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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
*2.5 stars*
This one is hard to grapple in my mind. From an objective viewpoint, I love this. I love all the idea's it's toying with, I love the fractured main character, I love how you don't know what's real and what's not, and I love the ending. However, I just had a really hard time getting through it when I was actually reading it. James's sentences can be a little rough, and I just wasn't engaged throughout. A really, really fun novel to study after the fact though, and an incredibly influential horror story, just maybe on its own, James isn't for me. So, keeping in mind that I hold with a 2 star not being a bad rating, just being an "okay" rating, that's what I'll go with, and I'll tack on an extra half star for my appreciation of it overall.
This one is hard to grapple in my mind. From an objective viewpoint, I love this. I love all the idea's it's toying with, I love the fractured main character, I love how you don't know what's real and what's not, and I love the ending. However, I just had a really hard time getting through it when I was actually reading it. James's sentences can be a little rough, and I just wasn't engaged throughout. A really, really fun novel to study after the fact though, and an incredibly influential horror story, just maybe on its own, James isn't for me. So, keeping in mind that I hold with a 2 star not being a bad rating, just being an "okay" rating, that's what I'll go with, and I'll tack on an extra half star for my appreciation of it overall.
I'm just going to say I finished this because I have suffered enough. Tuppence Middleton is a great reader but this is just an incoherent mess that exacerbated my anxiety with its unnecessary complexity and melodrama. I though I was just being persnickety in my youth but it's not even that long and Henry James needs editing.
Mike Flanagan, you are my only hope.
Mike Flanagan, you are my only hope.
Initially, I was too scared to read this, despite owning the book for several years. I loved Henry James' Portrait of a Lady, and when I found this book at a used bookstore, I snagged it right away! But then I found out it was a ghost story. I HATE ghost stories. I HATE being scared. But when it was chosen for a book group, and I saw it was on a list of horror stories for wimps, I thought about it. "It's Victorian, and if I liked Frankenstein and Dracula, I think I can handle this." It's not truly scary. It's more psychological, with a lot of dramatic tension. Spooky, gothic, creepy, atmospheric, but it won't make you jump, give you nightmares or insomnia, or scare you to death. It's a masterful study of the relationship between a governess and her charges.
An unamed governess is hired to care for two siblings, and whose uncle, their guardian, really wants nothing to do with them, so he leaves the children in the care of the servants of Bly Manor. Their new governess is inexperienced and naive. She believes she sees the ghosts of two former servants of the manor, and is convinced the ghosts are somehow after the children, plotting with little Miles and his sister, and imbuing them with a vague evil. Is the governess seeing things? Are the ghosts real? Or are the servants of Bly Manor, especially head maid Mrs. Grose, masterful gaslighters, preying on a vulnerable woman's fragile psyche?
James' prose is very dense. His characters don't simply say they're happy or sad - they describe the experience of being happy or sad. The descriptions are wonderfully detailed and rich, although the sentences sometimes require re-reading until you get used to his rhythm. Not the lightest of reads, but a very rewarding one. Henry James was a master of the psychological story, before psychology was a common part of our world.
An unamed governess is hired to care for two siblings, and whose uncle, their guardian, really wants nothing to do with them, so he leaves the children in the care of the servants of Bly Manor. Their new governess is inexperienced and naive. She believes she sees the ghosts of two former servants of the manor, and is convinced the ghosts are somehow after the children, plotting with little Miles and his sister, and imbuing them with a vague evil. Is the governess seeing things? Are the ghosts real? Or are the servants of Bly Manor, especially head maid Mrs. Grose, masterful gaslighters, preying on a vulnerable woman's fragile psyche?
James' prose is very dense. His characters don't simply say they're happy or sad - they describe the experience of being happy or sad. The descriptions are wonderfully detailed and rich, although the sentences sometimes require re-reading until you get used to his rhythm. Not the lightest of reads, but a very rewarding one. Henry James was a master of the psychological story, before psychology was a common part of our world.
first of all, Henry James, I am begging you to use shorter sentences, second of all, what the FUCK?
The idea last year (2020) was that I would watch all the related movies before posting the review, but I completely forgot the whole thing. I want to make sure I talk about this during October, so here you go.
There's something about James's writing that makes my head spin, but not in a good way. It's frustrating that a book this short requires so much effort, and when you're drowning in commas you don't really care if the dizzying style is purposeful or not.
Another frustrating thing is that I actually like the story when you peel it to its bare bones and wade through all the padding. There are genuinely creepy moments, a pretty unsettling aspect about a certain relationship (that you wish isn't what seems to be implied), and a fantastic ambiguity about the ghosts haunting the house and the governess.
If you want atmosphere, I suggest watching The Innocents (1961). I get goosebumps just thinking about it. It's everything James wished he could have achieved and has an incredible ending. Turn off all the lights, maybe light a candle, and enjoy!
There's something about James's writing that makes my head spin, but not in a good way. It's frustrating that a book this short requires so much effort, and when you're drowning in commas you don't really care if the dizzying style is purposeful or not.
Another frustrating thing is that I actually like the story when you peel it to its bare bones and wade through all the padding. There are genuinely creepy moments, a pretty unsettling aspect about a certain relationship (that you wish isn't what seems to be implied), and a fantastic ambiguity about the ghosts haunting the house and the governess.
If you want atmosphere, I suggest watching The Innocents (1961). I get goosebumps just thinking about it. It's everything James wished he could have achieved and has an incredible ending. Turn off all the lights, maybe light a candle, and enjoy!
(1.5 stars bc at least we got 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' from this).
This book made me question whether I can even read or understand English. Nearly cried I was so confused. Foundations for a good plot but the god-awful writing prevented this from being remotely good. The characters were so confusion and annoying I just wanted it to be over quickly. Read this was like a slow, painful death.
I get that the whole point is that we question whether the governess is a reliable narrator, but James made her so hysterical and ridiculous that it just overshadowed any deeper level of meaning. Tuely a woman written by a man. The governess' frantic state was insufferable - I am not entirely sure James had ever really spoken to a woman in his life tbh. Also, wtf happened to Miles at the end? He just died for no reason? Literally so lost from start to finish. Call me stupid, I don't care.
This book made me question whether I can even read or understand English. Nearly cried I was so confused. Foundations for a good plot but the god-awful writing prevented this from being remotely good. The characters were so confusion and annoying I just wanted it to be over quickly. Read this was like a slow, painful death.
I get that the whole point is that we question whether the governess is a reliable narrator, but James made her so hysterical and ridiculous that it just overshadowed any deeper level of meaning. Tuely a woman written by a man. The governess' frantic state was insufferable - I am not entirely sure James had ever really spoken to a woman in his life tbh. Also, wtf happened to Miles at the end? He just died for no reason? Literally so lost from start to finish. Call me stupid, I don't care.
I've been in the mood for classic horror lately and this was exactly what I wanted. The Turn of the Screw reads, at first, like a very straightforward ghost story--an idyllic country house, a new governess, two charming children, and all of it spoiled by a looming evil. It's not scary, but it is wonderfully ominous.
And then it ends.
In my opinion, it ends perfectly. It leaves you to question exactly what just happened and what you feel about it. It's a story with multiple interpretations, and all of them are correct. It's fantastic.
Also, I want Emma Thompson to narrate every classic audiobook forever. I liked the book, and I LOVED her performance of it
And then it ends.
In my opinion, it ends perfectly. It leaves you to question exactly what just happened and what you feel about it. It's a story with multiple interpretations, and all of them are correct. It's fantastic.
Also, I want Emma Thompson to narrate every classic audiobook forever. I liked the book, and I LOVED her performance of it
One of the most confounding stories I’ve ever read. Was she or was she not mad? At times the children seem a tad bit “off,” having a bit of fun at the governess’s expense, but at other times I really did feel the presence of two others in the narrative.
Gorgeous writing. Two inch sentences are not usually so intriguing. Plan on reading more Henry James. So creepy.
Gorgeous writing. Two inch sentences are not usually so intriguing. Plan on reading more Henry James. So creepy.
I didn't love this as much as some classics I've read. It was a bit slow, I didn't love the dialogue, and I hated the ending. However, the descriptions and writing in general were beautifully rendered.