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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Exquisite writing, it flows beautifully. However, the story went on and on and on giving every minutest detail. I feel that James could have wrapped this up in 200 pages. It needed not to have been that long.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-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
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've decided to actually start reviewing the books I read – what a novel concept! I question the utility of taking a classic universally regarded as a masterpiece and being like “well it's not as fun as Mamma Mia! (2008) :/ 2 stars”. that being said, this is a slog that took me far too long to read, and not as fun as Mamma Mia! (2008) :/ 2 stars. it's meandering and includes time skips which do not add to the book IMO. I really enjoyed Ralph's character and Caspar Goodwood's impassioned speech at the end. threads left unsatisfyingly unresolved. I think this review made me sound rather silly and not like a serious student of literature. oh well
I have been listening to the Audible version of this book while exercising. I'm about to finish it for the second time. I always thought Henry James was too complex for my brain. I was an English major so I must have read something by him in college but I don't remember. The plot is complex, but I loved every minute of it.
Just finished rereading this. I remembered very little about it, and found it simply breathtaking - especially in its daring, ambiguous ending.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was torn between giving the book three or four stars. I opted for four in the end because throughout the time I was reading the book, whenever I had to put it down I was eager to get back to it. It was not without its faults, however. The most aggravating of these is that the book is much longer than it needs to be. James is a great writer who has the capacity to capture an image or a feeling with a short sentence. It's therefore completely unnecessary that he follows up these sentences with further paragraphs of description that add nothing further. If the unnecessary additional description were cut from the book, the story could have been told in half the space. I also found the plot extremely slow and oddly arranged. It feels as though Osmond were introduced far to late in the piece, given his importance which means the first half of the book is a kind of very long drawn out introduction while everything happens in the second half. I also don't understand the focus on Caspar Goodwood. The fact that the story closes on him is not something I've understood yet. Similarly, I haven't worked out what James was trying to do with him - I find him a highly annoying character particularly because although the book seems to set him up as a better alternative for Isabel than the man she chose, every action he takes throughout the story suggests he would be just as bad a husband for all his protests that he loves her. He hates her freedom as much as her husband does, so why the encouragement to see him as a fit rival? The book acknowledges this a tiny bit right at the end, where Isabel answers that she'd return to her husband to get away from Caspar, but I'm still not satisfied with that. Are we to imagine that every possible marriage Isabel could have made would have been poor, and that her only good choice would have been to avoid marriage altogether? I say this since Lord Warburton, though I rather liked him throughout the book, seems to have given up on her at the end and offers her no assistance once he's abandoned the idea of marrying her, which suggests his kindness towards her only lasted as long as he might get something in return... I suppose this is why I liked the book so much in the end. While there are frustrations with the writing style, the characters and the plot it occupies the mind in a certain way; the lives of the characters feel rich enough to warrant this kind of interrogation.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Isabel Archer does not possess money or a social position, but she is born into a well-to-do family, and has great personal charm. Because of her charm and magnetism, she inherits a fortune from an affectionate uncle. Her uncle and cousin wish her to be an independent woman, and to explore the world as she sees fit. She turns away two promising proposals from bachelors in order to remain independent -- and it is refreshing to read a 19th century narrative that both gives a young woman so much autonomy, and one that does not see marriage as the ultimate goal for women. Unfortunately, marriage is still Isabel's undoing.
The book divides roughly in two halves -- the first before Isabel's marriage to Gilbert Osmond, and the second after. The first half of the book has a dream-like quality, full of the tranquil vistas of English countryside, Tuscan piazzas and Roman ruins. As someone who loves Italy, I found myself compelled by the imagery of 19th century Rome, and this book functioned as effective escapism for me. The narrative takes a sharp turn when Isabel marries Gilbert Osmond: still we are in the beautiful Rome, but the sense of nostalgia is replaced with one of deep unease. Osmond does not love Isabel, and he is very controlling of her, and Isabel is tricked -- by her friend, who encouraged her to marry, by a society that suggests marriage is the only laudable goal for her, and by Osmond, who is not the man he appears to be.
Many of the characters in this book are very vivid -- Ralph, the permanent invalid, who lives vicariously through others; Mme Merle, socialite and widower; Henrietta Stackpole, journalist and fiercely independent woman -- but Isabel, at the centre of this world, often feels very much a lacuna. It is because of this that the book falters for me -- I cannot truly penetrate Isabel's thoughts, and as Henry James gives himself 600 pages to explore her, during which very little happens, this seems to me a failure.
The book divides roughly in two halves -- the first before Isabel's marriage to Gilbert Osmond, and the second after. The first half of the book has a dream-like quality, full of the tranquil vistas of English countryside, Tuscan piazzas and Roman ruins. As someone who loves Italy, I found myself compelled by the imagery of 19th century Rome, and this book functioned as effective escapism for me. The narrative takes a sharp turn when Isabel marries Gilbert Osmond: still we are in the beautiful Rome, but the sense of nostalgia is replaced with one of deep unease. Osmond does not love Isabel, and he is very controlling of her, and Isabel is tricked -- by her friend, who encouraged her to marry, by a society that suggests marriage is the only laudable goal for her, and by Osmond, who is not the man he appears to be.
Many of the characters in this book are very vivid -- Ralph, the permanent invalid, who lives vicariously through others; Mme Merle, socialite and widower; Henrietta Stackpole, journalist and fiercely independent woman -- but Isabel, at the centre of this world, often feels very much a lacuna. It is because of this that the book falters for me -- I cannot truly penetrate Isabel's thoughts, and as Henry James gives himself 600 pages to explore her, during which very little happens, this seems to me a failure.