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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At the beginning I thought this was a rather light-hearted story, but by the end I found it quite morally troubling - a look at how far one is willing to go to get what one wants.
I was also reminded of Elinor in [b:Sense and Sensibility|37553|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168969485s/37553.jpg|2809709] who is tormented by someone who has an ulterior motive, but who maintains her own good behavior. Now if only Miss Tita had had some of Elinor's good sense and understanding of human motivations and behavior...
I thought it was a little over-written, so I probably won't be reading too much of Henry James, except maybe [b:The Turn of the Screw|11055298|The Turn of the Screw|Henry James|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329620492s/11055298.jpg|990886], which I've heard is quite good.
I was also reminded of Elinor in [b:Sense and Sensibility|37553|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168969485s/37553.jpg|2809709] who is tormented by someone who has an ulterior motive, but who maintains her own good behavior. Now if only Miss Tita had had some of Elinor's good sense and understanding of human motivations and behavior...
I thought it was a little over-written, so I probably won't be reading too much of Henry James, except maybe [b:The Turn of the Screw|11055298|The Turn of the Screw|Henry James|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329620492s/11055298.jpg|990886], which I've heard is quite good.
Read a Henry James novel(la) of my own volition. Woah. And Henry James? You don't impress me much. Maybe this suffered because of the short novella format, but it is tame, shallow and a bit flat. The main character is apparently "obsessed," but his obsession falls short and you never see enough of this narrator to truly get a sense of him and his desires. And there definitely wasn't enough Venice in this. How do you give a book such a magnificent setting and then never utilize it? Back to my previously held aversion to all things Henry James.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was fine, but doesn't really make you want to know the characters better or how the story turns out
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
No me convenció demasiado la historia, y si bien considero que está muy bien escrita, creo que la idea daba más para un relato corto que para una novela (aunque sea una novela corta). Tiene pocos personajes y éstos tienen una mínima evolución pero no me dejó mucho al cerrar el libro, no se empatiza con ninguno y por momentos se sienten algo sobreactuados. Por supuesto que tenemos que ubicarnos en la época que se ecribió (fines del siglo XIX) pero creo que es una obra que envejeció mal.
While perhaps not totally objectively James's best novel (or maybe novelette), I think this one is my personal favorite. I'm a little past the halfway mark now in my chronological read-through of all of James's major novels, but I couldn't skip this shorter one as, having read it before, I remembered it so fondly. And I wasn't disappointed on this reread--I just love it.
So what's to love? First of all I think his use of the first person here really plunges the narrative toward modernism and thus rings much truer to my post-modern ear. The only other James first-person narrative I can think of now is another longish short story called "Last of the Valerii," a tale I've presented to students several times in my Gothic Literature Set in Italy course. In that tale James takes the Great Gatsby approach and creates a plot-adjacent narrator, who, without being a major player acts as a witness and commentator on the plot as it unfolds. The Aspern Papers is even better since our narrator tells his own conflicted story as a kind of guilty confession.
Delicious. And even, I think, makes up a bit for the sexism I sense but isn't usually so specific in James that you can call it out. Here we hear the narrator's unabashed view of a woman and we can judge it--it's not hiding in the shadows of a phony omniscient narrator.
Also the Venetian backdrop and the implied evisceration of the literary critical impulse--all wonderful. And, at last, it's James with absolutely zero stupid Dickensian affectations--no silly names, cartoonish characters, or improbable events. Our author is all grown up here.
So what's to love? First of all I think his use of the first person here really plunges the narrative toward modernism and thus rings much truer to my post-modern ear. The only other James first-person narrative I can think of now is another longish short story called "Last of the Valerii," a tale I've presented to students several times in my Gothic Literature Set in Italy course. In that tale James takes the Great Gatsby approach and creates a plot-adjacent narrator, who, without being a major player acts as a witness and commentator on the plot as it unfolds. The Aspern Papers is even better since our narrator tells his own conflicted story as a kind of guilty confession.
Delicious. And even, I think, makes up a bit for the sexism I sense but isn't usually so specific in James that you can call it out. Here we hear the narrator's unabashed view of a woman and we can judge it--it's not hiding in the shadows of a phony omniscient narrator.
Also the Venetian backdrop and the implied evisceration of the literary critical impulse--all wonderful. And, at last, it's James with absolutely zero stupid Dickensian affectations--no silly names, cartoonish characters, or improbable events. Our author is all grown up here.