Excellent review, and I think your icon sums it up really nicely. :)
Thank you for making me feel refreshingly guilt-free about not having any desire to read this book, whatever literary merits it might have (or apparently not).
I fixed the html so it should be easier to read (borked html is still easier to read than the prose of this novel).
Really, the blurb from the back of the book tells the majority of the story. It was only 500+ pages due to word vomit.
I am leery about signing up for another book here, for fear of getting another novel by James, or something potentially more horrendous than this book. D-:
Big problem with the 1001 list is that the compiler, when convinced that a certain author was Big and Important, decided to put in just about everything that author wrote. The complete Austen. Almost the complete Dickens. Way more Paul Auster, Philip Roth and Margaret Atwood than is warranted, though they all should be included somewhat. And Henry James.
Really, Portrait of a Lady is academically worth slogging through the heavy prose for. The American and Turn of the Screw are even interesting. That and some of the short stories make up the essential James. Golden Bowl should not be on a top 1000 list. Maybe a top million list.
Well done, milady. If I had my way, you'd get a ticker tape parade.
Aw, you are too kind. You and swissmarg are embarrassing me a bit by saying this is a good review, b/c I didn't even talk about the GOLDEN BOWL! (There was one, if you haven't read this novel.) I basically didn't care any more after reading this book and writing this brief review, but it was a beautiful golden bowl with a hidden flaw, blah, blah, just like these relationships, blah, blah.
You bring up a good point about the short stories. I wasn't aware that James had written any, but short stories tend to make most authors bearable. I actually quite like James Joyce's short stories, although I would never want to read Ulysses.
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Thank you for making me feel refreshingly guilt-free about not having any desire to read this book, whatever literary merits it might have (or apparently not).
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Really, the blurb from the back of the book tells the majority of the story. It was only 500+ pages due to word vomit.
I am leery about signing up for another book here, for fear of getting another novel by James, or something potentially more horrendous than this book. D-:
Reply
Really, Portrait of a Lady is academically worth slogging through the heavy prose for. The American and Turn of the Screw are even interesting. That and some of the short stories make up the essential James. Golden Bowl should not be on a top 1000 list. Maybe a top million list.
Well done, milady. If I had my way, you'd get a ticker tape parade.
Reply
You bring up a good point about the short stories. I wasn't aware that James had written any, but short stories tend to make most authors bearable. I actually quite like James Joyce's short stories, although I would never want to read Ulysses.
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