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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Collins referred to the sea as a machine which is amazing because I thought this about the sea when I was younger and watching the waves at Gurney Drive. His sentence goes "During the few minutes that elapsed while I was taking him in, the air revived him, and he ascended the steps of the machine with my assistance." In my copy pg 385 para 3
"I have observed, not only in my sister's case, but in the instances of others, that we of the young generation are nothing like so hearty and so impulsive as some of our elders. I constantly see old people flushed and excited by the prospect of some anticipated pleasure which altogether fails to ruffle the tranquillity of their serene grandchildren. Are we, I wonder, quite such genuine boys and girls now as our seniors were in their time? Has the great advance in education taken rather too long a stride; and are we, in these modern days, just the least trifle in the world too well brought up?" - I am amazed that these questions were already being asked in the 1800s!
"... no woman does think much of her own sex, although few of them confess it as freely as I do." Marian Halcombe said in her first conversation with Mr. Hartwright at their first breakfast together.
"...it will always remain my private persuasion that Nature was absorbed in making cabbages when Mrs. Vesey was born, and that the good lady suffered the consequences of a vegetable preoccupation in the mind of the Mother of us all." LMAO!
"There are three things that none of the young men of the present generation can do. They can't sit over their wine; they can't play at whist; and they can't pay a lady a compliment."
"When a sensible woman has a serious question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that she has something to conceal."
Their separation for six months while one sister traveled abroad encountering new thoughts and new habits and one stayed home preserving old thoughts and old habits resulted in a "sudden strangeness, unexpected and uncontrollable by both"; "she has found me unaltered, but I have found her changed. Changed in person, and in one respect, changed in character. I cannot absolutely say that she is less beautiful than she used to be: I can only say that she is less beautiful to me." - wow, so precisely the truth.
How does one like Marian Halcombe learn anything about the world and people without any experiences?! She has to be a rare one during those days - sharp and quick-witted.
"Being, however, nothing but a woman, condemned to patience, propriety, and petticoats for life, I must respect the housekeeper's opinions, and try to compose myself in some feeble and feminine way." - Remember the 3Ps, girls!
He rule her too with his private rod that only comes out upstairs. - Could this be a naughty reference?! Omg. Haha!
"Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's personal appearance, and a man's money; but they cannot resist a man's tongue, when he knows how to talk to them."
"Men little know, when they say hard things to us, how well we remember them, and how much harm they do us." - a man wrote this... Sigh. How is it that men were so courteous and observant then? I wish I married someone from those days.
I told you the secret and we will not discuss it when we meet again. I am inviting you to tea, if you come good if you don't, fuck off. I'm grinning widely at Mrs. Catherick's last line in her letter to Mr. Hartwright; it has to folllow the tone if her letter and her character - "My hour for tea is half-past five, and my buttered toast waits for nobody."
"The best men are not consistent in being good, and so evil men are not consistent in being bad."
Sometimes we have to take the law in our own hands because justice is often fairly served by our own spirit and conscience. "The Law would never have obtained me my interview with Mrs. Catherick. The Law would never have made Pesca the means of forcing a confession from the Count."
This is a sensational murder mystery, mysterious page turner. Excellent descriptions and I love the way they correspond with each other. I used to try to write my mails that old-fashioned way. His writing makes me feel the dread, smell the fear, hear the silent pleas. So intense so stressful how to stop and go to bed each night?! I kept telling myself one more chapter. And then one more. What masterful plot and what a twist. If one is intimidated by classic literature, a murder mystery written in 1859 will surely induce a conversion.
"I have observed, not only in my sister's case, but in the instances of others, that we of the young generation are nothing like so hearty and so impulsive as some of our elders. I constantly see old people flushed and excited by the prospect of some anticipated pleasure which altogether fails to ruffle the tranquillity of their serene grandchildren. Are we, I wonder, quite such genuine boys and girls now as our seniors were in their time? Has the great advance in education taken rather too long a stride; and are we, in these modern days, just the least trifle in the world too well brought up?" - I am amazed that these questions were already being asked in the 1800s!
"... no woman does think much of her own sex, although few of them confess it as freely as I do." Marian Halcombe said in her first conversation with Mr. Hartwright at their first breakfast together.
"...it will always remain my private persuasion that Nature was absorbed in making cabbages when Mrs. Vesey was born, and that the good lady suffered the consequences of a vegetable preoccupation in the mind of the Mother of us all." LMAO!
"There are three things that none of the young men of the present generation can do. They can't sit over their wine; they can't play at whist; and they can't pay a lady a compliment."
"When a sensible woman has a serious question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that she has something to conceal."
Their separation for six months while one sister traveled abroad encountering new thoughts and new habits and one stayed home preserving old thoughts and old habits resulted in a "sudden strangeness, unexpected and uncontrollable by both"; "she has found me unaltered, but I have found her changed. Changed in person, and in one respect, changed in character. I cannot absolutely say that she is less beautiful than she used to be: I can only say that she is less beautiful to me." - wow, so precisely the truth.
How does one like Marian Halcombe learn anything about the world and people without any experiences?! She has to be a rare one during those days - sharp and quick-witted.
"Being, however, nothing but a woman, condemned to patience, propriety, and petticoats for life, I must respect the housekeeper's opinions, and try to compose myself in some feeble and feminine way." - Remember the 3Ps, girls!
He rule her too with his private rod that only comes out upstairs. - Could this be a naughty reference?! Omg. Haha!
"Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's personal appearance, and a man's money; but they cannot resist a man's tongue, when he knows how to talk to them."
"Men little know, when they say hard things to us, how well we remember them, and how much harm they do us." - a man wrote this... Sigh. How is it that men were so courteous and observant then? I wish I married someone from those days.
I told you the secret and we will not discuss it when we meet again. I am inviting you to tea, if you come good if you don't, fuck off. I'm grinning widely at Mrs. Catherick's last line in her letter to Mr. Hartwright; it has to folllow the tone if her letter and her character - "My hour for tea is half-past five, and my buttered toast waits for nobody."
"The best men are not consistent in being good, and so evil men are not consistent in being bad."
Sometimes we have to take the law in our own hands because justice is often fairly served by our own spirit and conscience. "The Law would never have obtained me my interview with Mrs. Catherick. The Law would never have made Pesca the means of forcing a confession from the Count."
This is a sensational murder mystery, mysterious page turner. Excellent descriptions and I love the way they correspond with each other. I used to try to write my mails that old-fashioned way. His writing makes me feel the dread, smell the fear, hear the silent pleas. So intense so stressful how to stop and go to bed each night?! I kept telling myself one more chapter. And then one more. What masterful plot and what a twist. If one is intimidated by classic literature, a murder mystery written in 1859 will surely induce a conversion.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Wow what a story! I took a little bit to get going into this because it was written so long ago and the language is a different experience to read. But what a twisted psychological gothic I want to call it a mess, the best sense.
I didn't love this book. I appreciated the multiple perspectives, and I understood why the author wanted to do that. It just made it drag. I felt like I was just listening to a court proceeding. The worst part is that I knew it would all work out in the end, and there was no real danger. Nothing wowed me about it.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wish I could have read this book when it first appeared. Waiting for it to be printed instalment by instalment must have really added to the suspense. Not so dissimilar to weekly television shows today. That being said listening to the audiobook narrated by Ian Holmes was a pretty good alternative!
‘The Woman in White’ is a tale of mystery, suspense and I think could be classed as a gothic thriller. It is a long book and while the writing is verbose in places Collins has created a world that really does come to life. A friend of Charles Dickens there is similarities in both their work. Without giving too much away the book creates a mystery- who is the woman in white and what is her importance- telling the story through various sources from diaries, letters, accounts and retellings. The two main figures Laura and Walter are a bit weak and I struggled to like them, yet their foil Marian and Count Fosco were fascinating characters that really carried the tale.
This is not a book I would have normally read (in fact I’ve avoided it for some time) but as it’s part of the BBC top 100 books and I’m down to the last 15 on the list it was time to pick it up. I’m really glad I did and will definitely read it again at some point to see what clues I might have missed in the first reading.
‘The Woman in White’ is a tale of mystery, suspense and I think could be classed as a gothic thriller. It is a long book and while the writing is verbose in places Collins has created a world that really does come to life. A friend of Charles Dickens there is similarities in both their work. Without giving too much away the book creates a mystery- who is the woman in white and what is her importance- telling the story through various sources from diaries, letters, accounts and retellings. The two main figures Laura and Walter are a bit weak and I struggled to like them, yet their foil Marian and Count Fosco were fascinating characters that really carried the tale.
This is not a book I would have normally read (in fact I’ve avoided it for some time) but as it’s part of the BBC top 100 books and I’m down to the last 15 on the list it was time to pick it up. I’m really glad I did and will definitely read it again at some point to see what clues I might have missed in the first reading.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
