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    The Portrait of a Lady
    The Portrait of a Lady
    The Portrait of a Lady
    Audiobook21 hours

    The Portrait of a Lady

    Written by Henry James

    Narrated by Wanda McCaddon

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The Portrait of a Lady is the most stunning achievement of Henry James's early period-in the 1860s and '70s, when he was transforming himself from a talented young American into a resident of Europe, a citizen of the world, and one of the greatest novelists of modern times. A kind of delight at the success of this transformation informs this masterpiece.

    When Isabel Archer, a young American woman with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as "a place of brightness, of free expression, of irresistible action." She turns aside from suitors who offer her their wealth and devotion to follow her own path. But that way leads to disillusionment and a future as constricted as "a dark narrow alley with a dead wall at the end." In one of the most moving conclusions in modern fiction, Isabel makes her final choice.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 7, 2008
    ISBN9781400176977
    Author

    Henry James

    Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.

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    Reviews for The Portrait of a Lady

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    • 4/5
      Took the month of February to read this classic, considered the finest of Henry James. I enjoyed his portrait of Isabel Archer, the representation of the American spirit and independence. Being the benefactor of her Aunt Lydia who decides to show her Europe, we too get to experience that genteel English countryside, the meeting of the the local gentry and understand her reluctance to accept marriage proposals from two would be suitors. Isabel's cousin, Ralph loves her also and wants her to experience all her adventures. He sets in motion a change in his dying father's will so that Isabel becomes a rich women. This seemingly noble gesture sets her up for tragedy as her innocence is manipulated and she finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage where she is but one of the possessions of a Mr. Gilbert Osgood. I have to say it helped me to see the IMDB website which showed the cast of characters used for the film production of this story. Think Nicole Kidman as Isabel and most especially John Malkovich for Osmond. though I haven't seen the movie I can certainly picture him as the intelligent yet mentally cruel husband that binds Isabel to her fate. "It was because she had been under the extraordinary charm that he, on his side, had taken pains to put forth. He was not changed; he had not disguised himself, during the year of his courtship, any more than she. But she had seen only half his nature then, as one saw the disk of the moon when it was partly masked by the shadow of the earth. She saw the full moon now—she saw the whole man. She had kept still, as it were, so that he should have a free field, and yet in spite of this she had mistaken a part for the whole” Though it takes awhile to develop the characters the ladder part of the novel produces some good plot development .
    • 5/5
      I LOVE this book and have read it several times. Yes, James's sentences tend to be long and involved, but I like that--it slows down my reading and makes me pay attention to all the words.
    • 5/5
      This book flows smoothly, gently propelled by James's magnificent prose. Not over-written, but rather a precisely-written work designed to tell a very specific story. Isabel, a young woman from New York, recently orphaned, is swept up by her aunt and carried off to England and Europe. She's a wonderfully intelligent, beautiful girl, inherits a fortune, and makes an unfortunate marriage. The unfolding of Isabel's sad decline from being an earnest, eager young woman who wants to experience everything to a much sadder but much wiser woman is amazingly done; James really understands psycology and motives. There are many well-drawn supporting characters, none of whom seems far-fetched or unreal. A most ingruing and marvelous novel.
    • 4/5
      This novel begins slowly, even rather boringly, but it becomes interesting largely due to the singular qualities of Isabel Archer, the novel's main character, and her journalist friend Henrietta. Isabel has a nature that is quietly independent. To her aunt she admits that she "'always wants to know the things one shouldn't do'. 'So as to do them?' asked her aunt. 'So as to choose,' said Isabel."Isabel wants to see the world and vows never to marry. Because of the date at which the book was written, we know that marriage is one of the few options open to her (especially as she hasn't a huge amount of money). She tells her cousin Ralph, 'I don't want to begin life by marrying. There are other things a woman can do'. Ralph, though, is more clear-sighted. 'There's nothing she can do so well,' he says.Henrietta adds interest to the story. Like Isabel she is American, and critical of British life, in particular the aristocracy. She is scathing when she, Ralph and Isabel take a trip to London, and Ralph notes that no one is presently in town. 'There's no one here, of course, but three or four millions of people. What is it you call them - the lower-middle class? They're only the population of London, and that's of no consequence.'The novel is a fairly lengthy one, and some threads are abruptly dropped and never taken up again. Having finished the book, I'm still not really sure why Mme Merle engineered Isabel's marriage - the reasons given in the text aren't entirely convincing. Mme Merle seemed all set to be one of those juicy, scheming, manipulative women, but - rather like Henrietta's fierce attacks on the British way of life - the promise of fireworks is not kept.As a portrait of a young woman who wanted to "look at life for [herself]...but were punished for [her] wish" it is wholly convincing. The relationship between Isabel and her cousin is touching, and Gilbert is repulsive not because he's monstrous, but simply because he's cold. The only character I found too wet to endure is Pansy, who is quite as droopy as her name suggests. [May 2006]
    • 5/5
      Give the book its deserved five stars, but Isabel is boring. In fact, everybody in the book is boring except Ralph. Isabel and Ralph are the yin and yang of good and truth; Merle and Osmond the yin and yang of evil and deception. And who cares about little Pansy? She is simply the vapid cement bonding together the evil duo, as the blood tie bonds together the hero and heroine.

      James mercifully kills off the narrative ten pages after Ralph's demise, as if he knows who the main character really is. The best part of the whole book is when Ralph calls Osmond a "sterile dillettante." You go, Ralph.

      James rewards the reader's perserverance with plenty of depth. The novel is a psychological gold mine. It's only flaws are:

      1. a superfluity of suitors. There is a veritable swarm of them. They come out of the woodwork; lurk in every bush. The women in the book can't sit down in the park without lighting on a hopeless suitor. It gets really old.

      2. a gross, unforgiveable scarcity of Ralph.
    • 4/5
      Magistraal in breedte en diepte, maar toch niet perfectschrijftechniek: elk hoofdstukje begint beschouwend, vanuit het auteursstandpunt of met introspectie van een van de karakters, meestal gevolgd door spitse of subtiele dialoog die nieuwe informatie toevoegt; over het algemeen lange, zeer bewerkte zinnen van hoger niveau, soms heel zware constructies; dialogen zijn van enorm hoog niveau, vooral door de dingen die niet gezegd worden of de subtiele hintskarakters: scenes met Rosier zijn niet geloofwaardig,want is te geconstrueerd in functie van de plot; aandeel seksualiteit komt nergens aan bod in de relatie Isabel-Osmond; pvallend is ook het ontbreken van een verwijzing naar de psychologische impact van het dode zoontje structuur: over het algemeen chronologische opbouw, maar na sommige essenti?le gebeurtenissen wordt er een sprong in de tijd gemaakt, zonder dat de grote veranderingen helemaal worden uitgeklaard; pas heel geleidelijk worden informatie-elementen gegeven die iets meer verduidelijken; zeker naar het einde toe zijn er enkele ongeloofwaardige passages (Rosier, vriendschap Osmond-Goodwood, slotscene met Goodwood)
    • 4/5
      A bit of an abrupt ending, but it was, after all a portrait of a lady and not the life of one. Beautiful and complex without being too downcast.
    • 4/5
      This book is a character study about a woman who comes into money and values her freedom, but ironically chooses a husband who marries for money and limits her freedom. It uses travel and social gatherings as plot devices to further develop the characters. It was published in 1881, so be prepared for lengthy sentences written in the style of a past era. Makes me glad I didn't live back then.
    • 2/5
      Hmmm, this is one of those classics you are supposed to read. Instead I listened to it. All twenty-three hours. One of those books you force yourself to finish, mainly because you started it. I found really not much of redeeming value in this long tiring portrayal of the miseries of the lovelorn. Isabella, and I strain to remember if that was her name the object of the tortures of committing her life to a man though she fought it pretty much every step of the way. Well more than this man as it turned out. In fact a number of them.And through the twists and turns a of a relatively mindless plot I was left hanging in suspense at the conclusion as I tried to decipher what every did happen to her. Was that just me? Maybe, but I also have to say it didn't really seem to matter that much.
    • 4/5
      Miss Isabel Archer, a young lady from America, goes with her aunt to visit England and then the continent. She rejects two offers of marriage in the name of trying out a life of freedom, but then irrationally accepts a third offer, much less impressive than either of the previous ones, and things go downhill from there quite quickly.James is hit or miss for me; this one is a bit of both. For the first third of the novel I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was enjoying it, but the rest of the story was quite a slog, especially once James' trademark dreariness kicked in. I don't at all mind a sad story, but a dispassionately bleak one is certainly not my cuppa.
    • 5/5
      I'd heard mention of the main character, Isabel Archer over the years, and was delighted to finally get the chance to figure her out for myself and I will say, she was one complicated character. But then, they were all complicated characters. Early in the novel, Isabel, (an American) travels to Great Britain to stay with her aunt and cousin in the English countryside. Somehow, she manages to have not just one but two manic suitors, one of which followed her across the Atlantic to beg her to marry him. But Isabel has other ideas. And when she inherits a lot of money she decides to travel and play the field.In Italy, she meets Madame Merle, who becomes a close friend and in no time Isabel has another potential husband. Decisions decisions. I'll leave it there for the half dozen people left in the world who haven't already read the book. But why do these Victorian female characters always have so many men to choose from???A couple of words about point of view because in this novel it's important. James explores and makes evident several points of view and not everybody is who they seem to be. It's what makes this psychological novel so darn compelling. Honestly, I could barely put it down. The pacing is absolutely wonderful. And I really don't know if there is another more endearing character in literature than Ralph Touchette ( is that a play on words?). Or a more annoying character than Henrietta Stackpole (again with the name). But the language, the salubrious, evocative, beautiful, sometimes overbearing language. Oh my. Yes, it takes some getting used to but after fifty pages or so you're on your way.So much to ponder, a mystery to figure out although I admit I had it pegged from fairly early on, and the ever present question: what will Isabel do? Absolutely glorious.
    • 5/5
      The portrait of a lady by Henry James is a magnificent novel. Three years ago, I started reading more classics. Over the past 15 years, I have three times started reading this novel, with two false starts abandoning it each time after a false start, but this time round the magnificent prose style gripped me.I was really blown away by this novel. It is one of the best novels I have ever read. So far, I had only read some of the shorter novels and novellas or tales of Henry James. The portrait of a lady is an incomparable reading experience.It is incredible how James can keep the story so enticing for more than sixhundred pages, without ever giving the reader a sense of reading fatigue. It has given me a push to read more of his grand novels.I rarely give five stars to a novel, but The portrait of a lady belongs to the category of ultimate novels, generously earning a five-star rating.
    • 3/5
      Henry James pursuit of the exact meaning of his sentences does a great deal for his word count. None the less, he does convey nuanced communication. the portrayal of the principal character of this novel does leave me with a good deal of pity for the lot of even upper class women in the time period. Am I left with a number of clear and striking images from this effort? Sadly, not at this remove in time.
    • 3/5
      I'm sure this is one of those books that is supposed to be studied for greater meanings, but I didn't do that. I'm so aggravated at Isabel. She had so many people in her corner and still ends up with a POS man. I love her sweet cousin.
    • 4/5
      Portrait was the first James I read, many years ago, and I enjoyed it enough that I've read almost all the rest of his novels (Casamassima can wait until I have my eternal rest) and the best known stories. So, it did the trick there. On re-reading, I confess to being a bit disappointed. The first third (we meet Isabel) is perfectly charming; the middle third (Isabel meets Osmond) is kind of a mess; and the final third (we meet the 'real' Osmond) just brings home how nonsensical the middle third is. All of this is because of my love for the later James.

      That love comes from his turn away from plot, towards interpretation: what interests him is watching his characters try to make sense of the world, including themselves and their own actions. In Portrait, we get only a tiny bit of that, and instead a whole lot of plot, which was never James' strong suit. This is all made terribly obvious by the statement and restatement, by narrator and characters, that these people don't know why they do what they do, and that nobody can find out. We do finally learn why Madame Merle acts as she does, but even then it's resolved at the level of plot--a character, one who otherwise gives no sign of intelligence whatsoever, just blurts it out.

      All of what works here carries over into the later novels (problems of love, of pain, of loss, of confusion), but it's done with much more skill and craft and insight in the second half of James' career. It's also much harder to read, and I understand why people might rather stick with Portrait. And I'm going to read a book about this one, in the hope that it changes my mind.

      But I have a hard time imagining that I'll pick this up for a third time.
    • 5/5
      The story of a young, orphaned woman, Isabel Archer who arrives in England with her aunt. She is 23 years of age and is filled with bright optimism and doesn't want to settle but desires freedom. Men fall for her and she refuses them. Isabel had no money but when she inherits a large sum that she had no idea was going to come her way, this changes everything. She is no longer free but burdened by the burden of this inheritance. She is taken in by some two ex patriots who have their eye on this fortune. The rest of the story is about the choices she made and will make and the effects it has on her. I loved the prose, the characters, and the themes.
    • 2/5
      I did not enjoy The Portrait of a Lady, though I see its inherent worth as part of the Anglo-European canon of "classics". Henry James write compelling novels. I found Isabel Archer insufferable, although I did sympathize with her inevitable fate.
    • 4/5
      Alright, yes, this is slow-moving, detailed and introspective. Why does anyone read Henry James if that is not what they want?But in addition to those qualities, it has wit and social satire involving real characters trying to work out their lives. Does it have less comic activity than that other wordy nineteenth century writer and satirist, Charles Dickens? Yes, but in place of Dickens’ comic caricatures, we have real characters, even the women. With James, I feel that I am exploring the complex choices of a variety of women characters who could be dealing with equally difficult choices today (unlike the one-dimensional ideals of Dickens’ women). The specifics of their choices may be different from contemporary conditions, but I can imagine these characters as people wrestling with modern issues.The book looks at the unusual marriage choices of a number of women – Mrs. Touchett’s life separate from a husband she seems indifferent to; Mme Merle’s unhappy marriage which has left her in relative poverty, reliant on the generosity of friends; the Contessa’s sham of a marriage to a philandering man she despises; Henrietta’s unmarried relationship with her admiring Bantling, which she eventually transforms into a conventional marriage; and at the centre, Isobel’s initial choice to reject two attractive offers before finally accepting the worst of her options. The first part of the book is taken up with Isobel’s background and character, focusing on her independence and unconventionality. She is a clever and thoughtful young woman who does not want to be tied into the restricted domestic life of most of the women she knows. Her observations are often sharp and witty. Drawn to her ambition and independence, and at the suggestion of her cousin Ralph Touchett, Ralph’s father leaves her a large inheritance. In her naivety, or her attraction to an intelligent worldly woman, Isobel is drawn into the circle of the interesting Mme Merle as someone who seems to live a life outside of convention but still within respectable society. She is charmed by Mme Merle’s sophisticated friend Gilbert Osmond, and takes him at face value, although Mme Merle has manipulated the situation to marry Isobel to Gilbert so that he can take advantage of her money. It’s not really clear why she marries Osmond, although there is the pressure of convention, and it later appears that they deceived each other in their reliance on social conventions. Both put on their best appearances and fell for what they saw in the other.When Isobel realizes that Gilbert has no feelings for her and intends only to keep her, like his daughter, as an attractive and useful addition to his chilling collection of beautiful objects, she concludes that her only choice is to live up to the marriage vow she made and live with Gilbert in misery. This seems an odd conclusion given the many different models among her friends and her willingness to reject convention. Her generosity of spirit perhaps impels her to stay in order to support Gilbert’s daughter, and fighting convention all the time is a hard choice, particularly when the unconventional relationships of her friends appears problematic and unattractive. Perhaps this is why she finally needs the excuse of Ralph Touchett’s illness to break with Gilbert.The ending is, of course, ambiguous. After the very touching scene of Ralph’s death, Isobel returns to Rome, either to submit to Gilbert or to confront him. The strength of her connection to Ralph, and her rejection (again) of Caspar Goodwood’s demand that she go with him, lead me to believe that she is going to break finally with Gilbert. She is a strong figure, and she knows her mind. I take it that she will go her own way, as she always has, and accept the consequences.As always, a fascinating, fully absorbing study by Henry James that rewards readers who are looking for thoughtful social and psychological insight.
    • 4/5
      Wonderfully thorough psychological novel, the thoroughness can drag at times.
    • 5/5
      Isabel Archer refuses to follow a life that is too prescribed by classical romantic notions. She is determined to find and follow her own path, or remain unsatisfied. This characteristic rules her as a number of suitors make themselves known. The story is primarily about what leads to the choice she makes, and its repercussions. Several other characters are intriguing and their roles each become clear. I had trouble placing the relevancy of Henrietta's story; I believe it clarifies that James' message was not about refusing women the right to make independent choices, but about ensuring illusions are fully dispelled before a choice is made. I really enjoyed this novel for its being chock full of people who make sharp observations, if not always accurate. There is no comedy of misunderstandings here, only analysis that is either lacking or overdone. Henry James knows how to get inside characters' heads and make himself at home, offering strong, natural motives for actions and dialogue that is brilliant both for what is said and what is not. The ending is very satisfying and comes together beautifully. I'm open to reading more of James' novels, but I suspect this will remain my favourite.
    • 3/5
      The first book of Henry James that I have enjoyed. A wonderful picture of the life of Americans of unearned incomes in Europe in the Victorian era.Read Samoa Dec 2003
    • 5/5
      American Henry James thought long and hard before putting pen to paper to write The Portrait of a Lady. He was determined to answer his critics by producing a literary masterpiece. He likened his process of writing this novel to the erection of a particularly fine building: a classical building of course. In his preface to the novel James was at pains to point out this process:“So far I reasoned, and it took nothing less than that technical rigour. I now easily see, to inspire me with the right confidence for erecting on a plot of ground the neat and careful and proportioned pile of bricks that arches over it and that was thus to form, constructionally speaking a literary monument…………That solicitude was to be accordingly expressed in the artful patience with which as I have said I piled brick upon brick. The bricks for the whole counting over - putting for bricks little touches and inventions and enhancements by the way - affect me in truths well nigh innumerable and as ever so scrupulously fitted together and packed in.”This extraordinary preface prepares the reader for the long haul, but it also confidently claims that the reader will be in the safe hands of a master craftsman and storyteller, one who is blessed with a gift that can reveal aspects of the human condition to the patient reader. Patience is perhaps the supreme virtue for Henry James as the last sentence of this monument of a novel is:“She walked him away with her, however, as if she had given him now the key to patience.”Patience is what a modern reader will need for the first three quarters of this novel, but as Henry James says it will have it’s rewards. He moves his readers crablike through the first chapters where he introduces some of the main characters and sets them in a beautiful old Country House in England. His writing is delicate and fine and when we meet his central character: Miss Isabel Archer we are soon lost in admiration for her independence and wit, expressed in some splendid conversation exchanges with her hosts at Gardencourt. Miss Archer is a young American lady of exceptional talent who values her independence above all things and one can’t help feeling that Henry James imbued much of his own character in the portrait of this lady. Fine, splendid, delicate are words that we could use to describe the society that James is portraying here. These are people with independent incomes living in mid nineteenth century England, who have impeccable manners and who can call on titled individuals as their friends. Miss Archer from America can fit into this society through her intelligence and wit and because of her good American breeding. This book is about upstairs people, nobody from downstairs gets a look in.The story line of the novel follows the career of Miss Archer. She dazzles almost everybody she meets. She has offers of marriage from Lord Warburton a fine Englishman with radical ideas who is forging a career as a diplomat and also from Casper Goodwood a leading American industrialist. She rejects them both in pursuit of something finer for herself. When her protector old Mr Touchett dies, on the advice of his invalid son Ralph he leaves Miss Archer a fortune and so suddenly she is even more attractive on the marriage market. She travels to the Italian home of Mrs Touchett, where under guidance from Madame Merle she meets Gilbert Osmond, the embodiment of fine taste and culture. After a courtship she decides to accept Gilbert Osmond waiving away Lord Warburton and Casper Goodwood who have followed her to Italy. Osmond has been married before and has a young daughter Pansy who has just left the convent to live with him and his new wife. It doesn't work well for Isabel Archer, who after the first year of marriage becomes estranged from her traditionalist husband, but she soon grows to love his young daughter. It is Pansy’s prospects on the marriage market that bring Isabel Archer’s big mistake to a head and the novel’s main theme then becomes how Isabel can come to terms with her future.The novel was originally serialised in Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan’s magazine before being released as a novel a year later in 1881. The novel gains both power and depth as you read through; the almost painstaking preparatory work in the first sections of the novel reap rewards once the story starts to unfold. It is the quality of James’s writing that kept me reading; his descriptions, conversations and character building are first class and once the story gets rolling the groundwork provides an excellent reference for the characters and their actions. Henry James valued his own independence and so one feels he is speaking from the heart when he is describing Isabel Archers point of view. He never married himself and it is therefore no surprise to learn of Isabel Archer’s mistake once she falls into that trap. There may be some evidence for thinking that the author of The portrait of a lady was a misogynist. For example his heroine for all her intelligence, manners and charm has an inherent character fault: it is her pride that in the end leads her into a miserable existence. Most of the other female characters are shown as manipulative and uncaring or dull and it is only the young virginal Pansy that can claim to be good. By contrast there are plenty of good and upstanding male characters; Lord Warburton, Casper Goodwood, Ralph and old Mr Touchett, although the most evil characterisation is reserved for Gilbert Osmond.This is a slow moving novel whose storyline can be pretty well predicted, but this is not why we read Henry James. We read him for his characterisation, his brilliant descriptions and his observations on the human condition as well as his skill as a novel writer. There is no evidence of his rather mannered and tortured sentence structures that he favoured in his later novels. An added bonus for readers today is the depiction of life in mid nineteenth century England, even if it is reserved for the top tier of society. Yes James can sound snobbish and a little prissy at times and this in the end makes me think that his excellent novel is not a great novel. 4.5 stars
    • 5/5
      I have just finished reading Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. I had read it about 8 years back, and in this my second reading, I am as much affected by the beauty of the writing and the charm of the protagonist, as I was then. This novel is about a young and attractive American whose life takes an unexpected turn when her Aunt decides to' bring her out'' in England. Isabel is young and idealistic, with all the exuberance and vitality of youth. She bubbles with optimism, and lays stake to a higher moral ground. At the same time, she has that sense of infallibility and invulnerability that only youth enjoys.The novel shows her growth from youth to adulthood. On this road of life, Isabel's ideals and ideas collide with the reality of life. A higher moral consciousness is not enough to stop one from making wrong decisions because of poor judgement.Though she hangs on to her ideals, the world is not what she expected it to be, and she suffers" the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".. She suffers the pain of realising that God is not in His heaven, and all is not right with the world. Early in the book, with all the nonchalance and insouscance of the young, she has blithely declared that people suffer too easily. She has to eat her words in the course of the story.Well, that is what growing up is about. When we realise that we too are of the common mould, and not special enough to be protected from suffering or martyrdom. I read somewhere that Isabel is one of the great fictional heroines of classical literature, belonging to the category of Elizebeth Bennett and Jane Eyre. But whereas their romances end with a happy ever after touch, Isabel's is ambiguous. She is not of the Anna Karenina or Emma Bovary variety, those bored housewives who seek excitement in extra marital affairs that eventually lead to their downfall. Isabel is made of sterner metal, and she lives up to the homily that with great freedom comes great responsibility.I recommend this book to every reader.
    • 5/5
      Give the book its deserved five stars, but Isabel is boring. In fact, everybody in the book is boring except Ralph. Isabel and Ralph are the yin and yang of good and truth; Merle and Osmond the yin and yang of evil and deception. And who cares about little Pansy? She is simply the vapid cement bonding together the evil duo, as the blood tie bonds together the hero and heroine.

      James mercifully kills off the narrative ten pages after Ralph's demise, as if he knows who the main character really is. The best part of the whole book is when Ralph calls Osmond a "sterile dillettante." You go, Ralph.

      James rewards the reader's perserverance with plenty of depth. The novel is a psychological gold mine. It's only flaws are:

      1. a superfluity of suitors. There is a veritable swarm of them. They come out of the woodwork; lurk in every bush. The women in the book can't sit down in the park without lighting on a hopeless suitor. It gets really old.

      2. a gross, unforgiveable scarcity of Ralph.
    • 3/5
      I haven't read much Henry James before (I might possible have read The Europeans previously but I couldn't swear to it, and to be honest if The Portrait of a Lady is representative then I'm not sure if I'm going to be reading much in the future. I had great difficulty maintaining any interest at all in any of the characters, even in the heroine Isabel Archer (who is supposedly a remarkable woman) and I couldn't get a sense that the characters could ever have been real people. Isabel Archer is a young American woman who is invited by her aunt to spend some time with her in Europe. Mrs Touchett has her permanent home in Florence, only visiting her husband at his house of Gardencourt, overlooking the Thames Valley in England, for a month or so each year. But it is to Gardencourt that she initially takes Isabel, to meet her husband and her invalid son Ralph. Appreciating Isabel's determination that she must do something with her life, which has caused her to reject two offers of marriage during her stay in England, he is instrumental in obtaining for her the legacy which allows her to pursue the true freedom that she craves. But Isabel's new independence takes her to Paris, Florence and Rome the freedom which she craves remains elusive...To be honest I've never come across an account of the grand European tour that has just come across as so boring! The lives that are being led just seem so stultifyingly dull. I had hoped that when the novel reached Florence it would catch my attention as I've spent a lot of time there in the past, but no! According to the blurb on the back this is 'one of the finest novels in the English language' but do fine novels have to be so dull? It's not just that nothing seems to happen for long stretches, that I can cope with, but I can't cope with the artificiality of the characters.I'm giving this three stars because it seems too well written to give it less but I can't say that I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      This book took me about two months to read! I read it at my son's urging. Happily, in the end, I thought it was worthwhile. I enjoyed a number of good moments and, in comparison to other "epics" (e.g. "One Hundred Years of Solitude") which I have recently tackled, the gain was worth the pain. It was quite a story! I really enjoyed the way in which James sketched the characters in terms of their motives and attitudes within the context of societal norms (both prevalent and evolving). It was too bad that the goodies were buried in tons of 19C bloated verbiage and, surely, hundreds of impossibly long (and yet so exquisitely constructed) paragraphs, And despite all of the palpable passion, the total absence of steamy sex scenes was a bitter pill to swallow. Throw us a bone, Henry James! In sum,however, the book was worth reading, and parts of the story are bound to stick with me. As an aside: I am looking forward to renting the movie version (1996) of the novel, in which Nicole Kidman plays Isabel. (Sadly, the preview looks awful!) I hope the protagonists -- for their own sake and that of the novel's dramatic integrity as a 20C interpretation --- will share at least a few moments of lust. Because that's what most people are and do. But my expectations are low.
    • 5/5
      Mind which edition you're reading; the earlier one, published in the 1880's, is very different from the final one.
    • 4/5
      My first thought was along the lines of "Alright, but Jane Austen did it better," and then halfway through my esteem somewhat increased as I began to hear the music of James' prose. I see now the roots of elements I enjoy in William Gass' work and understand why he holds James in such esteem, but I still think Austen did it better. Also, Pansy and her father, EVEN as characters, just plain CREEPED me out.
    • 2/5
      I'm not sure why I ended up taking this book out of the pile my mom was throwing out. At the time I either thought it was important? Or I thought that she really liked it and wanted to read it because of that? I talked to her about it later and it turns out she was pretty indifferent to it, and so was I. Parts of it were well written, and I liked the ending, but 600 pages is way too long to spend on how little happens in this novel (three marriage proposals and one entirely unshocking plot twist, which is visible from miles away). Unlike Madame Bovary there was a point to the fact that nothing interesting happens; the author gives every impression of the belief that he's telling a legitimate story.
    • 5/5
      Dieses Buch habe ich förmlich verschlungen, so sehr war ich fasziniert von der Geschichte, vor allem aber von der ungeheuren Treffsicherheit in den Formulierungen des Autors. Die Beschreibungen der Charaktere und die herrlichen Dialoge sind voll sanfter Ironie. Dabei befasst sich James intensiv mit der Weltsicht und der inneren Motivation seiner Figuren und lässt sie für den Leser lebendig werden. Besnders gelungen ist für mich die Figur des Gilbert Osmond, dessen herablassende Arroganz und Selbstgefälligkeit mir bei manchen Dialogen (mit seiner Frau) kalte Schauer über den Rücken gejagt hat. Mag die Welt, die Henry James beschreibt, uns zwar heute fremd sein, aber sein Schreibstil ist für mich sehr modern!