Scan barcode
musicsaves's review against another edition
4.0
"Mallet had made his arrangements to sail for Europe on the first of September, and having in the interval a fortnight to spare, he determined to spend it with his cousin Cecilia, the widow of a nephew of his father." And with this opening line I began my maiden voyage into the world of Henry James. This is his first (acknowledged) novel and, although it took me a while to get caught up in it, I eventually became trapped and thoroughly enjoyed it. James has a wonderful handling of language, subtle wit and a deeply honest understanding of the human heart. Looking forward to the next journey.
ameliayawen's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lizawall's review against another edition
4.0
the first book that i have read entirely on iphone! i feel like hj feels guilty about a lot of things in this book. he feels guilty about having money and buying things and being a loafer even though he writes so much. he feels guilty and embarrassed about trying to be a romantic Artist because it makes you hurt everyone who loves you and kill yourself. he feels guilty about ladies because probably you should do SOMEthing for them since their lives are terrible and they are not able to make their own choices even when they are smart, but who could even manage to do anything for them without being offensive or failing (or, more likely, being offensive AND failing). he doesn't actually seem to feel guilty about gayness, but maybe a little ambivalent.
(i think this book is fun because he lets a lot slip about what he is up to later, when he keeps a tighter grip on things.)
((also, for anyone else who is a gossip like i am, i had always felt bad for hj about the whole henrik andersen times, but reading this book made me feel like he knew exactly what he was up to. like 20 years later he just bumped into someone with more than a passing resemblance to a character in his novel, so he had to do what he had to do.))
(i think this book is fun because he lets a lot slip about what he is up to later, when he keeps a tighter grip on things.)
((also, for anyone else who is a gossip like i am, i had always felt bad for hj about the whole henrik andersen times, but reading this book made me feel like he knew exactly what he was up to. like 20 years later he just bumped into someone with more than a passing resemblance to a character in his novel, so he had to do what he had to do.))
haazex's review against another edition
5.0
Henry James's first (well second really) novel is luminous and has reawakened a great interest in his works. This novel paints the journey of a budding artist and his "protector" as he is brought to to the creative forces of art residing in the museums and cities of Italy as well as its glorious landscapes. Of course, the hero also encounters society, new perspectives and transformations. In a sense it is a bildungsroman partially shaped by James's own journeys and impressions of this region. I was initially not thrilled by James's long complex sentences and intricate vocabulary, but my appreciation for his web of words and situational descriptions steadily grew on me. I understand that this is a very early work of his, but it is extremely well written and utterly engaging as long as one allows oneself to transcend into the society (or at least a rendition thereof) and artistic circles of late 19th century Italy. A wonderful novel!
xceltictea's review against another edition
1.0
So how do I start this review?? Well the fact that it took me almost TWO MONTHS to finish this book tells you a lot
breadandmushrooms's review against another edition
emotional
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? No
2.75
nightwater32's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
duffypratt's review against another edition
4.0
It's embarrassing how long its taking me to read some of these books. I blame the internet. It has made it way too easy to become distracted. Also, as the pursuit of entertainment has made it more difficult for me to navigate and enjoy "difficult" books, so now the availability of the web has escalated the process and I can see it killing my attention span.
I started this book on vacation last summer, and was quite enjoying it. I put it down briefly to read something else, and then simply never got back to it until sometime a week or two ago. There isn't much reason for this, but there it is.
Its not like this is a particularly hard book. It's about as easy going as James gets. In some ways, it seems to me to be similar to Daisy Miller. These early James' books, before he got totally infatuated with the idea of ambiguity and vagueness for its own sake, are very straightforward. This one was a little bit thin, but quite moving in its own way.
The basic idea is that a rich dilettante "discovers" a brilliant sculptor in a New England backwater. He agrees to finance the sculptor's education by moving with him to Rome, and financing his early work. At the same time, the dilettante falls in love with a woman who just happens also to get engaged to the sculptor, but who remains in New England.
The sculptor, for whom the book is names, is a narcissistic asshole. His sole redeeming quality seems to be that he is capable, sometimes, of great work. While in Europe, he falls into bad habits, and falls for the incomparable beautiful Christina Light (who becomes the Princess Cassamassima, and gets her own book in a sort of sequel.) From these circumstances, there grow a variety of circumstances that range from the poignant to the tragic, depending on your point of view. James tells the whole thing very well. The dilettante may be too good a person to be believable and Hudson's mother is pretty much a caricature. But even they are fairly well drawn. Christina's character is amazingly well done, and even as a narcissistic asshole, Hudson is fairly interesting.
On top of that, its fairly nice, in a book by James, to have people talking about the topics that they are talking about, instead of talking around them. Or insisting on not saying anything while protesting that they have said too much. Also, there is none of the late style's penchant for throwing in slang in the middle of otherwise ponderous prose. I don't think the words "hang fire," for example, appear once in the book.
I haven't quite decided on a serious project for the rest of the year. I'm torn between one of three things: finishing James (I think I have 5-6 books unread); reading some of the books that I have been unable to finish over the years (Gravity's Rainbow, The Recognitions, you know, the light stuff); or actually finishing Finnegan's Wake. I wonder if the internet would let me do that?
I started this book on vacation last summer, and was quite enjoying it. I put it down briefly to read something else, and then simply never got back to it until sometime a week or two ago. There isn't much reason for this, but there it is.
Its not like this is a particularly hard book. It's about as easy going as James gets. In some ways, it seems to me to be similar to Daisy Miller. These early James' books, before he got totally infatuated with the idea of ambiguity and vagueness for its own sake, are very straightforward. This one was a little bit thin, but quite moving in its own way.
The basic idea is that a rich dilettante "discovers" a brilliant sculptor in a New England backwater. He agrees to finance the sculptor's education by moving with him to Rome, and financing his early work. At the same time, the dilettante falls in love with a woman who just happens also to get engaged to the sculptor, but who remains in New England.
The sculptor, for whom the book is names, is a narcissistic asshole. His sole redeeming quality seems to be that he is capable, sometimes, of great work. While in Europe, he falls into bad habits, and falls for the incomparable beautiful Christina Light (who becomes the Princess Cassamassima, and gets her own book in a sort of sequel.) From these circumstances, there grow a variety of circumstances that range from the poignant to the tragic, depending on your point of view. James tells the whole thing very well. The dilettante may be too good a person to be believable and Hudson's mother is pretty much a caricature. But even they are fairly well drawn. Christina's character is amazingly well done, and even as a narcissistic asshole, Hudson is fairly interesting.
On top of that, its fairly nice, in a book by James, to have people talking about the topics that they are talking about, instead of talking around them. Or insisting on not saying anything while protesting that they have said too much. Also, there is none of the late style's penchant for throwing in slang in the middle of otherwise ponderous prose. I don't think the words "hang fire," for example, appear once in the book.
I haven't quite decided on a serious project for the rest of the year. I'm torn between one of three things: finishing James (I think I have 5-6 books unread); reading some of the books that I have been unable to finish over the years (Gravity's Rainbow, The Recognitions, you know, the light stuff); or actually finishing Finnegan's Wake. I wonder if the internet would let me do that?
doctortdm's review against another edition
2.0
This novel gets rather long in the tooth. I note sooner readers think it reveals character development, I think not, it is an attempt to reveal consciousness. It doesn't work well when the story is told from a central narriator and the characters pondering is limited to their romances.
About 250 pages cut would have improved the novel.
About 250 pages cut would have improved the novel.