urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:1year100booksBooks to change your lifeOr at least to entertain you while you live itJessie2008-01-03T22:07:04Zurn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:1year100books:4149Book 3- A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson2038-01-19T03:14:07Z2008-01-03T22:07:04Zthe white noise of my computer<p>My second Ibbotson book (and not my last).<br /><br /><font color="#993366"><strong>Summary<br /></strong><font color="#000000">Set after the Russian Revolution, Anna, a Russian countess, and her family have to flee to England and live in impoverished conditions. Anna takes a job as a temporary maid at the Earl of Westerholme's estate to make some money for her family. The household needs extra help because they are readying the house for Rupert, the Earl, and his soon-to-be wife, Muriel Hardwicke. With her innocent, earnest, hardworking ways, Anna enchants the household, below stairs and above. She also manages to enchant the earl, who has come to find that his bride-to-be is not quite the woman he thought her. <br /><br /><font color="#993366"><strong>Opinion<br /></strong><font color="#000000"><font color="#ffffff"><font color="#000000">I liked this book just as much as I liked <em><a href="http://1year100books.livejournal.com/4002.html">A Company of Swans</a></em>. Again, Ibbotson uses pretty basic romance conventions, but she writes my favorite kind of heroine (innocent, everyone loves her, a little too perfect), and I haven't gotten annoyed with the conventionality yet. Maybe by the next book. I didn't like that Anna and Rupert spent very little time just with each other. In <em>Swans</em>, there is a point when Harriet and Rom are together almost constantly, which gives them a chance to fall in love. In <em>Countess</em>, Anna and Rupert are hardly ever alone. I'm able to spend my disbelief and accept that they are in love without having really gotten to know each other, but I shouldn't have to do so. Ibbotson makes up for it, though, I think, because Anna and Rupert have more <em>powerful</em> moments together than Rom and Harriet do. <br /><br />The secondary cast of characters play a huge role in the story. This is one thing Ibbotson does very well--give all her secondary characters their own personalities. She never makes them just fillers or walk-ons, so the reader can connect with them and enjoy them.<br /><br />All in all, I give the book <font color="#993366"><strong>8.5 out of 10</strong> <font color="#000000">for personal enjoyment,</font> <strong>7 out of 10</strong> <font color="#000000">for actual quality. (Same as <em>Swans</em>)</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p>Coming up: <em>Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac</em> and <em>The Morning Gift</em>