riverofhorton 's review for:

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

4.0

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I'm actually not sure what to say about this book.

I can understand why it was so well liked when it was originally being published. It has an intriguing plot, as well as a wide variety of fully realised characters. My favourite being Marian.

It does, however, fall foul to the original serialised format in that the whole book is significantly longer than it needed to be, even allowing for the 19th Century tendency to write a whole paragraph when a few words would do.

I have described it to a friend (who has also read it) as: "The first third dragged, the middle disappeared, and the final third dragged." This isn't a good read for the easily bored/distracted, but if you can put up with the meandering, I think it's well worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic