A review by baebebluejay
The Turning of the Screw by Henry James

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Overall, this book was incredibly dull and disappointing. There was nothing scary about this book at all and the writing made it unenjoyable to read. James would start a sentence with an idea, drag it on with endless commas and then end the sentence with an unrelated idea that left you completely disorientated. Some writers can do that really well and add to the atmosphere of the text but with James it just came off as if he didn’t know how to write. This book comes no where near any Shirley Jackson (particularly the haunting of hill house) who is a true master of the horror genre. The recent Netflix series created off this text was also extremely boring and tedious that I could not finish it. The only reason I finished the book was because it was under 200 pages, otherwise I would have totally DNF’ed. 
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