Customer Reviews

Appassionata

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is excellent! I'm a horse lover and first found Jilly Cooper's "Riders" on a trip to the UK. Since then I've tried to read everything she's written, and I'm seldom disappointed. I know very little about the world of classical music but it didn't matter -- her books are so character-driven that it's them you get wrapped up in, not so much the subject matter. This book gave us a "fix" of our favorite characters from past books, but introduced new characters just as interesting and complex. Other characters on the periphery of previous books (like Flora from "The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous" and Marcus from "Riders") become main characters here, and you have the pleasure of seeing them grow up. You don't need to be a horse fan to love all Jilly's books!

Oh Jilly - I just love most of your books - but the last three in the series you have done on Campbell-Black and co I just haven't enjoyed as much. This is the fifth book in the series which started with Rivals. As usual Cooper focuses on a single theme and a big crowning event - in this case orchestras and a big competition which Rupert Campbell-Black's son, Marcus is competing in. Against him is the heroine of this novel - Abigail Rosen also known as Appassionata.

Perhaps it is just me, but I don't much like Rannaldini. He appeared in the Cooper's last book - The Man Who Made Husband's Jealous - he is the bad-guy of the piece, but I find him horrible. Normally with Cooper the bad guys and the good guys are fairly ambiguous - you can certainly like most of the bad-guys but Rannaldini is just evil on two legs. I hope I'm not spoiling anyone's fun by telling you all that Ranaldini finally gets killed off in the next book - Score! - but in the meantime I feel like he lurks with a bit too much sinister pleasure through these pages.

Unfortunately Cooper has got me hooked on the series, so every time one of her books comes out it is a must read for me. The first three novels in this series (Riders, Rivals and Polo) were simply bliss - and I loved her earlier books (Harriet, Imogen &c.) If you haven't read Cooper before then you should read her earlier books. If you have read them - well you will probably want to find out what happens next - and the book isn't bad - its just not as good as her past efforts.

I'm a long, long, long time fan of jilly cooper (from her first romance novels of emily, harriet, imogen, bella, lisa and co), and have read all the previous marathon novels (riders, rivals, polo, etc). This book was ticking off one line after another, and I often imagined the shocked faces of the English audience as they read some of her imageries of English pretensioin. I know Cooper has tried with Riders and Rivals to reach the American audience but for some reason she did not catch on. That is because she does not have the dripping sap of the American romance audience, and much too talented and intelligent to grab the Daniel Steele audiences that dominates the American romance industry. Perhaps there is too much romping sex to represent real life, but certainly the American romance genre has such a pretension of virtue in an ill disguised soft porn that one can turn bolemic from throwing up with each turn of the page. I'd say her writing is a nice blend of the pop novels and literary novels like Jane Austen, George Eliott, etc. Keen on human behavior but fast paced and sharp. Great plot. Also, Cooper actually made me appreciate classical music, leaving as romantic and passionate image of classic music as I have for rock music.

Like other reviewers, I've read all of Jilly's books (I think that 'Polo' is the most entertaining). I had to laugh at the Californian reviewer's idea that Cooper's English readership would be 'shocked' at her satirical look at the social pretensions of upper-class (and nouveau riche) Brits. In fact, Cooper's earthy humour is typical of what you would find in the UK - just read one of our tabloid newspapers . I'm surprised though that Cooper's humour crosses the Atlantic successfully, as it is so particularly English.

Appassionata isn't Cooper's best novel, possibly because Abigail Rosen is not a particularly sympathetic heroine. In addition, I found it difficult to believe that orchestral musicians lead lives of such wild debauchery - all the ones that I've met wear their hair in a bun and no make-up. Anyway, I suppose the plot isn't the point of Jilly's books, what entertains instead is the witty commentary and detailed character delineations (and asassinations).

I LOVED this book and laughed all the way through! I have no musical talent, but I wanted to run away and join this mad, mad but very lovable underdog orchestra!

I was actually given this book on loan by my GRANDMOTHER who thought that I would enjoy it since I am a classical musician-wannabe. I found that although unbelievably cliched in a lot of circumstances, I could relate a lot of my own personal experiences with the love and obsession with music to this book. It was about the funniest read I've had in a long time. I don't usually read schlock romantic fiction or even melodramatic prose like this but I thoroughly enjoyed this. If you want a laugh, read Appassionata.

I am just reading this title. The story is interesting but I never read book with a lot of spelling mistakes on each page!

Another excellent Jilly Cooper, the only reason I didn't give it five stars is that I didn't particularly like the main character, Abigail Rosen, and the book as a whole was not quite as good as her first four. Still, I found the book thoroughly entertaining and hard to put down. It certainly brought orchestras to life for me. The meticulous research which has gone into Jilly Cooper's books really shows. There were several interesting sub-plots involving characters from earlier books, such as Flora from "The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous" and Marcus Campbell-Black, as well as many new characters. Everything turns out how you hope it will, and I was sorry to finish the book and have to wait for the next one to be published.

I think by the time we finished passing it around, every girl in the music department at my university had read it. This book is well-researched (I'm a musician and only caught a couple slight errors), and written in a delightful, engaging style. Taken for what it is, "Appassionata" is a lot of fun, particularly the characters and the way Jilly Cooper deftly maneuvers them into and out of one anothers' arms. I'd read another book about the Rutminster Symphony Orchestra anytime!

I first discovered the "Rutshire Chronicles" of Jilly Cooper while studying in Scotland. This fifth volume in the series is just as witty, fast-paced, and hilarious as the first four--with all the sex, snobbery, and drama you could ask for. All the best characters from the earlier books make at least cameo appearances (Rupert, Helen, Taggie, Rannaldini, etc.) and the new ones are great as well. Hardly a horse, but the classical music theme is not the slightest bit boring (despite my total lack of enthusiasm for the genre). Jilly Cooper easily buries Danielle Steele and the like... This book can be read by itself, but even though they are hard to get her I recomend getting ahold of the earlier books (Riders, Rivals, Polo, and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous). As a final note, the whole Marcus sub-plot is great!