A review by lynneelue
East Lynne by Mrs. Henry Wood

2.0

This was really disappointing because as a top sensational fiction book up there with Lady Audley's Secret and The Woman in White, I was expecting it to be really interesting. It wasn't. It went on and on, and it was all woe-me. There was a single plot really, and no surprising twists--even I could foresee who the real murderer was. It was about a weak murder plot, and a un-pursuasive decision of infidelity. The murder plot is solved without contestation and the build up to it is unnecessarily long. There was no believable chemistry between Isabel Carlyle and Francis Levison. The infidelity act occurs because of a frustrating lack of communication between the couple, and she lives with the consequences without letting it go, which makes her mopey and teary all the time. It was tiring and boring to read, and after the fatal night, there wasn't much plot left despite going on for about 400 more pages; I'm surprised I got through it so quickly, and that it was such a popular "sensational" fiction of the time. The serial cliffhangers weren't terrible but they were nothing more special than a chapter ending.

Not as mopey of a book as Elizabeth Gaskell's book Ruth, but at least Ruth reformed and worked hard to recover her reputation rather than just sitting, disguising herself with ridiculous masks and suspicious slip-ups. That made Ruth a much stronger character than Isabel Vane.