Reviews

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

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grimreader_agatha's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

schmidtellie's review against another edition

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5.0

For a classic English novel, this book was not as predictable as I expected. It’s fairly long, but the little surprises throughout kept me engaged. One of the better ones!

cathpath's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

thebookphoenix's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.0

The pose is fantastic, the ending is disappointing, I thought better of her

maralisephoto's review against another edition

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4.0

I went from being blown away by the tension between the inner courage and outer stupidity of Isabel Archer when I read this in my 20s. In my 40s, I’m less kind about her stupidity.

caffee's review against another edition

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challenging reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I wanted Isabel to fly free, I loved the first part of the book where she's discovering her freedom and having her ideas and plans. I was a so gutted when we jumped forwards in time and we got to see how she faired.
I enjoyed the style it felt surprisingly fresh for a book published in 1881.
If you're not a fan of an ambiguous ending beware for myself I enjoy deciding for myself.