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emmareadstoomuch 's review for:
North and South
by Elizabeth Gaskell
welcome to...NORTH(VEMBER) AND SOUTH.
you know it, you love it: the worst title + month based pun. an imposing work of classic literature that's been on my tbr for a forebodingly long time, finally in my currently reading. an inexplicable months-long pause on this project, broken.
it's another PROJECT LONG CLASSIC installment, a project by which i take on books i've been procrastinating in itty bitty sections to make them seem manageable.
let's get into it.
DAY 1: CHAPTERS 1-3
this has an inconvenient number of chapters (52) and i'm beginning a discomfiting ways into the month (14 days) meaning the 16 days i actually have to read this cannot, in any way, evenly divide them.
in other words, we're going to read 3 chapters a day and just see what happens.
we've only just started and already we have a rejected proposal! i love a stone cold bitch.
DAY 2: CHAPTERS 4-6
moving time...you don't have to go [to some crappy factory town in the north] but you can't...stay...here...
honestly this was very horror movie-esque. we're getting all this information about this perfect little town margaret lives in and her perfect life...it's like when you get a character's tragic backstory and you know they're going to die in like, a scene and a half.
DAY 3: CHAPTERS 7-9
welcome to Enemies to Lovers City. population: these two crazy kids. and also us for like 500 more pages.
DAY 4: CHAPTERS 10-12
it's so funny to see what used to be societal standards. "oh, i thought this guy was an asshole, but it's worse than i could have imagined...his dad is dead and he used to work retail!"
DAY 5: CHAPTERS 13-15
everything changes in this life. except for me taking weekends off from every project i do by accident. that always stays the same.
and with that, i give up on the idea that i might actually finish this november project within, you know, the month of november.
DAY 6: CHAPTERS 16-18
i'm going to be honest...i doubled down on the whole life of leisure / no expectations thing and now i'm like a week behind. but never say never.
DAY 7: CHAPTERS 19-21
we are entering a phase of both Potential Strike and Incoming Personal Tragedy. it is very funny to see infodumps about labor policy interspersed with the equivalent of a character coughing blood into a napkin and showing it to the audience.
DAY 8: CHAPTERS 22-24
hehe...this chapter is titled "a blow and its consequences." heh.
women in the 1800s were built different. by which i mean an errant pebble or a missed step or a cough seemed capable of killing them at any given moment.
DAY 9: CHAPTERS 25-27
this book is so pride & prejudice coded it's insane.
if p&p had a mealy-mouthed point to make about labor that i still don't really understand, that is.
DAY 10: CHAPTERS 28-30
i have to say, the father in this book is so useless and men in literature are so apt to share that disposition i never thought in a million years Big Brother would show up.
and i guess also because Ms. Austen would never pass up the opportunity to make him comic relief.
DAY 11: CHAPTERS 31-33
"She is not eighteen; but if she is in the same mind another year, she is to be my wife." oh, god...send this guy back into exile already.
DAY 12: CHAPTERS 34-36
this book is just too goofy. our swoon count is at like 98 and our death count is 4, and two of the causes of death are "falling 4 feet onto grass" and "was forced to join a union against his will."
DAY 13: CHAPTERS 37-39
the real slow burn of this book is the slowly progressing relationship between our hoity toity main characters and their realizing that workers are people.
DAY 14: CHAPTERS 40-42
i cannot even convey to you how high the casualty rate is in this book. to be a character with a name in margaret hale's periphery is more dangerous than a cancer diagnosis.
DAY 15: CHAPTERS 43-45
well, it's officially december, i've been reading 6 chapters a day, and i'm about to go away for the weekend without a snowball's chance in hell of bringing this with me.
it's safe to say this is among the worst attempts i've ever made at this project.
DAY 16: CHAPTERS 46-48
followed up that statement with, yes, taking the full weekend off. hello again.
the absolute best possible reaction to a loved one telling you how another loved one committed an accidental murder is "How awkward."
HOW ARE THERE EVEN STILL PEOPLE TO KILL OFF IN THIS BOOK.
DAY 17: CHAPTERS 49-END
it is with great pleasure that i inform you that with 4 pages to go until the end of this book, our two presumable love interests have not spoken to each other in months. possibly longer. the way time passes here remains a mystery to me.
aaaand the declaration of love happened on the literal last page.
OVERALL
to be honest, i found this a pale comparison to pride & prejudice: margaret hale is no lizzy, with me being continually told by the narrator that to know her is to love her and being utterly untempted to do so; thornton is no darcy, with his total disappearance from the text; and gaskell, sadly, is no austen. a lot of this book is confusing and contradictory, and it is unable to attain the comic relief, the grand romance, or altogether the emotion jane does.
sorry!
rating: 2.5
you know it, you love it: the worst title + month based pun. an imposing work of classic literature that's been on my tbr for a forebodingly long time, finally in my currently reading. an inexplicable months-long pause on this project, broken.
it's another PROJECT LONG CLASSIC installment, a project by which i take on books i've been procrastinating in itty bitty sections to make them seem manageable.
let's get into it.
DAY 1: CHAPTERS 1-3
this has an inconvenient number of chapters (52) and i'm beginning a discomfiting ways into the month (14 days) meaning the 16 days i actually have to read this cannot, in any way, evenly divide them.
in other words, we're going to read 3 chapters a day and just see what happens.
we've only just started and already we have a rejected proposal! i love a stone cold bitch.
DAY 2: CHAPTERS 4-6
moving time...you don't have to go [to some crappy factory town in the north] but you can't...stay...here...
honestly this was very horror movie-esque. we're getting all this information about this perfect little town margaret lives in and her perfect life...it's like when you get a character's tragic backstory and you know they're going to die in like, a scene and a half.
DAY 3: CHAPTERS 7-9
welcome to Enemies to Lovers City. population: these two crazy kids. and also us for like 500 more pages.
DAY 4: CHAPTERS 10-12
it's so funny to see what used to be societal standards. "oh, i thought this guy was an asshole, but it's worse than i could have imagined...his dad is dead and he used to work retail!"
DAY 5: CHAPTERS 13-15
everything changes in this life. except for me taking weekends off from every project i do by accident. that always stays the same.
and with that, i give up on the idea that i might actually finish this november project within, you know, the month of november.
DAY 6: CHAPTERS 16-18
i'm going to be honest...i doubled down on the whole life of leisure / no expectations thing and now i'm like a week behind. but never say never.
DAY 7: CHAPTERS 19-21
we are entering a phase of both Potential Strike and Incoming Personal Tragedy. it is very funny to see infodumps about labor policy interspersed with the equivalent of a character coughing blood into a napkin and showing it to the audience.
DAY 8: CHAPTERS 22-24
hehe...this chapter is titled "a blow and its consequences." heh.
women in the 1800s were built different. by which i mean an errant pebble or a missed step or a cough seemed capable of killing them at any given moment.
DAY 9: CHAPTERS 25-27
this book is so pride & prejudice coded it's insane.
if p&p had a mealy-mouthed point to make about labor that i still don't really understand, that is.
DAY 10: CHAPTERS 28-30
i have to say, the father in this book is so useless and men in literature are so apt to share that disposition i never thought in a million years Big Brother would show up.
and i guess also because Ms. Austen would never pass up the opportunity to make him comic relief.
DAY 11: CHAPTERS 31-33
"She is not eighteen; but if she is in the same mind another year, she is to be my wife." oh, god...send this guy back into exile already.
DAY 12: CHAPTERS 34-36
this book is just too goofy. our swoon count is at like 98 and our death count is 4, and two of the causes of death are "falling 4 feet onto grass" and "was forced to join a union against his will."
DAY 13: CHAPTERS 37-39
the real slow burn of this book is the slowly progressing relationship between our hoity toity main characters and their realizing that workers are people.
DAY 14: CHAPTERS 40-42
i cannot even convey to you how high the casualty rate is in this book. to be a character with a name in margaret hale's periphery is more dangerous than a cancer diagnosis.
DAY 15: CHAPTERS 43-45
well, it's officially december, i've been reading 6 chapters a day, and i'm about to go away for the weekend without a snowball's chance in hell of bringing this with me.
it's safe to say this is among the worst attempts i've ever made at this project.
DAY 16: CHAPTERS 46-48
followed up that statement with, yes, taking the full weekend off. hello again.
the absolute best possible reaction to a loved one telling you how another loved one committed an accidental murder is "How awkward."
HOW ARE THERE EVEN STILL PEOPLE TO KILL OFF IN THIS BOOK.
DAY 17: CHAPTERS 49-END
it is with great pleasure that i inform you that with 4 pages to go until the end of this book, our two presumable love interests have not spoken to each other in months. possibly longer. the way time passes here remains a mystery to me.
aaaand the declaration of love happened on the literal last page.
OVERALL
to be honest, i found this a pale comparison to pride & prejudice: margaret hale is no lizzy, with me being continually told by the narrator that to know her is to love her and being utterly untempted to do so; thornton is no darcy, with his total disappearance from the text; and gaskell, sadly, is no austen. a lot of this book is confusing and contradictory, and it is unable to attain the comic relief, the grand romance, or altogether the emotion jane does.
sorry!
rating: 2.5