog.
Rating: An easy four stars of five.
Still not giving Goodreads monetizable data. The culture shift still ticks me off, and its tacit abetment by management makes me feel like a salable commodity not a member.
So my review is, as always, on my blog.
July 18, 2013
2.5 stars The enchanted life of Adam Hope has a beautiful cover and a very interesting premise which makes you want to read this book quickly but for me it seemed to take forever and that is not a great sign.
Evelyn is a young Southern Carolina farm girl who after heavy rains rescues a body from the mud and while the body looks human it is only after time that it takes on a human's features and appearance and suddenly takes on the same image as Evelyn herself and then later becomes a man and hence we have the The Enchanted life of Adam hope.
I am sure some people will love this story as it has magical elements that are just wasted on me. I think I was looking for something different and perhaps something like the The Snow Childbut this book was just a little too far fetched and unrealistic for me.
The story dragged and was very repetitive and I would normally have thrown in the towel on this one much earlier but I wanted to find out where Adam came from.
I don't want to dismiss the book totally because I think others will enjoy the story and relate to it much better than me. I think the heart of this book is a love story with a little sci-fi/ magical twist to it. I found it a just ok and was glad to have finished it.
Evelyn is a young Southern Carolina farm girl who after heavy rains rescues a body from the mud and while the body looks human it is only after time that it takes on a human's features and appearance and suddenly takes on the same image as Evelyn herself and then later becomes a man and hence we have the The Enchanted life of Adam hope.
I am sure some people will love this story as it has magical elements that are just wasted on me. I think I was looking for something different and perhaps something like the The Snow Childbut this book was just a little too far fetched and unrealistic for me.
The story dragged and was very repetitive and I would normally have thrown in the towel on this one much earlier but I wanted to find out where Adam came from.
I don't want to dismiss the book totally because I think others will enjoy the story and relate to it much better than me. I think the heart of this book is a love story with a little sci-fi/ magical twist to it. I found it a just ok and was glad to have finished it.
July 19, 2014
This book is outside the scope of what I would normally read. It was a stretch for me and one I think in the end I'm glad I made. I liked it, but I didn't love it. The story is different and at first I didn't know what to make of it. I wasn't that thrilled in the beginning and I thought maybe I ventured to far from my normal and it was time to abandon ship. After a certain point, I surprisingly couldn't put it down. I had to know how this odd love story played out. It was well written, though at times my interest waned a bit with the wordiness of it. Just as I felt myself wanting to stray, something pretty emerged. The description of love and the emotional ties, the conflict within Evelyn about her choices, the questions that burned within her that she never gives voice to, all things that were done well. I wasn't crazy about the ending. I guess you could say that it came full circle in some way, the way Addie came into her life and the way Adam exited, but I don't believe in that in my fictional world. Or at least as it pertains to this novel. Overall, I'd say this was a surprising read.
January 15, 2013
The writing is lovely, yes. I am, however, frustrated as well with the lack of closure and with the failure of the author to explain what Adam/Addie is. I realize the point she is making is we may not ever fully understand someone but it won't change how much we love them. But as a book that began with a character coming to life from the ground a reader may feel, as I did, disappointed that the only explanation we get is that Adam/Addie 'just was'. Just was what? It is hard to believe that after having a lifetime and children with this being, she wouldn't want to get the core of what he/she is if for no other reason than her own children's origins and how it could affect their future. I am not sure what I just read, if I would classify it as a romance or science fiction because it's both and also neither. I am interested to see what other people will make of it when it is released. It was compared to The Time Traveler's Wife but it reminded me more of a movie I saw a long time ago called Starman (1984) starring Jeff Bridges. But that movie at least didn't leave me wondering. The book I read is an advanced reader's edition.
May 2, 2013
To be frank, I don't know where to start on this book. I was originally supposed to post my review last week but I could not because I had to re-read some passages and this book was emotional. Not because it's sad or anything (though some parts are), but because it really challenges a lot about love. Evelyn finds a young man seemingly half buried in her back yard but soon after bringing him inside of the farm she has inherited, she quickly realizes he isn't quite ordinary. His face and entire body are disfigured, much like a burn victim, and he doesn't appear to have any particular facial features. His gender.. his a little ambiguous to say the least. But over the course of a few days the person changes. First changes into what will become Addie- seemingly Evelyn's twin. And while traumatic and a little shocking to Evelyn, the two quickly become inseparable.
Addie has gifts with animals but also through singing. Without opening her mouth. It's clear from the beginning she's obviously not like Evelyn and over time, the almost soul mate connection between the two leads to an intimate relationship that Evelyn wants, but also fears.
But over time, Evelyn realizes she really wants to get married, become a mother, raise a family. Addie recognizes this as well and feeling such an emotional bond to Evelyn, she does something to make this happen for Evelyn.
In a few days, in walks Adam.
Unlike Addie who is virtually a twin of Evelyn, Adam is more her compliment. The male version of herself. Over time they marry, have several children with unique birthing situations because of the uncertainty of what Adam is exactly, and they live a happy and normal life. Until a tragedy hits the family and turns everyone upside down. The immeasurable grief changes Adam and when he does something in front of the community that basically scares the Jesus out of them, Evelyn goes into protective mode. She understands him and knows nobody else will.
(Side note: this is where I felt like something rammed into my chest, because I got it. Sometimes I look at Matt with some of the issues he deals with privately and while I don't really understand why he does it, I sometimes feel like it's my job to protect him. I feel like I could never really leave him because he would be alone and I couldn't let him be ridiculed. It's me that keeps him in check and it's me that helps him navigate acceptable social behaviors, etc. And sometimes I feel there's a bigger reason that we matched up.)
So over the town gossip, Evelyn decides to pack up the family and just leave. They go to Florida and start a brand new life which seems to rejuvenate Adam. Unfortunately, it's around this time when Evelyn realizes that as she ages through her years, Adam does not. It becomes a little awkward and Adam tries to make this right because he wants to do everything for Evelyn, give her the world, give her the best possible life. What pulls at you is their love. It may not always be easy, the amount of love for each other is huge. It's like a couple that if you're in the same room you can't help but notice and feel how much they love each other. Which is exactly like Adam and Evelyn- times ten.
And one day, it all ends without warning. I'll be honest- the ending hit me hard. I cried. I cried because I was sad it wasn't a forever love story, I cried because you don't know what happens to Adam. I can't even pose all of the questions I was left with at the end of the book because it'll ruin the majority of the book for you. But please read this. If you read nothing else I recommend, read this one. It will pull at you. It's one of those books that doesn't have a major, dramatic story line, but it's the story of a life. A life that seems so much like yours but at the same time nowhere near your ordinariness.
But I'm telling you- this is going to be the best book of the year for me, I can feel it. It will easily make my Top 10 favorite books of all time. The writing is so beautiful, it's so true to life, and you just connect with Evelyn. You really start to feel like you're sitting with a new friend as she tells you her story in a nursing home visitor lounge. I can't give this book enough praise. Absolutely wonderful.
Addie has gifts with animals but also through singing. Without opening her mouth. It's clear from the beginning she's obviously not like Evelyn and over time, the almost soul mate connection between the two leads to an intimate relationship that Evelyn wants, but also fears.
But over time, Evelyn realizes she really wants to get married, become a mother, raise a family. Addie recognizes this as well and feeling such an emotional bond to Evelyn, she does something to make this happen for Evelyn.
In a few days, in walks Adam.
Unlike Addie who is virtually a twin of Evelyn, Adam is more her compliment. The male version of herself. Over time they marry, have several children with unique birthing situations because of the uncertainty of what Adam is exactly, and they live a happy and normal life. Until a tragedy hits the family and turns everyone upside down. The immeasurable grief changes Adam and when he does something in front of the community that basically scares the Jesus out of them, Evelyn goes into protective mode. She understands him and knows nobody else will.
(Side note: this is where I felt like something rammed into my chest, because I got it. Sometimes I look at Matt with some of the issues he deals with privately and while I don't really understand why he does it, I sometimes feel like it's my job to protect him. I feel like I could never really leave him because he would be alone and I couldn't let him be ridiculed. It's me that keeps him in check and it's me that helps him navigate acceptable social behaviors, etc. And sometimes I feel there's a bigger reason that we matched up.)
So over the town gossip, Evelyn decides to pack up the family and just leave. They go to Florida and start a brand new life which seems to rejuvenate Adam. Unfortunately, it's around this time when Evelyn realizes that as she ages through her years, Adam does not. It becomes a little awkward and Adam tries to make this right because he wants to do everything for Evelyn, give her the world, give her the best possible life. What pulls at you is their love. It may not always be easy, the amount of love for each other is huge. It's like a couple that if you're in the same room you can't help but notice and feel how much they love each other. Which is exactly like Adam and Evelyn- times ten.
And one day, it all ends without warning. I'll be honest- the ending hit me hard. I cried. I cried because I was sad it wasn't a forever love story, I cried because you don't know what happens to Adam. I can't even pose all of the questions I was left with at the end of the book because it'll ruin the majority of the book for you. But please read this. If you read nothing else I recommend, read this one. It will pull at you. It's one of those books that doesn't have a major, dramatic story line, but it's the story of a life. A life that seems so much like yours but at the same time nowhere near your ordinariness.
But I'm telling you- this is going to be the best book of the year for me, I can feel it. It will easily make my Top 10 favorite books of all time. The writing is so beautiful, it's so true to life, and you just connect with Evelyn. You really start to feel like you're sitting with a new friend as she tells you her story in a nursing home visitor lounge. I can't give this book enough praise. Absolutely wonderful.
May 22, 2019
Such a unique book that is almost impossible to describe. I listened to the audiobook and was extremely impressed with the narrator.
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope is the life story of Evelyn as she grows from a teenager in the 1940’s all the way into her elder years and focuses on the love of her life, Adam Hope and the life and family they build together.
I was immediately intrigued when I saw this book recommended for lovers of The Time Travelers Wife, which I absolutely loved. I can’t say this is anything like that book though. There is no time travel and this book takes place in rural Georgia and rural Florida. But there are similar elements of the unknown.
I found myself confused at times with this book, and not necessarily in a good way. Many things were never explained, but the uniqueness of the story and the amazing ending left me with so much emotion and I felt so connected to Evelyn and her family. I was sad when the story was over.
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope is the life story of Evelyn as she grows from a teenager in the 1940’s all the way into her elder years and focuses on the love of her life, Adam Hope and the life and family they build together.
I was immediately intrigued when I saw this book recommended for lovers of The Time Travelers Wife, which I absolutely loved. I can’t say this is anything like that book though. There is no time travel and this book takes place in rural Georgia and rural Florida. But there are similar elements of the unknown.
I found myself confused at times with this book, and not necessarily in a good way. Many things were never explained, but the uniqueness of the story and the amazing ending left me with so much emotion and I felt so connected to Evelyn and her family. I was sad when the story was over.
March 26, 2015
'The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope,' by Rhonda Riley, is a a wonderful book about an extraordinary mystery. Riley's writing is down home comfortable with a lyrical quality that is as refreshing as a spring rain. The characters are richly textured, three dimensional beings who move in a world that feels deeply familiar. The story explores themes about keeping secrets, prejudice and gender issues, as well as raises questions about what makes a good relationship.
The story begins in 1944 before the close of WWII in a mill town about 25 miles from Charlotte, NC. Evelyn's family works in the mill and is for the most part happy to leave behind the privations of farm life. Evelyn however has always been happy with farm life, so when her great Aunt Eva dies, Evelyn is the natural choice, even at age 17, to take over Eva's farm. Riley writes of Evelyn, “Each time I came up the hill and saw the house, its front half shaded by the chinaberry tree, the farm seemed full of possibilities and far from the drab mill-village."
Riley describes the mill town that Evelyn is from as a place where racial prejudice existed and "even the smallest differences were noted." As a tall red headed girl, Evelyn was often the brunt of jokes. This sets the scene for the secrets that Evelyn will keep, especially the secret that the story revolves around, which is the inexplicable mystery that is Addie / Adam Hope. I really enjoyed how this author took on the mystery of Addie / Adam's gender and think this character's malleable nature would lend itself to discussions about what makes a good relationship work and what constitutes romantic love. I think Riley answers these questions pretty well, but will leave it to other readers to discover on their own.
As a North Carolinian, I found something homey about Riley's writing. I'm not sure if it was the cadence of how she fit her words together or just the lovely descriptions of the farm, the weather, the characters, or whatever was taking place in the novel.
Cons were a couple of nit picky things like 1. Why wasn't Evelyn already on the farm helping her great aunt at the beginning of the story? The aunt obviously needed help as she was a widow with three sons in the war, therefore all alone, and 2. I would have liked a little more soul searching regarding Evelyn commencing a sexual relationship with Addie. After all Evelyn is described as a church going girl and although she questions her beliefs later in the story, she isn't questioning her beliefs when she meets Addie. The author writes,
“I did not know then that there was a vocabulary for what we did, or that other women had done the same before us. So, for me, there were no words for what we did, just as there was no word for how she had changed, emerging from the dirt and transforming into someone so like me. How we touched each other at night in bed seemed a small thing next to that. But I knew, without doubt, that it was good, as good and pure as the eyes she turned to me each morning. Good, but one more thing I could not speak of."
It just seems as though it were too easy for Evelyn to become intimate with Addie, but perhaps it can be explained by how they met and the transformation that Addie went through in just a few days and the fact that Evelyn was there as a kind of co-creator. The quote above also reveals a quality of innocence and purity about Evelyn, so perhaps that also played a role in her ability to become intimate without judging herself so harshly.
This book is a true gem. I thoroughly enjoyed this reading experience! I can easily visualize it as a movie, especially the scene where Addie / Adam is discovered.
The story begins in 1944 before the close of WWII in a mill town about 25 miles from Charlotte, NC. Evelyn's family works in the mill and is for the most part happy to leave behind the privations of farm life. Evelyn however has always been happy with farm life, so when her great Aunt Eva dies, Evelyn is the natural choice, even at age 17, to take over Eva's farm. Riley writes of Evelyn, “Each time I came up the hill and saw the house, its front half shaded by the chinaberry tree, the farm seemed full of possibilities and far from the drab mill-village."
Riley describes the mill town that Evelyn is from as a place where racial prejudice existed and "even the smallest differences were noted." As a tall red headed girl, Evelyn was often the brunt of jokes. This sets the scene for the secrets that Evelyn will keep, especially the secret that the story revolves around, which is the inexplicable mystery that is Addie / Adam Hope. I really enjoyed how this author took on the mystery of Addie / Adam's gender and think this character's malleable nature would lend itself to discussions about what makes a good relationship work and what constitutes romantic love. I think Riley answers these questions pretty well, but will leave it to other readers to discover on their own.
As a North Carolinian, I found something homey about Riley's writing. I'm not sure if it was the cadence of how she fit her words together or just the lovely descriptions of the farm, the weather, the characters, or whatever was taking place in the novel.
Cons were a couple of nit picky things like 1. Why wasn't Evelyn already on the farm helping her great aunt at the beginning of the story? The aunt obviously needed help as she was a widow with three sons in the war, therefore all alone, and 2. I would have liked a little more soul searching regarding Evelyn commencing a sexual relationship with Addie. After all Evelyn is described as a church going girl and although she questions her beliefs later in the story, she isn't questioning her beliefs when she meets Addie. The author writes,
“I did not know then that there was a vocabulary for what we did, or that other women had done the same before us. So, for me, there were no words for what we did, just as there was no word for how she had changed, emerging from the dirt and transforming into someone so like me. How we touched each other at night in bed seemed a small thing next to that. But I knew, without doubt, that it was good, as good and pure as the eyes she turned to me each morning. Good, but one more thing I could not speak of."
It just seems as though it were too easy for Evelyn to become intimate with Addie, but perhaps it can be explained by how they met and the transformation that Addie went through in just a few days and the fact that Evelyn was there as a kind of co-creator. The quote above also reveals a quality of innocence and purity about Evelyn, so perhaps that also played a role in her ability to become intimate without judging herself so harshly.
This book is a true gem. I thoroughly enjoyed this reading experience! I can easily visualize it as a movie, especially the scene where Addie / Adam is discovered.
July 13, 2013
I loved this book in so many ways. This is Riley's first novel, and it's obvious that she knows her way around the language, without the need to show off. This passage on grief has stayed with me for days:
"Grief is a powerful river in flood. It cannot be argued or reasoned or wrestled down to an insignificant trickle. You must let it take you where it is going. When it pulls you under, all you can do is keep your eyes open for rocks and fallen trees, try not to panic, and stay faceup so you will know where the sky is. You will need that information later. Eventually, its waters calm and you will be on a shore far from where you began, raw and sore, but clean and as close to whole as you will ever be again."
I have lived this. I think the author has as well.
Initially I wasn't entirely happy with how Riley chose to resolve the apparently unresolvable conflict that closes out the book. As I thought about it, though, it started seeming that this wasn't Riley's choice, but Adam's choice...the author had so fully formed her characters that they could make choices of their own.
A truly lovely book - both for the story and for Riley's skill in telling it.
"Grief is a powerful river in flood. It cannot be argued or reasoned or wrestled down to an insignificant trickle. You must let it take you where it is going. When it pulls you under, all you can do is keep your eyes open for rocks and fallen trees, try not to panic, and stay faceup so you will know where the sky is. You will need that information later. Eventually, its waters calm and you will be on a shore far from where you began, raw and sore, but clean and as close to whole as you will ever be again."
I have lived this. I think the author has as well.
Initially I wasn't entirely happy with how Riley chose to resolve the apparently unresolvable conflict that closes out the book. As I thought about it, though, it started seeming that this wasn't Riley's choice, but Adam's choice...the author had so fully formed her characters that they could make choices of their own.
A truly lovely book - both for the story and for Riley's skill in telling it.
June 29, 2013
I really wanted to enjoy this book. It seemed, on the surface, to have everything that I generally enjoy in a novel. It is set post war. There is a female protagonist and there is a magical element.
The plot is intriguing. A young woman finds a "being" in the mud. The being is so mottled and scarred, she assumes at first that he must be a veteran. When the being's skin and body change- into a direct copy of her own, she realizes that whatever she pulled out of the ground is not quite human. I think where the book failed for me, was that it did a lot of telling rather than showing. I never connected to the protagonist. I felt there should have been more dialogue (which would have gone a long way towards the "showing") I wanted to know where this being came from, what it was. But neither the being nor the protagonist especially cared to find out. They were simply content that the other was there. I felt like the book was over worked and over written, that it ultimately took itself too seriously. There was no humor or whimsy. Without the use of those elements, the novel dragged. I thought the idea itself was great, but for me personally, I did not think it was executed nearly as well as it could have been.
The plot is intriguing. A young woman finds a "being" in the mud. The being is so mottled and scarred, she assumes at first that he must be a veteran. When the being's skin and body change- into a direct copy of her own, she realizes that whatever she pulled out of the ground is not quite human. I think where the book failed for me, was that it did a lot of telling rather than showing. I never connected to the protagonist. I felt there should have been more dialogue (which would have gone a long way towards the "showing") I wanted to know where this being came from, what it was. But neither the being nor the protagonist especially cared to find out. They were simply content that the other was there. I felt like the book was over worked and over written, that it ultimately took itself too seriously. There was no humor or whimsy. Without the use of those elements, the novel dragged. I thought the idea itself was great, but for me personally, I did not think it was executed nearly as well as it could have been.
February 1, 2014
**SPOILERS**
3.5 stars
This was a strange book and while I enjoyed it, I did not find it all to be plausible. I tend to like "magical realism", but some authors are able to pull if off better than others. Riley wrote a lovely story here, but her way of bringing Addie into the world seemed too crazy to me. And then to have Addie morph so drastically into Adam seemed even more absurd. Other than these strange occurrences, I mostly enjoyed the book. The book is really about Evelyn and her way of living and loving Addie/Adam and all of the blessings and scariness that came with that relationship. Riley was able to draw many different emotions from me and at times I felt uncomfortable reading the book. After reading chapters 6 and 7 in a row (The Storm and Flood), I had to put the book down. It was so melancholy and I felt somewhat depressed. I also got very anxious during Evelyn's scuba diving escapade, I was panicking along with her. Riley was very good at detailing Evelyn's world and portraying her moods/moodiness. The thing that drove me absolutely crazy was Evelyn not telling her daughters about what the doctors had found out about Adam and the surgery that they wanted to perform and how he didn't age. I wanted to scream at her through the book. She had 4 daughters and both her and Adam knew that they shared some of his characteristics due to his not being "human", but they decided to not tell their daughters. Especially in the last part of the book when she sees a picture of her daughter who is starting to morph into looking Chinese, I thought that maybe she would change her mind and tell them. Even though Evelyn was scared of how others may react to Adam's story, I thought that it was selfish of her to not explain the truth to her children. The other odd thing about this book is the amount of sex that Evelyn and Addie/Adam have. They really go at each other like rabbits all throughout the book. While this was ok with me, it didn't seem realistic. Maybe this was a way for the author to show how passionate they were for one another, but after a while it became kind of monotonous. I know I just stated many flaws that I found in this book, but I did enjoy the uniqueness of the story and the twists and turns of the plot. I also like the way Riley summed up the book and gave the reader a glimpse into the futures of her daughters.
This book has been compared to "The Time Traveler's Wife" in it's description and also to "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle". The only similarity this book has to "The Time Traveler's Wife" is that it contains some magical realism and it's a romance. The 2 stories do not coincide to me. I know I would be disappointed going into this read expecting another "The Time Traveler's Wife." I loved that book, but I'm glad that I didn't have that expectation for "Adam Hope." "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is similar in the fact that it talks about horses the way "Edgar" talked about dogs. As I never finished "Edgar Sawtelle", I don't know if there is more to compare than that.
3.5 stars
This was a strange book and while I enjoyed it, I did not find it all to be plausible. I tend to like "magical realism", but some authors are able to pull if off better than others. Riley wrote a lovely story here, but her way of bringing Addie into the world seemed too crazy to me. And then to have Addie morph so drastically into Adam seemed even more absurd. Other than these strange occurrences, I mostly enjoyed the book. The book is really about Evelyn and her way of living and loving Addie/Adam and all of the blessings and scariness that came with that relationship. Riley was able to draw many different emotions from me and at times I felt uncomfortable reading the book. After reading chapters 6 and 7 in a row (The Storm and Flood), I had to put the book down. It was so melancholy and I felt somewhat depressed. I also got very anxious during Evelyn's scuba diving escapade, I was panicking along with her. Riley was very good at detailing Evelyn's world and portraying her moods/moodiness. The thing that drove me absolutely crazy was Evelyn not telling her daughters about what the doctors had found out about Adam and the surgery that they wanted to perform and how he didn't age. I wanted to scream at her through the book. She had 4 daughters and both her and Adam knew that they shared some of his characteristics due to his not being "human", but they decided to not tell their daughters. Especially in the last part of the book when she sees a picture of her daughter who is starting to morph into looking Chinese, I thought that maybe she would change her mind and tell them. Even though Evelyn was scared of how others may react to Adam's story, I thought that it was selfish of her to not explain the truth to her children. The other odd thing about this book is the amount of sex that Evelyn and Addie/Adam have. They really go at each other like rabbits all throughout the book. While this was ok with me, it didn't seem realistic. Maybe this was a way for the author to show how passionate they were for one another, but after a while it became kind of monotonous. I know I just stated many flaws that I found in this book, but I did enjoy the uniqueness of the story and the twists and turns of the plot. I also like the way Riley summed up the book and gave the reader a glimpse into the futures of her daughters.
This book has been compared to "The Time Traveler's Wife" in it's description and also to "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle". The only similarity this book has to "The Time Traveler's Wife" is that it contains some magical realism and it's a romance. The 2 stories do not coincide to me. I know I would be disappointed going into this read expecting another "The Time Traveler's Wife." I loved that book, but I'm glad that I didn't have that expectation for "Adam Hope." "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is similar in the fact that it talks about horses the way "Edgar" talked about dogs. As I never finished "Edgar Sawtelle", I don't know if there is more to compare than that.
May 7, 2013
I read this book because of the Books on the Nightstand podcast and the author will be at Booktopia Bellingham. I normally would not have read this book just because it doesn't seem like my cup of tea. I started this book not knowing much about it. This book is weird. WEIRD. And there is a lot of talk about genitals. However, I loved this book. I tore through this 420 page book in a couple days. There isn't a lot of plot but the book is well written and draws you in. It's almost a fable. It's ethereal and surreal and fantastic. I loved every minute of this book. Also, I checked out the author's website and she seems totally awesome. I wish I was going to Booktopia to meet her.
May 17, 2013
At times the author seemed to bristle my reading sensibilities by "trying to hard' and spoon feeding some rather obvious "deep" connections she wanted you to make. In that regard, every now and then her writing seemed primary and junior high~ish. She really wanted to be Sidhartha at times, and it just did not come across well.
Other than that, the characters were very likable, and developed. I found myself very fond of the family and extended family. The setting was actually my favorite part, the farm, the horses and the country home they created.
The love between Evelyn and Addie/Adam was emphasized to a redundant degree. They had a primal other worldly ordinary sexual experience. However, I felt that the author really over used that aspect in the story and did a poor job of really making you understand the "humming from his chest". I wanted to put the book down and say ok, ok, I get it he hums and his chest vibrates.. so what. I believe the author felt that if she just repeated it often enough it would take on a deep meaning. Not the case... underdeveloped description and lack luster.
I read the entire book in 2 days, the author had a way of pulling you into the story to find out what was going to happen next. Not a heart pounding page turned, but a steady stream of curiosity kept me reading.
Am I glad I read it? Yes, it was nice to read something different. Would I recommend it to someone? Not really... it is a book to be borrowed from a friend and passed around. It is not one I would want to keep on my shelf like a good friend.
I give this book a pale hello and goodbye.
Other than that, the characters were very likable, and developed. I found myself very fond of the family and extended family. The setting was actually my favorite part, the farm, the horses and the country home they created.
The love between Evelyn and Addie/Adam was emphasized to a redundant degree. They had a primal other worldly ordinary sexual experience. However, I felt that the author really over used that aspect in the story and did a poor job of really making you understand the "humming from his chest". I wanted to put the book down and say ok, ok, I get it he hums and his chest vibrates.. so what. I believe the author felt that if she just repeated it often enough it would take on a deep meaning. Not the case... underdeveloped description and lack luster.
I read the entire book in 2 days, the author had a way of pulling you into the story to find out what was going to happen next. Not a heart pounding page turned, but a steady stream of curiosity kept me reading.
Am I glad I read it? Yes, it was nice to read something different. Would I recommend it to someone? Not really... it is a book to be borrowed from a friend and passed around. It is not one I would want to keep on my shelf like a good friend.
I give this book a pale hello and goodbye.
July 20, 2013
this book was really really breathtaking. what an imagination this author has. i mean, the story of adam hope is so interesting and unique and inventive. narrated by the woman who found him, adam's wife, evelyn, it's quite sad at times, extremely thought provoking, and really beautifully written.
i like the fact that though this story revolves around someone so unique and different and special…the true nature of the book is about relationships. it's really a story of unconditional love and love of family.
the character of addie/adam/"A" is so well developed. a supernatural being, of sorts, he's so full of joy and his spirit rings so sweetly in the story. you can't help but love him (her? it?). there is an innocence about him that reminds me of a child, but a maturity and grace that you wonder if he's been around forever. the mystery of his origins, and especially of his "voice" are never resolved…but that doesn't matter (at least not to me). the story that unfolded around him was good enough for me to be satisfied. i felt that, as a reader, i too had to take a leap of faith and accept him for who and what he was…and love him for it without question. just like evelyn did.
it's hard to say anything about the book without sounding like a book report…and moreso because it's really just a pleasure to unwrap and discover for yourself and i wouldn't want to ruin the wonder of this book for anyone. its a great sweeping novel, a fantastic and compelling read and i recommend it wholeheartedly.
i like the fact that though this story revolves around someone so unique and different and special…the true nature of the book is about relationships. it's really a story of unconditional love and love of family.
the character of addie/adam/"A" is so well developed. a supernatural being, of sorts, he's so full of joy and his spirit rings so sweetly in the story. you can't help but love him (her? it?). there is an innocence about him that reminds me of a child, but a maturity and grace that you wonder if he's been around forever. the mystery of his origins, and especially of his "voice" are never resolved…but that doesn't matter (at least not to me). the story that unfolded around him was good enough for me to be satisfied. i felt that, as a reader, i too had to take a leap of faith and accept him for who and what he was…and love him for it without question. just like evelyn did.
it's hard to say anything about the book without sounding like a book report…and moreso because it's really just a pleasure to unwrap and discover for yourself and i wouldn't want to ruin the wonder of this book for anyone. its a great sweeping novel, a fantastic and compelling read and i recommend it wholeheartedly.
May 17, 2013
It's been awhile since I've disliked a book as much as this one so after 165 pages, I decided to not waste my time anymore and just move one. I did skim the rest to see what happens and to make sure I wasn't missing anything big, and it made me even more glad that I didn't finish this because the premise of this book just didn't sit well with me. I think my main problem was with Evelyn and how she responded to things. It was so completely abnormal and bizarre that I just couldn't identify with or understand any of her actions or reactions to all the crazy situations. I hated this book and would not recommend it.
December 12, 2015
If you are good at suspending disbelief, if you enjoy something completely different, if you liked The Time Traveler's Wife, you will be captivated by The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope.
Riley navigates the mine field of human experience beautifully.
Riley navigates the mine field of human experience beautifully.
June 30, 2013
This book is full of sex! Whew! It's not raunchy but it is a bit of an obsession for the lead couple which began to feel bland and a little one-sided to me (not to mention a bit unrealistic). It's not offensive though and I do like sex myself, it's just only one piece of committed love which I felt got too much time in the spotlight here.
Other things that bugged me included little errors in the research she did. For instance, at one point the characters go through the pantry and open the home canned items to check their goodness which would be a pointless thing since it would break all the seals. There were several little things like that.
I have to give the author props for creative story elements and also not shrinking from challenge as a writer. Her ideas are beautiful and the settings alluring. I've never wanted to live in Florida but she made it sound wonderful.
Other things that bugged me included little errors in the research she did. For instance, at one point the characters go through the pantry and open the home canned items to check their goodness which would be a pointless thing since it would break all the seals. There were several little things like that.
I have to give the author props for creative story elements and also not shrinking from challenge as a writer. Her ideas are beautiful and the settings alluring. I've never wanted to live in Florida but she made it sound wonderful.
August 13, 2016
I had mixed feelings about this one . On the one hand it is a wonderful love story , but I just couldn't get by the premise of this creature Addie/Adam just appearing in the dirt and taking on the physical characteristics of another person . I stuck with it because I loved the love this family shared and was hoping to get some sort of explanation, but it never happened . I loved The Time Traveler's Wife and don't see a real comparison . It was just ok - different .
May 19, 2013
I LOVED this book. Everything about it -- the characters, the settings, the mystery, the scope of their lives, the love story, the writing. It was beautiful. I'm going to miss reading it now that I've finished.
May 7, 2013
When seventeen-year-old Evelyn Roe digs an unformed, featureless human right out of the red clay of her family's farm in North Carolina during a torrential winter rainstorm, she had little idea just how much her narrow existence, or her ideas of life, would change. Rhonda Riley's story of Evelyn's life, her great love for this Other being the existence of which she cannot explain but which will confront all her traditional, accepted ideas - and those of her small-town community in the aftermath of World War II - has all the quiet, everyday normality of a real woman's life, complemented by the bizarre, the extraordinary, the unexpected.
The war has not yet ended when Evelyn, the oldest of four siblings and the only one with any experience, is told by her parents that she will run her Aunt Eva's farm now that her aunt has died and her sons aren't coming back from the war. Evelyn is quite happy to work on the farm and live in Aunt Eva's old farmhouse, even if it has no electricity or indoor plumbing; she has a deep love for the land that nurtures them all and enjoys the hard work.
It is while she is out checking the property during a rainstorm that is turning into a flood that her dog, Hobo, finds something in the clay mud. Investigating, Evelyn discovers what she takes for a man's arm, then a body, and in a panic digs him out. His skin is rough-textured: she imagines that he was horribly burned in the war, but where has he come from and how did he get there? Taking him inside, wrapped in quilts, she lays him by the stove fire in the kitchen and snuggles close to keep him warm. Each glimpse of his face tells her that this is no ordinary man caught out in a storm with no clothes on. His features slowly take on shape and form, a face gradually appearing where there was barely one before. But it is days before Evelyn realises that not only is it a she, but she is identical to Evelyn. She has copied Evelyn's form.
Evelyn calls her Addie, and tells her family and the townspeople that Addie is her cousin on her father's side (her aunt being the run to run off and get pregnant - the scandal!). Belatedly she remembers that her father's side is dark, while she and Addie have the red hair and green eyes of her mother's Irish family, the McMurrough's. Still, nobody questions it, and when Addie displays an unusual skill with horses she becomes much sought-after as a trainer and "sweetener".
From almost the time when Addie's formation was complete, she and Evelyn had been lovers. As several years pass and Evelyn begins to yearn for children, Addie figures out a way to make it happen, and for the two of them to stay together: she leaves for two weeks and when she returns, she has the body of a man, a man called Roy Hope who stopped by their farm for refreshment - and to steal their money. A tall, dark-haired and handsome young man, Addie becomes Adam Hope, and the deception continues, only this time he and Evelyn can marry and have children of their own.
Throughout Evelyn's life with Adam, she is confronted by the ease of her own lies, her cowardice in never telling her children who - or what - their father really is, and the small-mindedness of the people she's grown up with, both family and townspeople. It is a long and fruitful life for Evelyn, but as she ages and Adam remains a smooth-skinned twenty-five, thirty at most, having never seen an older Roy Hope to model off, new questions emerge, and Evelyn must face a new fear - and Adam a new decision.
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope has many strengths, especially it's fascinating premise, upon which the whole novel rests. With deep Biblical roots - the flood, the man made of clay taking the form of Evelyn, Adam-and-Eve, and the strange but beautiful bell tones Adam/Addie makes from his/her chest - the story takes the more interesting, organic angle by stripping these tropes of their religious trappings and taking them back, back to their clay-like beginnings. There is something so beautifully organic about Addie/Adam, so life-affirming. Like by removing religion from her/his beginnings, it reverts to an older form of mythology, an origin story that's about Life, not God.
Without becoming too heavy-handed, Evelyn likewise begins to question the religious upbringing of her youth (her family attend the Baptist church), which can no longer explain or speak to her new understanding of life, or the tragedies that occur. The advent of Adam in her life also makes her see the people she's always known in a new light, especially when they become small-minded and judgemental, ostracising Adam for something they don't understand: he becomes a metaphor for this in all its forms, across all of America and beyond. It was nicely done.
One of the things I loved about the story was the vivid descriptions of the land and the tangible sense of Evelyn's - and Adam's - love for it. It carries with it a strong feeling of nostalgia, too, as Evelyn's farm becomes surrounded by new highways over the years, and developers start offering pots of money for parts of their farm. Being an audience to Evelyn's life over so many decades, you really get a sense for how much has changed, some for the better, some not so desirable. The simple, peaceful life of Evelyn's youth, those early years when she lived with Addie, become rather sad because they are completely gone. Watching Evelyn go through the old farmhouse after they've moved to Florida, and feeling how empty it is, how bereft - with echoes of her and her family's lives like the height measurements on the doorframe, or the twins' treehouse - made me feel so sad, especially as I've felt such moments myself, though nothing so strong as this.
In a way, the novel struck me as less of a romance between Evelyn and Adam, and more of a romance between Evelyn and the land - which Adam came from, and represents. But while I never quite managed to connect with Adam - Evelyn keeps him at a distance from the reader; more on that in a bit - the land itself is a much stronger "character" in the novel. A "character" I could believe in and understand. These are the strengths of the novel; where Riley's debut novel struggles a bit is in knowing where to take the story, from that riveting premise to a satisfying and meaningful conclusion, and in creating characters who manage to resonate in your heart.
While I did find the story to be believable - it's written in such a way, with just enough focus on details and the everyday - I did find that the characters struggled to live off the page. Evelyn is writing this as something to leave her daughters, as she never managed to tell them the truth of their father or how her youngest, Sarah, now looks Asian after several years of living with her husband in China - but it's just the proof she needs. And it does have that cadence to it, a kind of storytelling rhythm, that I liked. It feels like Evelyn really is speaking/writing/retelling the story of her life; she is an ordinary woman, with no special gifts or talents of her own, and no remarkable life-changing moments - except for those concerning Adam, which she's always kept secret. So it is easy to relate to her. She feels incredibly familiar. But I never really connected with her, emotionally.
I had a similar problem with Adam, and all the secondary characters. I felt like I was watching a movie, a film play out before me, something that I could visualise clearly in my imagination but which never quite made it to my heart. The telling point was the terrible tragedy that strikes the family: it was exactly the kind of thing that would normally make me cry, a lot, and yet it barely made my eyes wet.
There are moments of tension, scenes of danger even - as when Evelyn races to "abduct" Adam from the hospital where the doctors, having X-rayed him and discovered some strange and, they believe, life-threatening abnormalities about him, are getting ready to cut him open - but by and large the story is more like a gently rolling hill. It was often quite soothing, to go with the flow, see where it took you, and watch this family grow and age and change and so on. But it also has a kind of aimlessness that I wasn't really expecting, and I can't decide whether the ending was the only ending it could have had (my gut says "yes") or a bit of a cop-out (that's my cynical, critical side having its say). Whichever it is, it wasn't totally satisfying, perhaps because it just lacked the kind of oomph you would want in this kind of story, about someone as incredible as Adam.
As an abstract concept, I loved Adam. Having him change from female to male (I don't feel qualified to comment on Evelyn taking a lover who looked exactly like herself) was a pivotal moment and, theoretically, opens up a whole range of questions on gender identity and the norm (in fact, Adam as an Otherwordly being opens up those questions regardless), but the novel shied away from going down that speculative route and instead stayed on the well-trodden path of a Woman's Story. Nothing wrong with that, but it was disappointing for me, as I love those books that delve into such topics and really make me think in new and confronting ways. That, I fear, is at the heart of my umming-and-ahhing: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope carries with it the promise of a confronting novel and instead tries to force the Unusual and Unknown into the mould of the Everday, the Normal.
While this is, I believe, partly the point of the novel - it is Evelyn's decision to put limits on Adam's Otherness, to try and make him fit in, and this fear of being ousted or found out is at the heart of Evelyn's inner conflict: she loves the things that make Adam unique but is too scared of people's reactions to allow him to reveal them to anyone else - it made of Adam's uniqueness a tool or literary convention, rather than a puzzling, speculative and thought-provoking question in its own right.
To be fair, that does make the novel successful in its aims: this is a story about an ordinary person trying to make the extraordinary into the everyday out of fear and cowardice, never quite able to unite the two sides of herself and make peace with the unanswerable questions. But to me it remained merely observational. Evelyn, with her minimal educational background, was not someone able to look too deeply into the unknown: she had questions but never once came close to thinking through them to find answers for herself, she wanted someone else to hand them to her, and Adam had no idea where he was from or what he was anymore than she did (but he, at least, was content with who he was and was focused on living and loving life to its fullest). Certainly, this leaves the reader to form their own speculations, but it doesn't change the fact that the novel remains sadly shallow in that regard.
As you can tell from all that, I feel very conflicted about this book. It is a fairly slow read, the prose being a bit stiff especially up until Evelyn has her first child (I loved that Riley portrays childbirth so realistically; too many writers don't and it's become a bit of a pet peeve of mine), but there is a great deal of potential here and Riley is, at the end of the day, a strong writer with interesting ideas and a deft touch for making the ordinary seem extraordinary. Regardless of how I felt about the ending and so on, this isn't a forgettable story and the lingering questions strengthen rather than weaken it: the unexplained mystery is more compulsive, fascinating and beguiling than the answers ever could be.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via TLC Book Tours.
The war has not yet ended when Evelyn, the oldest of four siblings and the only one with any experience, is told by her parents that she will run her Aunt Eva's farm now that her aunt has died and her sons aren't coming back from the war. Evelyn is quite happy to work on the farm and live in Aunt Eva's old farmhouse, even if it has no electricity or indoor plumbing; she has a deep love for the land that nurtures them all and enjoys the hard work.
It is while she is out checking the property during a rainstorm that is turning into a flood that her dog, Hobo, finds something in the clay mud. Investigating, Evelyn discovers what she takes for a man's arm, then a body, and in a panic digs him out. His skin is rough-textured: she imagines that he was horribly burned in the war, but where has he come from and how did he get there? Taking him inside, wrapped in quilts, she lays him by the stove fire in the kitchen and snuggles close to keep him warm. Each glimpse of his face tells her that this is no ordinary man caught out in a storm with no clothes on. His features slowly take on shape and form, a face gradually appearing where there was barely one before. But it is days before Evelyn realises that not only is it a she, but she is identical to Evelyn. She has copied Evelyn's form.
Evelyn calls her Addie, and tells her family and the townspeople that Addie is her cousin on her father's side (her aunt being the run to run off and get pregnant - the scandal!). Belatedly she remembers that her father's side is dark, while she and Addie have the red hair and green eyes of her mother's Irish family, the McMurrough's. Still, nobody questions it, and when Addie displays an unusual skill with horses she becomes much sought-after as a trainer and "sweetener".
From almost the time when Addie's formation was complete, she and Evelyn had been lovers. As several years pass and Evelyn begins to yearn for children, Addie figures out a way to make it happen, and for the two of them to stay together: she leaves for two weeks and when she returns, she has the body of a man, a man called Roy Hope who stopped by their farm for refreshment - and to steal their money. A tall, dark-haired and handsome young man, Addie becomes Adam Hope, and the deception continues, only this time he and Evelyn can marry and have children of their own.
Throughout Evelyn's life with Adam, she is confronted by the ease of her own lies, her cowardice in never telling her children who - or what - their father really is, and the small-mindedness of the people she's grown up with, both family and townspeople. It is a long and fruitful life for Evelyn, but as she ages and Adam remains a smooth-skinned twenty-five, thirty at most, having never seen an older Roy Hope to model off, new questions emerge, and Evelyn must face a new fear - and Adam a new decision.
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope has many strengths, especially it's fascinating premise, upon which the whole novel rests. With deep Biblical roots - the flood, the man made of clay taking the form of Evelyn, Adam-and-Eve, and the strange but beautiful bell tones Adam/Addie makes from his/her chest - the story takes the more interesting, organic angle by stripping these tropes of their religious trappings and taking them back, back to their clay-like beginnings. There is something so beautifully organic about Addie/Adam, so life-affirming. Like by removing religion from her/his beginnings, it reverts to an older form of mythology, an origin story that's about Life, not God.
Without becoming too heavy-handed, Evelyn likewise begins to question the religious upbringing of her youth (her family attend the Baptist church), which can no longer explain or speak to her new understanding of life, or the tragedies that occur. The advent of Adam in her life also makes her see the people she's always known in a new light, especially when they become small-minded and judgemental, ostracising Adam for something they don't understand: he becomes a metaphor for this in all its forms, across all of America and beyond. It was nicely done.
One of the things I loved about the story was the vivid descriptions of the land and the tangible sense of Evelyn's - and Adam's - love for it. It carries with it a strong feeling of nostalgia, too, as Evelyn's farm becomes surrounded by new highways over the years, and developers start offering pots of money for parts of their farm. Being an audience to Evelyn's life over so many decades, you really get a sense for how much has changed, some for the better, some not so desirable. The simple, peaceful life of Evelyn's youth, those early years when she lived with Addie, become rather sad because they are completely gone. Watching Evelyn go through the old farmhouse after they've moved to Florida, and feeling how empty it is, how bereft - with echoes of her and her family's lives like the height measurements on the doorframe, or the twins' treehouse - made me feel so sad, especially as I've felt such moments myself, though nothing so strong as this.
In a way, the novel struck me as less of a romance between Evelyn and Adam, and more of a romance between Evelyn and the land - which Adam came from, and represents. But while I never quite managed to connect with Adam - Evelyn keeps him at a distance from the reader; more on that in a bit - the land itself is a much stronger "character" in the novel. A "character" I could believe in and understand. These are the strengths of the novel; where Riley's debut novel struggles a bit is in knowing where to take the story, from that riveting premise to a satisfying and meaningful conclusion, and in creating characters who manage to resonate in your heart.
While I did find the story to be believable - it's written in such a way, with just enough focus on details and the everyday - I did find that the characters struggled to live off the page. Evelyn is writing this as something to leave her daughters, as she never managed to tell them the truth of their father or how her youngest, Sarah, now looks Asian after several years of living with her husband in China - but it's just the proof she needs. And it does have that cadence to it, a kind of storytelling rhythm, that I liked. It feels like Evelyn really is speaking/writing/retelling the story of her life; she is an ordinary woman, with no special gifts or talents of her own, and no remarkable life-changing moments - except for those concerning Adam, which she's always kept secret. So it is easy to relate to her. She feels incredibly familiar. But I never really connected with her, emotionally.
I had a similar problem with Adam, and all the secondary characters. I felt like I was watching a movie, a film play out before me, something that I could visualise clearly in my imagination but which never quite made it to my heart. The telling point was the terrible tragedy that strikes the family: it was exactly the kind of thing that would normally make me cry, a lot, and yet it barely made my eyes wet.
There are moments of tension, scenes of danger even - as when Evelyn races to "abduct" Adam from the hospital where the doctors, having X-rayed him and discovered some strange and, they believe, life-threatening abnormalities about him, are getting ready to cut him open - but by and large the story is more like a gently rolling hill. It was often quite soothing, to go with the flow, see where it took you, and watch this family grow and age and change and so on. But it also has a kind of aimlessness that I wasn't really expecting, and I can't decide whether the ending was the only ending it could have had (my gut says "yes") or a bit of a cop-out (that's my cynical, critical side having its say). Whichever it is, it wasn't totally satisfying, perhaps because it just lacked the kind of oomph you would want in this kind of story, about someone as incredible as Adam.
As an abstract concept, I loved Adam. Having him change from female to male (I don't feel qualified to comment on Evelyn taking a lover who looked exactly like herself) was a pivotal moment and, theoretically, opens up a whole range of questions on gender identity and the norm (in fact, Adam as an Otherwordly being opens up those questions regardless), but the novel shied away from going down that speculative route and instead stayed on the well-trodden path of a Woman's Story. Nothing wrong with that, but it was disappointing for me, as I love those books that delve into such topics and really make me think in new and confronting ways. That, I fear, is at the heart of my umming-and-ahhing: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope carries with it the promise of a confronting novel and instead tries to force the Unusual and Unknown into the mould of the Everday, the Normal.
While this is, I believe, partly the point of the novel - it is Evelyn's decision to put limits on Adam's Otherness, to try and make him fit in, and this fear of being ousted or found out is at the heart of Evelyn's inner conflict: she loves the things that make Adam unique but is too scared of people's reactions to allow him to reveal them to anyone else - it made of Adam's uniqueness a tool or literary convention, rather than a puzzling, speculative and thought-provoking question in its own right.
To be fair, that does make the novel successful in its aims: this is a story about an ordinary person trying to make the extraordinary into the everyday out of fear and cowardice, never quite able to unite the two sides of herself and make peace with the unanswerable questions. But to me it remained merely observational. Evelyn, with her minimal educational background, was not someone able to look too deeply into the unknown: she had questions but never once came close to thinking through them to find answers for herself, she wanted someone else to hand them to her, and Adam had no idea where he was from or what he was anymore than she did (but he, at least, was content with who he was and was focused on living and loving life to its fullest). Certainly, this leaves the reader to form their own speculations, but it doesn't change the fact that the novel remains sadly shallow in that regard.
As you can tell from all that, I feel very conflicted about this book. It is a fairly slow read, the prose being a bit stiff especially up until Evelyn has her first child (I loved that Riley portrays childbirth so realistically; too many writers don't and it's become a bit of a pet peeve of mine), but there is a great deal of potential here and Riley is, at the end of the day, a strong writer with interesting ideas and a deft touch for making the ordinary seem extraordinary. Regardless of how I felt about the ending and so on, this isn't a forgettable story and the lingering questions strengthen rather than weaken it: the unexplained mystery is more compulsive, fascinating and beguiling than the answers ever could be.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via TLC Book Tours.
August 16, 2023
Evelyn Roe Hope recounts her life with her husband Adam, in order to explain herself to her grown daughters and the mystery of her husband, Adam’s, life.
There is something “otherworldly” about Adam when Evelyn finds him buried in mud on her farm. She nurses him back to health and starts a relationship with him as “he” morphs into a clone of her, who is she names Addie. Eventually he morphs again into a man and they marry and start a seemingly normal life together. Or as normal as it can be knowing that Adam is not a regular human man. Evelyn always feels she has to both protect Adam and hide his “otherness“ from the world. There is “magical realism” involved in the character of Adam and the reader just has to accept it.
Although the writing is beautiful, and compels you through the story, a major drawback is that the mystery of Adam’s origins are never explained, partially, because Adam claims not to know anything of his past. To him he just “is”. I personally would’ve liked some closure on his origins. Otherwise, this is a wonderful read, and if you can suspend disbelief and go with it, I would recommend it.
There is something “otherworldly” about Adam when Evelyn finds him buried in mud on her farm. She nurses him back to health and starts a relationship with him as “he” morphs into a clone of her, who is she names Addie. Eventually he morphs again into a man and they marry and start a seemingly normal life together. Or as normal as it can be knowing that Adam is not a regular human man. Evelyn always feels she has to both protect Adam and hide his “otherness“ from the world. There is “magical realism” involved in the character of Adam and the reader just has to accept it.
Although the writing is beautiful, and compels you through the story, a major drawback is that the mystery of Adam’s origins are never explained, partially, because Adam claims not to know anything of his past. To him he just “is”. I personally would’ve liked some closure on his origins. Otherwise, this is a wonderful read, and if you can suspend disbelief and go with it, I would recommend it.
April 1, 2013
I don't even know where to start with this book if I'm being honest. I read this book pretty quickly and I enjoyed the writing so much. This book is like nothing that I have read before. It has been compared to The Time Traveler's Wife and while I can see some similarities I don't think that this is a fair comparison. This book is not about time travel but it does have some strange elements to it. This is the story of Evelyn and Adam and their life together. It is essentially a love story and spans over their whole lifetime together.
While this is a love story, it is not your average love story. Adam is not exactly human and while I don't want to give too much away I have to say that Riley's creativity and originality is what drew me into the story.
I have to admit though that somewhere in the middle I found my mind wondering a little bit. At times I found the perfection of their relationship a little difficult to believe. That's not to say there were some major challenges in their relationship but I think at some point I almost wanted to say "I get it, you are deeply in love". It wasn't so much that I hated the book or even disliked it; it was really just a minor annoyance at times.
I did find myself emotionally invested in this novel and even found myself crying at times. As I said the writing is beautiful and the characters are memorable. Overall this is a good read and I think it's going to be a bestseller.
While this is a love story, it is not your average love story. Adam is not exactly human and while I don't want to give too much away I have to say that Riley's creativity and originality is what drew me into the story.
I have to admit though that somewhere in the middle I found my mind wondering a little bit. At times I found the perfection of their relationship a little difficult to believe. That's not to say there were some major challenges in their relationship but I think at some point I almost wanted to say "I get it, you are deeply in love". It wasn't so much that I hated the book or even disliked it; it was really just a minor annoyance at times.
I did find myself emotionally invested in this novel and even found myself crying at times. As I said the writing is beautiful and the characters are memorable. Overall this is a good read and I think it's going to be a bestseller.
May 22, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
This book baffled me. Much of it was highly unbelievable. The plot begins in the mid 1940’s when 17 year old Evelyn is living alone, by herself, on her recently deceased aunt’s family farm in North Carolina when she discovers a creature/person buried in the mud. In her youthfulness she imagined that this animate being was a severely disfigured war veteran. However, the creature in two or three days metamorphoses into her twin. Evelyn calls her “Addie”. You never really find out WHAT Addie is but it doesn’t take too long before Addie metamorphoses again into Adam so they can be a regular couple and marry and have children. Hmmmmm. The book carries on to the year 2000 and the couple has a number of daughters.
In the novel, Evelyn is the first person narrator and one of the things that bothered me about her narration was her (Evelyn’s) thoroughly modern manner. Her freedom to be sexually active and free and the way she and Adam parented their daughters didn’t ring true for me for the era in which the book takes place.
A very unusual tale. Lots of people loved this one on Goodreads so don’t be swayed by my thoughts.
The 52 Book Club Challenge - 2024
Prompt #26 - A hybrid genre
This book baffled me. Much of it was highly unbelievable. The plot begins in the mid 1940’s when 17 year old Evelyn is living alone, by herself, on her recently deceased aunt’s family farm in North Carolina when she discovers a creature/person buried in the mud. In her youthfulness she imagined that this animate being was a severely disfigured war veteran. However, the creature in two or three days metamorphoses into her twin. Evelyn calls her “Addie”. You never really find out WHAT Addie is but it doesn’t take too long before Addie metamorphoses again into Adam so they can be a regular couple and marry and have children. Hmmmmm. The book carries on to the year 2000 and the couple has a number of daughters.
In the novel, Evelyn is the first person narrator and one of the things that bothered me about her narration was her (Evelyn’s) thoroughly modern manner. Her freedom to be sexually active and free and the way she and Adam parented their daughters didn’t ring true for me for the era in which the book takes place.
A very unusual tale. Lots of people loved this one on Goodreads so don’t be swayed by my thoughts.
The 52 Book Club Challenge - 2024
Prompt #26 - A hybrid genre
May 6, 2025
”’The first time I opened my eyes, I fell in love with you. Before I knew what love was or who you were. I fell into you; a sweet complete immersion. I didn’t expect it, or try to make it happen.”
Synopsis: This is the section where I impart my snarky take on the plot summary. But this book is such a mystery that this part will just have to stay blank, because there are no adequate words to describe the plot to this thing.
The best take I can give you is that a woman finds a man (woman? Thing?) on her property and proceeds to fall in love with it.
Biblio-Babble:
* This is alternately one of the most beautiful and yet sublimely weird romance novels I’ve ever read. It desires you to ask all the questions but It gives away very little of itself to you in the process. That part makes the book infuriating to read, but Evelyn and Adam are such compelling characters that you might not mind so much.
* The pace is slow and steady, but if you can get past the first chapter you’ll find that this book has some of the best writing fiction has to offer. Its very descriptive and veers occasionally into the land of the purple prose. And yet it has such an adductive quality to it that I simply could not stop reading.
* Adam Hope himself (herself? This is really hard to explain), was a very well-fleshed out character for being an entity. Evelyn finds him on her family farm, covered in mud. She quickly finds out that Adam is not your regular sort of human. In fact, when she finds him, Adam isn’t even a man. He isn’t even a he or a she. It’s a figure who can somehow take the shape of the person he sees. So when the novel begins with Evie finding this thing (ugh, this is so hard to explain as I type), the thing turns into her mirror image that she named Addie. And then, when it becomes abundantly clear that Evie wants marriage and children, Addie transforms herself into a male, whom Evie renames Adam. They live a quiet, happy life on the farm that’s soon filled in with five daughters, but Adam still remains a mystery. Like I said before, he’s a good, kind man, almost too perfect for something that just sprouted out from the ground.
* Despite Adam being such a good character, my God the author seems to delight in giving as few details about what Adam is as possible. I still for the life of me can’t figure it out. He’s this special thing with this special voice that literally scares the pants off of people, he doesn’t age, and he can supposedly change his appearance and gender if he so chooses, but we don’t get a how or why or where he came from. For those readers that like answers to those questions, this book is not for you. And the ending is even more infuriating because Adam (Addie? I give up.) just ups and disappears with literally zero explanation. It’s like he was never even there. WHY, DOH. I invested almost 400 pages into this story and I get no answers?
* The saving grace of this book? The romance between Evelyn and Adam. Before she meets him and after he so mysteriously disappears are the sore spots in this novel, but beginning when they first meet, their romance is magical. There’s a fair amount of physical attraction (and quite a lot of getting it on), but they seemed to get one another in a way I haven’t seen couples do in a long while. For an unnamed entity, he is very in tune with others and how they are feeling, and always treats Evelyn as an equal, not an inferior. Their romance it what drives this very book, and unfortunately because of that, the book kind of falls apart without him. Ironically, it’s like how a person might fall apart without their special someone. Adam is not only Evelyn’s special someone, but this books as well, and it just doesn’t stand a chance without him.
***************************
The grand romance between Evelyn Roe and her very enchanted love of her life Adam Hope is the saving grace of this book. In creating Adam, the author created both the muse of her story and the catalyst for it’s downfall. With a slow beginning, baffling end, and lack of explanation left to the reader to decide who or what Adam is, this occasionally frustrating read is a slow-burn literary of love, loss, and the enchantments all around us.
Synopsis: This is the section where I impart my snarky take on the plot summary. But this book is such a mystery that this part will just have to stay blank, because there are no adequate words to describe the plot to this thing.
The best take I can give you is that a woman finds a man (woman? Thing?) on her property and proceeds to fall in love with it.
Biblio-Babble:
* This is alternately one of the most beautiful and yet sublimely weird romance novels I’ve ever read. It desires you to ask all the questions but It gives away very little of itself to you in the process. That part makes the book infuriating to read, but Evelyn and Adam are such compelling characters that you might not mind so much.
* The pace is slow and steady, but if you can get past the first chapter you’ll find that this book has some of the best writing fiction has to offer. Its very descriptive and veers occasionally into the land of the purple prose. And yet it has such an adductive quality to it that I simply could not stop reading.
* Adam Hope himself (herself? This is really hard to explain), was a very well-fleshed out character for being an entity. Evelyn finds him on her family farm, covered in mud. She quickly finds out that Adam is not your regular sort of human. In fact, when she finds him, Adam isn’t even a man. He isn’t even a he or a she. It’s a figure who can somehow take the shape of the person he sees. So when the novel begins with Evie finding this thing (ugh, this is so hard to explain as I type), the thing turns into her mirror image that she named Addie. And then, when it becomes abundantly clear that Evie wants marriage and children, Addie transforms herself into a male, whom Evie renames Adam. They live a quiet, happy life on the farm that’s soon filled in with five daughters, but Adam still remains a mystery. Like I said before, he’s a good, kind man, almost too perfect for something that just sprouted out from the ground.
* Despite Adam being such a good character, my God the author seems to delight in giving as few details about what Adam is as possible. I still for the life of me can’t figure it out. He’s this special thing with this special voice that literally scares the pants off of people, he doesn’t age, and he can supposedly change his appearance and gender if he so chooses, but we don’t get a how or why or where he came from. For those readers that like answers to those questions, this book is not for you. And the ending is even more infuriating because Adam (Addie? I give up.) just ups and disappears with literally zero explanation. It’s like he was never even there. WHY, DOH. I invested almost 400 pages into this story and I get no answers?
* The saving grace of this book? The romance between Evelyn and Adam. Before she meets him and after he so mysteriously disappears are the sore spots in this novel, but beginning when they first meet, their romance is magical. There’s a fair amount of physical attraction (and quite a lot of getting it on), but they seemed to get one another in a way I haven’t seen couples do in a long while. For an unnamed entity, he is very in tune with others and how they are feeling, and always treats Evelyn as an equal, not an inferior. Their romance it what drives this very book, and unfortunately because of that, the book kind of falls apart without him. Ironically, it’s like how a person might fall apart without their special someone. Adam is not only Evelyn’s special someone, but this books as well, and it just doesn’t stand a chance without him.
***************************
The grand romance between Evelyn Roe and her very enchanted love of her life Adam Hope is the saving grace of this book. In creating Adam, the author created both the muse of her story and the catalyst for it’s downfall. With a slow beginning, baffling end, and lack of explanation left to the reader to decide who or what Adam is, this occasionally frustrating read is a slow-burn literary of love, loss, and the enchantments all around us.
April 24, 2013
This review and others can be found on Cozy Up With A Good Read
So this book, wow, I will try to keep my gushing down but I just absolutely loved every part of this book. This book is about the relationship between Adam and Evelyn, and even though this is compared to The Time Traveler's Wife there is no time travel but there is a unique gift that makes this book interesting, and I believe that it is the love story that connects these two books. This is a story about a love that knows no boundaries. I loved Rhonda Riley's writing style, she is very descriptive and brings out a lot of emotions, which is a whole other part to this book.
I found the book started out a little slow, which for me I enjoyed. I was able to take my time to really get to know and understand the characters. I went into this book wanting to take it slow and take every little bit of it in, and that's how I started reading, but then there was a point that I just couldn't stop reading and I needed more of these characters. I loved following Evelyn on her journey to independence and from there learning to fall in love. I loved Evelyn's character, she was strong and able to care for a farm on her own with little help.
The love story is what really drew me into this book. As soon as Evelyn meets Adam you know there is something unusual about him, but the way they grow together and become a part of each other is beautiful. They have an amazing relationship and you can see how much they love each other (the reader is constantly reminded of their love, a little too much at times). They gave each other strength and worked well together on everything. This is a story of a friendship that turned into a loving relationship.
I found that at one point in the book (a little past the halfway point), there is this emotional event that happens and from there I felt like a wall broke and everything for the rest of the book was emotional and I was in tears with every little thing. What I loved was how Adam and Evelyn coped through all this, and how they stood by each other.
I loved how Rhonda wrote about the emotions of these characters, specifically Adam and his daughters. I can't go into detail without giving away the story but I found it beautiful how they can express certain emotions, and I felt that Rhonda really brought that out so that readers could feel it too. I think the ending of this book really brought out all my emotions, but in a way it was a perfect ending for this story.
I really just want everyone to experience this book and the love that I felt for it. It definitely is up there with THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE because of the love and emotions, as well as that little bit of the supernatural. This book is enchanting, and such an amazing debut! I can definitely see this book going on the re-read shelf (when I have time).
So this book, wow, I will try to keep my gushing down but I just absolutely loved every part of this book. This book is about the relationship between Adam and Evelyn, and even though this is compared to The Time Traveler's Wife there is no time travel but there is a unique gift that makes this book interesting, and I believe that it is the love story that connects these two books. This is a story about a love that knows no boundaries. I loved Rhonda Riley's writing style, she is very descriptive and brings out a lot of emotions, which is a whole other part to this book.
I found the book started out a little slow, which for me I enjoyed. I was able to take my time to really get to know and understand the characters. I went into this book wanting to take it slow and take every little bit of it in, and that's how I started reading, but then there was a point that I just couldn't stop reading and I needed more of these characters. I loved following Evelyn on her journey to independence and from there learning to fall in love. I loved Evelyn's character, she was strong and able to care for a farm on her own with little help.
The love story is what really drew me into this book. As soon as Evelyn meets Adam you know there is something unusual about him, but the way they grow together and become a part of each other is beautiful. They have an amazing relationship and you can see how much they love each other (the reader is constantly reminded of their love, a little too much at times). They gave each other strength and worked well together on everything. This is a story of a friendship that turned into a loving relationship.
I found that at one point in the book (a little past the halfway point), there is this emotional event that happens and from there I felt like a wall broke and everything for the rest of the book was emotional and I was in tears with every little thing. What I loved was how Adam and Evelyn coped through all this, and how they stood by each other.
I loved how Rhonda wrote about the emotions of these characters, specifically Adam and his daughters. I can't go into detail without giving away the story but I found it beautiful how they can express certain emotions, and I felt that Rhonda really brought that out so that readers could feel it too. I think the ending of this book really brought out all my emotions, but in a way it was a perfect ending for this story.
I really just want everyone to experience this book and the love that I felt for it. It definitely is up there with THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE because of the love and emotions, as well as that little bit of the supernatural. This book is enchanting, and such an amazing debut! I can definitely see this book going on the re-read shelf (when I have time).
January 26, 2021
Where to begin. First and foremost, this book has brought on an existential crisis of a rather unpleasant magnitude. I want to enjoy this existential crisis, marveling at the fact that food that comes out of the ground seems to exist only to feed us; has developed complex mechanisms of harvesting nutrients from the soil in order to grow only to be eaten by us, and when we die, we go back into the earth to produce nutrients for those plants. What a wonderous circle, right?
Wrong! Because Evelyn makes me feel panicked that I don't have the answer as to WHYYYYYYY!!!
At first, I thought this was a wild ride, unique, bizzare. Then I started getting frustrated. Why would Evelyn be so quick to accept a strange being that materialized out of the ground, going so far as to have sex with it, but be shocked and untrusting when it changed form? Why would Evelyn be so secretive about this strange being and then get angry and judgemental when someone else has kept a secret? Why would Evelyn revel in Adam's special abilities but worry what anyone else thought about them, encouraging him to keep them secret (except in bed of course, where it served her purposes)? Why would she revel in Adam's embrace while pinning for Addie?
The answer is that Evelyn is not a good person. I hate her, and she almost ruined the story for me. It was beautifully written, but I wanted the story from A's perspective. I also wanted him/her to survive and not Evelyn. S/He met an ignominious end (possibly?) and I wasn't even rocked or saddened or stricken by it, because I was too busy being angry. Depending on your personality, either this would have been a marvelous mystery or a terror, for Evelyn, she lived with it, but questioned it the entire time. It felt like she never, ever appreciated the magnitude of what she had been given, never appreciated life, never saw the world the way Addie/Adam was trying to help her see it.
Is this human nature?? If so, we all might as well just accept our destinies as plant food.
Wrong! Because Evelyn makes me feel panicked that I don't have the answer as to WHYYYYYYY!!!
At first, I thought this was a wild ride, unique, bizzare. Then I started getting frustrated. Why would Evelyn be so quick to accept a strange being that materialized out of the ground, going so far as to have sex with it, but be shocked and untrusting when it changed form? Why would Evelyn be so secretive about this strange being and then get angry and judgemental when someone else has kept a secret? Why would Evelyn revel in Adam's special abilities but worry what anyone else thought about them, encouraging him to keep them secret (except in bed of course, where it served her purposes)? Why would she revel in Adam's embrace while pinning for Addie?
The answer is that Evelyn is not a good person. I hate her, and she almost ruined the story for me. It was beautifully written, but I wanted the story from A's perspective. I also wanted him/her to survive and not Evelyn. S/He met an ignominious end (possibly?) and I wasn't even rocked or saddened or stricken by it, because I was too busy being angry. Depending on your personality, either this would have been a marvelous mystery or a terror, for Evelyn, she lived with it, but questioned it the entire time. It felt like she never, ever appreciated the magnitude of what she had been given, never appreciated life, never saw the world the way Addie/Adam was trying to help her see it.
Is this human nature?? If so, we all might as well just accept our destinies as plant food.
May 1, 2013
This was semi miss for me. It was just a bit too odd for my taste, which I know sounds strange coming from me - I read odd stuff all the time. It is a strangely compelling read, I will give it that. I didn't love it but I didn't want to stop reading.
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope has aspects of magical realism, something I'm always a bit iffy on anyway. Some of the most popular titles in that vein are books that I've not particularly enjoyed, while others, like Sarah Addison Allen, I can eat like candy. I wouldn't necessarily categorize Rhonda Riley's debut as magical realism, though. Yes, Adam's origins fit the bill as does his unique voice, and that's about it.
I was admittedly having pretty bad flashbacks of a book I absolutely loathed the entire time I was reading The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope. It's an issue that's all my own but I did find the book very reminiscent of two other books I've read - one, as I mentioned already, I quite simply hated (it's rare for me but it happens) and the other I enjoyed but was definite horror compared to this book club read.
I'm certain that this book will be rather well received amongst most readers and quite likely could have been for me if the timing had been right on the read. Unfortunately it just wasn't so. I couldn't manage to get my head in the right space for this book. I don't mean to be wishy washy. This was a hard post all around. What to say, how to say it... I still don't know. I can't seem to find adequate words this time around.
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope has aspects of magical realism, something I'm always a bit iffy on anyway. Some of the most popular titles in that vein are books that I've not particularly enjoyed, while others, like Sarah Addison Allen, I can eat like candy. I wouldn't necessarily categorize Rhonda Riley's debut as magical realism, though. Yes, Adam's origins fit the bill as does his unique voice, and that's about it.
I was admittedly having pretty bad flashbacks of a book I absolutely loathed the entire time I was reading The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope. It's an issue that's all my own but I did find the book very reminiscent of two other books I've read - one, as I mentioned already, I quite simply hated (it's rare for me but it happens) and the other I enjoyed but was definite horror compared to this book club read.
I'm certain that this book will be rather well received amongst most readers and quite likely could have been for me if the timing had been right on the read. Unfortunately it just wasn't so. I couldn't manage to get my head in the right space for this book. I don't mean to be wishy washy. This was a hard post all around. What to say, how to say it... I still don't know. I can't seem to find adequate words this time around.
June 21, 2013
I finished this book last night and have been trying to put into words why I liked it so much. It's a love story, yes but it's also a story about life and what it means to come to terms with it.
Adam Hope is brought up from the Earth in an event that could easily have turned this book into a SciFi or Fantasy saga. Instead it becomes the story of Adam and Evelyn and how their lives and love change with the passing of time. There are peaks and valleys for sure but what strikes me now is that the book is mostly about their every day lives. It is so normal that I got caught up in their daily family life on the ranch. We are constantly aware of Adam's differences and I felt the love, anxiety, yearning and once a sort of terror. Thinking back I realize that by the middle of the book Adam was just Adam to me, extraordinary yes, but he no longer needed an explanation.
This book could have been about a great many things. What it means to be one with the Earth, to appreciate it or what it's like to find a lover so much like yourself that you lose a part of yourself in them. It could be about what makes us different and what makes us the same. Or maybe it's about the strength of family and the importance of finding our own path.
To me it was just about Evelyn and Adam and the life they shared.
Adam Hope is brought up from the Earth in an event that could easily have turned this book into a SciFi or Fantasy saga. Instead it becomes the story of Adam and Evelyn and how their lives and love change with the passing of time. There are peaks and valleys for sure but what strikes me now is that the book is mostly about their every day lives. It is so normal that I got caught up in their daily family life on the ranch. We are constantly aware of Adam's differences and I felt the love, anxiety, yearning and once a sort of terror. Thinking back I realize that by the middle of the book Adam was just Adam to me, extraordinary yes, but he no longer needed an explanation.
This book could have been about a great many things. What it means to be one with the Earth, to appreciate it or what it's like to find a lover so much like yourself that you lose a part of yourself in them. It could be about what makes us different and what makes us the same. Or maybe it's about the strength of family and the importance of finding our own path.
To me it was just about Evelyn and Adam and the life they shared.
June 12, 2013
First, I have to give Rhonda Riley high praise for coming up with such an unusual and fantastical premise and grounding it so beautifully in ordinary life.
Evelyn literally pulls a naked stranger from the mud during a torrential rainstorm one night, only discovering later that this 'person' is not human. However "A" soon becomes her closest friend - and eventually her lover - a relationship divides her from her family and small town neighbors even as she outwardly seems no different.
Their lives unfold over the course of decades: raising a family, dealing with the occasional but vivid episodes of Adam's strangeness bursting into daily life. In many ways this could be a very ordinary tale of love, family, and change, but Adam's presence prevents it from ever being ordinary.
Riley is a skilled writer, creating a sense of time and place without getting weighed down in details, keeping the story moving at a gentle, quiet, but inexorable pace through the years. At the end of the book, we know Evelyn inside and out. . . but some mysteries remain veiled - and that's okay.
Evelyn literally pulls a naked stranger from the mud during a torrential rainstorm one night, only discovering later that this 'person' is not human. However "A" soon becomes her closest friend - and eventually her lover - a relationship divides her from her family and small town neighbors even as she outwardly seems no different.
Their lives unfold over the course of decades: raising a family, dealing with the occasional but vivid episodes of Adam's strangeness bursting into daily life. In many ways this could be a very ordinary tale of love, family, and change, but Adam's presence prevents it from ever being ordinary.
Riley is a skilled writer, creating a sense of time and place without getting weighed down in details, keeping the story moving at a gentle, quiet, but inexorable pace through the years. At the end of the book, we know Evelyn inside and out. . . but some mysteries remain veiled - and that's okay.
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