Take a photo of a barcode or cover
hoobabi 's review for:
North and South
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Unfortunately half stars aren't allowed on goodreads or else I would place this firmly between three and four stars primarily because a great deal of the book is excellent, but I felt it took a downturn when Margaret's father died.
Unlike Wuthering Heights for example where the violence and sorrow is relentless yet always realistic, always justified, the deaths after and including Mr. Hale's seemed like Deus ex Machinas to achieve a more mundane purpose; for example: Mr. Hale died in order to move Margaret away from Milton, Mr. Bell died so that Margaret can become a rich heiress. While both moves I thought were a stroke of genius; the former to make Margaret realise how much she had come to love Milton and by extension, Mr. Thornton and the latter to re-enable Mr. Thornton as a man of business and make Margaret and John a couple binded by both love and mutual interest. (I admit I rather liked how Gaskell is matter of fact about marriage being both about idealistic love and about teamwork and business)
One is positively exhausted by Mr. Bell's death; a total of six deaths! And while I do acknowledge a Victorian's immediate experience of death was undoubtedly far more frequent than ours, the deaths' mundane plot purposes were thinly veiled. After so many painful and excruciating misunderstandings between Mr. Thornton and Margaret, we only get a short and subtle chapter at the very end. I admire its subtlety in the sense that the reader has to be acutely aware what exactly Margaret's offer means. I felt it came rather suddenly and somehow felt I have been missing some understanding glances between the couple which I evidently did not perceive.
Despite all this, the frustrating misunderstandings that run like a burning pulse throughout the book is what Gaskell revels in and does best. She accurately shows how Victorian propriety, perceptive assumptions and social norms contribute to fatal misunderstandings that can drive two hearts apart. I like how she does not blame social expectations for the dreadful consequences that ensue (like Hardy for example) but instead presents it as a necessary though at times sordid reality. Instead of being sceptical of the principles and values of her society, she presents its flaws (primarily by comparing the realities of the proletariat in the South and North) while also displaying them in their most admirable form: in the honourable way that Mr. Thornton carries himself off, like a dark saint, throughout the novel.
This leads me to the strength of her characters; we know their most intimate thoughts and Gaskell again is displaying one of her strengths. Thoughts are fragmented yet piercing, complex, subtle. Mr. Thornton's thoughts I felt were more well formed than Margaret's; Margaret's often tended to be repetitive. I often felt like I knew Margaret's inner moral strength much better from Mr. Thornton's viewpoint than from Margaret's own. I'm glad that while Margaret is championed as the unique, strong, caring ideal of Victorian morality, Gaskell is also honest: Margaret was as selfless as they come but occasionally selfish also. Don't expect the fast paced conversations found in Austen but expect a great deal of detail about the processes of thought of each character which, quite frankly, is more elaborate than in most books I have read so far.
I would have loved more historical detail; Gaskell does occasionally revel in the most inane of subjects, but I suppose that comes out necessarily of her acute attention to day-to-day living.
My overall verdict is therefore that it is over dramatic at times (too much death, not enough justification) while simultaneously too mundane (some chapters were protracted more than necessary) and I feel the ending could have been so much better. The penultimate chapter felt pretty much like the last chapter in Lord of the Rings; why? why? why? The BBC series I felt always corrected this. The train station, the opposing directions; a stroke of brilliance that seemed so patently obvious I'm surprised Gaskell did not think of it. This is why the book, in my opinion, does not deserve 5 stars. The stars were earned in the deeply felt tragedy, the attention to the minutiae of consciousness and best of all, Mr. Thornton's principled and strong-willed character; as well as emphatic descriptions of Milton, the strikers, the urban and rural poor. The scene that occurs on the doorstep of Marlborough Mills was so well written; my heart nearly pounded straight outside of my chest.
Unlike Wuthering Heights for example where the violence and sorrow is relentless yet always realistic, always justified, the deaths after and including Mr. Hale's seemed like Deus ex Machinas to achieve a more mundane purpose; for example: Mr. Hale died in order to move Margaret away from Milton, Mr. Bell died so that Margaret can become a rich heiress. While both moves I thought were a stroke of genius; the former to make Margaret realise how much she had come to love Milton and by extension, Mr. Thornton and the latter to re-enable Mr. Thornton as a man of business and make Margaret and John a couple binded by both love and mutual interest. (I admit I rather liked how Gaskell is matter of fact about marriage being both about idealistic love and about teamwork and business)
One is positively exhausted by Mr. Bell's death; a total of six deaths! And while I do acknowledge a Victorian's immediate experience of death was undoubtedly far more frequent than ours, the deaths' mundane plot purposes were thinly veiled. After so many painful and excruciating misunderstandings between Mr. Thornton and Margaret, we only get a short and subtle chapter at the very end. I admire its subtlety in the sense that the reader has to be acutely aware what exactly Margaret's offer means. I felt it came rather suddenly and somehow felt I have been missing some understanding glances between the couple which I evidently did not perceive.
Despite all this, the frustrating misunderstandings that run like a burning pulse throughout the book is what Gaskell revels in and does best. She accurately shows how Victorian propriety, perceptive assumptions and social norms contribute to fatal misunderstandings that can drive two hearts apart. I like how she does not blame social expectations for the dreadful consequences that ensue (like Hardy for example) but instead presents it as a necessary though at times sordid reality. Instead of being sceptical of the principles and values of her society, she presents its flaws (primarily by comparing the realities of the proletariat in the South and North) while also displaying them in their most admirable form: in the honourable way that Mr. Thornton carries himself off, like a dark saint, throughout the novel.
This leads me to the strength of her characters; we know their most intimate thoughts and Gaskell again is displaying one of her strengths. Thoughts are fragmented yet piercing, complex, subtle. Mr. Thornton's thoughts I felt were more well formed than Margaret's; Margaret's often tended to be repetitive. I often felt like I knew Margaret's inner moral strength much better from Mr. Thornton's viewpoint than from Margaret's own. I'm glad that while Margaret is championed as the unique, strong, caring ideal of Victorian morality, Gaskell is also honest: Margaret was as selfless as they come but occasionally selfish also. Don't expect the fast paced conversations found in Austen but expect a great deal of detail about the processes of thought of each character which, quite frankly, is more elaborate than in most books I have read so far.
I would have loved more historical detail; Gaskell does occasionally revel in the most inane of subjects, but I suppose that comes out necessarily of her acute attention to day-to-day living.
My overall verdict is therefore that it is over dramatic at times (too much death, not enough justification) while simultaneously too mundane (some chapters were protracted more than necessary) and I feel the ending could have been so much better. The penultimate chapter felt pretty much like the last chapter in Lord of the Rings; why? why? why? The BBC series I felt always corrected this. The train station, the opposing directions; a stroke of brilliance that seemed so patently obvious I'm surprised Gaskell did not think of it. This is why the book, in my opinion, does not deserve 5 stars. The stars were earned in the deeply felt tragedy, the attention to the minutiae of consciousness and best of all, Mr. Thornton's principled and strong-willed character; as well as emphatic descriptions of Milton, the strikers, the urban and rural poor. The scene that occurs on the doorstep of Marlborough Mills was so well written; my heart nearly pounded straight outside of my chest.