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May 13, 2010

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

Reading this story was a lot like standing in line opening weekend for a blockbuster you waited a year to see, and being underwhelmed. I was disappointed. I've heard about this story as being one of the best ghost stories ever written. I was so excited to read it. So excited was I, I had to download it to my Kindle to read right away, even though I have this story in one of my paperback collections. I love psychological horror, but I don't think a good psychological horror novel should leave t More...

38 comments like (29 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Creepy. Twisty-turny. Ghosts. Weird kids. Unreliable, possibly insane narrator. Henry James, is there no genre that you will not poke your head into?

No, really. It's interesting though. On the surface, this story is perfect to curl up by the fire with on a cold winter's night. Which is exactly how the book is framed, by the way. As a story told in front of a fireside on a cold winter's night. It's short, it reads quickly, and is open to pretty much whatever you want to make of it. J More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Chiara rated it:

“Oh, sì, possiamo star qui sedute a guardarli, e loro possono darcela a bere sin che vogliono; ma persino quando fingono d’esser perduti nelle loro fiabe, sono sprofondati nella visione dei morti che ritornano.”

Ho letto questo romanzo per la prima volta tre o quattro anni fa e ora, con un esame di letteratura inglese alle porte (toc toc!), ho considerato opportuna una rilettura. Ed è straordinario che mi sorprenda e mi confonda ora come allora.

Cito dal retro-copertina,“u More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2008

Steven rated it:

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

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Andrea rated it:

Henry James is tough and I find his text to be pretty convoluted. I have this "joke": the average letter count/word in this book is about 9. Of course, it's not, but I vaguely remember the need to read this book with a dictionary. That probably only makes me less educated.
It's also old, so the ghost story is not at all thrilling or causing a "page-turner" status. The same thing happens over and over again and it's "scary", all to arrive at an ambiguous climax More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

Kevin rated it:

This is one of those rare occasions that I wish I could modulate my ratings by half-stars; I can't decide if it's three or four. I want to say four because the story is still fresh on my mind this morning but I'm sure that will fade in time, so I'm (somewhat reluctantly) going with three.

I've been making a habit lately of trying not to learn anything about that which I'm going to read just so that I may keep from spoilerating or applying outside influence to my thought processes. I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 19, 2011

Diletta rated it:

Io sono oltremodo perplessa.
Sapevo che la fine di questo libro mi avrebbe lasciato coi miei simpatici interrogativi, ma sono fermamente convinta che mi sia sfuggito qualcosa, sommerso da tutte le ciance della protagonista, probabilmente.
Io adoro le storie di fantasmi, di ogni genere: non che Il giro di vite non mi sia piaciuto, ma penso che se da un lato l'idea sia estremamente buona, dall'altro il buon Henry James si sia un po' perso per strada. Mi spiego.
La protagonista v More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jonathan rated it:

Reading Henry James seems to be like swimming through a thick swamp. His verbosity is a double-edged sword. When it is appropriate, it can be beautifully descriptive; when it's not, it borders on pretention and is tedious. His language was my favorite thing about this book, but the story's ambiguity is also wonderful. I think it separates the cynical from the romantic. (Unfortunately, I side more with the cynic.)

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2011

Simona rated it:

"Perché se egli era innocente, che ero io dunque?"

Romanzo breve senza capo né coda sotto tutti i punti di vista. Non vale neppure la pena di parlarne.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Lavinia rated it:

soundtrack: kate bush / the infant kiss

***

- for a ghost story, it's too introspective.
- if it's not a ghost story (though i was thrilled by the gothic atmosphere)and the governess is / becomes mad, why bother?
- i suspect H.J. wanted to play with the reader's mind. well he succeeded. for two or three times i just wanted to drop the book and start some serious reading :D
- miles and flora are too attached to each other, too cute, fair and perfect in the go More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2011

Shovelmonkey1 rated it:

Henry James uses The Turn of the Screw to highlight the fact that small children can be both sinister and scary!

In 1898, many authors were busily portraying children as sweetness and light (or not mentioning them at all); it was an age and a time when children were to be "seen and not heard". James instead plays on many peoples worst (although at that point possibly unrealised fears) and highlights the fact that as innocents they are succeptible and can easily be picked of More...

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2011

Amalie rated it:

Without a doubt 'The Turn of the Screw' is the most chilling and disturbing ghost story I’ve read. The first time I read it I could not comprehend it so put it down and then started to read again and it was than I began to grasp it and the third time was a chilling exciting marvel which still lingers somewhere in my brain.

It is well known that critics have debated whether 'The Turn of the Screw' is a ghost story or a psychological story of the governess's (story is told from her poin More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2009

Laura rated it:

As most other reviewers have mentioned, Henry James' writing is extremely...dense. Sometimes while I was reading I had a vision of myself as a jungle explorer wielding a machete against the encroaching undergrowth, trying to find the path. Most of the time I enjoyed the challenge, but I have to admit that there were times I gave up on a particular sentence(s) and skipped ahead. Once you get past the style of writing, The Turn of the Screw is a story about...well, it's about "something" More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2010

Mariel rated it:

The Turn of the Screw takes place in multiple rooms in my brain. It hasn't taken up shop in my heart. It's a cold feeling, so the echo is made against stone walls that don't touch the rest of me. It's rare for a Henry James story to go there. If it does, it's in a "I hope that never happens to me" mental knee jerk way. I can't sort out how I feel about it because I'm caught up in the primordial longings. How the hell did they get there? I'm one to half convince myself it never happene More...

28 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2011

Denae rated it:

Forget cabins in remote wooded places or suspicious small towns; I am convinced that English country houses, particularly in cloudy areas, are the most dangerous places to live or visit. At best, you'll be robbed of something valuable. Maybe something you own will turn out to be cursed. Most likely you or someone else in the house will be brutally murdered. If you're lucky, that is. The characters in The Turn of the Screw do not get off so lightly. The book is narrated from the point of view of More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Paquita Maria rated it:

WORDS WORDS WORDS IS THE HOUSE HAUNTED WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS IS SHE CRAZY WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS ARE THEY ALL CRAZY WORDS WORDS WORDS NO IT MUST BE HAUNTED WORDS WORDS WORDS NO SHE MUST BE CRAZY WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS CRAZY WORDS SICKNESS WORDS WORDS WORDS DEATH THE END.

7 comments like (32 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2009

Paul rated it:

This is a great what really happened story where the reader gets to play detective and discover what really happened. Is it ghosts or is the governess truly mad, the clues are afoot. James is a much better story writer than novelist, and this is very thought provoking.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2011

Donna rated it:

My opinion of this one was probably hurt a little by the high expectations set by how often it's praised.

The language is dense but mostly readable. Some passages had me on the edge of my seat, others seemed too drawn out and convoluted. I like that the reader was left to judge the ending for themselves, but I do wish that the landing was a little softer, maybe with a return to the frame story that started us off.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2007

james rated it:

I would have given this four stars if it weren't for the ending. Maybe I was too tired to grasp exactly what he was trying to get at the end, so I guess I'll have to look it over again.

The first half is really good, then I feel it just doesn't pay off at the end. The tension, or the purported tension, just didn't do enough for me.

(For those of you who've read it, I found it rather interesting that the man who brought the story to the campfire would have been 10 years ol More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Artemisia rated it:

Giro di vite non è un romanzetto horror da quattro soldi. Certo, James non è Poe, ma oserei dire che non gli fu affatto da meno. Questo romanzo, a cui darei per esattezza 4 stellette e mezzo, è il racconto di alcune memorie: abbiamo una casa perennamente luminosa, inserita in un contesto tanto dolce quanto calmante. Una splendida campagna, non lontana da un laghetto. Alberi, luce, cose così. Ma una passeggiata, ad un tratto si trasforma nell'inizio della vera tragedia - quella tragedia che era s More...

0 comments like

Dec 01, 2011

Hollyevans rated it:

This is a tricky one. This book is extremely difficult to pin down...so much so that it took me the guts of an hour to decide what rating I'd give it. As a psychological ghost story it succeeds in creating a sense of unease and mystery. But as a story in general, it poses far more questions than it answers leaving the reader confused and unsatisfied.
The main story revolves around a governess who is employed to keep watch over two young children, Flora and Miles, by their absent uncle. Give More...

0 comments like

Aug 01, 2011

Janet added it

I’d wanted to read this for some time, and when I saw the BBC were doing an adaptation on 30 December, I raced to try to get it finished - and managed literally 3 minutes before the programme started!

First published in 1898, The Turn of the Screw tells of an unnamed governess who is engaged to look after two orphan children by their guardian uncle. He tells the governess that he wishes to have no input in their lives and that she must deal with anything that arises as she sees fit, without bothe More...

0 comments like

Mar 19, 2009

Kevin rated it:

I love Poe and since he only wrote 1 very little known novel I picked up Henry James Turn of the Screw. It is a book in the gothic tradition but I can't say I liked it as much as I hoped. There is a definite question on the sanity of the governess and the reality of the ghosts. It makes for a good tale and is sometimes interesting but I dunno, maybe I've seen too many modern horror movies but there was a lack of suspense or horror. That's not to suggest that Poe is any better at this, but wi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2009

Ben rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

shanties rated it:

The Jamesian Re-read #3

'A most wonderful, lurid, poisonous little tale'.
- Oscar Wilde.

(being not a proper comment, just notes to be read after the story).

I’ve always enjoyed the anecdote that inspired James to write this novella. On January the 10th, 1895, he was hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson, at Addington Park (the archbishopric country house since 1807). In front of the hearth, after tea, conversation turned to the ghost stories More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Kaph rated it:

Let me just begin by saying, I wanted to like this book. I’d heard of it, knew the basic premise, and was really looking forward to reading it. I wasn’t even sure I *disliked* it until about a day after I finished it. I’m barely sure now. I think I’d give the play a chance. I could speculate as to the reasons I simply didn’t enjoy this book, and I will, but I think it all boils down to this; the author was American. An Anglophile to be sure, but American none the less. Americans are crap writers More...

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Jan 05, 2012

Amy rated it:

I was pretty sure that I didn't care for Henry James because I could not stand The Portrait of a Lady. I may have to rethink Henry James because I thought The Turn of the Screw was great! I did listen to this book on audiobook, and it was excellently narrated, so that probably helped me through James' verbosity.

I know that I would not have liked this book 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. That was before the time in which there were children in my life. There was more going o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

India rated it:

This is a very wordy , most of the sentences have several clauses and it is sometimes hard to follow what is being said, because of this I think it fails as a ghost story. It isn't gripping and it if it wasn't required reading for a lit class I probably wouldn't have finished it. It does pick up towards the end but in general the plot is too convoluted to make this a good read.

I think my worst criticism is that this book didn't make me care. I didn't care about any of the characters More...

0 comments like

Dec 28, 2011

Kristi rated it:

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

0 comments like

Nov 25, 2011

Mrnotarides rated it:

I have always avoided reading Henry James. I avoided him the way you avoid doing all those things you know have to do, but don't think you can. More than even Melville and Hawthorne, James is the most difficult, no that is the the wrong word, most complex of American authors on a syntatical level. In other words, James' sentences are long, very long and vocabulary will prepare one for the GRE. Out of sheer intellecual laziness, James has sat on my self for years. In a desire to start my new res More...

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