A review by becandbooks
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Did not finish book.
DNF @~46%

I really don't like giving up on classics, I like to think I give even the more difficult ones a shot but this just wasn't for me.

For one, I couldn't get into the writing style.
With various classic writing, I tend to get into the flow of the style within a few chapters but there was just too much extraneous wording in this book. Honestly, it kinda drove me a little nuts and I found myself tuning out a lot because of it.

Another thing was the actual plot. I wouldn't call this a horror, rather very mildly spooky.

Because frankly, random people who are supposed to be dead just appearing and disappearing didn't really put me on edge. I understand the converstaion about whether it was in the mind of the governess or was actually happening, but I would much rather revisit Shakespeare for this. Simply, it didn't engage me enough to care.

And even if I was mildly interested I think Mrs Grose's dialogue would have killed it for me anyway. I was continuously rolling my eyes as entire conversations would play out with Mrs Grose just repeating everything that was said to her with a question mark on the end. Why does this woman struggle with original speech?


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