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ithilwen22 's review for:
The Mysteries of Udolpho
by Ann Radcliffe
I...am not sure what I just read? In a way, I liked the book. Radcliffe really was great at suspenseful scenes, and was also good at describing different views of nature. I'll just admit it; reading this made me want to visit the Alps. On the other hand, after so long, the descriptions become tedious.
Radcliffe also rambles. A lot. Her story wanders around, digresses off into other's stories, and overall the plot is a lot more complex than it really needed to be. Add in lots of characters that like hinting at things and babbling nonsense instead of just telling their stories, and it got really frustrating at times. I'm divided on the character of Emily. At times, I admired her, but she fainted so dang much it was a wonder anything got done! The fact that she fainted over little things made the times that you would expect an extreme reaction to have less of an impact. If she'll faint because she saw someone walking around outside, why should I react with greater horror when something really terrible happens to her?
Also, it didn't help that I kept thinking of Northanger Abbey the whole time.
So, it was fun, and sometimes scary, but it also went on and on and on and on...
Read it, but expect a whole lot of fainting and descriptions of trees.
Radcliffe also rambles. A lot. Her story wanders around, digresses off into other's stories, and overall the plot is a lot more complex than it really needed to be. Add in lots of characters that like hinting at things and babbling nonsense instead of just telling their stories, and it got really frustrating at times. I'm divided on the character of Emily. At times, I admired her, but she fainted so dang much it was a wonder anything got done! The fact that she fainted over little things made the times that you would expect an extreme reaction to have less of an impact. If she'll faint because she saw someone walking around outside, why should I react with greater horror when something really terrible happens to her?
Also, it didn't help that I kept thinking of Northanger Abbey the whole time.
So, it was fun, and sometimes scary, but it also went on and on and on and on...
Read it, but expect a whole lot of fainting and descriptions of trees.