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alineh's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
jessicaw8's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
aimeesbookishlife's review against another edition
3.0
4 stars for the titular story, 3 stars for the others
pimmlet's review against another edition
2.0
Henry James shows that just because you can write a sentence that damn long, doesn’t mean you should actually write a sentence that long
bookishgoblin's review against another edition
1.0
This book was awful. Not scary, not exciting, barely readable, it's not often I tear into a book like this and I'm really not enjoying it, but this book is so dated and badly written that I just didn't care about the characters, the story, anything. Was she being haunted? Who on earth knows? Why did the kid just drop dead? Who on earth cares. This book was, in my opinion, pig shit. I am furious at being made to study it. I couldn't even read the three other stories in the collection.
lindseysparks's review against another edition
4.0
Henry James has a reputation for being a master at short fiction for a reason. Five of the six stories in this collection were a delight.
An International Affair – my favorite of the bunch. It’s a surprisingly funny story about an American woman obsessed with the British, who meets a Lord and visits England. I particularly liked the scenes where she wants to sightsee and go to places like the Tower of London and Hampton Court and everyone’s like why do that when you can socialize??? The descriptions of those places and London in general made me want to go back.
Daisy Miller – I read this in college and remembered liking it more than I did this time, but I think that’s partly because I liked An International Affair so much and these have some similarities, and I wasn’t as surprised this time, obviously.
The Aspern Papers – This one reminded me of Finders Keepers by Stephen King. When you have something with scholarly value, do you have an obligation to share it? Even if it’s of a personal nature? Is it wrong to destroy something that could have historical or scholarly value? Is it wrong to deceive someone to try to save such an item?
The Altar of the Dead – This is the one I didn’t like. Maybe you need to be Catholic to really get what is going on, since the story revolves around lighting candles for the dead. I just didn’t get what was going on. I even re-read the majority of it once the major twist happened, because I could tell it was supposed to be a twist but I didn’t really get why. I don’t feel like it explained it very well and the two main characters obsession with showy grieving just bugged me.
The Turn of the Screw – Arguably James’s most famous novella/short story. I read this on Halloween. It wasn’t quite as creepy as I hoped, but I would get creeped out every time I looked at the scary children on the cover of my edition. Going in I assumed the children were who I should be scared of, like some sort of Children of the Corn thing or something. I did not expect to make two Stephen King references in this review, although thinking about they weirdly do have some similarities. I appreciate the psychology here and that he left what happened up to interpretation.
The Beast in the Jungle – The actual story was kind of boring but at the same time it was an excellent illustration of not throwing your life away in search of something. We often put so much focus on searching for meaning or purpose that we miss what is right in front of us.
An International Affair – my favorite of the bunch. It’s a surprisingly funny story about an American woman obsessed with the British, who meets a Lord and visits England. I particularly liked the scenes where she wants to sightsee and go to places like the Tower of London and Hampton Court and everyone’s like why do that when you can socialize??? The descriptions of those places and London in general made me want to go back.
Daisy Miller – I read this in college and remembered liking it more than I did this time, but I think that’s partly because I liked An International Affair so much and these have some similarities, and I wasn’t as surprised this time, obviously.
The Aspern Papers – This one reminded me of Finders Keepers by Stephen King. When you have something with scholarly value, do you have an obligation to share it? Even if it’s of a personal nature? Is it wrong to destroy something that could have historical or scholarly value? Is it wrong to deceive someone to try to save such an item?
The Altar of the Dead – This is the one I didn’t like. Maybe you need to be Catholic to really get what is going on, since the story revolves around lighting candles for the dead. I just didn’t get what was going on. I even re-read the majority of it once the major twist happened, because I could tell it was supposed to be a twist but I didn’t really get why. I don’t feel like it explained it very well and the two main characters obsession with showy grieving just bugged me.
The Turn of the Screw – Arguably James’s most famous novella/short story. I read this on Halloween. It wasn’t quite as creepy as I hoped, but I would get creeped out every time I looked at the scary children on the cover of my edition. Going in I assumed the children were who I should be scared of, like some sort of Children of the Corn thing or something. I did not expect to make two Stephen King references in this review, although thinking about they weirdly do have some similarities. I appreciate the psychology here and that he left what happened up to interpretation.
The Beast in the Jungle – The actual story was kind of boring but at the same time it was an excellent illustration of not throwing your life away in search of something. We often put so much focus on searching for meaning or purpose that we miss what is right in front of us.
zoemcl's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
(review for the turn of the screw)
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
4.0
I have wanted to read this ever since someone informed me that the title story was the basis for Mike Flanagan's Netflix series, The Haunting of Bly Manor. So when I found this book at a little shop on the square in Glen Rose, I snatched it up.
Just like The Haunting of Hill House, the Netflix series is very loosely based on the short story. It's a long short story, and perhaps could even be called a novella, coming in at 156 pages of the 316 page book. James's writing is from the early 20th century and is not easy for me to read, because I'm so used to modern writing. It was, nevertheless, fulfilling.
I'm not sure that I would categorize the titular tale as "horror," although it certainly lends itself to that. It is definitely a "ghost story," even if the ghosts in question are only in the imagination of our main character. The story is told from the perspective of the nameless character, who is visiting with someone whom we only know as "Douglas." Douglas brings out this manuscript that was allegedly sent to him by the woman who winds up being the governess of the two children, Miles and Flora, at Bly Manor. As far as I remember, this governess remains nameless. Flanagan gave her the name Dani Clayton.
The mystery has to do with what happened to the previous governess, known as Miss Jessel. She is said to have left under mysterious circumstances, and then died. We are not told how she died. There is also a mysterious male involved, known as Quint. Early in the story, the governess sees Quint in various places around the manor. Eventually, she begins to see Miss Jessel, as well, especially outside around the small lake on the property.
Her relationship with the children begins well, but later on begins to deteriorate. The governess imagines that the children are seeing the same apparitions as she, but we never know for sure. It's truly a psychological puzzle, as the blurb on the back cover says. "Are the two children innocent or corrupt? Do ghost have evil power over them--or over their young governess?"
As I was having a conversation with a coworker at the library (I believe she is one of the people who informed me that this story is the basis for the Netflix series), the question came up, were there ghosts, or was she crazy?
I confess that that possibility had not even occurred to me, but the more I think about it, the more I believe that to be the case. At any rate, the ending is a bit shocking, if what I think happened is what really happened. That's another thing with James. It's a little difficult to figure out exactly what transpired at the end.
But he does a great job of conveying the psychological mystery.
There are three other stories in this volume. The Pupil, The Tree of Knowledge, and The Figure in the Carpet. None of these is as spooky as the titular story, but still delve into the psychology of human beings.
The Pupil is quite similar to Turn of the Screw in that it deals with a young man who becomes a tutor for a boy who lives with his parents. They travel a lot, and he travels with them. By the end of the story, I believe the boy is at least fifteen years old. The relationships between the boy and his parents, the parents with each other, the tutor with the boy, and the tutor with the parents, are all quite complex. They are made even more so as the parents contrive to constantly get away without paying the young man for his services. Once again, we have a somewhat shocking ending to the story.
The Tree of Knowledge was perhaps a little difficult to grasp. Once again, there is a family, the Mallows, who have a son named Lancelot, and a friend named Peter Brench. Brench is in love with Mrs. Mallow, but never really tells anyone about it. Lancelot has attempted to go to university, but doesn't do well and wants to become an artist.
And The Figure in the Carpet, while giving us a totally different type of circumstance, still has the interplay of various relationships. This tale is about a literary critic who becomes obsessed with discovering the secret of one particular author's work, to the point that it damages every relationship he has.
John Felstiner writes an essay at the end of this book, simply called "To the Reader." In this, he says that James's central preoccupation is "the exposure of innocence, and the precarious movement of mind from ignorance to knowledge." That statement, vague as it may sound (especially if one has not read this work), actually helped me in understanding all of the tales. They are quite a bit deeper than surface level.
There is also a segment in this volume, called "Notes on the Stories," to which no author is credited, that also gave a little more understanding for each one. Finally, the book concludes with a brief biographical sketch of Henry James (in which I learned that Henry was actually the brother of philosopher William James) and a selected bibliography.
All in all, it was enjoyable (probably closer to 3.5 stars), but will not be retained on my shelf, as I have no desire to read it again.
Just like The Haunting of Hill House, the Netflix series is very loosely based on the short story. It's a long short story, and perhaps could even be called a novella, coming in at 156 pages of the 316 page book. James's writing is from the early 20th century and is not easy for me to read, because I'm so used to modern writing. It was, nevertheless, fulfilling.
I'm not sure that I would categorize the titular tale as "horror," although it certainly lends itself to that. It is definitely a "ghost story," even if the ghosts in question are only in the imagination of our main character. The story is told from the perspective of the nameless character, who is visiting with someone whom we only know as "Douglas." Douglas brings out this manuscript that was allegedly sent to him by the woman who winds up being the governess of the two children, Miles and Flora, at Bly Manor. As far as I remember, this governess remains nameless. Flanagan gave her the name Dani Clayton.
The mystery has to do with what happened to the previous governess, known as Miss Jessel. She is said to have left under mysterious circumstances, and then died. We are not told how she died. There is also a mysterious male involved, known as Quint. Early in the story, the governess sees Quint in various places around the manor. Eventually, she begins to see Miss Jessel, as well, especially outside around the small lake on the property.
Her relationship with the children begins well, but later on begins to deteriorate. The governess imagines that the children are seeing the same apparitions as she, but we never know for sure. It's truly a psychological puzzle, as the blurb on the back cover says. "Are the two children innocent or corrupt? Do ghost have evil power over them--or over their young governess?"
As I was having a conversation with a coworker at the library (I believe she is one of the people who informed me that this story is the basis for the Netflix series), the question came up, were there ghosts, or was she crazy?
I confess that that possibility had not even occurred to me, but the more I think about it, the more I believe that to be the case. At any rate, the ending is a bit shocking, if what I think happened is what really happened. That's another thing with James. It's a little difficult to figure out exactly what transpired at the end.
But he does a great job of conveying the psychological mystery.
There are three other stories in this volume. The Pupil, The Tree of Knowledge, and The Figure in the Carpet. None of these is as spooky as the titular story, but still delve into the psychology of human beings.
The Pupil is quite similar to Turn of the Screw in that it deals with a young man who becomes a tutor for a boy who lives with his parents. They travel a lot, and he travels with them. By the end of the story, I believe the boy is at least fifteen years old. The relationships between the boy and his parents, the parents with each other, the tutor with the boy, and the tutor with the parents, are all quite complex. They are made even more so as the parents contrive to constantly get away without paying the young man for his services. Once again, we have a somewhat shocking ending to the story.
The Tree of Knowledge was perhaps a little difficult to grasp. Once again, there is a family, the Mallows, who have a son named Lancelot, and a friend named Peter Brench. Brench is in love with Mrs. Mallow, but never really tells anyone about it. Lancelot has attempted to go to university, but doesn't do well and wants to become an artist.
And The Figure in the Carpet, while giving us a totally different type of circumstance, still has the interplay of various relationships. This tale is about a literary critic who becomes obsessed with discovering the secret of one particular author's work, to the point that it damages every relationship he has.
John Felstiner writes an essay at the end of this book, simply called "To the Reader." In this, he says that James's central preoccupation is "the exposure of innocence, and the precarious movement of mind from ignorance to knowledge." That statement, vague as it may sound (especially if one has not read this work), actually helped me in understanding all of the tales. They are quite a bit deeper than surface level.
There is also a segment in this volume, called "Notes on the Stories," to which no author is credited, that also gave a little more understanding for each one. Finally, the book concludes with a brief biographical sketch of Henry James (in which I learned that Henry was actually the brother of philosopher William James) and a selected bibliography.
All in all, it was enjoyable (probably closer to 3.5 stars), but will not be retained on my shelf, as I have no desire to read it again.
olgareads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Quite dense writing even for the time, but very tense and atmospheric. I think these stories are far better enjoyed when you consider their various interpretations; the ambiguous, the unspoken, the gaps in what is narrated and what isn't definitely unsettles more than the ghosts themselves. There are quite a lot of interesting readings of 'The Turn of the Screw' – feminist, class, abuse, etc. – and I really liked 'The Friends of the Friends' as well – interesting take on jealousy and a very tragic concept.