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Apr 24, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

What would Daisy Miller have to do in today's society to be talked about the way she was in this book? I expect there would be more than a little public nudity involved. Probably a DUI arrest, maybe some time doing community service. Rehab. Her own reality show and line of hand bags. Even then, she wouldn't be snubbed by society because at that point, she'd be famous, and however much individuals might disapprove now, we love our celebrities. Perhaps there are small groups, here and there, where More...

39 comments like (25 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Henry rated it:

Daisy Miller,(real name Annie)is making the Grand Tour of Europe.With her timid mother and rambunctious, nine year old brother ,Randolph.The American teenager,is from a rich Schenectady,New York family, the father remained in America, taking care of business.She's a great flirt, which the Victorian Era Europeans, are shocked!Going on walks with men ,unchaperoned!They say, she's gone too far.At a Swiss hotel,by Lake Geneva,Frederick Winterbourne,an idle expatiate,of well to do Americans,meets More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Yulia rated it:

a flimsy glance of an unintriguing character. i couldn't feel sorry for her; she seemed too frivolous to pity. and the double standard at the end is rather heavy-handed.

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2008

Fred rated it:

This little story catalyzed a lot of late 19th century debate about American values and European values and--particularly--the confident, un-blushing American girl who is not inclined to conform to the snobbish tastes and attitudes of the upper class people she meets as her family becomes wealthy.

"Daisy Miller" became a debatable type of American girl, Daisy Millerism a controversial kind of topic.

Contemporary readers should give some thought to how Daisy's majo More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Lavinia rated it:

I really don't get why Americans consider Daisy Miller as an offense to them. She's so innocent, free-spirited, bold and eager to know the local people. Because Giovanelli is anything but below her 'status' and it's quite obvious he's not after her money. The real offense would be Winterbourne; He's American but he's so much European by now, he's too mannered, he looks for the most sophisticated circles a.s.o. So in the end he's the loser in this Jamesian eternal battle: Europe VS America.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Dawn Michelle rated it:

This was a weird little book. I don't know what else to say about it.
This book is about Daisy Miller, a young girl from America who is exploring Europe with her mother (who seems painfully shy) and her completely out-of-control brother.
Daisy is a sweet girl, with "grand" idea's and is unconcerned with convention and gossip. She does things frequently that are very inappropriate without seeming to care.
She meets a young man (Winterbourne) who she seems to bewitch from More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Artemisia rated it:

Quello che ho pensato leggendo Daisy Miller è stato: oh, ma Daisy sembra davvero uno dei personaggi secondari di Jane Austen. Uno di quei personaggi che l'eroina di turno deve sempre impegnarsi a salvare, una ragazzina troppo sconsiderata, immatura, impulsiva, indecorosa, per sopravvivere nell'Europa décadent. In una parola, troppo americana. <br />Sia chiaro, non che Daisy non sia affascinante. Ha tutto lo charme di una donna intelligente, è bella di una grazia luminosa, e ha cura del proprio f More...

0 comments like

Jan 04, 2010

Karen added it

Daisy Miller is the story of a naive young woman and the head-over-heels man who chases her. Daisy is an interesting character who seems to be way before her time. In her society, her vivaciousness, recklessness and trust in strangers earns her the scorn of the well-to-do. In today's world, Daisy would be a youtube star and have her own reality dating show. Yet unlike today's 15 minutes of fame seekers, Daisy has an innocence about her that leads her to be unable to comprehend why her behavior s More...

0 comments like

Feb 04, 2012

Victoria rated it:

It's hard to call anything by Henry James a quick and easy read, but this story may come closest. It's beautifully contained and concise: the aptly name Winterbourne meets a charming American girl in Rome, flirts with her, condemns her careless behavior, and regrets it after her death. That's it. We're always in Winterbourne's head and perspective so we're never quite sure of Daisy ourselves, not even at the end when Winterbourne decides that all along she was too innocent to understand the whis More...

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Feb 03, 2012

Derek rated it:

Daisy Miller was my first foray into Henry James and, contrary to all of the sorta-negative things I'd heard, I found it surprisingly readable and enjoyable. It's not the type of book I'd recommend to anyone, nor is it one that I could see myself revisiting any time soon, but there were enough pleasures sprinkled throughout this extremely brief narrative to keep me interested.

Admittedly, I'm not the ideal reader: I don't tend to care to read about the indolent wealthy (an infatuation More...

1 comment like

Jan 28, 2012

Someoneyouknow rated it:

During the previous college term I’ve discovered some literary gems (a huge thanks to my Lit teacher!) and this novella is one of them. The true driving force of this story is the psychological ambiguity/ambivalence, so I’ll focus on the characters rather than the plot in my review.
At the beginning I found Winterbourne to be a rather interesting protagonist, the feelings he had for Daisy, his jealousy and failed attempts to understand her added spice and romance to story, made it even more More...

0 comments like

Sep 28, 2011

Baley rated it:

>>Original Post: http://thereadersbookblog.blogspot.com/2...

Ahhh, Henry James, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... I couldn't possibly name all the things I love about James' works. Each has its own place in my heart for all different reasons. It's so hard to find writing that good anymore. And yet, I had somehow missed Daisy Miller. The young American girl for whom the book is named is one of the most alluded-to characters in fiction. On a bit of a whim I decided to pi More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 16, 2011

Sophia rated it:

I feel as though I return to Henry James again and again almost despite myself. James is like one of those friends you have who you're shocked to realize you still know and hang out with after ten years. You know, like that girl you looked down on in your freshman hall, but who you now meet every weekend for brunch?* If someone had told me in college, as I labored over "The Awkward Age" that I'd still be chipping away at the James cannon ten years later, I would have laughed in thei More...

2 comments like

Apr 12, 2011

Vincent added it

A Most Common Flower
Henry James writes of the social mores of the expatriate American community living abroad in Europe in the late nineteenth century. His uses "Daisy Miller: A Study" to examine those social mores by giving the character Daisy Miller a freedom of expression and self not often seen amongst women in society of the day in Europe. He gives the reader a glimpse of how women were expected to behave. Daisy complains, “the young ladies of this country have a dreadful More...

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Mar 26, 2011

Miranda rated it:

Never having read Henry James before, I expected a lot of high-flown language akin to that of Austen and the Brontes (though James was American, he was educated in Europe and remained there for most of his life). Nothing against those latter two authors, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Daisy Miller, a novella from James’s earlier period, both accessibly written and thoroughly engaging. James relies heavily on dialogue to shape his characters, and shows himself a master of realism in this More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 04, 2011

Sara rated it:

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

2 comments like

Feb 26, 2011

Jarad rated it:

I couldn't get into this book - I found James' writing style to be rather lacking in the art of sentence construction when compared to the last few I read by Edith Wharton. While this is another society piece I found myself disinterested in the fates of the characters. Henry James and Edith Wharton were friends and James almost certainly influenced her writing style though from this short story I would have to say Wharton is the more compelling author.

“Daisy …. continued to present h More...

0 comments like

Feb 24, 2011

Nancy rated it:

I liked James's characters a little better in this one, but am not particularly crazy about the story in general. The clash between the American and European cultures is not as subtlety drawn as in many other of James works.
I'm probably in a huge minority on this one and had read it a long time ago. I was hoping it would have gotten better as I had gotten older, but I did not find it that way. For James, I thought this a rather thin story, although likely scandalous at the time, and th More...

0 comments like

Jul 01, 2010

Benji rated it:

This is one of those rare opportunities when a hundred-year old book is exactly something that you have lived yourself. I know the places, I know the people, Ive lived the experience of both of the protaganists. The culture clash and the reevaluation, and the falling in love with how queer the other person is (in the archaic form of the word). Dynamite and sparks and you can't take your eyes off the person and you don't know whether to be offended or to eagerly embrace the person even more cl More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 30, 2010

B__cherry rated it:

Another one bites the dust. Daisy Miller tells the story of the various encounters between Winterbourne, a classy american young man studying in Europe and the eponymous american girl who is...non-conventional to say the least. It's not the easiest of reads because the descriptions sometimes seem long-winded and almost pointless - how many times do you have to tell me that Daisy is the prettiest pretty that ever prettied? Also, I fail to see the charm in her, when, throughout the book, she just More...

0 comments like

Mar 11, 2010

Lizzie added it

This book is nothing like I expected when I had first started reading it. I really did not like the book as I began. I thought Daisy was stupid, for lack of a better word, and too selfish to realize that her actions were very disrespectful at that time period. Personally, I do not like people like that. What I could not understand is what kept drawing Winterbourne to her; what drove him to continue trying? I could see that Daisy was very easy going and easy to talk to, but being a man of his " More...

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Mar 11, 2010

Marco rated it:

contrary to the title, the main character in this book is a man name winterborune. while in Switzerland he meets a young boy named randolph, who introduces winterbourne to his sister daisy miller. winterbourne falls in "love" with daisy and her flirtatious manner, which he uses around men. daisy loves to be around men, but even more so around american men. winterbourne goes to rome because his aunt lives there, and he also knows that daisy will be there. but instead of spending time wi More...

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Mar 11, 2010

Joe is currently reading it

This book id say was very interesting. A girl Daisy Miller is a rich woman from New York. She acts as a tease around men. Daisy goes to Europe with her mother and brother. He brother is very very rude and inconsiderate. He is very impolite. So they travel through Europe and she meets Winterbourne. Winterbourne then becomes very emotionally attracted to Daisy. He studies Daisy in a way that interests him. Winterbourne then moves to Rome so he can wait for Daisy and her family to arrive More...

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Feb 13, 2010

Lauren rated it:

From the start of this novella, I was very fond of Daisy Miller. She gave off the air of a strong-willed, confident woman unafraid of the harsh criticisms of others. She felt free enough to go out on excursions with the men she developed a strong liking for, even when others advised her against having such public affairs. She was witty and charming, and had a wonderful way of getting a man to do what she wished. It's not ofetn that in 19th century fiction, a woman is protrayed with such vivacity More...

0 comments like

Dec 13, 2009

Glenn rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2009

jess rated it:

Okay I picked this up because, with only three discs, it was the shortest audiobook I could find at the library and I wanted something brief for a shortened week of commuting. I had never read Daisy Miller, not heard much about it, and I hardly feel much like discussing it now that it's over. It bored the crap out of the kid, which goes to show that none of us have any appreciation for classic literature these days. Reading this felt a lot like being back in high school english class. The langua More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 23, 2009

Chip rated it:

I found the introduction to the novel very informative, and the footnotes quite good. Overall, this is a Victorian novel, and was blessedly short; I struggle with the stilted constructions and word choices common to these novels, which makes it difficult for me to see them through to the end. I will say that I was surprised at the almost naked sexual innuendo throughout the novel... it was as if Henry James were writing what passed for pornography in those highly repressed times. Such innuend More...

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Aug 16, 2009

Anoud rated it:

As everyone looked down on her, she remained the same outspoken, honest and innocent girl till the last day in her life. She neither did something wrong nor did she harm anybody. However, her major sin was her extreme "spontaneity". In his Daisy Miller, Henry James presents a beautiful novella about an American young girl called Daisy.

The novella has a really simple plot. Nonetheless, the whole brilliance revolves around the main character, Daisy, and the way James contras More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 21, 2009

Lee rated it:

A 19th century tale of an innocent, brash young American girl ("very pretty" we are frequently told) in Europe who is seemingly oblivious to the strict standards of behavior that society circles expect, acting as she pleases with whom she pleases, fascinating and confusing her admirer/critic Winterbourne, and scandalizing others of her strata.

The story is more humorous than I had expected, knowing its theme and tragic end before beforehand, and I quite enjoyed it. Seeing th More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 03, 2009

unnarrator rated it:

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

10 comments like (6 people liked it)

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