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A review by bethanyangharads
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
3.0
First impressions are that I liked it, and I was surprised that I liked it. The main character, Margaret Hale, is displaced from her home village of Helstone to the manufacturing city of Milton. Here, she befriends some of the factory workers, as well as the more upperclass Mr Thornton and others. It is a romance novel, whilst also challenging peoples rights and other social issues. This mix lead to an interesting read.
Now, no spoilers I promise, but all I am going to say was that the ending ... oh I was so unsatisfied. Especially when I learnt that Gaskell originally published this in a magazine, so it was split into parts. When it was going into publish it as a novel, she went back and expanded on parts. The parts she did expand on seemed semi useless to the plot, whereas the ending could have been beefed out to better conclude the romantic tension that had built up over the course of the novel.
Overall I did enjoy the novel, it was just when I closed that back cover I said to myself, "is that it?"
Now, no spoilers I promise, but all I am going to say was that the ending ... oh I was so unsatisfied. Especially when I learnt that Gaskell originally published this in a magazine, so it was split into parts. When it was going into publish it as a novel, she went back and expanded on parts. The parts she did expand on seemed semi useless to the plot, whereas the ending could have been beefed out to better conclude the romantic tension that had built up over the course of the novel.
Overall I did enjoy the novel, it was just when I closed that back cover I said to myself, "is that it?"