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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
I adored this 'gothic' book! I couldn't put it down and like the rest of her books it is beautifully written.
Supposedly, it is marketed as containing a love triangle, but I can`t say that I saw one in here. Or maybe, it was veiled to the eyes of a casual reader of 21st century.
This reader for sure was paying more attention to the landscape descriptions than the love affairs.
Not that I have an unrequited love for long descriptions of hills covered in grass, but that was what was presented in the book for at least a quarter of its entirety. I did not mind them as much as I would have though to. They were spooky and infused with emotions. Sort of like, the landscape mirrored the untold emotions of the character. It was kinda neat.“On the edge of the little green, that spread before the cottage, were cattle and a few sheep reposing under tree.” P.90
Imagine my glee when I reached the end of the book and the heroine wasn`t killed in some horrific way to explain the heroism and sufferance of a boy with a sword! I don’t know how much that is owned to the author being a woman, but I think that that isn`t a negligible factor.
Do I recommend this book? It depends on who you are and why are you reading reviews about a 18c book.
If I were to give a certain purpose to this book I would say that it offers a glimpse into a woman writer`s way to portray strong emotions as forbidden lose, love pangs, terror, intense fear.
It reverberates in way that appear to be finer than it was in the case of [b:The Monk|93157|The Monk|Matthew Gregory Lewis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1365712491l/93157._SY75_.jpg|3095060] or [b:The Castle of Ontranto|19547261|The Castle of Ontranto|Horace Walpole|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|46432] where the game of emotions was played on directness and bold discourses that often ended up being comically in their serious demeanor.
It is a long book, not gonna lie, I mean, this work is not better than any of Jane Austen`s books, but it helps to note that the latter had taken inspiration from this one.
“In the hall, confusion and tumult still reigned. Emily, as she listened anxiously to the murmur, that sounded along the gallery, sometimes fancied she hear the clashing of swords […].” P.315
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This reader for sure was paying more attention to the landscape descriptions than the love affairs.
Not that I have an unrequited love for long descriptions of hills covered in grass, but that was what was presented in the book for at least a quarter of its entirety. I did not mind them as much as I would have though to. They were spooky and infused with emotions. Sort of like, the landscape mirrored the untold emotions of the character. It was kinda neat.
Imagine my glee when I reached the end of the book and the heroine wasn`t killed in some horrific way to explain the heroism and sufferance of a boy with a sword! I don’t know how much that is owned to the author being a woman, but I think that that isn`t a negligible factor.
Do I recommend this book? It depends on who you are and why are you reading reviews about a 18c book.
If I were to give a certain purpose to this book I would say that it offers a glimpse into a woman writer`s way to portray strong emotions as forbidden lose, love pangs, terror, intense fear.
It reverberates in way that appear to be finer than it was in the case of [b:The Monk|93157|The Monk|Matthew Gregory Lewis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1365712491l/93157._SY75_.jpg|3095060] or [b:The Castle of Ontranto|19547261|The Castle of Ontranto|Horace Walpole|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|46432] where the game of emotions was played on directness and bold discourses that often ended up being comically in their serious demeanor.
It is a long book, not gonna lie, I mean, this work is not better than any of Jane Austen`s books, but it helps to note that the latter had taken inspiration from this one.
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dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Slow start, but once accustomed to the richly descriptive prose style, very entertaining. Somewhat overwrought and melodramatic!
I imagine that most people, like me, learn of this novel through Austen's Northanger Abbey, although the parodic appearance of Udolpho in that novel (leading the heroine to imagine Gothic villainy in her ordinary life), only prepared me slightly to reading the actual novel.
What I found was, indeed, partly Gothic melodrama, but also long travel narratives, filled with descriptions of the "sublime" nature of the Pyrenees and the Alps. There was indeed some Gothic villainy and melodrama, in the eponymous castle in Italy, but there were also moments centered on the more everyday societal pressures suffered by the heroine, and on Austen-like misapprehensions of different characters. There were seemingly fantastic elements, but notably, Radcliffe stuck to (and perhaps overused) the device of the "explained supernatural," in which every eerie vision or sound has a rational explanation. I've also listed it as "historical fiction," but the sixteenth-century setting ends up being mostly irrelevant, and there are multiple anachronisms, such as the characters drinking coffee (pointed out in my Oxford edition).
Although the novel was probably twice as long as it needed to be, it was an interesting world to inhabit for a while!
What I found was, indeed, partly Gothic melodrama, but also long travel narratives, filled with descriptions of the "sublime" nature of the Pyrenees and the Alps. There was indeed some Gothic villainy and melodrama, in the eponymous castle in Italy, but there were also moments centered on the more everyday societal pressures suffered by the heroine, and on Austen-like misapprehensions of different characters. There were seemingly fantastic elements, but notably, Radcliffe stuck to (and perhaps overused) the device of the "explained supernatural," in which every eerie vision or sound has a rational explanation. I've also listed it as "historical fiction," but the sixteenth-century setting ends up being mostly irrelevant, and there are multiple anachronisms, such as the characters drinking coffee (pointed out in my Oxford edition).
Although the novel was probably twice as long as it needed to be, it was an interesting world to inhabit for a while!
If I have to endure one more description of a tree...
She has a facility for describing scenery but is awfully long-winded and repetitive. Intricately plotted but overall it is poorly done. Completely unrealistic characters. Why is this considered a classic? It's not very good.
One thing that really bugged me is the heroine's dog (or dogs) - which go unmentioned until a warning bark is needed. But she never pets, or feeds, or exercises, or mentions her dog or dogs, but which must be there with her in her travels from France to Venice to the castle where she is imprisoned. What about the dog(s) when she is locked up for days on end? This is weak stuff indeed.
The whole thing is without wit or humour. Reading it was a chore. Pass it by, read something worth your time.
One thing that really bugged me is the heroine's dog (or dogs) - which go unmentioned until a warning bark is needed. But she never pets, or feeds, or exercises, or mentions her dog or dogs, but which must be there with her in her travels from France to Venice to the castle where she is imprisoned. What about the dog(s) when she is locked up for days on end? This is weak stuff indeed.
The whole thing is without wit or humour. Reading it was a chore. Pass it by, read something worth your time.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No