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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
There are so many reasons why this book was super annoying and difficult to get through. Surprisingly, the main character was not necessarily all of them. As heroines from this era (late 1700s) go, she was intelligent, strong willed, and kept cool under pressure. She did suffer from the old fashioned version of the 'manic pixie dream girl' - aka a sweet-tempered young woman who's heart was so good and pure that it mattered not what others did to her, she would always be sweet and even tempered and look out for their comfort and needs. So many times I wanted her to slap a bitch (looking at you, Annette), but Emily would never.
A pity.
Emily's constant crying and fainting throughout this book was super annoying, however. I kid you not, Emily should have been a raisin at the end of this book. I will grant her tho, she had a rough couple years that did warrant her emotional state: losing her two younger brothers, her mother, her father, her home, her lover, her homeland, and then her freedom can really take it out of a girl. I just got sick of it cause that's all Emily really could do, since she had no power to take control over her own life (fuck you too, patriarchy).
The plot was also all over the place. If I had been the author's editor, I probably would have quit. There was so much exposition that was unnecessary for the story - so many side tangents that we didn't need nor cared about that lasted chapters. I realize that that was the style of writing back then, but I really didn't need an exposé on Emily's life and the lives of everyone around her. And things that should be at most a chapter but also probably a paragraph, ended up being almost an entire volume (the book itself was split into 4 volumes). For example, her father's death: it probably took about a half an hour to an hour (I listened to this book on audio, each chapter was about 45 minutes) for her father to die aka when he was on his death bed. The author had laid the foreshadowing of her father's death right from the beginning, but when we finally got to the death scene it took forever to get through it (Also I'm not putting the spoilers tag on this review because 1. this book is over 200 years old and 2. it's night noon and I'm lazy), which was extremely exasperating to listen to. Every time she would say that he lied back and was too weak to speak more, I was like "aight finally this bitch gonna die" and then she hits you with the "BUT THEN HE GATHERED HIS SPIRITS LIKE A WHITE GIRL DOING A PUKE AND RALLY*"
and I cried a little inside.
The plot was also all over the place. First we have to traverse around France (why? I honestly don't remember, probably some shit about her father), then meet her lover Valencour, then her father dies, she goes to live with her aunt, she and Valencour date, are about to get married, then she, her aunt, and her aunt's new husband move to Italy, then Emily is almost sold off to a Count there, then they finally go to Udolpho (at like halfway through the book), shady shit goes down, her aunt dies, Uldopho is attacked by the Itailian army (or banditi? don't even know at this point), Emily is almost kidnapped at least twice, she is taken from Udolpho, then she is brought back to Udolpho, all the while there's this werid singing and music that has been following her this whole book that is back at Udolpho, we meet the mystery man who has been lowkey following Emily this whole book (not to Udolpho tho, he was a prisoner there before Emily got there) who is behind the mysterious music (only at Udolpho, the other music was from a different person), they make their escape, they get to France, Emily makes friends with the new owner of a Chateau that Emily and her father stayed near (that had the mysterious music) when her father died, she finds out Valencour is a fallen man (gambles) and renounces him, they find that the Chateau is haunted and try to find out what is going on, then a nun conviently spills the beans on why Emily looks so familiar to the late lady of the Chateau (gasp she's her daughter, who would have known, definitely not me calling it the minute I started reading this book) and then dies, then we find that Valencour isn't actually a scoundral and they get married and live happily ever after the end omg.
If this book had been split up into novellas in a series, that would have been much better. There was just so much of this plot that at the same time nothing happened, but then everything was happening. It was giving whiplash constantly.
Overall, I'm actually glad that I read it. It had some creepy vibes at times, perfect for fall vibes, and the author had some very entertaining dialouges sometimes. But it was too long winded, some of the characters I could not stand (once again, looking at you Annette), and there was way too much plot shoved into it.
*not a direct quote
A pity.
Emily's constant crying and fainting throughout this book was super annoying, however. I kid you not, Emily should have been a raisin at the end of this book. I will grant her tho, she had a rough couple years that did warrant her emotional state: losing her two younger brothers, her mother, her father, her home, her lover, her homeland, and then her freedom can really take it out of a girl. I just got sick of it cause that's all Emily really could do, since she had no power to take control over her own life (fuck you too, patriarchy).
The plot was also all over the place. If I had been the author's editor, I probably would have quit. There was so much exposition that was unnecessary for the story - so many side tangents that we didn't need nor cared about that lasted chapters. I realize that that was the style of writing back then, but I really didn't need an exposé on Emily's life and the lives of everyone around her. And things that should be at most a chapter but also probably a paragraph, ended up being almost an entire volume (the book itself was split into 4 volumes). For example, her father's death: it probably took about a half an hour to an hour (I listened to this book on audio, each chapter was about 45 minutes) for her father to die aka when he was on his death bed. The author had laid the foreshadowing of her father's death right from the beginning, but when we finally got to the death scene it took forever to get through it (Also I'm not putting the spoilers tag on this review because 1. this book is over 200 years old and 2. it's night noon and I'm lazy), which was extremely exasperating to listen to. Every time she would say that he lied back and was too weak to speak more, I was like "aight finally this bitch gonna die" and then she hits you with the "BUT THEN HE GATHERED HIS SPIRITS LIKE A WHITE GIRL DOING A PUKE AND RALLY*"
and I cried a little inside.
The plot was also all over the place. First we have to traverse around France (why? I honestly don't remember, probably some shit about her father), then meet her lover Valencour, then her father dies, she goes to live with her aunt, she and Valencour date, are about to get married, then she, her aunt, and her aunt's new husband move to Italy, then Emily is almost sold off to a Count there, then they finally go to Udolpho (at like halfway through the book), shady shit goes down, her aunt dies, Uldopho is attacked by the Itailian army (or banditi? don't even know at this point), Emily is almost kidnapped at least twice, she is taken from Udolpho, then she is brought back to Udolpho, all the while there's this werid singing and music that has been following her this whole book that is back at Udolpho, we meet the mystery man who has been lowkey following Emily this whole book (not to Udolpho tho, he was a prisoner there before Emily got there) who is behind the mysterious music (only at Udolpho, the other music was from a different person), they make their escape, they get to France, Emily makes friends with the new owner of a Chateau that Emily and her father stayed near (that had the mysterious music) when her father died, she finds out Valencour is a fallen man (gambles) and renounces him, they find that the Chateau is haunted and try to find out what is going on, then a nun conviently spills the beans on why Emily looks so familiar to the late lady of the Chateau (gasp she's her daughter, who would have known, definitely not me calling it the minute I started reading this book) and then dies, then we find that Valencour isn't actually a scoundral and they get married and live happily ever after the end omg.
If this book had been split up into novellas in a series, that would have been much better. There was just so much of this plot that at the same time nothing happened, but then everything was happening. It was giving whiplash constantly.
Overall, I'm actually glad that I read it. It had some creepy vibes at times, perfect for fall vibes, and the author had some very entertaining dialouges sometimes. But it was too long winded, some of the characters I could not stand (once again, looking at you Annette), and there was way too much plot shoved into it.
*not a direct quote
slow-paced
I am so bored! When will we reach Udolpho??? When will there by some mysteries???
slow-paced
I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected, especially given a lot of the reviews talking about how boring it is. I can see why some folks would find it boring, but I enjoyed Radcliffe's writing style and long descriptions. I ended up really liked Emily's progression as a character, as naive and perpetually fainting as she was. I also liked the more "proto-feminist" themes that Radcliffe included in that character progression, more specifically having Emily grow into her own agency and the way she deals with the men around her. It was just cool to read for something written in the 1700s. As ridiculously dramatic as Emily was, I do think that Radcliffe (who I think was from a merchant class background rather than aristocratic like Emily) was meaning for at least some of it to be intentionally funny. Especially when you've got Theresa's voice towards the end basically being like "friggin' rich people problems" lol I'm curious to read Northanger Abbey now, though. As far as fitting in with my "spooky October theme" there were definitely some creepy moments, but Radcliffe's intent is to eventually provide a logical explanation for seemingly supernatural events. Was still a cozy fall read that also gave me some laughs (some intentional, a lot probably unintentional).
Starts off slowwwww, but the last 2/3 of the book has more action. Interesting to read a novel that was influential to other writers like Jane Austen. This had a strong "innocence/goodness conquers all" theme. But at the same time, some of the moral choices the characters encountered were more complex than what you might read in modern moral/Christian novels of the last 100 years.
I skipped over the poetry.
I skipped over the poetry.
L1 English major university reading.
“A well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and vice. The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and ready to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness. Store it with ideas, teach it the pleasure of thinking; and the temptations of the world without, will be counteracted by the gratifications derived from the world within.”
“A well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and vice. The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and ready to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness. Store it with ideas, teach it the pleasure of thinking; and the temptations of the world without, will be counteracted by the gratifications derived from the world within.”
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No