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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
Tied for my favorite book of all time, The Mysteries of Udolpho is a book whose reading transcends the ordinary experience and, in my case at least, transforms the reader. It isn't always well-written, but that is sometimes beside the point.
We start out in an anachronistic version of 16th century France at the picturesque country cottage of the goodly St. Aubert whose teenage daughter Emily is extremely sensitive to her surroundings, the emotions of others, the overall mood and tenor of the room she is in, and just about anything else you can think of. When circumstance leaves her an orphan she is vulnerable to the predations of scheming relatives, diabolical criminal plots, and a host of emotionally unstable suitors: plot is not wanting here, as long as you don't squint too hard at the details. (Her faithful dog, Manchon, vanishes for a hundred pages at a time before reappearing at the opportune moment.)
Incredibly, this, too, is almost beside the point. The true magic in The Mysteries of Udolpho is that between its episodes of magic it drifts, ambient, seemingly without speed or focus, across steel gray ocean waves, farmland plains purple with fecundity, the terrifying vistas of soaring mountains, the poignant calm of isolated monasteries, the lonely turrets of tragic castles and neglected estates, and back to the lovely but painful memories of St. Aubert's cottage.
There is something timeless, audacious, and, dare I say, supernatural, in the way Udolpho invites its readers to detach their imaginations from mundane everyday worries and from such trivial concerns as pacing, plot, and characterization, and simply absorb the beauty and sublimity of a world that is achingly temporary.
This is one of those stories that can be utterly banal in its details but endlessly profound in its implication and execution. I love it and have read it many times, yet I will never be able to learn everything it has to teach me.
We start out in an anachronistic version of 16th century France at the picturesque country cottage of the goodly St. Aubert whose teenage daughter Emily is extremely sensitive to her surroundings, the emotions of others, the overall mood and tenor of the room she is in, and just about anything else you can think of. When circumstance leaves her an orphan she is vulnerable to the predations of scheming relatives, diabolical criminal plots, and a host of emotionally unstable suitors: plot is not wanting here, as long as you don't squint too hard at the details. (Her faithful dog, Manchon, vanishes for a hundred pages at a time before reappearing at the opportune moment.)
Incredibly, this, too, is almost beside the point. The true magic in The Mysteries of Udolpho is that between its episodes of magic it drifts, ambient, seemingly without speed or focus, across steel gray ocean waves, farmland plains purple with fecundity, the terrifying vistas of soaring mountains, the poignant calm of isolated monasteries, the lonely turrets of tragic castles and neglected estates, and back to the lovely but painful memories of St. Aubert's cottage.
There is something timeless, audacious, and, dare I say, supernatural, in the way Udolpho invites its readers to detach their imaginations from mundane everyday worries and from such trivial concerns as pacing, plot, and characterization, and simply absorb the beauty and sublimity of a world that is achingly temporary.
This is one of those stories that can be utterly banal in its details but endlessly profound in its implication and execution. I love it and have read it many times, yet I will never be able to learn everything it has to teach me.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Interestingly, Ann Radcliffe wrote this book in 1794, but the story plays in 1594. So it is historic fiction written more than two hundred years ago. Quite a voluminous book and I read it partly as a book and partly as audiobook to get on more quickly. The first book interesting for people who are into descriptions of magnificent prospects, but not really my favourite sort of literature and the sorrows as the heroine looses her parents are too lengthy and tearful for my patience. However, from the second book onwards, the pace steps up, and I could appreciate how the author creates tense and mysterious atmospheres. I just don't understand though, how emotions can run so high that a woman has to faint - not quite my style. But the heroine meets dreadful and scary events for sure. Ann Radcliffe is a master in cliffhangers and suspending solutions. Everything that seems spooky is rationally explained in the end - she just always finds some other event to insert and it is difficult to put down the book with that suspense. The characters are good or bad, and even if they seem to develop, they end up as good or bad as they were. For people into history, it is interesting to see events described by someone in her own time period - though I am not sure how well informed she would be of the way of life in the period she describes.
The audiobook has many different readers, which requires some adjusting, but it felt heart-warming to know that people in so many different countries found it worth their while to spend time reading the book - I heard readers from the UK, different parts of the US, Sout-Africa, India, New-Zealand - quite exciting!
The audiobook has many different readers, which requires some adjusting, but it felt heart-warming to know that people in so many different countries found it worth their while to spend time reading the book - I heard readers from the UK, different parts of the US, Sout-Africa, India, New-Zealand - quite exciting!
I enjoyed The Mysteries of Udolpho a lot more than I thought I would, part of my pleasure coming from handling the slim red-covered and yellow-paged volumes printed in 1949. Though I generally didn’t like the romance in the story (Valancourt is super insecure about their relationship), I found Emily quite likeable, for her reason, fortitude, and self-reliance. She makes her own decisions and isn’t afraid to push for what she needs.
See my full review here: https://hannahreadingwidely.wordpress.com/2021/06/19/to-every-old-castle-its-secret-passages-and-other-morals-of-the-story-the-mysteries-of-udolpho/
See my full review here: https://hannahreadingwidely.wordpress.com/2021/06/19/to-every-old-castle-its-secret-passages-and-other-morals-of-the-story-the-mysteries-of-udolpho/
I found it so hard to want to pick this up and even listening to the audio while reading was not helpful.
I thoroughly enjoyed this meandering tale. And I do mean it does meander :) The description on Goodreads is actually a bit deceptive because it only covers a portion of the book. Instead we get something more like a year or two in the life of the heroine, who, by the way, is one of the strongest heroines I've seen in any book. She stands on her own two feet and with a great deal of fortitude she manages to withstand things that are incredibly difficult. All with a minimum of fainting.
While the story takes a while to get going and often takes some strange side paths, it also has a great deal of suspense. And deaths. A lot of people die in this book. Seeing the origins of gothic literature in this book that was published in 1794 made it all the more fun. You could see the things that would become essential to any gothic tale. It was also surprisingly accessible given that it was published more than 200 years ago.
Another thing I really enjoyed was how much the story seemed like a series of things that could really happen rather than aiming for making the heroine center stage in every situation. And
In short, I would really like to reread this book several times over the years. It was just so enjoyable. Sometimes I would relax and enjoy the meandering paths and sometimes I was tense and utterly focused on the suspense. I'm extremely glad I read this.
The audio was narrated by Alison Larkin and I honestly could not recommend it more. She made everything more dramatic, Montoni truly sinister, and was obviously having a great deal of fun reading the book. It's going into my brilliant narration shelf.
While the story takes a while to get going and often takes some strange side paths, it also has a great deal of suspense. And deaths. A lot of people die in this book. Seeing the origins of gothic literature in this book that was published in 1794 made it all the more fun. You could see the things that would become essential to any gothic tale. It was also surprisingly accessible given that it was published more than 200 years ago.
Another thing I really enjoyed was how much the story seemed like a series of things that could really happen rather than aiming for making the heroine center stage in every situation. And
Spoiler
every single "supernatural" experience was explained. I loved that there were no real ghostsIn short, I would really like to reread this book several times over the years. It was just so enjoyable. Sometimes I would relax and enjoy the meandering paths and sometimes I was tense and utterly focused on the suspense. I'm extremely glad I read this.
The audio was narrated by Alison Larkin and I honestly could not recommend it more. She made everything more dramatic, Montoni truly sinister, and was obviously having a great deal of fun reading the book. It's going into my brilliant narration shelf.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
slow-paced
slow-paced
This was utterly ridiculous, there was no reason at all for it to be this long, every bit of poetry could have been cut out of it, but it did keep me coming back just to see what ridiculous thing would happen next.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No