Book Review The Enchanted
*Music playing* Hi everyone! So, today I want to review The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld. This is a book that has been popular in the Booktube community for a year or two now and I just recently read it. All I knew going into this book was that it was told from the perspective of a man who is on death row in a very old prison... And that was honestly all I needed.
I was intrigued! Where is the story gonna go with something like that? And I'm happy to say that where it ended up going I. Really really liked it. This is... So far my favorite book I've read this year.
For those of you who have not read the book or maybe aren't aware of what it is about, it is, like I said, about a man awaiting death in this old prison but he has this ability, this magical realism element really, where he is able to tell the stories and understand the feelings of other people that are either in the prison or working in the prison. So, not only do we follow the perspective of this unnamed person on death row we follow the lady who, I would say, is the second main character in this. She is an investigator for lawyers and she looks into the history and the background of these men on death row and tries to find a way to keep them from being killed. We also hear from the perspective of the warden of the prison, from a newcomer - a 16-year-old boy who is just trying to survive in the general population of the prison.
We also hear about the fallen priest who now works in the prison. And each of these characters has their own unique backstory that we slowly learn about. It's written in such a fantastic way. It's hard for me to describe exactly how it's told and really do it justice, but there's just this feeling while reading this book that is very calming and even though the topics that are being discussed are uncomfortable and sometimes violent it's never done in a blatant way.
It's told so beautifully that it always feels very calming. I don't know if this is a feeling that other people had while reading this book but I was reading this while traveling in airports and airports are usually very busy and bustling and there's a lot of noise and I was able to sort of escape into this story. It helped me ignore everything else that was happening around me on the airplane, in the airport, and it just worked. It worked for me.
This has this magical realism element to it and I am NOT one who usually likes magical realism. I very rarely appreciate when it's added into a story. I'd much rather just have the actual fact of what is really happening there, not some strange interpretation. But our main narrator, his ability to be able to tell the stories of the different people comes from this magical realism element.
It also explains why there's horses on the cover and there's other things that he interprets about the prison because he considers it an enchanted place which is... The Enchanted. Obviously an old prison is going to have certain characteristics and history to it so you can understand where this man is coming from. He's living in this cell in very bad conditions and he's been there for a long time.
So his mind is being warped by what's around him and it becomes this magical realism and how he can tell the stories of the different people and these different things that he interprets. I loved how it was told. It's just, it's hard for me to put into words why I liked it so much. Combining the dark storyline where things are implied, left out and you sort of have to figure some things out on your own.
In addition to learning about these characters who are very flawed and have overcome hardship or maybe are experiencing the aftermath of a decision that they made that changed their life, it has this feeling to it that is negative but also beautiful and I think that comes from our main character talking about how the place is enchanted and how he sees things. How everything came together, it's not a very long book but it just worked. It was: you stepped into these people's lives and then you stepped out and things kept going and you just got a glimpse into how these people were living and and working in this prison. If you have this book on your bookshelf and you're debating reading it I strongly encourage you to do so.
It's such a beautiful story and it's told in such an interesting wonderful way. It's absolutely a five-star read for me. If you have read The Enchanted, if you liked it as much as I did or maybe you didn't like it as much, feel free to let me know what you thought of it down below. As always all of our links are in the doobly-doo.
Thank you guys very much for watching and I'll see you later..
I was intrigued! Where is the story gonna go with something like that? And I'm happy to say that where it ended up going I. Really really liked it. This is... So far my favorite book I've read this year.
For those of you who have not read the book or maybe aren't aware of what it is about, it is, like I said, about a man awaiting death in this old prison but he has this ability, this magical realism element really, where he is able to tell the stories and understand the feelings of other people that are either in the prison or working in the prison. So, not only do we follow the perspective of this unnamed person on death row we follow the lady who, I would say, is the second main character in this. She is an investigator for lawyers and she looks into the history and the background of these men on death row and tries to find a way to keep them from being killed. We also hear from the perspective of the warden of the prison, from a newcomer - a 16-year-old boy who is just trying to survive in the general population of the prison.
We also hear about the fallen priest who now works in the prison. And each of these characters has their own unique backstory that we slowly learn about. It's written in such a fantastic way. It's hard for me to describe exactly how it's told and really do it justice, but there's just this feeling while reading this book that is very calming and even though the topics that are being discussed are uncomfortable and sometimes violent it's never done in a blatant way.
It's told so beautifully that it always feels very calming. I don't know if this is a feeling that other people had while reading this book but I was reading this while traveling in airports and airports are usually very busy and bustling and there's a lot of noise and I was able to sort of escape into this story. It helped me ignore everything else that was happening around me on the airplane, in the airport, and it just worked. It worked for me.
This has this magical realism element to it and I am NOT one who usually likes magical realism. I very rarely appreciate when it's added into a story. I'd much rather just have the actual fact of what is really happening there, not some strange interpretation. But our main narrator, his ability to be able to tell the stories of the different people comes from this magical realism element.
It also explains why there's horses on the cover and there's other things that he interprets about the prison because he considers it an enchanted place which is... The Enchanted. Obviously an old prison is going to have certain characteristics and history to it so you can understand where this man is coming from. He's living in this cell in very bad conditions and he's been there for a long time.
So his mind is being warped by what's around him and it becomes this magical realism and how he can tell the stories of the different people and these different things that he interprets. I loved how it was told. It's just, it's hard for me to put into words why I liked it so much. Combining the dark storyline where things are implied, left out and you sort of have to figure some things out on your own.
In addition to learning about these characters who are very flawed and have overcome hardship or maybe are experiencing the aftermath of a decision that they made that changed their life, it has this feeling to it that is negative but also beautiful and I think that comes from our main character talking about how the place is enchanted and how he sees things. How everything came together, it's not a very long book but it just worked. It was: you stepped into these people's lives and then you stepped out and things kept going and you just got a glimpse into how these people were living and and working in this prison. If you have this book on your bookshelf and you're debating reading it I strongly encourage you to do so.
It's such a beautiful story and it's told in such an interesting wonderful way. It's absolutely a five-star read for me. If you have read The Enchanted, if you liked it as much as I did or maybe you didn't like it as much, feel free to let me know what you thought of it down below. As always all of our links are in the doobly-doo.
Thank you guys very much for watching and I'll see you later..
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