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Love Falls
The highly praised author of Hideous Kinky, returns with a searing and sensuous tale young love set amid the heat and beauty of a Tuscan summer The Independent calls Esther Freud “the best writer on childhood we have.” In Love Falls this brilliant novelist proves her power once again with an utterly charming and irresistible tale of adolescent love and self-discovery set in a foreign land. When 17-year-old Lara accepts her father’s invitation to accompany him to Tuscany for the summer, she’s excited and trepidatious. But, her fears prove groundless, for the villa’s closest neighbors are the contagiously adventurous Willoughbys, the teenaged brood of a wealthy British lord. Caught up in their torrential good humor—and snared particularly by Kip Willoughby’s dark, flirtatious eyes—Lara sets off on a summer adventure full of danger, first love, and untold consequences that will change her life.
279 pages, Paperback
First published July 4, 2007
56 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
About the author
Esther Freud
35 books276 followersEsther Freud was born in London in 1963. As a young child she travelled through Morocco with her mother and sister, returning to England aged six where she attended a Rudolf Steiner school in Sussex.
In 1979 she moved to London to study Drama, going on to work as an actress, both in theatre and television, and forming her own company with fellow actress/writer Kitty Aldridge - The Norfolk Broads.
Her first novel Hideous Kinky, was published in 1992 and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and made into a film starring Kate Winslet. In 1993, after the publication of her second novel, Peerless Flats, she was named by Granta as one of the Best of Young Novelists under 40.
She has since written seven novels, including The Sea House, Love Falls and Lucky Break. She also writes stories, articles and travel pieces for newspapers and magazines, and teaches creative writing, in her own local group and at the Faber Academy.
Her most recent book, Mr Mac and Me, was published in September 2014. She lives in London with her husband, the actor David Morrissey, and their three children.
In 1979 she moved to London to study Drama, going on to work as an actress, both in theatre and television, and forming her own company with fellow actress/writer Kitty Aldridge - The Norfolk Broads.
Her first novel Hideous Kinky, was published in 1992 and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and made into a film starring Kate Winslet. In 1993, after the publication of her second novel, Peerless Flats, she was named by Granta as one of the Best of Young Novelists under 40.
She has since written seven novels, including The Sea House, Love Falls and Lucky Break. She also writes stories, articles and travel pieces for newspapers and magazines, and teaches creative writing, in her own local group and at the Faber Academy.
Her most recent book, Mr Mac and Me, was published in September 2014. She lives in London with her husband, the actor David Morrissey, and their three children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
July 27, 2011
I think that Esther needs to get a life and stop writting. This story first of all was one long chapter. Seriously you can not make chapters or what? I was disappointed in the ending, the middle, the beginning... I read and kept thinking OK this is going to get better sooner or later. Well yes it got better when I closed the book. How can there be so many charactors and we still know nothing about them? Why was Lambert in such a dire rush to get home? What does Lara see in Kip who seems tobe such an ass? I am glad that I only paid $1.00 for this book and even then I feel ripped off.
April 21, 2012
This could have been a great read if the writing was more skillful. The characters and plot left more than something to be desired. None of the characters are relatable, all are seen from a distance--but not in an interesting way. The plot oscillates from vapidity to disturbing to vapidity, but again, not in an interesting way. It was just lacking. I gave it two stars for its unfulfilled potential.
November 25, 2007
I picked this book up because it was by the author of Hideous Kinky, which was made into a movie starring Kate Winslet and because it was a coming of age story set in Italy. The main character in this book is Lara, a 17-yr-old on holiday with the father she barely knows, staying with a friend of his in a villa outside of Sienna. Lara gets swept along with a set of bored, rich people in their teens and twenties, to whom she is the latest plaything, falling "in love" with young Kip, and in the process getting taken advantage of. The time period is early 80's around the wedding of Princess Di and Prince Charles. I didn't feel particularly satisfied by the ending of the book - it just ended. The main character did not seem to learn anything from the experiences she had. She was angry at the person who wronged her but was embarassed at what happened, seemed to blame herself for it, and therefore did nothing to let others know what had happened or confront this person. She did not seem to get that the person she was supposedly in love with really didn't have that much invested in her emotionally. I debated whether or not to finish the book but ultimately did because I wanted to see if anything more would transpire in Lara's emotional life or if she would learn more about her father and there would be more of a bond between the two of them. This really didn't happen to any great degree although she did discover the role that their host, Caroline had played in her father's earlier life and why, in the context of his family of origin's fate, he made the statement that he had never been in love.
My favorite part of the book was its setting in the area around Siena and the descriptions of the Palio, a horse race that is steeped in tradition.
My favorite part of the book was its setting in the area around Siena and the descriptions of the Palio, a horse race that is steeped in tradition.
February 23, 2009
I read this book shortly after a trip to Italy where I visited Sienna and Florence, both settings in this novel. I liked the all the characters and the underlying mysteries about the main character's father's past and the boy she falls in love with. The title seemed to be a play on words since a major scene takes place at Love Falls and throughout the book people seem to be falling in and out of love. At first glance, the urgent romance between the main character and the young man seems to be the centerpiece of this novel, but in the end, it is a tale about loyalty and connections that endure.
September 30, 2009
This adult novel started with such promise, but I was a little disappointed by the end, probably because I don't like the main character. She's a wuss.[return][return]Lara is seventeen and is invited by her mostly absentee father to Italy for the summer. She accepts because she wants to get to know her dad better. But she doesn't really like what she sees. Her dad isn't the marrying kind, but he's really good at sleeping with married women. And he doesn't seem to think that his daughter should care.[return][return]Lara is thrown into the world of rich kids. She falls in love with Kip (what a name) but it doesn't seem to be real love. In fact, hopefully he isn't her half-brother, since the rumor going around is that her father had an affair with his mother. And what about Roland, the creepy married guy who hits on Lara and everyone else constantly? He's handsome, but ewwwww......
June 15, 2007
I discovered this extremely diverting novel in an English-language bookstore in Paris, and thank God I did: how wonderful to disappear into the imagination of a tan, gorgeous teenage girl vacationing with her mysterious father and assorted British aristocrats in a Tuscan villa. Food, sex, swimming, and horse-racing all lusciously rendered here. Esther Freud, whose books do not appear on the shelves of my Brooklyn bookstore, is probably best known on this side of the Atlantic for her first novel "Hideous Kinky," which was adapted to a movie starring Kate Winslet.
September 6, 2017
"Um Verão em Siena" podia ter sido uma leitura fantástica, mas penso que o livro não faz jus ao título. que, por si só, faz-nos criar algumas expectativas.
Para começar, os personagens são bizarros e dotados de comportamentos e de reações anormais, o que por vezes me deixou um pouco irritada. Também não achei relevante para a história as descrições exaustivas da viagem que Lara fez com a mãe no passado e nem do casamento real, de Carlos e Diana. Tudo isso contribuíu para que se tornasse uma leitura um pouco chata e desinteressante.
Para começar, os personagens são bizarros e dotados de comportamentos e de reações anormais, o que por vezes me deixou um pouco irritada. Também não achei relevante para a história as descrições exaustivas da viagem que Lara fez com a mãe no passado e nem do casamento real, de Carlos e Diana. Tudo isso contribuíu para que se tornasse uma leitura um pouco chata e desinteressante.
September 18, 2022
Wonderful coming of age story set in Italy during a hot Summer.where a young girl gets to know her father in a new way when she spends the time with him. Of course there is the young love and crushes and the hurt that goes with it all.I recognize the tender hearts and awkwardness and how easily i got hurt at that age(still do) The Palio in Siena an entire character in itself huge drama and even death involved centuries of tradition costumes horse absolutely gorgeous. I will go back to this book again.
August 27, 2016
Very well written novel of a girls discovery of adulthood in the rolling Italian hills of Tuscany. On the cover of the book Marie Claire said that it was 'Deliciously unsettling' however the rape scene did not really seem to effect the rest of the novel, and I found it was more about Lara's relationship with Kip, which did not seem very believable. Criticisms aside a very enjoyable read, which made me long to travel to Italy.
February 19, 2013
I really enjoyed this book - the heroine is everything a teenage heroine should be - indecisive, confused and awkward. You feel her embarrassment and sense of inadequacy at every turn - the sexual assault is sympathetically described and probably a fairly accurate, if depressing, account of what happens to a lot of teenagers.
I liked the characterisation - the adults are all fairly dislikeable and distant and yet Freud says so much about each in small ways.
I liked the characterisation - the adults are all fairly dislikeable and distant and yet Freud says so much about each in small ways.
July 23, 2010
I have followed Esther Freud's writing career almost from the very beginning, mainly because we're the same age and I was curious what a novelist of my generation might have to say. When I first "discovered" her, Freud had only published two novels, Hideous Kinky (1991) and Peerless Flats (1994), of which I read the latter - the former was soon after turned into the eponymous film featuring Kate Winslet, at which point Freud's writing career seemed assured. Of her subsequent novels I greatly admired Summer at Gaglow (1997), which uses her German/British intercultural heritage to great effect, but didn't quite know what to make of The Sea House (2003).
With Love Falls she returns to the mind world of the teenage girl, which I suppose is what she does best. Of course I can't really tell, as I don't know it from the inside, but it looks convincing to the bystander. It is July 1981 (as readers are supposed to know due to the references to the wedding of Charles Windsor and Diana Spencer, but I had to look it up!), and our protagonist, Lara, 17 (born in spring 1964, so also my generation), embarks on a trip to Italy with her father, which means she's going to spend more time with him than she has in the past 17 years put together. That's probably already true by the end of the epic train journey that takes them to Siena.
She is thrown into the strange world of wealthy British expats in Tuscany, which in fact feels quite similar to the world described in the Bertolucci movie Stealing Beauty, except that the rather likable heap of artists lounging round the pool in that movie is replaced with a not quite so sympathetic gang who are there to save their inherited wealth from the UK tax authorities.
Lara's summer in Tuscany includes a wide and interesting range of experiences and emotions, and trying to make sense of them she reflects back to memories of her previous foreign adventure, an overland trip to India with her mother (which of course reminds us of Hideous Kinky).
Parts of the novel are disturbing enough to ensure it doesn't end up on the "light summer reading" shelf, but still, the Tuscan sun does add to the reading pleasure, and teenage angst and confusion looks much more photogenic by the Love Falls (as in waterfalls) than in the dreary backyards of Peerless Flats, so I reckon for anybody who doesn't know Freud's work yet, Love Falls might be a good place to start.
With Love Falls she returns to the mind world of the teenage girl, which I suppose is what she does best. Of course I can't really tell, as I don't know it from the inside, but it looks convincing to the bystander. It is July 1981 (as readers are supposed to know due to the references to the wedding of Charles Windsor and Diana Spencer, but I had to look it up!), and our protagonist, Lara, 17 (born in spring 1964, so also my generation), embarks on a trip to Italy with her father, which means she's going to spend more time with him than she has in the past 17 years put together. That's probably already true by the end of the epic train journey that takes them to Siena.
She is thrown into the strange world of wealthy British expats in Tuscany, which in fact feels quite similar to the world described in the Bertolucci movie Stealing Beauty, except that the rather likable heap of artists lounging round the pool in that movie is replaced with a not quite so sympathetic gang who are there to save their inherited wealth from the UK tax authorities.
Lara's summer in Tuscany includes a wide and interesting range of experiences and emotions, and trying to make sense of them she reflects back to memories of her previous foreign adventure, an overland trip to India with her mother (which of course reminds us of Hideous Kinky).
Parts of the novel are disturbing enough to ensure it doesn't end up on the "light summer reading" shelf, but still, the Tuscan sun does add to the reading pleasure, and teenage angst and confusion looks much more photogenic by the Love Falls (as in waterfalls) than in the dreary backyards of Peerless Flats, so I reckon for anybody who doesn't know Freud's work yet, Love Falls might be a good place to start.
December 23, 2012
En commençant ce livre, j’ai eu le sentiment qu’il s’agissait d’un roman à l’eau de rose, dans lequel je retrouverais le schéma amoureux traditionnel, appliqué à une ambiance estivale et adolescente (avec un peu d’inceste pour pimenter l’ensemble, d’après ce que j’avais compris de la quatrième de couverture ; je rassure immédiatement ceux que cela pourrait déranger, je me trompais tout à fait à propos de cette relation père-fille). J’ai progressivement compris mon erreur et ai été très agréablement surprise par ce texte, bien moins léger qu’il n’y paraît et soulevant des problématiques amoureuses assez intéressantes. Il y a une certaine lenteur – qui a déplu à ceux qui s’attendaient à un roman sentimental classique, d’après ce que j’ai pu lire sur Babelio – qui permet le déploiement de ces questions et de la psychologie de l’héroïne, Lara. Malgré la narration à la troisième personne, la perception des évènements est centrée sur son regard, et ce sont ses sentiments qui nous sont livrés. Nous assistons donc à son « éducation sentimentale » et sexuelle : en effet, sans être une jeune vierge effarouchée, l’héroïne est encore mal à l’aise avec son corps et apprendra peu à peu à se sentir mieux dans sa peau. Elle fera également connaissance avec son père, qu’elle connaît très peu, découvrant notamment des bribes de son passé. Elle sera confrontée à un autre univers social, passant d’une modeste mansarde à une société de jeunes riches oisifs. Le roman est totalement centré sur cet été italien et sur les apprentissages de Lara : cela place le lecteur dans la même situation que la jeune fille, mais m’a personnellement laissé sur ma faim. J’avais envie de poursuivre encore un peu ce voyage, d’en connaître l’après et de voir les intrigues familiales démêlées. De (trop) nombreuses questions restent en suspens à la fin du roman, c’est un peu frustrant.
Excepté ce final trop brusque – à l’image du début in medias res – et ce manque qui me reste, j’ai beaucoup aimé ce roman et être ainsi plongée dans l’ambiance toscane, grâce aux descriptions des paysages, ainsi qu’à ce rythme lent propre aux vacances et à la dolce vita. J’ai également eu envie de connaître ces personnages très secrets, à défaut de m’attacher véritablement à ces « riches qui s’ennuient ».
http://minoualu.blogspot.be/2012/12/n...
Excepté ce final trop brusque – à l’image du début in medias res – et ce manque qui me reste, j’ai beaucoup aimé ce roman et être ainsi plongée dans l’ambiance toscane, grâce aux descriptions des paysages, ainsi qu’à ce rythme lent propre aux vacances et à la dolce vita. J’ai également eu envie de connaître ces personnages très secrets, à défaut de m’attacher véritablement à ces « riches qui s’ennuient ».
http://minoualu.blogspot.be/2012/12/n...
September 15, 2011
Esther Freud (Sigmund’s great-granddaughter) has written a compelling, if slightly unsatisfying, coming-of-age tale with her novel, Love Falls. When 17 year old Lara heads to Tuscany with her father (a man who is practically a stranger to her) for a summer holiday, she isn’t quite sure of what to expect. Her father, a slightly distant intellectual historian called Lambert, has been invited to visit an old friend and wants Lara to accompany him. Lara is well-traveled: she and her bohemian mother, Cathy, have been all over together, but Lara has never been to Italy, so she’s excited at the prospect of leaving London for a few weeks.
Italy is transformative for Lara. She has the opportunity to observe her father, his relationship with the woman they are visiting, the elegant and slightly snobbish, Caroline, and observe the complicated and fraught relationships of the adults around her.
At a nearby villa, Lara meets Willoughbys. There are a lot of names and relationships to keep track of but the most important Willoughby is Kip – a boy about Lara’s age who is irreverent and beautiful.
Lara spends her weeks swimming and visiting with the Willoughbys and the days unfold in a sort of dreamy, hot haze. It’s as you imagine a summer in Italy might be…or, at any rate, as I imagine it.
There’s menace, though, in Lara’s world and it’s this menace that speeds the reader along. Even though it doesn’t amount to much in the end, Lara is certainly changed by the events which she experiences. I think Freud does a terrific job of suspending Lara in that particular space between youth and adulthood. Lara is as much an observer as a participant in what happens during those long, hot days. And because we see things only from Lara’s point of view, many of the tangled relationships are never untied; animosities are never explained and wrongs never quite righted.
As a coming-of-age tale, though, it is compelling and well-written.
Italy is transformative for Lara. She has the opportunity to observe her father, his relationship with the woman they are visiting, the elegant and slightly snobbish, Caroline, and observe the complicated and fraught relationships of the adults around her.
At a nearby villa, Lara meets Willoughbys. There are a lot of names and relationships to keep track of but the most important Willoughby is Kip – a boy about Lara’s age who is irreverent and beautiful.
Lara spends her weeks swimming and visiting with the Willoughbys and the days unfold in a sort of dreamy, hot haze. It’s as you imagine a summer in Italy might be…or, at any rate, as I imagine it.
There’s menace, though, in Lara’s world and it’s this menace that speeds the reader along. Even though it doesn’t amount to much in the end, Lara is certainly changed by the events which she experiences. I think Freud does a terrific job of suspending Lara in that particular space between youth and adulthood. Lara is as much an observer as a participant in what happens during those long, hot days. And because we see things only from Lara’s point of view, many of the tangled relationships are never untied; animosities are never explained and wrongs never quite righted.
As a coming-of-age tale, though, it is compelling and well-written.
November 14, 2009
"Oh, la la la, Italy is so lovely, what a nice boy I've met, although his cohorts are a bit dodgy, uh-oh, I'm raped! Well, I guess it wasn't that bad...uh-oh, my summer fling might be my half-brother! But it doesn't matter, because we're in looove! Goodie, he's not! The end!"
Not as terrible as all that, but the voice of the narrator is distractingly vapid, and has very strange reactions to pretty awful events. Add to that the fact that Esther Freud is, yes, one of the Oedipal Freuds, everytime the narrator's dad so much as scratches his ankle you're all, "hmmmm, ah, yes..."
Not as terrible as all that, but the voice of the narrator is distractingly vapid, and has very strange reactions to pretty awful events. Add to that the fact that Esther Freud is, yes, one of the Oedipal Freuds, everytime the narrator's dad so much as scratches his ankle you're all, "hmmmm, ah, yes..."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2009
"You, me and Piers, Lulu, Roland, Kip. That's six. Tabsy, will you come along?'
Tabsy?
I was constantly asking myself as I read this novel why I would care about any of these obnoxious toffs and their obnoxious world. I guess I kept reading because EF does know how to construct a plot. On the other hand, i found the writing itself pretty flat and uninteresting. there were also pages and pages about the palio, almost as if she was trying to write a travelogue - perhaps a way of distracting readers from the book's weaknesses. wouldn't recommend.
Tabsy?
I was constantly asking myself as I read this novel why I would care about any of these obnoxious toffs and their obnoxious world. I guess I kept reading because EF does know how to construct a plot. On the other hand, i found the writing itself pretty flat and uninteresting. there were also pages and pages about the palio, almost as if she was trying to write a travelogue - perhaps a way of distracting readers from the book's weaknesses. wouldn't recommend.
April 25, 2011
Really great, super-fast read.I haven't read Freud's other books (although I'm familiar with Hideous Kinky) but after this I'll definitely check out the rest of her catalog (she's the painter Lucien Freud's daughter, and Sigmund Freud's grand-daughter). Her material seems to be thinly veiled auto-biography;stories of her inattentive, workaholic father and her idealistic hippy mother. Love Falls takes place on the rolling hillsides outside Siena, peeking into the lives of the idly rich titled British, with lots of good descriptions of indulgent Italian food, which is always nice.
November 19, 2007
Sadly, this is the only book I've read recently. Fortunately, I enjoyed it immensely. I've never read this author before (she also wrote 'Hideous Kinky' and several other books), but I'll be making it a point to catch up on her previous work. Two important locations in the book are London and Italy--having read the book while in London after exploring Italy was lucky and definitely a case of right book right time.
June 30, 2011
My second Freud this year. Again, a slow start, but stick with it and the rewards are definitely there. Freud makes her characters living, breathing people that you react to on an emotional level. Again, she explores themes that trace back to the War - Jews who were saved, those who were not; the guilt that those who were saved carry with them; the attempts to change identity, to move on into an English way of life and the reaching back into memory to find a future. It's a good read.
July 6, 2008
a young girl joins her father on a trip to italy to visit a friend. the girl does not ordinarily live with her father thus this being a opportunity to know him.the characters she meets are intersting and different from anyone she has known before. she faslls in love at love falls. there is an event in the book which i wish was left out.. the wriiting about italy was beautiful.
December 6, 2011
This book made me long to be seventeen again. To be full of confusion and hope and experiencing first love under the Italian sun. The description was glorious, and somehow Esther Freud managed to create a dreamy exotic-holiday feel without sacrificing any of the emotional impact of being a teenager and feeling things so deeply.
July 20, 2019
This would be a good book to read on the beach. While this is marketed as a coming of age book, it is a quick and easy read, that I would recommend to someone who enjoys a quick love story.
March 24, 2017
A little shallow...
September 17, 2024
Heftig coming-of-age verhaal, knap plot, interessante personages.
November 30, 2020
I never read a book of this long without any chapters, which felt weird. I did like the story, but at times it was not relatable at all.
I wouldn’t quickly recommend this book to friends ..
I wouldn’t quickly recommend this book to friends ..
May 13, 2012
Estava com um entusiasmo tão grande para ler este livro, que fiquei completamente de rastos quando vi que a história não vale nada.
1º - Não sei qual o motivo por que se fala no casamento real de Inglaterra, em 1981, e qual a sua relevância para o desenvolvimento da história;
2º - Não consigo perceber o porquê de Lara se apaixonar por Kip, nem tão pouco a razão pela qual surge ao longo da história o 'boato' de poderem ser irmãos, o que leva o leitor a pensar que algo de mau ainda vai acontecer, que vai existir uma reviravolta, que alguém vai sofrer no meio disto tudo;
3º - A violação, segundo o que me pareceu, não preocupou muito a vítima uma vez que segue com a sua vida linda e perfeita, e nem se quer se dá ao trabalho de contar ao suposto namorado, ou a alguém próximo desta. Penso que uma pessoa que seja violada tem a necessidade de procurar auxílio, conforto junto de alguém...mas a Lara não, é uma mulher forte, foi violada e, pelos vistos, gostou! (whatever)
4º - Existem personagens que não percebo o que é que estão a fazer na história. O porquê da sua existência, penso que estavam só de passagem, como maneira de a autora poder dar a parecer ao leitor que existem muitas personagens no livro;
5º - A descrição dos sítios pelos quais as personagens vão passando torna-se exaustiva e, aqui sim, entendo que é capaz de ter existido algum esforço por parte da escritora para conseguir embelezar o cenário;
Sinceramente, acho que, como já li em alguns comentários de pessoas que já se deram ao trabalho (tanto quanto eu) de ler o livro, a senhora Freud podia arranjar um trabalho mais sério, que lhe ficasse melhor. Por vez TER NOME não quer dizer tudo. Do início ao fim foi um sacrifício ler o livro, só mesmo para não o deixar na prateleira a apodrecer. Por outras palavras, não recomendo o livro! É péssimo...bem, gostos são gostos...mas pessoalmente, detestei!
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I was so excited about starting to read this book that I got so upset when I realized that the story didn't worth at all.
1st - I don't know why the author talks about the england's royal wedding, in 1981, between Prince Charles and Diana, and whats the matter for the rest of the story;
2nd - I can't understand why Lara falls in love with Kip, or why there is a rumor that tell us they must be brothers, which makes us think that the story is going to get better, thats someone's gonna be hurt;
3rd - The rape wasn't bad for the victim which goes ahead with her life which is very perfect and beautiful, and she doesn't care about telling it to anyone closer. In my opinion a person who's raped need to get some help , some comfort...but Lara doesn't, because she's a very strong woman who was raped and so she liked, I guess! (whatever);
4th - There's some people in the story that I don't even know what they are doing there. Why do they exist. They were passing by and the author thought they could be important, so there could be many people in Italy;
5th - The description of the scenary gets exhausted, so the author attemps to give some beauty to them.
Sincerely I think that, as I red in other comments Miss Freud could go and get another kind of job. Just because she's from FREUD's family it doens't mean nothing. For the beggining to the end it was a sacrifice, just because I couldn't let the book rotting in the shelf. In another words I don't recommend the book! It horrible...well, there's no accounting for taste...but personally, I hated!
1º - Não sei qual o motivo por que se fala no casamento real de Inglaterra, em 1981, e qual a sua relevância para o desenvolvimento da história;
2º - Não consigo perceber o porquê de Lara se apaixonar por Kip, nem tão pouco a razão pela qual surge ao longo da história o 'boato' de poderem ser irmãos, o que leva o leitor a pensar que algo de mau ainda vai acontecer, que vai existir uma reviravolta, que alguém vai sofrer no meio disto tudo;
3º - A violação, segundo o que me pareceu, não preocupou muito a vítima uma vez que segue com a sua vida linda e perfeita, e nem se quer se dá ao trabalho de contar ao suposto namorado, ou a alguém próximo desta. Penso que uma pessoa que seja violada tem a necessidade de procurar auxílio, conforto junto de alguém...mas a Lara não, é uma mulher forte, foi violada e, pelos vistos, gostou! (whatever)
4º - Existem personagens que não percebo o que é que estão a fazer na história. O porquê da sua existência, penso que estavam só de passagem, como maneira de a autora poder dar a parecer ao leitor que existem muitas personagens no livro;
5º - A descrição dos sítios pelos quais as personagens vão passando torna-se exaustiva e, aqui sim, entendo que é capaz de ter existido algum esforço por parte da escritora para conseguir embelezar o cenário;
Sinceramente, acho que, como já li em alguns comentários de pessoas que já se deram ao trabalho (tanto quanto eu) de ler o livro, a senhora Freud podia arranjar um trabalho mais sério, que lhe ficasse melhor. Por vez TER NOME não quer dizer tudo. Do início ao fim foi um sacrifício ler o livro, só mesmo para não o deixar na prateleira a apodrecer. Por outras palavras, não recomendo o livro! É péssimo...bem, gostos são gostos...mas pessoalmente, detestei!
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I was so excited about starting to read this book that I got so upset when I realized that the story didn't worth at all.
1st - I don't know why the author talks about the england's royal wedding, in 1981, between Prince Charles and Diana, and whats the matter for the rest of the story;
2nd - I can't understand why Lara falls in love with Kip, or why there is a rumor that tell us they must be brothers, which makes us think that the story is going to get better, thats someone's gonna be hurt;
3rd - The rape wasn't bad for the victim which goes ahead with her life which is very perfect and beautiful, and she doesn't care about telling it to anyone closer. In my opinion a person who's raped need to get some help , some comfort...but Lara doesn't, because she's a very strong woman who was raped and so she liked, I guess! (whatever);
4th - There's some people in the story that I don't even know what they are doing there. Why do they exist. They were passing by and the author thought they could be important, so there could be many people in Italy;
5th - The description of the scenary gets exhausted, so the author attemps to give some beauty to them.
Sincerely I think that, as I red in other comments Miss Freud could go and get another kind of job. Just because she's from FREUD's family it doens't mean nothing. For the beggining to the end it was a sacrifice, just because I couldn't let the book rotting in the shelf. In another words I don't recommend the book! It horrible...well, there's no accounting for taste...but personally, I hated!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 1, 2012
I did really enjoy this book, so it´s probably going to be one of hers that I hang on to. She´s great at writing about childhood. In this case it´s about a 17 year old girl. OK, older, but from what happens in the book, you can see that she´s still growing up and in distinctly naive and insecure in certain areas.
Lara, our main character, lives with her mum in London (standard hippy mum who brought up child as single parent in hippy places around the world - this is basically the same mother who seems to appear in all Freud´s books that I have read). Her father, who is a live-alone academic type, decides to go to Italy to stay with a dying friend, and he invites Lara along. This story is about their weeks in Italy.
Love Falls is a waterfall site that they visit a couple of times. But it´s probably also a reflection on the book, as she´s growing up during this period, and I think becoming disillushioned with the idea of romantic love - in that seeing that it doesn´t work like a fairy tale, people are complex and some have affairs, some simply can´t do long term relationships etc... SPOILERS... one thing that was a little frustrating was the rape and the lack of action or conclusion to it afterwards. Almost like it was one of those things you have to do growing up, and it´s not a big deal. She doesn´t put up much protest when it´s happening and is really quite inert - as I said, I think she´s still a naive child in a lot of ways - but nothing happens afterwards. The guy who did it is part of the insanely rich group that Lara and her father spend some time with. They use people like entertainment toys, and there isn´t much human compassion amoungst them. So this guy who rapes her is really is nasty piece of work, a predator taking advantage of this girl he knew was too lacking in confidence to stop him. And yet he shows no remorse afterwards and he doesn´t get his comupance, which is very annoying. So in a way, the book is left a bit randomly open ended.
Lara, our main character, lives with her mum in London (standard hippy mum who brought up child as single parent in hippy places around the world - this is basically the same mother who seems to appear in all Freud´s books that I have read). Her father, who is a live-alone academic type, decides to go to Italy to stay with a dying friend, and he invites Lara along. This story is about their weeks in Italy.
Love Falls is a waterfall site that they visit a couple of times. But it´s probably also a reflection on the book, as she´s growing up during this period, and I think becoming disillushioned with the idea of romantic love - in that seeing that it doesn´t work like a fairy tale, people are complex and some have affairs, some simply can´t do long term relationships etc... SPOILERS... one thing that was a little frustrating was the rape and the lack of action or conclusion to it afterwards. Almost like it was one of those things you have to do growing up, and it´s not a big deal. She doesn´t put up much protest when it´s happening and is really quite inert - as I said, I think she´s still a naive child in a lot of ways - but nothing happens afterwards. The guy who did it is part of the insanely rich group that Lara and her father spend some time with. They use people like entertainment toys, and there isn´t much human compassion amoungst them. So this guy who rapes her is really is nasty piece of work, a predator taking advantage of this girl he knew was too lacking in confidence to stop him. And yet he shows no remorse afterwards and he doesn´t get his comupance, which is very annoying. So in a way, the book is left a bit randomly open ended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2015
De achterflap wekte bepaalde verwachtingen op. Intriges, overspel, verboden romances, misdaden, moord, noem maar op. Het blijft echter bij wat geheimzinnig gedoe rond die megalomanistische familie en het is mij nog altijd niet echt duidelijk wie er nu met wie slaapt en wie de zoon of dochter is van wie, maar ik denk dat dat ook geldt voor Lara en aangezien je alles als lezer door haar ogen ziet en beleeft, bleef wat geheim is voor Lara, ook geheim voor mij. ‘Twijfel en angst’ als dusdanig heb ik bij haar anders niet bespeurd.
Ik zou niet zo’n rare pa moeten hebben hoor, en als ik Lara was, ik zou hem toch een paar vragen hebben gesteld om duidelijkheid te krijgen. En die verkrachting hoefde nu ook niet meteen, wat kwam dat er nu bij doen, het kind had sowieso al seks met iedereen zonder dat ze er plezier aan scheen te beleven – daar ergerde ik me ook aan, aan de schijnbare apathie en onverschilligheid waarmee ze seks bijna ‘ondergaat’. Kortom, de vaagheid waarmee je als lezer soms geconfronteerd wordt als het over Lara’s echte gevoelens gaat, ergerde mij méér dan mateloos.
En tóch… Het is dat het boek zo leuk geschreven is, in een schrijfstijl die helemaal bij het ik-personage en de omgeving en de omstandigheden past. Hier en daar wordt met flashbacks naar Lara’s pittoreske verleden gewerkt, wat het verhaal enkel sterker maakt. Ook de setting spreekt tot de verbeelding: de Toscaanse heuvels, het broeiierige Firenze, het toverachtige Siena; zeker als je daar zelf al hebt mogen vertoeven. Dus ondanks bovenstaand genoteerde ergernissen durf ik het wel een leuk boek noemen.
Ik zou niet zo’n rare pa moeten hebben hoor, en als ik Lara was, ik zou hem toch een paar vragen hebben gesteld om duidelijkheid te krijgen. En die verkrachting hoefde nu ook niet meteen, wat kwam dat er nu bij doen, het kind had sowieso al seks met iedereen zonder dat ze er plezier aan scheen te beleven – daar ergerde ik me ook aan, aan de schijnbare apathie en onverschilligheid waarmee ze seks bijna ‘ondergaat’. Kortom, de vaagheid waarmee je als lezer soms geconfronteerd wordt als het over Lara’s echte gevoelens gaat, ergerde mij méér dan mateloos.
En tóch… Het is dat het boek zo leuk geschreven is, in een schrijfstijl die helemaal bij het ik-personage en de omgeving en de omstandigheden past. Hier en daar wordt met flashbacks naar Lara’s pittoreske verleden gewerkt, wat het verhaal enkel sterker maakt. Ook de setting spreekt tot de verbeelding: de Toscaanse heuvels, het broeiierige Firenze, het toverachtige Siena; zeker als je daar zelf al hebt mogen vertoeven. Dus ondanks bovenstaand genoteerde ergernissen durf ik het wel een leuk boek noemen.
October 29, 2013
I have maybe been a bit tough on this book because I'm not sure it was really directed at my audience age range. I found it very hard to connect with the characters and feel any sympathy for them but I think to some extent that may have been the point of the book. Certainly the family that Lara meets in Italy I don't think are supposed to be particularly likeable and Lara's romance with Kip I think is supposed to demonstrate the naivety of those holiday romances you have when you are young that don't actually go anywhere but feel wonderful at the time.
I think Lara's character was well written and believeable,and reflected quite accurately the mindset of a teenager - the confusion of how your parents behave, the awkwardness felt at large social occasions, the awareness of your sexuality and confusion about the world in general. I think the rape scene is very well written - a lot of people on here saying it is too much detail but I think it captures very well how easily young women can be manipulated into feeling that rape is their fault and that they are somehow to blame.
I did think the ending was a bit deflated, we still don't find out things about her father but then I think he is supposed to appear to us as he appears to her - a bit of an enigma and quite a pitiful character in a way.
It was a strange reading experience as I didn't overly enjoy it but at the same time I could appreciate what Freud was trying to do. I have enjoyed her other books but I don't really think this one struck a chord with me.
I think Lara's character was well written and believeable,and reflected quite accurately the mindset of a teenager - the confusion of how your parents behave, the awkwardness felt at large social occasions, the awareness of your sexuality and confusion about the world in general. I think the rape scene is very well written - a lot of people on here saying it is too much detail but I think it captures very well how easily young women can be manipulated into feeling that rape is their fault and that they are somehow to blame.
I did think the ending was a bit deflated, we still don't find out things about her father but then I think he is supposed to appear to us as he appears to her - a bit of an enigma and quite a pitiful character in a way.
It was a strange reading experience as I didn't overly enjoy it but at the same time I could appreciate what Freud was trying to do. I have enjoyed her other books but I don't really think this one struck a chord with me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2010
La trama ricorda alcuni aspetti della sceneggiatura del film “io ballo da sola”: giovane ragazza inglese in vacanza nelle colline senesi, in una bella villa con vicini aristocratici e anticonformisti. Il suo soggiorno diventa una specie di passaggio di maturazione: si chiarisce il suo rapporto con un padre amato ma distante, si incontra/scontra con le ambiguità e le bassezze del mondo adulto e si innamora. Il tutto avviene nell’estate del 1981 e sullo sfondo c’e’ il matrimonio fra Carlo e Diana, seguito con solo apparente disinteresse dalla comunità aristocratica inglese in vacanza. Ho un giudizio contrastante su Innamoramenti: le due stelle sono sicuramente basse ma le tre sono un po’ alte; per un verso il libro è scritto bene: ho trovato molto efficace la descrizione dei turbamenti adolescenziali e del continuo altalenare della protagonista fra il suo mondo noto e quello nuovo, che la incuriosisce, ma in cui si sente fuori luogo, avendone soggezione. Non ho molto apprezzato, invece, gli sfondi e le situazioni; secondo me, sono un po’ di maniera: campagna senese con ville aristocratiche, nobili inglesi che conoscono a perfezione il Palio, tifando come contradaioli, il lord mascalzoncello e sciupafemmine, il figlio bello e scansafatiche, il genero un po’ infame, e cosi via. Diciamo due stelle e tre quarti, arrotondate a tre.
December 12, 2013
I was expecting a pale shadow of Rumer Godden's unmatchable Battle of the Villa Fiorita and for about the first three-quarters of this book, that is exactly what I got. In fact, I was starting to wonder if Ms. Freud was just repaying some travel debts and writing a bit of a soft blurb for the Siena Chamber of Commerce. And then - somewhere between growing boredom and my habit of making a strong effort to finish every book I start - something clicked. I am not even sure if the click was intentional, but the last quarter of the book definitely raised some interesting questions and held my interest.
I have several questions, but I don't want to plot spoil. So one non-spoiler question only: why, oh why, do the adults in this book pay so little attention to what is going on around them, i.e. how can they be SO incredibly selfish? I agree that the parents in the Villa Fiorita were similarly wrapped up in themselves, but that was a different generation. Our parents threw us outside after breakfast and expected us to show up again, reasonably unscathed, for supper. But this novel takes place in the 80's when surely parents were far more heavily into pro-active parenting - some might say TOO heavily. By the end of this book, I was very angry on Lara's behalf. She deserved better.
I have several questions, but I don't want to plot spoil. So one non-spoiler question only: why, oh why, do the adults in this book pay so little attention to what is going on around them, i.e. how can they be SO incredibly selfish? I agree that the parents in the Villa Fiorita were similarly wrapped up in themselves, but that was a different generation. Our parents threw us outside after breakfast and expected us to show up again, reasonably unscathed, for supper. But this novel takes place in the 80's when surely parents were far more heavily into pro-active parenting - some might say TOO heavily. By the end of this book, I was very angry on Lara's behalf. She deserved better.
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