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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book has a lot of negatives and I think that’s something that needs to be put first. Although the story was interesting and captivating, it is full of prejudices and stereotypes. This book is about a white European going to Africa in search for eternal youth. There are many awful words and descriptions used against the natives and even the moral of the story can feel spoiled by the “white savior” of it all. However, I was assigned this book for an American literature class and it was a very interesting read. If you are able to look past, the authors ideas and focus on the plot, you may really enjoy this tale.
It started a genre - or at least a popular trope within the genre - but the seminal Jungle Queen/Lost City story is long on description and philosophy and short on convincing characterization. It begins as a generational revenge adventure and ends up being about a couple of sad guys with inexplicable Stockholm syndrome.
Those silly Victorians. Kinda racist, definitely imperialistic, possibly misogynistic, but what the fuck. I liked it.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some books have stood the test of time. Those are the ones we call classics. She is not a classic; rather, it's a curiosity. In its time, it inaugurated the genre of Lost Word novels, like Conan Doyle's. That's why it was on The Guardian 100 novels list (which is why I picked it up in the first place!)
Reading it today was like taking a journey to a strange land, but not the one ruled by She Who Must Obeyed. Rather, we have entered the land governed by the preoccupations of a 19th-century Englishman who's wrestling with the challenges that rationality poses to faith.
Some contradictions inherent in the book, to my 21st-century mind:
Reading it today was like taking a journey to a strange land, but not the one ruled by She Who Must Obeyed. Rather, we have entered the land governed by the preoccupations of a 19th-century Englishman who's wrestling with the challenges that rationality poses to faith.
Some contradictions inherent in the book, to my 21st-century mind:
- These white English adventurers are convinced of the superiority of their own civilization, yet equally, entranced by the possibility that some ancient civilization has left a remnant behind.
- Holly is committed to curiosity and discovery. At the same time, he firmly believes that God has created the universe with a wisdom impenetrable to the human mind, no matter how long we might live or how hard we might look. So, what is the point?
- These people are nominally Christian, and the frame of reference they use to make sense of everything is mainly biblical, but they sometimes treat ancient Greek and Roman civilization as if it were all part of the same canon.
At the same time, author H. Rider Haggard exhibits but does not become aware of his own prejudices of class, sex, race, and religion. What a good fellow the servant is, but also, what a pig. How entrancing a vision a female ruler is, but she must also be deadly, amoral, and ultimately doomed. (Of course, the unselfish barbarian woman who loves the young British man is also doomed. Women can't win.) Africans must be brutish but also easily intimidated. And the anti-Judaism AND antisemitism in the book were particularly galling since they were extraneous to the plot.
I would recommend this book only to a cultural historian. It is not worth reading as a story.
I had to read this book in one week only for uni, which probably didn't help with the fact that I didn't enjoy the book much, but I'm just not a big fan of "explorer of an ancient civilisation" kind of stories, that's it
I have been a fan of H. Rider Haggard's work for quite a number of years though my reading of his works have been limited. For a time, I absolutely loved his King Solomon's Mines and the sequel Allan Quartermain. When I discovered that the books were available in audiobook from from librivox.org, I had to download the other ones and read through them.
This book, She, has been on my list for quite sometime knowing that it has influenced many other writers like C.S. Lewis' Queen Jadis and "She who must be obeyed" has been a line used in a few movies.
I found this book to be a rip-roar adventure just like H. Rider Haggard's other works but found the story weaker than his other works. Ayesha was characterized very well and I thought the character was very fascinating. The problem I had the most was the ending. Though I won't go into detail, it felt like the writer had accidentally designed a too powerful character and had to use a dues ex machina to solve the story beat.
This book is fascinating to read in the collection of imperial Victorian literature of the time and though our modern perceptions have changed and can consider this book racist, I found that H. Rider Haggard had kept it to a minimum focusing more on a story in Africa than anything else. If you can look past these, I think you will find a very interesting story.
This book, She, has been on my list for quite sometime knowing that it has influenced many other writers like C.S. Lewis' Queen Jadis and "She who must be obeyed" has been a line used in a few movies.
I found this book to be a rip-roar adventure just like H. Rider Haggard's other works but found the story weaker than his other works. Ayesha was characterized very well and I thought the character was very fascinating. The problem I had the most was the ending. Though I won't go into detail, it felt like the writer had accidentally designed a too powerful character and had to use a dues ex machina to solve the story beat.
This book is fascinating to read in the collection of imperial Victorian literature of the time and though our modern perceptions have changed and can consider this book racist, I found that H. Rider Haggard had kept it to a minimum focusing more on a story in Africa than anything else. If you can look past these, I think you will find a very interesting story.
ewwww victorian values (racism, antisemitism, classism, sexism, imperialism, etc.)
adventurous
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
honestly one of the more just generally enjoyable books that i've read from this time period in that i knew what was happening and like, had some fun with it
that being said, there is a lot of shit in here that did not age very well AT ALL and it was uncomfortable to read some of those things even though this was read for a class with the goal of problematizing some of those ideas and content.
ending sucks bad though
that being said, there is a lot of shit in here that did not age very well AT ALL and it was uncomfortable to read some of those things even though this was read for a class with the goal of problematizing some of those ideas and content.
ending sucks bad though
