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renardthefox's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really enjoyed NORTH AND SOUTH, but not quite as much as earlier this year, when I read it during a fifteen hour bus journey. It turns out when I have other books to read, and other stuff to do, this wasn't QUITE so charming. But that's okay.
NORTH AND SOUTH is the story of Margaret Hale murdering everyone in her life and her romance with the one man she can't kill. Joking aside, there is a LOT of death in this book. I won't spoil who dies, but be prepared.
I like Margaret, even though she's a snob and a bit of a white knight to the working-class who don't know better. I like John, too, though he's a capitalist pig. They're very realistically and humanly depicted.
I don't have anything to say about Mr Hale except that he can suck my dick. The man is a menace.
Likeability aside, I do question the politics of almost everyone in this novel. It's like the conventions of writing a romance (though of course it's not a modern romance) constrained ELIZABETH GASKELL. Or perhaps her desire to be even-handed. You can be even-handed and point out that one side is the good one, I promise! Higgins is somewhat sympathetically drawn, but even so, he still needs to learn the lesson that Thornton knows what he's doing as master, and I just don't agree!
The thing that is best about NORTH AND SOUTH (and I promise this is a compliment!) is that it's many better books stitched together. There's elements of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, JANE EYRE, I even detect some THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL in there. But the ability to makes this all hang together is a skill in itself, I would argue.
Anyway, I enjoyed it, but: Dickens was right about the title! Sorry not sorry.
NORTH AND SOUTH is the story of Margaret Hale murdering everyone in her life and her romance with the one man she can't kill. Joking aside, there is a LOT of death in this book. I won't spoil who dies, but be prepared.
I like Margaret, even though she's a snob and a bit of a white knight to the working-class who don't know better. I like John, too, though he's a capitalist pig. They're very realistically and humanly depicted.
I don't have anything to say about Mr Hale except that he can suck my dick. The man is a menace.
Likeability aside, I do question the politics of almost everyone in this novel. It's like the conventions of writing a romance (though of course it's not a modern romance) constrained ELIZABETH GASKELL. Or perhaps her desire to be even-handed. You can be even-handed and point out that one side is the good one, I promise! Higgins is somewhat sympathetically drawn, but even so, he still needs to learn the lesson that Thornton knows what he's doing as master, and I just don't agree!
The thing that is best about NORTH AND SOUTH (and I promise this is a compliment!) is that it's many better books stitched together. There's elements of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, JANE EYRE, I even detect some THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL in there. But the ability to makes this all hang together is a skill in itself, I would argue.
Anyway, I enjoyed it, but: Dickens was right about the title! Sorry not sorry.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Sexism, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
ilex_cs's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty
heresthepencil's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
was the term "fool in love" coined specifically based on mr john thornton?
i know for a fact that if i read this at a tender age of early teenagehood, it would have been over me. my standards would never again be met, and i would simply stop reading all together.
yes, the romance is exquisite (and frankly unhinged in the best of ways), but this is obviously so much more than that. on the prose level this is absolutely gorgeous. the social commentary, the clash of the classes, the feminism? chef's kiss.
i know for a fact that if i read this at a tender age of early teenagehood, it would have been over me. my standards would never again be met, and i would simply stop reading all together.
yes, the romance is exquisite (and frankly unhinged in the best of ways), but this is obviously so much more than that. on the prose level this is absolutely gorgeous. the social commentary, the clash of the classes, the feminism? chef's kiss.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Suicide
Moderate: Death and Xenophobia
milesjmoran's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Xenophobia, and Alcohol
mmefish's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What a wonderful book! "An industrial re-writing of Pride and Prejudice", as Jenny Uglow put it in her introduction to the novel; though "North and South" deals with heavier (and more important, in my opinion) topics.
I loved the meditations on religion, class and morals, the picturesque descriptions of the North and the South, and how real every single character felt. I only wish we had gotten more romantic moments and a less abrupt ending (E. Gaskell had to rush the last chapters).
I'm going to include my favourite passages but mark some of them as spoilers if they are lengthy.
I loved the meditations on religion, class and morals, the picturesque descriptions of the North and the South, and how real every single character felt. I only wish we had gotten more romantic moments and a less abrupt ending (E. Gaskell had to rush the last chapters).
I'm going to include my favourite passages but mark some of them as spoilers if they are lengthy.
'You must grant me this one point. Given a strong feeling of independence in every Darkshire man, have I any right to obtrude my views, of the manner in which he shall act, upon another (hating it as I should do most vehemently myself), merely because he has labour to sell and I capital to buy?'
'Not in the least. Not in the least because of your labour and capital positions, whatever whatever they are, but because you are a man, dealing with a set of men over whom you have, whether you reject the use of it or not, immense power, just because your lives and your welfare are so constantly and intimately interwoven. God has made us so that we must be mutually dependent.'
'But what win ye have? There are days wi' you, as wi' other folk, I suppose, when yo' get up and go through th' hours, just longing for a bit of a change—a bit of a fillip, as it were. I know I ha' gone and bought a four-pounder out o' another baker's shop to common on such days, just because I sickened at the thought of going on for ever wi' the same sight in my eyes, and the same sound in my ears, and the same taste i' my mouth, and the same thought (or no thought, for that matter) in my head, day after day, for ever. I've longed for to be a man to go spreeing, even it were only a tramp to some new place in search o' work. And father—all men—have it stronger in 'em than me to get tired o' sameness and work for ever. And what is 'em to do? It's little blame to them if they do go into th' gin-shop for to make their blood flow quicker, and more lively, and see things they never see at no other time—pictures, and looking-glass, and such like. But father never was a drunkard, though maybe, he's got worse for drink, now and then. Only yo' see, at times o' strike there's much to knock a man down, for all they start so hopefully; and where's the comfort to come fro'? He'll get angry and mad—they all do—and then they get tired out wi' being angry and mad, and maybe ha' done things in their passion they'd be glad to forget. Bless yo'r sweet pitiful face! but yo' dunnot know what a strike is yet.'
"A bad-looking fellow, I can assure you, miss. Whiskers such as I should be ashamed to wear – they are so red."
My favourite:
...all the time it would have been a relief to believe her utterly unworthy of his esteem. It was this that made the misery—that he passionately loved her, and thought her, even with all her faults, more lovely and more excellent than any other woman; yet he deemed her so attached to some other man, so led away by her affection for him as to violate her truthful nature. The very falsehood that stained her, was a proof how blindly she loved another—this dark, slight, elegant, handsome man—while he himself was rough, and stern, and strongly made. He lashed himself into an agony of fierce jealousy. He thought of that look, that attitude!—how he would have laid his life at her feet for such tender glances, such fond detention! He mocked at himself, for having valued the mechanical way in which she had protected him from the fury of the mob; now he had seen how soft and bewitching she looked when with a man she really loved. He remembered, point by point, the sharpness of her words—'There was not a man in all that crowd for whom she would not have done as much, far more readily than for him.' He shared with the mob, in her desire of averting bloodshed from them; but this man, this hidden lover, shared with nobody; he had looks, words, hand-cleavings, lies, concealment, all to himself
'It is the first changes among familiar things that make such a mystery of time to the young, afterwards we lose the sense of the mysterious. I take changes in all I see as a matter of course. The instability of all human things is familiar to me, to you it is new and oppressive.'
'After all it is right. If the world stood still, it would retrograde and become corrupt, if that is not Irish. Looking out of myself, and my own painful sense of change, the progress all around me is right and necessary. I must not think so much of how circumstances affect me myself, but how they affect others, if I wish to have a right judgment, or a hopeful trustful heart.'
🥲
He knelt by her side, to bring his face to a level with her ear; and whispered-panted out the words:
— 'Take care.—If you do not speak—I shall claim you as my own in some strange presumptuous way.—Send me away at once, if I must go;—Margaret!—
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Xenophobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Violence
thecirclek's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I had enjoyed a miniseries adaptation of this book many years ago and decided to give it a read (well, a listen). Overall it was fine, though in many passages there was a lot of redundancy. (How many times did I have to hear about her "pleading eyes"?!). I enjoyed some of the humor, and the development of the central romance was okay. I would warn sensitive readers that out of nowhere in the last act was a really horrifying description of intentional animal cruelty--just terrible. This was okay, but not quite as fun or well-written as I'd hoped.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent
elenavillan's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Alcoholism and Animal cruelty
rieviolet's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I can say that I enjoyed the reading experience, although it took me a couple of chapters to get really into the story. I often heard the book described as "Pride and Prejudice plus socialism" and, honestly, it's not such a far-off description.
I really liked the characters' depiction and their growth over the course of the story, I appreciated how the author portrayed even the ones that I didn't find particulary pleasant. There were a lot of tragedies and misfortunes that kept occuring (maybe too many, give us a break Elizabeth Gaskell please) and that really took me by surprise and moved me.
I'm not immune to a good romantic plot but I can say that I really appreciated that there was more to the novel. I really enjoyed the description and the reflections on the social reality of the time, the strike and the conditions of workers.
Still, there were some aspects that stopped me from giving full marks. There were maybe a bit too many mentions and reflections on religion that bored me a little and in part flew over my head, but that is more of a personal preference as someone who is not much of a religious person.
I can also say that the pacing felt a bit off. At times the story dragged on a bit and moved quite slowly, then,
instead, the ending felt rushed, the long-awaited resolution came very quickly and the novel ended rather abruptly.
I really liked the characters' depiction and their growth over the course of the story, I appreciated how the author portrayed even the ones that I didn't find particulary pleasant. There were a lot of tragedies and misfortunes that kept occuring (maybe too many, give us a break Elizabeth Gaskell please) and that really took me by surprise and moved me.
I'm not immune to a good romantic plot but I can say that I really appreciated that there was more to the novel. I really enjoyed the description and the reflections on the social reality of the time, the strike and the conditions of workers.
Still, there were some aspects that stopped me from giving full marks. There were maybe a bit too many mentions and reflections on religion that bored me a little and in part flew over my head, but that is more of a personal preference as someone who is not much of a religious person.
I can also say that the pacing felt a bit off. At times the story dragged on a bit and moved quite slowly, then,
instead, the ending felt rushed, the long-awaited resolution came very quickly and the novel ended rather abruptly.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Police brutality
jagotole's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
jowmy4's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is one of my absolute favourite books. I have read this book a few times before, and this time listen to an audiobook. It was even better than I rembered it being. The beginning is very slow and quite difficult to get into, but sets up important context which pays off later in the book. I think this is, objectively, a good book, but I'm also aware that probably the reason I love it so much is because it hits a lot of my personal preferences: class and social issues, rural villages, industrial towns, a variety of interesting family dynamics, friendships, characters learning and growing, and seemingly-unrequited romance. The characters are all really well developed, as well, and Mrs Thornton and Mr Thornton are probably two of my favourite characters of all time. The story is sad at points, but I had a big smile on my face at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood
Several of the characters die, including