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A review by clairebearrich
The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe
4.0
Careful! This review contains *gasp* spoilers! *faints*
Eighteenth century novels make me laugh. At the end of every book there’s a happy ending. All the loose ends are tied, everybody usually gets married and gathers around the lake singing kumbayah. Or, at least that’s how The Romance of the Forest ends.
But I get ahead of myself. So the heroine of this book is Adeline, another poor, pretty orphan being taken advantage of by her cruel relatives. She’s handed off to Monsieur La Motte by some mysterious men in the middle of the night as he is fleeing to avoid prison. The La Mottes and Adeline all end up hiding out in an abandoned abbey. Chaos ensues.
In case you were wondering, this is a novel of sensibility, which essentially means Adeline faints at everything (hence the spoiler warning.) And that gets real annoying, real fast. I’ve never been a huge fan of helpless characters and though she has her moments of bravery, Adeline qualifies.
While I liked this novel significantly more than Moll Flanders, I still wasn’t entirely sold on it. It didn’t grab me like Pride and Prejudice did, or entertain me like The Rover did.
3.5/5 stars
Eighteenth century novels make me laugh. At the end of every book there’s a happy ending. All the loose ends are tied, everybody usually gets married and gathers around the lake singing kumbayah. Or, at least that’s how The Romance of the Forest ends.
But I get ahead of myself. So the heroine of this book is Adeline, another poor, pretty orphan being taken advantage of by her cruel relatives. She’s handed off to Monsieur La Motte by some mysterious men in the middle of the night as he is fleeing to avoid prison. The La Mottes and Adeline all end up hiding out in an abandoned abbey. Chaos ensues.
In case you were wondering, this is a novel of sensibility, which essentially means Adeline faints at everything (hence the spoiler warning.) And that gets real annoying, real fast. I’ve never been a huge fan of helpless characters and though she has her moments of bravery, Adeline qualifies.
While I liked this novel significantly more than Moll Flanders, I still wasn’t entirely sold on it. It didn’t grab me like Pride and Prejudice did, or entertain me like The Rover did.
3.5/5 stars