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A review by maryparapluie
The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Fiction by Henry James
3.0
This is a tough one to rate because it's five short nouvelles (as James would call them) in one book, and I would argue that they're of varying quality.
The best, I believe, is "The Beast in the Jungle"-- I would give that five stars if it were on its own. I would give "Daisy Miller" and maybe "The Jolly Corner" four stars, "The Turn of the Screw" three stars... and then I absolutely hated "Washington Square."
"The Jolly Corner" and "The Turn of the Screw" are ghost stories, which makes them especially interesting for this format.
Hilariously enough, according to Wikipedia, "'Everybody likes Washington Square, even the denigrators of Henry James', wrote critic Donald Hall[2], and most other commentators have echoed the sentiment. Although James himself regarded the novel with near contempt, readers have enjoyed its linear narrative technique, its straightforward prose (far removed from the convoluted language of James's later career), and the sharply etched portraits of the four main characters. Even the rusty plot revolving around "the will" has charmed many critics with its old-fashioned simplicity."
Give me that convoluted language, I guess.
The best, I believe, is "The Beast in the Jungle"-- I would give that five stars if it were on its own. I would give "Daisy Miller" and maybe "The Jolly Corner" four stars, "The Turn of the Screw" three stars... and then I absolutely hated "Washington Square."
"The Jolly Corner" and "The Turn of the Screw" are ghost stories, which makes them especially interesting for this format.
Hilariously enough, according to Wikipedia, "'Everybody likes Washington Square, even the denigrators of Henry James', wrote critic Donald Hall[2], and most other commentators have echoed the sentiment. Although James himself regarded the novel with near contempt, readers have enjoyed its linear narrative technique, its straightforward prose (far removed from the convoluted language of James's later career), and the sharply etched portraits of the four main characters. Even the rusty plot revolving around "the will" has charmed many critics with its old-fashioned simplicity."
Give me that convoluted language, I guess.