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Feb 24, 2011

Eric rated it:

This is my first James (not counting his little book on Hawthorne and scattered essays on French novelists), and I started it out of a sense of dutiful curiosity. I was not prepared for it to be such an engrossing masterpiece. There so much good stuff here: the psychological portraiture, the descriptive scene painting, the simple human energy of the plot.

James is such an odd bird because he was so steeped in the 19th century French fiction, was a social intimate of such Continenta More...

10 comments like (18 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2011

Mariel rated it:

I'll probably have to make a love/hate bookshelf so that I can add Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady to it. I'm trying to come up with the right words for what I want to say. It's out of my reach and I'm more and more depressed by my inability to be a reasonable person. Fuck it. My brain isn't going to ever do what I want it to. Useless organ. My heart isn't backing it up in the fight either.
I loved getting into Isabel's conflicted mind, her persuasions and her light switches turning on More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2007

Natalia rated it:

Ugh.

If I could describe this book in one word it would be "Laborious."

If I were allowed more space, which apparently I am, I would go on to say that in addition to being deathly slow and horrifically boring it is also a little brilliant, a little impressive, and, if you have the patience to look for it, more than a little interesting.

There's a LOT in here. James wanted this novel to be the antidote to the Jane Austen romance. He wanted to sho More...

3 comments like (20 people liked it)

May 02, 2008

Yulia rated it:

What I love about this edition is that the James expert in the introduction cites all the flaws that were so glaring to me in the beginning of the book: Ralph and his father's constantly applauding Lord Warburton for his fine conversation, the father telling Lord Warburton not to fall in love with his niece (I didn't see that coming!), one of them mentioning how amusing the other is (hahaha). It was just intolerable how heavy-handed the dialogue was. Nor did I find it cute how much of a carica More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2008

Matthew rated it:

God, it felt good to finish this book. Finally. I started it way back when, in September (EDIT: It turns out I started it on August 15th), and it's taken me this long to finish the thing. Perhaps because of the extended way I read it, in stops and starts for the past four months, or perhaps because of its sheer size, or perhaps because it's quite late and I am quite tired in addition to being quite dim-witted, I am having trouble deciding how I want to review this book. So, with that said, bear More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2008

Martine rated it:

The Portrait of a Lady has to be my favourite of the fifteen or so Henry James books I've read. The crowning achievement of James' middle period, when he had honed his powers of observation to perfection but had not yet slipped into the long-winded obscurity that makes his later novels so hard to read, it is in my opinion one of the most perfect novels of the nineteenth century. Very little actually happens in it, but what little does happen is described so exquisitely that you hardly notice it' More...

3 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2007

Beth rated it:

I expected to like this more than I did. I found it needlessly long, occasionally pompous, and ultimately unsatisfying. Still, there's a lot of good stuff in here: the exciting independence of Isabel in the early chapters, her palpable misery in her marriage, the vivid and memorable secondary characters, and above all (for me, at least) the set pieces. James was always able to make me feel like I knew just what a room or garden looked and felt like -- though he also frequently made me feel as th More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Jun 14, 2009

Whitaker rated it:

Four Portraits of a Novel

An Interview with Sigmund Freud circa 1911

Vell, zis book by zis man--vhat vas his name? Henry James--vas very very interesting. He is obviously a deeply conflicted individual. Quite clearly an invert filled mit self-loathzing, desiring ze men und at ze zame time hating himself for doing zo. Ve haf ze heroine of ze novel, Isabel Archer, who is pursued by two men: both of zem handsome, manly (vun of zem is efen called Goodwood) and very rich. Both o More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2009

David added it

It strikes me that one's experience of reading "Portrait of a Lady", which in my edition clocks in at 630 pages, is likely to be colored by one's previous experience with James, and the resulting predisposition. Since my unlikely conversion upon reading "The Ambassadors", I am quite favorably predisposed. Thus, when instead of telling us that "the three people enjoying tea on the lawn were all men", Henry instead delivers himself of this sentence:

"T More...

15 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 17, 2011

Petra X rated it:

I've been reading a lot of Anthony Trollope's books recently and the stories, characters and writing is so much superior to this that I just can't get into it. "Frothy" is a word that comes to mind, also "was he paid by the word?" like Dickens.

I finished the book, finally. It was a chore. I did not find James' portrayal of a woman's personality convincing. That even though she had the financial power which was the reason why her husband had married her, she woul More...

12 comments like (19 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2012

Lara Amber rated it:

I made it 40% of the way through this monstrosity before I had to finally throw in the towel. Apparently no one ever told James "show don't tell" judging by the complete lack of action in this book. In fact nothing ever happens. It just drags on and on in an annoying narrative voice that is too fond of metaphor and long descriptive phrases that frequently cloud more then they illuminate. The characters are complete twits, without a single redeeming quality among them. Judging by t More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 02, 2008

Juliana rated it:

When I finished this book, I threw it down on the table in anger and walked away muttering. I guess we all want books to end like.. well, books! Not like real life. We have enough real life around us. Aren't books for escaping all that?

Maybe. This book is probably a classic because it is complex enough to actually resemble the real world. People make mistakes. Small mistakes. Big mistakes. Life-changing mistakes. They also show a lot of spirit and charisma, which is also real. None o More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Ebookwormy rated it:

Henry James is, admittedly, long winded. At times, one does feel like you want him to move along already. However, he is always worth the read to me.

In this book, I love the character of Isabel Archer. She is young, full of ideas, wants to travel and see the world and have experiences (i remember being that way!). One must also remember that society for young women at this time was much more restrictive and Isabel's ideas less likely to be satisfied. Her greatest quality, however, is More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2008

Adam rated it:

Honestly? Isabel Archer isn't extraordinary at all. So I take this book as kind of a comedy about how a bunch of English pranksters messed with a bland American girl, pretending she was amazing to see what would happen, and then felt pretty bad about it when it turned out wrong. Which is actually pretty close to the real plot, too. The "honest simple faithful guy" found here was way too similar to the farmer guy in "Far From The Madding Crowd" to me, and I guess that's just a More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Gwen rated it:

I went into this knowing literally NOTHING about the book or James' writing. This was one of those books where I'd fall asleep after twelve pages, drop it off of the bed and forget it existed for weeks at a time. The amount of months invested in this book eventually made it much more emotionally potent for me. I expected it to go in a stereotypical direction and it shocked me. The last few chapters went by in an excited blur and I cried, shocked, on the metro.

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Marija rated it:

When I approach a work written by Henry James, I know that I’m going to be reading something that’s very good and well written… something I’ll end up enjoying. But when it comes to writing about one of his stories, trying to organize all of those dense themes coherently on paper, that’s another matter entirely.

The Portrait of a Lady is certainly one of his masterpieces, providing the reader with a brief study of those formative years for Isabel Archer. She’s the epitome of 19th Cent More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 07, 2008

Eleanor rated it:

I picked up this book because I have a (personal) interest in the theme of "The American Woman Abroad." This is the quintessential novel that deals with that idea and at first I wasn't dissapointed in the setting, character or drama that was unfolding. I found myself loving the brave, spirited protagonist, Isabel Archer, and imagined that for her challenging 19th century conventions was no small feat. I have to wonder though, what was Henry James thinking when he thought that by " More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 04, 2009

Kristina rated it:

ALERT: THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!

Goodreads asks what you learned from the book. Here are a few things I learned. (SPOILER ALERT):

1. I don't think marrying a guy who's poor counts as doing something "good" with your money.
2. If the guy you like demands complete and utter submission from his daughter, you might not want to marry him, because there's a good chance he'll expect it from his wife as well, especially if you live in the 19th C. I'm all for More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 28, 2008

Avital rated it:

This book has been a part of my life in the past month, and now that I finished it, it still sinks in. I enjoyed reading such rich prose, full of descriptions of all sorts (adjectives, adverbs...) and deliberate writer's interferences that tell the reader even more about the characters. There is a sense of care about this type of prose, something human, when the storyteller is not as sharp as an ax the way so many write now.
Isabel Archer really came to life for me. She is getting deeper a More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2008

Steven rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 09, 2007

Nathanial rated it:

This is a funny book to read in comparison to Restless House. So much of James' drama comes from his setting you up to admire or be attracted to certain characters for various reasons, and then slowly or suddenly revealing them to be despicable (or vice versa). Zola doesn't give a damn - he expects you to find his characters disgusting, and can't seem to imagine that you wouldn't. Maybe that's part of their different scope of view: James repeatedly addresses us as readers, with flourishes lik More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2007

Anne rated it:

After reading Colm Toibin's The Master a couple months back, I was interested in reading Henry James. I thought it would take a lot of effort to make it through the 19th century classic, but I was shocked to discover after only about ten pages in that I was hooked. James is the king of description - he can spend pages telling you just how someone sat in a chair, or describing a look on someone's face - presumably this is why it has been said that he does not translate so well to film or stage. T More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2008

Ann rated it:

I sometimes worry that my Goodreads page will, if I’m not careful, turn into my personal Society for the Appreciation of Totally Mainstream, Not-At-All-Obscure, Dead European Man-Writers And Their Already-Leatherbound-and-Modern-Library-Canonized Works…but if my (mostly) chaste and (completely) non-ironic passion for Henry James is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. You don't need me to tell you about the finely distilled genius of this book - how the characters link and uncouple from scene More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2008

Pa rated it:

I only faintly remember the moment I fell in love with Paul, but I remember distinctly and vividly the moment I fell in love with The Portrait of a Lady--or more precisely with Henry James' beautiful mind and his art. A masterpiece of intellectual and psychological insight, the Portrait of a Lady tells the story of Isabel Archer, a beautiful young American woman venturing in Europe who after having rejected a couple of marriage offers from very eligible suitors (an English lord and an heir to a More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 26, 2011

Christine rated it:

This book - the story of Isabel Archer, American of sudden inheritance who is thrust into European society, wants never to marry but then does marry, with unexpected results - doesn't really get going until about halfway through, and has an ending I wish James had reconsidered, but for all that it doesn't really matter. One reads James for his sentences.

This had some very satisfying scandal, skeletons and drama as well, though James obscures half of it in backstory and summary. Od More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 21, 2008

Vicki rated it:

The Portrait of a Lady examinins the life of Isabel Archer, a young American woman who must choose between her independent spirit and the demands of social convention.
She moves to England with her aunt and is adored by her uncle and her cousin Ralph. Isabel longs to be an independent woman, answeringe only to herself, Her uncle leaves her enough money to allow her to indeed be independent. Here is where the plot thickens, Isabel falls in love with and marries the Gilbert Osmond, who is ve More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 23, 2007

Loren rated it:

It was of utmost importance that Isabelle Archer, with all of her singular intellectual and ethical gifts as well as her unpolluted virginal sweetness, marry the right man. She doesn't. She picks the wrong, wrong, wrongest one imaginable, and you know she's doing it while she's doing it, and why she's doing it, and it's painstakingly horrible to witness. To the point where you can feel the author's sadistic glee at orchestrating this painful denouement oozing off the pages. Bad Touch, Henry Jame More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Trin rated it:

I both love and hate The Portrait of a Lady. It's so incredibly frustrating that I find rereads quite painful—Isabel, why are you such an idiot? But when you consider how sexually repressed poor James reportedly was, the repression that underlies this novel becomes almost delicious in its intensity. You can't help feel for poor Ralph Touchett, walking around with his hands in his pockets, or even for idiot Isabel, finding nothing but terror in the climactic "white lightning" kiss. I ap More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2007

Anna rated it:

I did list this as my favorite book so I better have it on my list! I read this a long time ago- actually the movie made me read the book. Even though the movie is quasi-Jane Austen, I found myself applying lines from it to my life. It has been so long that I can't think of an example right now, but it was a big part of my life for a while when I was single, traveling, trying to figure out what to do with my life. For those reasons, this book will always have a special place in my heart.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

Didi rated it:

My thoughts on this book are rather hard to put into words. On one hand I was fascinated with this transatlantic panorama of characters. On the other, I just couldn't seem to relate. It's rather an existentialist tragedy, and I've never really enjoyed tragedies.

Isabel, with all her admirers, ends up with Osmond, an American living in Rome. I cannot comprehend how she could not perceive the flaws in his character. Him and Madam Merle seemed to me as two snakes hiding in the grass. Pans More...

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