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areaxbiologist's review against another edition
4.0
If The Romance of the Forest (hereafter ROF), were a film, it would be gorgeous - crumbly ruins, Swiss Alps, lakes, weeping willows, dark prisons, skeletons in basements. Guillermo Del Toro would be all over this shit. And if M. Night and Del Toro had a lovechild, he would direct this rambling exploration of victimhood. Don't expect a hero, expect, as another reviewer aptly put it, "a whole lot of freaking tears" and fainting, with frequent poetry breaks (I skipped all of the poems. Sue me). Another reviewer didn't seem to like the epigraphs. I thought they were freakin' brilliant. Especially all the Macbeth. Somebody has to have done their thesis on Macbeth + ROF, or the world is not a fair place.
If you're looking for something that won't take you a month to read, read The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (kudos to the reviewer who suggested that). Longer, but better, and the plot moves quicker. Don't get me wrong, the last 60 pages of ROF will have you shredding your nails and dropping your jaw like a mental patient. It's that twisted. It just takes a lot of nature scenes, sighing, "harassed feelings" and anxiety to get you there. Indeed, get ready to "get pissed off at Adeline" (thank you previous reviewer!).
La Motte and son are more interesting, yes. But Louis (son), is the precursor to Stephenie Meyer's Jacob and Theodore (not a La Motte) is, you guessed it, sparkly Edward. It devolves into a love triangle at some points. Pierre (father), starts out the story, disappears, comes back at the end. He's conflicted, not a good guy and we're left doubting that he ever will be completely good. And that, my friends, makes for an interesting read.
Read this visually so that you can enjoy the scenery. If you can't, you might just get bored. But there's a lot to unpack here, if you're willing to take on the real work it takes. I think the last 60 pages make it worth it.
If you're looking for something that won't take you a month to read, read The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (kudos to the reviewer who suggested that). Longer, but better, and the plot moves quicker. Don't get me wrong, the last 60 pages of ROF will have you shredding your nails and dropping your jaw like a mental patient. It's that twisted. It just takes a lot of nature scenes, sighing, "harassed feelings" and anxiety to get you there. Indeed, get ready to "get pissed off at Adeline" (thank you previous reviewer!).
La Motte and son are more interesting, yes. But Louis (son), is the precursor to Stephenie Meyer's Jacob and Theodore (not a La Motte) is, you guessed it, sparkly Edward. It devolves into a love triangle at some points. Pierre (father), starts out the story, disappears, comes back at the end. He's conflicted, not a good guy and we're left doubting that he ever will be completely good. And that, my friends, makes for an interesting read.
Read this visually so that you can enjoy the scenery. If you can't, you might just get bored. But there's a lot to unpack here, if you're willing to take on the real work it takes. I think the last 60 pages make it worth it.
aqtbenz's review against another edition
4.0
So many things in this book!! It took a bit to get into, but once it got going it took off! Great read.
haukka's review against another edition
5.0
This has everything you've ever wanted to read when craving life in a summer forest. The heroine is super pure hearted like most heroines in art and literature of the time, but you shoulldn't let modern feminist ire get you down and just enjoy book. A crumbly abby lost deep in the woods and all sort of ghoulish intrigue. So good.
pinkalpaca's review against another edition
3.0
This is absolutely dripping with gothic atmosphere and minute descriptions of nature, but the first 50 to 100 pages were marked with absolute tedium. I found my eyes glazing over as I read & re-read paragraphs. I did rather enjoy the last third of the book more than I expected to and everything was summed up in a slight Dickensian way. Oh, and I've never read of so much weeping in my life.
lcsmcat's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
franklinfantini's review
2.0
I didn't give this one star because it wasn't completely horrible, but it was close. I heard from an English teacher that an author is only allowed to expect the reader to accept one unbelievable or irrational thing in a book, well, in that case Radcliffe could have written at least 10 books out of this one. She lost me pretty early on and it kept getting more ridiculous. I usually don't let my rationality to destroy a read, but this one is just so absurd that I couldn't deal with it. If I hadn't been reading it mostly in coffee shops it would have gotten thrown to the floor at least a dozen times.
iceangel9's review
4.0
A classic work of historical fiction, one of the first Gothic Romances ever written. Radcliffe's beautiful descriptions of nature combine with her use of poetry and prose to tell the story of Adeline. Raised in a convent, she refuses to take the veil and after being removed and taken to a small cottage is given into the care of la Motte and his wife - gentry fleeing Paris after la Motte became embroiled in a scandal. Agreeing to take Adeline under his care, la Motte takes the young girl and his wife to live in an abandoned and desolate abbey. When the owner of the abbey discovers them a series of events are set in motion that will change all their lives forever. If you ever wondered where Gothic Romance began, read Radcliffe. Sometimes difficult to read, the plot is twisted, and the prose is beautifully descriptive.
craigpartain's review
3.0
I liked the first half of this book a lot. It was very suspenseful, very gripping. But it starts losing steam about halfway through, and completely changes gears around the 75% mark, and ditches suspense for philosophical rumination. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I can live with that, but then these soap opera level coincidences start piling up and they were just too much for me.
jersy's review
3.0
While this book started off really interesting and mysterious, my interest in it began to decrease after a while.
The writing just drags, I literally skipped pages without feeling I missed something. It was written poeticly, and even includes some poems, which a lot may like but I didn't care for that, since it just added to the feeling that this book oftentimes didn't get to the point. While some characters seemed fascinating in the first couple of pages there was not enough to them to keep me engaged. Adeline was especially plain: while I felt sorry for her sad life there was not much character except weeping all the time. I felt like I didn't get her so her journey became less meaningful to me. Neither did I understand why everyone fell for her immidiatly.
There were some good bits: the abbey was atmospheric, there was a nice twist and some other enjoyable stuff, but near the end I just couldn't wait until it was over.
The writing just drags, I literally skipped pages without feeling I missed something. It was written poeticly, and even includes some poems, which a lot may like but I didn't care for that, since it just added to the feeling that this book oftentimes didn't get to the point. While some characters seemed fascinating in the first couple of pages there was not enough to them to keep me engaged. Adeline was especially plain: while I felt sorry for her sad life there was not much character except weeping all the time. I felt like I didn't get her so her journey became less meaningful to me. Neither did I understand why everyone fell for her immidiatly.
There were some good bits: the abbey was atmospheric, there was a nice twist and some other enjoyable stuff, but near the end I just couldn't wait until it was over.
hardcoverhearts's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0