Reviews

The Italian by Ann Radcliffe

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bexpaxton's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

this book is certainly Gothic. ill give it that. although some advice for Ann Radcliffe, if i may:
synonymns for gloomy: dim, sombre, despondent, dismal, funereal, despiriting ect.

to say this book is too long or too repetitive would be a hyperbolic understatement worthy of the book itself.
of course you have to give the book credit that the clichés she establishes probably wouldn't be so derivative at the time and also that the uncanny similarities between this book and The Monk by M.G. Lewis (published 6 months prior) wouldn't have been recognised by her readership.
while this book is undeniably a slog, if like me you loove Gothic literature it is a very easy one to trope spot in, informing my reading on the genre as a whole. Radcliffe is such an important character in the Gothic canon that i couldn't not read her and im glad i have now.
there is definitely some campness within this book what with all the melodrama and character archetypes but honestly if you re looking for a classic, camp Gothic novel The Monk is a much better alternative because it is outrageous and shocking and undeniably sexy making it a far easier read in my opinion or if you re looking for a shorter read The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole is just a camp old time and was really the source of all these tropes anyway. but this book does make me want to revisit Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen which is a satire of the gothic novel and in hindsight was probably completely based on Radcliffe's works (the carriage scene is far funnier now- Radcliffe did seem to love a carriage kidnap scene)
there were interesting parts though dont get me wrong, Radcliffe was obviously a very talented and successful writer in her time and i thought her inclusion of The Sublime and God was really interesting and bridges the gap between the Romantic poets and the Gothic authors. i also appreciated how head over heels Vivaldi was for Ellena which really proved this novel was written by a woman for women.
but for me the pacing lacked. she was brilliant at building the tension and suspense but then it went on for too long and the effect had worn off before the big reveal (also because of time passing it was quite easy for me to predict a lot of the biggest plot twists which unfortunately dampened their impact for me) so there was never really much of a pay-off. i think if the whole thing had been more concise i could have enjoyed it a lot more but i felt there was a lot of extra fat, especially at the beginning which made it hard to get into. i dont think unless you really want to finish this book you will have a good time but i thought it was a bit of a fun time.
suffice to say, i dont think i will be picking her up again under my own volition any time soon. sorry Radcliffe!

dantalion_xi's review

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5.0

I make it a point no to read an author's masterpiece first, if I can.

The Italian paid off, in this sense.
I am informed that many of Radcliffe novels resemble each other, and I was draw to this by the plot.

There is everything you expect from a Gothic novel: a difficult love story, ruined castles, apparitions, ruined churches, kidnappings, ruined houses, beautiful forests, ruins, and so on.

The style is, of course, verbose, but beautiful enough to excuse that.
The protagonists are not so different from your usual Renzo and Lucia (you will excuse my reference to Manzoni's "The Betrothed" here), but I particularly liked the determination with which both of them face the adversities.

I should say, however, that it's the villain who steals the scene.
The plot revolving around his action and his identity is the clou of the novel, and impressed in my memory forever. His own morals are challenged time and again, making him a well rounded character.

Recommended read!