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There are currently 23 member reviews
for The Blind Contessa's New Machine
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Susan S. (Middlebury, Connecticut)
The Blind Contessa's New Machine
When I first started reading "The Blind Contessa's New Machine, I was totally drawn to the main character Countess Carolina Fantoni and found myself wondering how her encroaching blindness was going to affect her life. Then I found myself wondering when the "new machine" mentioned in the title was going to manifest itself. I would have liked to know more about Turri's journey in developing this gift for Carolina. I also found that Carolina's vivid descriptions of "flying" were perhaps too drawn out and I found myself "fast forwarding" through those parts. I did love the characters and could picture them in my "mind's eye" as the story unfolded. If you love romance and colorful, out-of-the ordinary people coping with what life throws at them, you will enjoy this book.
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Marsha S. (Nags Head, NC)
The Blind Contessa's New Machine
This book takes the reader to another world and time, and into the young life of Carolina as she journeys into adulthood. The author creates scenes that are richly detailed, as Carolina attempts to record everything in her mind because she finds she is going blind just as she is preparing for her marriage. There is a dreamlike quality to the story as we share her visually shrinking world and transition into the images she stores only in her mind. Her relationships with her family, her husband, and her childhood friend Turri frame the insular world in which she lives. I found the book to be very well-written, and I think the story will appeal to readers who love the written word and the well-turned phrase. But it may lack a wide appeal because of the difficulty in relating to the characters and circumstances of their lives.
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Deborah M. (Chambersburg, PA)
Atmospheric
While this isn't a novel that I can rave about, I did enjoy it and recommend it as a quick and light summer read. One of its strong points is Wallace's fine development of atmosphere. There's a dreamy, sensual quality about her descriptions that perfectly fits the story of a young contessa adapting to losing her eyesight and dreaming her way back to beloved familiar places and exciting new places that she will never see in person. The reader can see the beauty of the contessa's lake and and smell her lush gardens, hear the sad music of the cello and the joyful song of her caged bird, feel the heat of the candle wax and the thick velvet of her robe. The romance is satisfying without going over the top.
If I could change one thing about this book, it would be the title, which probably won't catch the attention of readers who would potentially enjoy the novel. "The Blind Contessa" suggests an older woman, not a vibrant young bride; and "the new machine" plays only a secondary (yet important) role and doesn't appear until the last third of the book. This is NOT the story of the invention of the typewriter!
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Heather F. (Tulsa, OK)
The Blind Contessa's New Machine
This short book has an ethereal beauty to it. The reader feels transported into a gauzy world of another time and place where emotion and reason are not center place. The two main characters seem to float above the rest of us in a place where their love and devotion are so strong that the constraints of this earth don't apply. A delightful read!
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Carm D. (Omaha, NE)
The Blind Contessa's New Machine
I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and retained my interest through the entire story. I would have preferred a different ending but the characters are wonderful. This is a lovely first novel.
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Bea C. (Liberty Lake, WA)
Imagining is seeing
I couldn't put this one down. I didn't particularly like the characters or feel like I knew them very well, but the story the author tells is captivating. As the Contessa goes blind, her imagination becomes as important as real life as she envisions her surroundings and imagines herself and her forbidden lover in distant settings when they meet. There is suspense and mystery, and the story didn't end the way I expected it to. Book clubs will love discussing why the characters do what they do. This should appeal to readers of romantic books who don't like to figure out the ending before they get halfway through the story.
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Eileen F. (Ephrata, WA)
Dreams
In her debut novel, the author has created a fairy tale-like story and setting. As a reader I felt she left room for my imagination also. It is a story of sadness, love, humor and betrayal. Carolina's dreams were an interesting part of the narrative, as well as her relationships with Pietro, Turri, Liza and Giovanni. It was an entertaining read.
