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erikars 's review for:
The Portrait of a Lady
by Henry James
I have read the first two chapters of this book no less than 5 times. Every year in college, there would be some Saturday evening where, for one reason or another, I would not want to hang out with other people. I would go down to the cafe, buy some pizza, grab Portrait of a Lady and starting reading. The first year it was a random choice. The second year, I wanted to read more of it and never got past rereading the first chapters. After that, it was just tradition.
After years of being charmed by the first couple chapters of the book, I was quite disappointed. This is through no fault of the book itself. The plot was excellent and James can present characters vividly enough that you feel like you know them (and, generally, would not really like them). What bugged me was the way the book was paced. James would spend a chapter describing a single conversation in all of its detail and then skip ahead two years and tell us that in the intervening time someone had been married, had and lost a child, and become miserable. It just bugged me. However, I am glad I finally read Portrait of a Lady; it was engaging, and I have not been reading enough books by dead people lately anyway.
After years of being charmed by the first couple chapters of the book, I was quite disappointed. This is through no fault of the book itself. The plot was excellent and James can present characters vividly enough that you feel like you know them (and, generally, would not really like them). What bugged me was the way the book was paced. James would spend a chapter describing a single conversation in all of its detail and then skip ahead two years and tell us that in the intervening time someone had been married, had and lost a child, and become miserable. It just bugged me. However, I am glad I finally read Portrait of a Lady; it was engaging, and I have not been reading enough books by dead people lately anyway.