mjgriffinii74656 's review for:

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

4.0

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So this novel was a bit of a slog to get through when I was reading it in print format. Luckily, a road trip allowed me to listen to the last 2/3 via audiobook, and Juliet Stevenson's performance of the novel made me a bit more engaged in the material. Some of the insults that James has are so cheeky! And the twists and turns that come from Madame Merle's character were the bits that intrigued me. As much as this novel is about Isabelle and her "portrait," I think Osmond and Merle were far more intriguing to me as a reader. Overall, if you'd like to read a slice of upper-class life at the end of the 19th century, this could be a novel for you. But I also can't say that I'd openly recommend this novel the way that I would many others.