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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
For a classic, this read surprisingly like a daytime drama: Days of Our Lives in the 1800's. Henry James could spin a yarn.
Really liked it because I am still trying to understand Catherine now. His writing and depiction of these people is not in the least coy, and that is what make it so artful, I suspect. You don't want to believe what James is telling you. By the end you must. And it is sad. Intellect does not triumph; and it is not the hero in this novel. I gotta love him for that. Thank you Mr James.
Unexpectedly funnier than I thought it would be, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for the heroine.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Stars for occasional bits of his writing style, but wow, was this book a bummer.
Took me a really long time to read but was an interesting if dreary perspective into society in those days. I especially love the awareness that caused a man writing about a woman deciding that if given the choice she would not ultimately wed.
Installment number seven in my read-through of James's novels (and a few novelettes) in chronological order. Wow! Already almost 1/3 of the way through--although some of the longer ones lay ahead.
To me this novel signals a change, I guess what you might call James's maturity as a novelist. I had noticed a certain pattern emerging in the first few or a should-have-been-the-narrator POV character encountering a kind of wild card character that, prefiguring Joyce epiphany tales of Dubliners, prompts some sort of self-revelation or actualization of the nature of the protagonist. Here, however, we have four finely drawn characters who interact, acting on each others' characters and revealing them, but also furthering a plot of sorts and telling a story. Of course the narrative is subtle in the Jamesian manner, not so dramatic as to fall into melodrama, but rather a kind of emotional and psychological portrait in a series of drawing room encounters, which certainly lifts James' art above a lot of fiction of the era. Not surprised this became a stage play and a film. Although I've totally enjoyed at least five of the six I've so far read, this is, to me, James's first fully realized near perfect work of literature.
What I'm also noticing in my chronological read-through of the author's works is how each narrative is at once a kind of continuation of the last, that is another treatment of some of James's obsessive reoccurring themes or tropes, but also how each one seems to try to be completely different than the previous novel. Here, coming off of the lighter happy-ending romance of a super-intelligent woman and a clueless but good-natured fellow who needs to learn how to read emotions, including his own, this novel does an about face and presents us with the tragic tale of a rather innocently bland woman stuck between two cynical men (her father and her lover) and an over dramatic woman (her aunt). The situation is similar--and prospective marriage has been a theme of all of the novels so far, yet that's also something of a staple of the novels of this particular century, especially those dealing with female characters--yet the characters are so different the procedure/plot and outcome are wholly new and lead the narrative into a tone all its own.
One thing I must note about Washington Square that you might not notice is that the importunate aunt character is lifted straight out of the Gothic romances of the 1790s. Not only is she an aunt who meddles in the ill-fated love affair, as such characters are wont to do, but James mentions dark and storms a couple of times in dear aunt Penniman's romantic fantasies which, to me, seemed to signal the theft of the stock character and his attempt to make a respectable realistic personage out of her. Well played, Mr. James, well played.
Portrait of a Lady is up next--will be a re-read for me, as this one also was, but I'm looking forward to it. Back to the European vs American theme an another ill-fated romance!
To me this novel signals a change, I guess what you might call James's maturity as a novelist. I had noticed a certain pattern emerging in the first few or a should-have-been-the-narrator POV character encountering a kind of wild card character that, prefiguring Joyce epiphany tales of Dubliners, prompts some sort of self-revelation or actualization of the nature of the protagonist. Here, however, we have four finely drawn characters who interact, acting on each others' characters and revealing them, but also furthering a plot of sorts and telling a story. Of course the narrative is subtle in the Jamesian manner, not so dramatic as to fall into melodrama, but rather a kind of emotional and psychological portrait in a series of drawing room encounters, which certainly lifts James' art above a lot of fiction of the era. Not surprised this became a stage play and a film. Although I've totally enjoyed at least five of the six I've so far read, this is, to me, James's first fully realized near perfect work of literature.
What I'm also noticing in my chronological read-through of the author's works is how each narrative is at once a kind of continuation of the last, that is another treatment of some of James's obsessive reoccurring themes or tropes, but also how each one seems to try to be completely different than the previous novel. Here, coming off of the lighter happy-ending romance of a super-intelligent woman and a clueless but good-natured fellow who needs to learn how to read emotions, including his own, this novel does an about face and presents us with the tragic tale of a rather innocently bland woman stuck between two cynical men (her father and her lover) and an over dramatic woman (her aunt). The situation is similar--and prospective marriage has been a theme of all of the novels so far, yet that's also something of a staple of the novels of this particular century, especially those dealing with female characters--yet the characters are so different the procedure/plot and outcome are wholly new and lead the narrative into a tone all its own.
One thing I must note about Washington Square that you might not notice is that the importunate aunt character is lifted straight out of the Gothic romances of the 1790s. Not only is she an aunt who meddles in the ill-fated love affair, as such characters are wont to do, but James mentions dark and storms a couple of times in dear aunt Penniman's romantic fantasies which, to me, seemed to signal the theft of the stock character and his attempt to make a respectable realistic personage out of her. Well played, Mr. James, well played.
Portrait of a Lady is up next--will be a re-read for me, as this one also was, but I'm looking forward to it. Back to the European vs American theme an another ill-fated romance!
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
This plot kept me involved due to the drama of the characters and the utter resentment I hate for her father, but that was really the only part I enjoyed, the ending was heading towards a cool direction but ultimately didn’t impress me that way I thought it was going to