Reviews

This is a collection of stories that were referenced in a movie based on Turn of the Screw, which movie I have not seen, but I have seen the Haunting of Bly Manor and this contains most of the stories referenced in that series. Google says other stories referenced include The Beast in the Jungle, the Altar of the Dead, and the Great Good Place, although i can't find an analysis right now to confirm that. I wasn't really amazed by any of these. The characters are a little too old fashioned to appeal to me, although I did like Sir Edmund Orne, The Third Person, and Owen Wingrave. I'd like to see a reinterpretation of the Friends of the Friends in which they're the same person - that was the first thing i thought of when it said they didn't like to be photographed.

bronnyb's review against another edition

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I think this book suffers from short stories that are too long

shadestate's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

3.25

This was my first foray into Victorian English and I feel like a lot of the context and meaning was lost on me. Some stories were easier for me to get into than others; Turn of the Shrew especially was hard. I could understand the horror of the story on an intellectual level, but not emotional. I guess I gotta train myself up to understanding such florid language, because I do hope to return to it some day and reread it.

fachrinaa's review against another edition

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5.0

Ah, Henry James, the master of long, winding sentences; full of commas, semicolons, like tomorrow their usage would be taxed; jumbling the orders of clauses until the reader loses the track of what is being discussed, exactly.

I mostly read during my commute, so I have to say from experience that reading Henry James definitely requires deeper concentration and focus.

Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's actually talk about the book. It's a collection of several of James's ghost stories, including the novella The Turn of the Screw. I've read that before, and also 'The Friends of the Friends'. Not all of them features literal ghost, some feature the ghosts of memories instead. Nearly all of them have something more to say about being human.

The first and last stories in the collection, 'The Romance of Certain Old Clothes' and 'The Jolly Corner', are the more conventional ghost stories. The former is a bit of a disappointment, being too conventional and without the rich observation of human beings found in other stories. The title has a nice ring to it, though. The latter is less disappointing, with its observance of the mind of an expat returning home.

The second story, 'The Last of the Valerii', is a strange, haunting tale

Spoiler

without ghost

. A pair of newlyweds settle in the husband's ancestral rural home, accompanies by the wife's godfather. The wife develops an interest in excavation, and finally hired a team to dig in a corner of the land. They find a statue of Juno. The husband begins to develop an obsession with the statue, ignoring his wife and angering the godfather. It's a tale about the mystic power of ancient worship.

'Sir Edmund Orme' leans conventional, but the dynamic between the main characters was very engaging and enjoyable. A young man begins to see a spectre when he starts courting a young lady. The lady's mother holds the key to the mystery.

'Owen Wingrave', for me, is as interesting for its depiction of a certain group of military-obsessed people as for its examination about honour and pacifist belief.

I've read 'Friends of Friends' before, and it still punches me in the gut. I couldn't stop thinking about the narrator and how to interpret her. She's a very intriguing character.

'The Third Person' also leans conventional. It features an old ancestral home, two spinsters, a secret cache featuring some letters, and a criminal ancestor. The two spinsters, though, are very engaging and their relationship is both affectionate and slightly competitive. I like them!

Overall, this is an excellent collection. There's a relatively short introduction that nonetheless provides helpful information on Henry James and his works, especially his ghostly ones. I recommend this for people who like their ghost stories to be weighty.

jess_louise_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

thestoryofaz's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

I have been putting away the prospect of picking up a Henry James novel on account of an almost universal notion of the Internet that James is 'too difficult' of a writer. Perhaps he is. But that intimidating so as to stay away from his works entirely? I would soon be proven wrong when I finally made the bold decision to read The Turn of the Screw in line with Spooky Season last month (not so bold, looking back, considering it is in fact only a novella). I was positively blown away. I swear he writes the best sentences in all of English. His sentences, as the great Joan Didion would describe as possessing 'sinkholes', are feats enough on their own.

laurenefarrell's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

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