jallardice's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
arafron's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
zee128_'s review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jcpdiesel21's review against another edition
3.0
A brief ghost story that dabbles in intriguing themes. Although I'm not sure the opening framing device is entirely necessary, the tale is fairly straightforward, yet the ending leaves all that has occurred open to interpretation. I appreciate both the writing and the influence that this novella has had on future works, yet overall I found it a bit underwhelming; I've come to the conclusion due to my increased recent reading within the horror genre that gothic fiction, classic or recent, is rather hit or miss for me.
mundinova's review against another edition
2.0
Knowledge is not power.
A "horror" story that's a little tame for today's readers.
What struck me as most odd were the character's beliefs and world views:
1) If a person is beautiful in appearance, their character must also be beautiful. This applies extra to creepy children.
2) Knowing things about the people and the world around you can only bring about evil thoughts or bad situations. Best stay innocent and ignorant.
If this book in any way represents life in Victorian England I really hope I never time travel to that time. Having to interact with such characters as Mrs. Grose or the Governess would be my undoing. I'm sure I'd quickly resort to hair pulling and shouting, "Oh my gawd, you're such an idiot! Stop doing that!!"
Story: 2 stars
Character Development: 2 stars
Prose/Language: 4 stars
A "horror" story that's a little tame for today's readers.
What struck me as most odd were the character's beliefs and world views:
1) If a person is beautiful in appearance, their character must also be beautiful. This applies extra to creepy children.
2) Knowing things about the people and the world around you can only bring about evil thoughts or bad situations. Best stay innocent and ignorant.
If this book in any way represents life in Victorian England I really hope I never time travel to that time. Having to interact with such characters as Mrs. Grose or the Governess would be my undoing. I'm sure I'd quickly resort to hair pulling and shouting, "Oh my gawd, you're such an idiot! Stop doing that!!"
Story: 2 stars
Character Development: 2 stars
Prose/Language: 4 stars
schenkelberg's review against another edition
4.0
(cross-posted from my blog)
I decided to reread The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. Its a tremendous novella, and reading it has driven me to return to my old class notes and materials that I've wisely kept. I always felt weird, sorting through my school notes and finding that there were large portions I wanted to hold onto, without knowing why. Its great to go back through them, for sure, and I hope that I'll be able to continue doing that and working both on this blog and into my new notes, to reach new understandings and developments in response to literature, and so on.
This post is mostly derived from lecture notes about the book, but I'll fill it out with my own reflections, as the book is again fresh in my mind.
To start: Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw in what's called his late prose style. Its characterized by long, convoluted sentences in thick paragraphs, and this is why an 80 page text took me about two weeks to work through, albeit I wasn't working very steadily on it. James was dictating the book, and that's part of why its written this way, but his long winded prose also tends toward obfuscation, an unusual quality for a book in any other genre than the one that this rests in. The writing seems to withhold information at times – it never really settles down, as Edmund Wilson notes (I'll get to him more later), and decides to present an objective truth to the images presented. This suspension creates, further, a murky atmosphere of anxiety, which is built right into the narration.
The main character of the text (and the narrator of it for the frame story as her story is read aloud) is the governess, also the only central character who does not have a name. She's sent to the house at Bly to care for two children, Flora and Miles. She quickly becomes quite possessive of them, and almost constantly anxious, repeating in her narration that she worries for their sake. She's an outsider, literally to the people of Bly as well as in terms of class – a detail that notes this is how before arriving she had never before seen herself in a mirror. (I should note that a lot of these points are from a lecture giving by one of my very favorite teachers while at Cal - Professor Serpell. This class was called the Literary Theory Monster, and if you happen to be a Cal student I'd say that class was easily among the best I've taken, although I'm sure any class taught by her would be superb)
The governess frames herself as a heroine, protecting the children from spiritual evil, even when such claims stretch to their limits. She sees herself as a martyr and sets herself up to be one.
I'm excited to be getting back into this fascinating world of Henry James, and I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in literary theory, getting muddled up in seemingly endless cyclical complexities, or simply a good story that has an uncanny way of sticking around in one's mind.
I decided to reread The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. Its a tremendous novella, and reading it has driven me to return to my old class notes and materials that I've wisely kept. I always felt weird, sorting through my school notes and finding that there were large portions I wanted to hold onto, without knowing why. Its great to go back through them, for sure, and I hope that I'll be able to continue doing that and working both on this blog and into my new notes, to reach new understandings and developments in response to literature, and so on.
This post is mostly derived from lecture notes about the book, but I'll fill it out with my own reflections, as the book is again fresh in my mind.
To start: Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw in what's called his late prose style. Its characterized by long, convoluted sentences in thick paragraphs, and this is why an 80 page text took me about two weeks to work through, albeit I wasn't working very steadily on it. James was dictating the book, and that's part of why its written this way, but his long winded prose also tends toward obfuscation, an unusual quality for a book in any other genre than the one that this rests in. The writing seems to withhold information at times – it never really settles down, as Edmund Wilson notes (I'll get to him more later), and decides to present an objective truth to the images presented. This suspension creates, further, a murky atmosphere of anxiety, which is built right into the narration.
The main character of the text (and the narrator of it for the frame story as her story is read aloud) is the governess, also the only central character who does not have a name. She's sent to the house at Bly to care for two children, Flora and Miles. She quickly becomes quite possessive of them, and almost constantly anxious, repeating in her narration that she worries for their sake. She's an outsider, literally to the people of Bly as well as in terms of class – a detail that notes this is how before arriving she had never before seen herself in a mirror. (I should note that a lot of these points are from a lecture giving by one of my very favorite teachers while at Cal - Professor Serpell. This class was called the Literary Theory Monster, and if you happen to be a Cal student I'd say that class was easily among the best I've taken, although I'm sure any class taught by her would be superb)
The governess frames herself as a heroine, protecting the children from spiritual evil, even when such claims stretch to their limits. She sees herself as a martyr and sets herself up to be one.
I'm excited to be getting back into this fascinating world of Henry James, and I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in literary theory, getting muddled up in seemingly endless cyclical complexities, or simply a good story that has an uncanny way of sticking around in one's mind.
pushingdessy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
wtf did I just read
Last month, I picked up "The Haunting of Hill House" as one of my Halloween reads. I wanted to rewatch Mike Flanagan's retelling with the lens of someone who actually knew the source material. After the show ended, "The Haunting of Bly Manor" started playing and I thought, since I'm at it, I might as well hold off rewatching it and read "The turn of the screw" first!
Well, let me tell you. If I hadn't watched the show first, I would have no idea what was going on. I mean, even then, I'm not 100% sure what happened and if it lines up at all with the show or if I'm just projecting in a bid to make sense of Henry James' incredibly convoluted narrative architecture, because the text is never clear about what really happens and the characters seem unable to finish a sentence or thought.
Is there a deeper subtext to all this? Quite possibly yes, and I'm sure that'd be fascinating to explore in a literature class. At face value, as a current-day reader, though, this was pretty much insufferable.
Last month, I picked up "The Haunting of Hill House" as one of my Halloween reads. I wanted to rewatch Mike Flanagan's retelling with the lens of someone who actually knew the source material. After the show ended, "The Haunting of Bly Manor" started playing and I thought, since I'm at it, I might as well hold off rewatching it and read "The turn of the screw" first!
Well, let me tell you. If I hadn't watched the show first, I would have no idea what was going on. I mean, even then, I'm not 100% sure what happened and if it lines up at all with the show or if I'm just projecting in a bid to make sense of Henry James' incredibly convoluted narrative architecture, because the text is never clear about what really happens and the characters seem unable to finish a sentence or thought.
Is there a deeper subtext to all this? Quite possibly yes, and I'm sure that'd be fascinating to explore in a literature class. At face value, as a current-day reader, though, this was pretty much insufferable.
erimarti's review against another edition
3.0
Un bel racconto, una trama interessante e dei personaggi che vengono ben approfonditi psicologicamente.
Lo stile di scrittura è, a mio parere, molto introspettivo e incentrato sulle emozioni, le paure, i pensieri e le riflessioni della protagonista.
Iniziato a leggere dopo aver visto la serie Netflix da cui si discosta per alcune importanti differenze.
Nel complesso molto piacevole e scorrevole.
Lo stile di scrittura è, a mio parere, molto introspettivo e incentrato sulle emozioni, le paure, i pensieri e le riflessioni della protagonista.
Iniziato a leggere dopo aver visto la serie Netflix da cui si discosta per alcune importanti differenze.
Nel complesso molto piacevole e scorrevole.
howatdk's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.5
readhikerepeat's review against another edition
3.0
A good, old-fashioned ghost story, complete with a sprawling estate and creepy children. For the review, visit The Book Wheel.