Love Falls

This book goes down deceptively easy, and I think readers may be tempted to treat it as a light summer read because of the topic (going-to-Italy and coming-of-age) but it is actually very carefully crafted and thoughtfully structured. In my view the whole point of the novel is that through her problematic and ambiguous encounter with the aristocracy, Lara gains an experience that allows her to develop greater sympathy for and understanding for her father. She is a young person who becomes caught up in a wealthy aristocratic world in which she is partially and very provisionally included, though she clearly does not 'belong.' That was, in a more extreme form, the same predicament her father found himself in as a child. The Willoughbys' show more tentative acceptance of Lara as an individual is tempered by their disdain for her kind. Kip is the lover whose wealth and nobility are part of his charm, Roland is the rapist whose class-based contempt is part of his hatefulness, and both are inextricably part of the same circle. She cannot have the one without dealing with the other. In the end, Lara finds herself desperately appealing to these people who owe her nothing for help so that she may rescue her father -- a small, mild version of the terrible predicament in which he found himself. The Palio presented to her a vision of how the classes might unite around shared cultural enthusiasms, while her intimate encounter with class inequalities breathed new life and interest into her school readings on the French Revolution and the Grapes of Wrath. show less

No matter how well-written an individual title, and this one is lovely, I'm losing patience with stories of an introverted youngster traveling abroad and coming under the spell of the careless wealthy. Is this a rite of passage that deserves to be a canonical literary motif?

If style were the only judgement on this book it would achieve five stars. It is written with such careful observation and subtlety that it is impossible not to admire the author and the beautiful, engaging, perfectly measured opening pages.

Yet the novel soon begins to flounder. This is primarily because of its characters. The main character, Lara, falls under the spell (and is intimidated by) a party of idle rich who are universally obnoxious. Yet she remains passive, a doormat, so when more serious events occur it begins to feel difficult to care. Meanwhile the plot is achingly slow, giving just enough time to feel that Lara might have been better off making a rite of passage by taking a molotov cocktail to her unpleasant neighbours show more rather than indulging in the introspection and self-doubt which become her characteristics.

If you read it, do so for the style, not the substance. show less

Initially, this book sucked me in. I was very interested in young Lara's first trip to Italy with the father she barely knew, and I was hoping to learn more as their relationship grew. Unfortunately, it didn't. About 60 pages in, it becomes the story of a rather wimpy, emotionally self-indulgent teenager who is obsessed with a beautiful rich boy . . . I felt like I was back in Twilight, reading Bella's cheesey descriptions of Edward. (Her decriptions of Lulu are almost as bad!) Her idolization of the idle--and generally mean and stupid--rich soon got to be a bore, and I couldn't wait to finish this one and turn it over to some poor sucker who wishlisted it on a swap site. The only plus I can give it is that, as someone below mentioned, show more Freud does a fine job of creating the feel of an Italian summer and of describing the surroundings in which Lara finds herself. show less

Dit boek las ik eerder in 2007 en ik herinnerde me bij herlezen alleen de sfeer, niet de gebeurtenissen. Mooi geschreven verhaal waarin de reis van hoofdpersoon Lara met haar vader naar Siena wordt afgewisseld met stukjes over de reis die Lara als kind met haar moeder maakte naar India. Eerste verliefdheid, verkrachting, familiegeheimen ... Ik vond het ook bij herlezing een mooi boek.

This book made me long for summer; I could feel the sun on my skin as the characters did. The story kept my interest, the characters were interesting and likeable when they should have been and I found the ending satisfying. I recommend it for an intelligent but not difficult read. - Fiona

I liked the main female character, as she is the same age that I was in 1981. None of us used protection in the sun then. I fell asleep in the garden on the day of the royal wedding and burned my eyelids.
However, could not be bothered with the cliched aristos strand. Not that they were portrayed as likeable anyway, but...it felt a bit hackneyed and same old, same old.