Well Read # 7: The Woman in White
Whoa. Did you know it's the middle of December? I did not, judging by the library fines I've run up. Also, I think maybe I forgot to sign up for November this year. Or something.
Anyway, brace yourselves because I've read a Real Classic. But if you're going to do classics, you might as well do one that starts off with a mysterious woman in white who has just escaped from a lunatic asylum. (Incidentally, has it ever occurred to you to be grateful not to be crazy in Victorian times? Because you should be.)
Now, it sometimes seems like Wilkie Collins was paid by the word (which maybe he was) but I didn't even mind because there are conspiracies, suspicious deaths, secret meetings and things that I probably shouldn't give away. (Do spoilers apply to classics? I mean everyone knows how Romeo and Juliet end up, right?) You can totally tear through the odd wordy bit to find out what happens next. This is one of those mysteries where the overall ending isn't hard to guess - the real questions is how you get there, and why.
The weak point, for me, is Laura. The rest of the characters, from her hypochondriac uncle with his constantly rattled nerves to the creepily villainous count with his pet mice are excellent, and Marian in particular is nine kinds of awesome. But Laura is sweet and nice and pretty and never seems quite able to rise to the occasion. To be fair, she does try, especially at the beginning, and people in the olden days had different ideas about what constitutes female awesomeness. But she's just lucky Marian and Hartright had her back. Because I could have totally forgiven them if they'd said, "This girl is boring. Let's join the circus instead."
Which might not have been a bad book in itself....
Anyway, brace yourselves because I've read a Real Classic. But if you're going to do classics, you might as well do one that starts off with a mysterious woman in white who has just escaped from a lunatic asylum. (Incidentally, has it ever occurred to you to be grateful not to be crazy in Victorian times? Because you should be.)
Now, it sometimes seems like Wilkie Collins was paid by the word (which maybe he was) but I didn't even mind because there are conspiracies, suspicious deaths, secret meetings and things that I probably shouldn't give away. (Do spoilers apply to classics? I mean everyone knows how Romeo and Juliet end up, right?) You can totally tear through the odd wordy bit to find out what happens next. This is one of those mysteries where the overall ending isn't hard to guess - the real questions is how you get there, and why.
The weak point, for me, is Laura. The rest of the characters, from her hypochondriac uncle with his constantly rattled nerves to the creepily villainous count with his pet mice are excellent, and Marian in particular is nine kinds of awesome. But Laura is sweet and nice and pretty and never seems quite able to rise to the occasion. To be fair, she does try, especially at the beginning, and people in the olden days had different ideas about what constitutes female awesomeness. But she's just lucky Marian and Hartright had her back. Because I could have totally forgiven them if they'd said, "This girl is boring. Let's join the circus instead."
Which might not have been a bad book in itself....