Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Insanely good; a book I wish everyone would read. Incredibly heartbreaking. Worth the six months it took me to read the damn thing in the middle of my own personal marriage drama. It is very crazy to me that I chose to read this book when I did and finished it when I did. The end almost killed me. I relate to and pity and feel angry toward Isabel Archer almost more than any other literary character I can think of. She is going to be in my heart for a long time. I loved Anna Karenina as a novel, and I know Anna and Isabel are both regarded as early feminist heroines, though both tragic, but I think I ultimately relate more to Isabel and therefore find her choices and conclusions about life far more heart wrenching. Highly recommend to anyone with an interest in Victorian heroines or feminist female characters. Isabel is richly drawn and deeply sad. I loved this book.
The book was unnecessarily long. And it was very sad. Isabel is an independent thinker and goes to the extreme. It's the age old dilemma. Free will doesn't insure good choices. Got way too tedious by p. 300.
Sometimes it's so easy for me to be a lazy reader, and when I feel like that I pick up a sturdy book like this. And it's a struggle, I can't lie. The descriptions in this book are dense but they are beautiful and before long it wasn't hard work. Yay for making your brain work!
3.5
james pulling out the hard manhood line on like the second to last page was crazy
james pulling out the hard manhood line on like the second to last page was crazy
I have been trying to read this book FOREVER, and once I got past the somewhat boring beginning, I really started to enjoy it. But it ended so abruptly that I actually came away disappointed with it.
Truly the most beautifully written book I’ve ever read, though also extremely heartbreaking. I kept rereading lines, phrases, and even whole pages, trying to figure out how certain words could be joined together so masterfully. James has a way with metaphors (he describes some pretty complex feelings and emotions in terms of simple yet beautiful ones). This is my first James novel, and I found that he was very intelligent and witty.
I didn’t love how unrealistic Isabel Archer was. She was extremely stubborn and blind throughout the entire book, which I’m almost positive would be too exhausting to keep up in real life. However, this book made me think and feel deeply. I strongly recommend it.
Some quotes I loved:
‘...I always want to know the things one shouldn’t do.’
‘So as to do them?’ asked her aunt.
‘So as to choose,’ said Isabel. - Page 121
An Englishman’s never so natural as when he’s holding his tongue. - Page 141
‘Do you know I’m very much afraid of it – of that remarkable mind of yours?’ - Page 163
‘There’s always a little of it and never too much at once,’ she said, ‘It never wets you and it always smells good.’
She declared that in England the pleasures of smell were great – that in this inimitable island there was a certain mixture of fog and beer and soot which, however odd it might sound, was the national aroma, and was most agreeable to the nostril. - Page 241
‘I haven’t always been happy,’ said Madame Merle... ‘Such a wonderful thing!’ - Page 244
All of chapter 39
I didn’t love how unrealistic Isabel Archer was. She was extremely stubborn and blind throughout the entire book, which I’m almost positive would be too exhausting to keep up in real life. However, this book made me think and feel deeply. I strongly recommend it.
Some quotes I loved:
‘...I always want to know the things one shouldn’t do.’
‘So as to do them?’ asked her aunt.
‘So as to choose,’ said Isabel. - Page 121
An Englishman’s never so natural as when he’s holding his tongue. - Page 141
‘Do you know I’m very much afraid of it – of that remarkable mind of yours?’ - Page 163
‘There’s always a little of it and never too much at once,’ she said, ‘It never wets you and it always smells good.’
She declared that in England the pleasures of smell were great – that in this inimitable island there was a certain mixture of fog and beer and soot which, however odd it might sound, was the national aroma, and was most agreeable to the nostril. - Page 241
‘I haven’t always been happy,’ said Madame Merle... ‘Such a wonderful thing!’ - Page 244
All of chapter 39
Had to get into the cadence of the language, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I think I’m going to need to revisit this later on. I wanted to like this book. I really, really wanted to like this book. I did not though. Henry James’ writing is incredible and his observations of humanity are as insightful as ever. However, I despised the story of this book. I try not to read things with a bias because of my gender, but the women of this book really got the short end of the stick. Why must women either be miserable and/or die in so many of these naturalist/realist novels. I hate it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to read this in the future and gain new insight.
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wonderful twists that I did not expect! Difficult at times to accept!