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A review by pushingdessy
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
wtf did I just read
Last month, I picked up "The Haunting of Hill House" as one of my Halloween reads. I wanted to rewatch Mike Flanagan's retelling with the lens of someone who actually knew the source material. After the show ended, "The Haunting of Bly Manor" started playing and I thought, since I'm at it, I might as well hold off rewatching it and read "The turn of the screw" first!
Well, let me tell you. If I hadn't watched the show first, I would have no idea what was going on. I mean, even then, I'm not 100% sure what happened and if it lines up at all with the show or if I'm just projecting in a bid to make sense of Henry James' incredibly convoluted narrative architecture, because the text is never clear about what really happens and the characters seem unable to finish a sentence or thought.
Is there a deeper subtext to all this? Quite possibly yes, and I'm sure that'd be fascinating to explore in a literature class. At face value, as a current-day reader, though, this was pretty much insufferable.
Last month, I picked up "The Haunting of Hill House" as one of my Halloween reads. I wanted to rewatch Mike Flanagan's retelling with the lens of someone who actually knew the source material. After the show ended, "The Haunting of Bly Manor" started playing and I thought, since I'm at it, I might as well hold off rewatching it and read "The turn of the screw" first!
Well, let me tell you. If I hadn't watched the show first, I would have no idea what was going on. I mean, even then, I'm not 100% sure what happened and if it lines up at all with the show or if I'm just projecting in a bid to make sense of Henry James' incredibly convoluted narrative architecture, because the text is never clear about what really happens and the characters seem unable to finish a sentence or thought.
Is there a deeper subtext to all this? Quite possibly yes, and I'm sure that'd be fascinating to explore in a literature class. At face value, as a current-day reader, though, this was pretty much insufferable.