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A review by funktious
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett, C.D. Williams
3.0
Well, that was... interesting!
The first half is sweet, like a dull Eva Ibbotson (the heroine may be similarly lovely and good and naive, but Ibbotson makes it less sickly by adding a lot of humour) but entertaining nevertheless, and you do warm to Emily.
But the second half, well, I don't know which was worse - the racism or the sheer dullness of the melodrama. I'll probably plump for the latter as the former can be explained (but never excused) by the time period. Maybe the latter can as well - I've never read any victorian melodrama and maybe this is standard for the genre, but MY GOD it was dull. The plot was interesting enough, it was the execution that let it down, the many paragraphs to describe the actually rather pedestrian murder attempts (a piece of WOOD on the STAIRS! My God, I need to lie down for a moment!) and the sheer amount of time it took for anything to happen. Thank goodness for Jane Cupp, at least, and Hester too.
And much as I liked Emily in the first half, I could have strangled her for her naivety and credulousness in the second. And Walderhurst for not pointing out that having the Osborns nearby while he was away was a Bad Idea.
Oh and the descriptions of Emily as "large" and "dumb" really started to wear on me after a while.
3 stars, should probably be 2 but I'm being kind.
The first half is sweet, like a dull Eva Ibbotson (the heroine may be similarly lovely and good and naive, but Ibbotson makes it less sickly by adding a lot of humour) but entertaining nevertheless, and you do warm to Emily.
But the second half, well, I don't know which was worse - the racism or the sheer dullness of the melodrama. I'll probably plump for the latter as the former can be explained (but never excused) by the time period. Maybe the latter can as well - I've never read any victorian melodrama and maybe this is standard for the genre, but MY GOD it was dull. The plot was interesting enough, it was the execution that let it down, the many paragraphs to describe the actually rather pedestrian murder attempts (a piece of WOOD on the STAIRS! My God, I need to lie down for a moment!) and the sheer amount of time it took for anything to happen. Thank goodness for Jane Cupp, at least, and Hester too.
And much as I liked Emily in the first half, I could have strangled her for her naivety and credulousness in the second. And Walderhurst for not pointing out that having the Osborns nearby while he was away was a Bad Idea.
Oh and the descriptions of Emily as "large" and "dumb" really started to wear on me after a while.
3 stars, should probably be 2 but I'm being kind.