Reviews

The Italian by Ann Radcliffe

evthomo's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

roseice's review against another edition

3.0

Ann Radcliffe is fantastic. Her descriptions are lush, detailed and full, albeit dense. Incredibly dense. I have to be in a certain mood to appreciate them, and rather than reading them in novel-sized sections (especially a novel of this length), I think they are better appreciated over a longer period of time. I had to go through this one more quickly than I would've liked, because I read it for school; the first two volumes were fabulous, but at times they dragged. So much was happening it was hard to reconcile it all once I finished.

A great story, but definitely more detailed in parts than it needed to be, and with an excess of unnecessary characters (except the guide. Arguably unnecessary, but he had me grinning, and I never tired of listening to Schedoni scold and yell at him). But Radcliffe's dialogue is one of my favourite things. So clever and fresh--especially Schedoni's. (By "fresh," I mean "archaic," yes, but it's so novel and beautiful and more people need to speak like that nowadays. We have lost something precious.)

leela_wij's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I enjoyed this book, with all of it’s victorian melodrama and exciting moments, but there were too many slow-paced parts. I found it hard to read some chapters because they were just full of flowery descriptions and not much actual plot. I tried to like Ellena but she was very hard to like, unlike Paolo, who was the best character.

dryanee's review against another edition

2.0

Lo he tenido que abandonar por las excesivas descripciones sin mucho que aportar realmente a la trama por parte de la autora. No estaba mal del todo la trama al proncipio y tal, pero después se volvió tan predeciblemente aburrida que supe cómo iba a acabar. Además, me parece que los personajes son super exagerados, sé que es algo típico en novelas de este género, pero solo en esta me ha molestado.

rosielazar1's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

mary_juleyre's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

jovepy's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense

jeremiah042's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0

mar1e's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

3.25

ellozx's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

not to be a hater of early female authors but this book was just not a slay 😔, idk i didn’t connect with any of the characters really, hated ellena for acting all prideful and being like, no i’m not gonna marry u if ur family’s not gonna approve, while simoutainiusly not doing anything to improve her life. and then paulo with the whole act, idc if it’s irony or what, i just want a good book. also the whole thing ended with a little too much plot amour for my liking