Ella Enchanted (rack)

Rating:
Summary: Ella Enchanted
Review: This book is an old favorite for me, and I have re-read it so many time that I cannot count. I hope this review will give you some idea of why I like it so much.

"That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift." So begins the tale of Ella of Frell, a young lady who must obey any command given to her. Written by Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted answers the question, "Why did Cinderella obey her stepmother anyway?" with a delightful story of fairies, enchantments, and a host of adventures.

After a brief background story, the tale begins just after Ella's mother dies. Told by Ella herself, the narrative reveals her innermost feelings, exploring her emotions and describing her unending fight against her curse. As she goes from her old home to finishing school, a giant's wedding, and a home with her new stepmother Madam Olga, readers gain a window into how she grows and learns with each new experience.

One major aspect of this growth is her feelings for Prince Charmont, or "Char", whom she meets at her mother's funeral. They quickly become fast friends, and even after Char goes to the neighboring country of Ayortha for a year, their relationship not only remains, but begins to change to something deeper.

During his absence, Char and Ella write each other letters, smuggling them to each other via Mandy, the fairy cook, to avoid Madam Olga's notice. Soon, Char begins ending his letters by asking "Are you still to young to marry?" in reference to a comment that Ella made during an earlier adventure. Ella, unsure whether this is a serious question, responds each time with her usual sense of humor. "If not too young, I was too tired to marry or too wet or too cross or too hungry." Finally, however, Char reveals that he is serious, and asks flat out if she loves him. Though she has been realizing that she loves him in return, Ella also fears for what his enemies might order her to do to him. Therefor, she writes a letter, supposedly from her stepsister Hattie, explaining that Ella has gone off and married a rich old man just before that last letter arrived. The act breaks both the young peoples hearts, but Ella believes that Char is now safe from her.

Unfortunately, it isn't so. Desperate to see Prince Char once more, Ella disguises herself and attends a ball thrown in his honor when he returns from Ayortha. She is revealed, however, and Char promptly follows her home and asks her to marry him. "Marry me, Ella." he says, unaware of the curse. Her stepfamily also orders her to marry the prince, wanting to take advantage of her. With even her heart wanting to say yes, Ella is forced deep within herself in her struggle to defend her prince and her love by saying no. This final, desperate struggle finally breaks the curse, and by saying no, Ella frees herself to say yes, which she promptly does. As the storybooks say, "She lived happily ever after."

Rating:
Summary: #1 Fan!!!
Review: OK, I am aware that this book is aimed at an audience a bit younger than I am (16) but I can't help loving it...it's such a wonderful book. I first read it when I was younger, and then read it twice while on vacation a few years later. After the movie (that does not do it justice AT ALL) came out recently I remembered how much I loved it, so I bought it and have just finished reading it for the 4th time. It's definitely one of my favorite books. It's just perfect...there's humor, romance, action, a happy ending...and a heroine that's so real everyone can relate to her. Levine does such a good job with descriptions I feel like Ella's world really exists and I desperately want to enter that world. It makes me sad when I finish because I know it's all just make-believe. But you never know, right?

I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone!

Rating:
Summary: a true fairy tale with a deeper meaning
Review: Everyone knows the stpry of Ella Enchanted, especially since the movie has come out. But apart from the maigc and the fairies in the book, for me the sense in the book is the "fight" of a girl against obedience. A "virtue" installed in many girls still today, stopping them from doing or saying what they trully think and believe in. I recommend this book as good discussion material for a girl's book club to make reader's (girls) aware of this "virtue", which is not one anymore. Today, there is obedience in a negative way and obedience in being polite and well behaved and especially girls need to learn about that fine line between those two.