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Title: The Portrait of a Lady
Author: Henry James
Genre: Classic Literature
Length: 624 pages
Published: 1991
Publisher: Everyman's Library
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Isabel Archer's main aim in life is to protect her independence. She is not interested in settling down and compromising her freedom for the sake of marriage. However, on a trip around Europe with her aunt, she finds herself captivated by the charming Gilbert Osmond, who is very interested in the idea of adding Isabel to his collection of beautiful artworks...
My Review:
I give this book a 2 out of 5.
The synopsis above is short, sweet, and to the point. Unlike this book. I like most books I read, I mean I gave Lolita three stars and that had an absolutely disgusting plot. So for me to give this two stars? Yeah, it's that dull, and the complete opposite of The Portrait of a Lady.
First off, paragraphs that are longer than a page...well, let's just say YAWN. I will admit, I skimmed a lot of these paragraphs. I found that reading mostly the dialogue and a few sentences of the paragraphs allowed me to completely grasp the story. I definitely enjoy Henry James in much shorter format. 600+ pages of "Will Isabel ever marry?" is just too much. Yes, the time when James was writing was a much different time, so the writing style of that time is a lot different from now, but it made for a long, dull book.
Seriously, if you ever have trouble sleeping, read this book. I read it in about a month's time, but only because I really buckled down and had to force myself to.
The storyline itself was good, it was more the writing style that I hated. True to every James story I've read, he leaves the ending sort of wide open and leaves the reader with questions. The beginning is filled with the usual "meet the cast" chapters. The middle felt like a whole lot of nothing. There really wasn't anything to mark the passage of time, except maybe a random sentence in the middle of an opening paragraph (or in the middle of a chapter!) to say how much time has passed. I felt like the book could have been separated into a few different acts. Act I: Isabel's arrival to England and her meeting of Mr. Osmond in Rome; Act II: a year or two later where we meet Pansy Osmond, find out about Isabel's marriage, deal with the courting of Pansy Osmond; and Act III: Isabel's return to England and the events that occur there. At least if the novel had been separated like that, it would have clearly marked the passage of time.
The last few chapters are where all the action happens. Not action as in bombs blowing up or anything. But the discovery of Isabel that her marriage was basically a sham (sorry for the spoiler!). You see how absolutely unhappy Isabel is in her marriage and wish she could get out of it. She returns to England, against her husband's wishes, because her dear cousin, Ralph is on his death-bed. While there she gets one last visit from one of her prior suitors, Caspar Goodwood. He still loves her. They speak, they kiss, she flees. Two days later, he goes to find her at her friend's home in London. She's returned to Rome.
And the story ends there leaving the reader to wonder if Isabel returns to Rome to be with her horrible husband or to take the first steps in divorcing him. You also have to remember that Isabel had promised her dear stepdaughter, Pansy, that she would come back. Caspar is left to wait, once again, for his one true love. And the reader is left with questions that will never be answered.
Sometimes it's nice to have an open-ended conclusion to a story. I personally like to feel that Isabel went back to Rome to tell her husband off, divorce him and return to Caspar's waiting embrace. But somehow, I doubt that's what James wanted for his characters. He seems to have a penchant for ending his stories tragically.
Mostly, I'm rating this so low because it's really a very long book with a barely interesting plot, and it's very, very dull.
First off, paragraphs that are longer than a page...well, let's just say YAWN. I will admit, I skimmed a lot of these paragraphs. I found that reading mostly the dialogue and a few sentences of the paragraphs allowed me to completely grasp the story. I definitely enjoy Henry James in much shorter format. 600+ pages of "Will Isabel ever marry?" is just too much. Yes, the time when James was writing was a much different time, so the writing style of that time is a lot different from now, but it made for a long, dull book.
Seriously, if you ever have trouble sleeping, read this book. I read it in about a month's time, but only because I really buckled down and had to force myself to.
The storyline itself was good, it was more the writing style that I hated. True to every James story I've read, he leaves the ending sort of wide open and leaves the reader with questions. The beginning is filled with the usual "meet the cast" chapters. The middle felt like a whole lot of nothing. There really wasn't anything to mark the passage of time, except maybe a random sentence in the middle of an opening paragraph (or in the middle of a chapter!) to say how much time has passed. I felt like the book could have been separated into a few different acts. Act I: Isabel's arrival to England and her meeting of Mr. Osmond in Rome; Act II: a year or two later where we meet Pansy Osmond, find out about Isabel's marriage, deal with the courting of Pansy Osmond; and Act III: Isabel's return to England and the events that occur there. At least if the novel had been separated like that, it would have clearly marked the passage of time.
The last few chapters are where all the action happens. Not action as in bombs blowing up or anything. But the discovery of Isabel that her marriage was basically a sham (sorry for the spoiler!). You see how absolutely unhappy Isabel is in her marriage and wish she could get out of it. She returns to England, against her husband's wishes, because her dear cousin, Ralph is on his death-bed. While there she gets one last visit from one of her prior suitors, Caspar Goodwood. He still loves her. They speak, they kiss, she flees. Two days later, he goes to find her at her friend's home in London. She's returned to Rome.
And the story ends there leaving the reader to wonder if Isabel returns to Rome to be with her horrible husband or to take the first steps in divorcing him. You also have to remember that Isabel had promised her dear stepdaughter, Pansy, that she would come back. Caspar is left to wait, once again, for his one true love. And the reader is left with questions that will never be answered.
Sometimes it's nice to have an open-ended conclusion to a story. I personally like to feel that Isabel went back to Rome to tell her husband off, divorce him and return to Caspar's waiting embrace. But somehow, I doubt that's what James wanted for his characters. He seems to have a penchant for ending his stories tragically.
Mostly, I'm rating this so low because it's really a very long book with a barely interesting plot, and it's very, very dull.
You can purchase The Portrait of a Lady through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format.
Have you read The Portrait of a Lady? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!
Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.
Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.
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