North and South
by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
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Read in December, 2007
I keep thinking I don't like Victorian literature and then I read another Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell novel...
Usually, I find the practice of paying authors by the word or the chapter (the books were serialized) lead to meandering plots, excessive description of unimportant things, and cliffhanger chapter-endings. North and South definitely a Victorian novel. The domestic details seem to overwhelm the story so...more
Usually, I find the practice of paying authors by the word or the chapter (the books were serialized) lead to meandering plots, excessive description of unimportant things, and cliffhanger chapter-endings. North and South definitely a Victorian novel. The domestic details seem to overwhelm the story so...more
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recommends it for:
Fans of 19th century lit in general
I can't quite put my finger on why I love this book quite as much as I do. And even for someone who does re-read books as much as I do, to get through 3 copies of one book is quite a feat. For me, the most remarkable achievement of Gaskell is that she is able to combine so many elements of various 19th century novelistic traditions and yet not have the novel collapse into incomprehensibility.
The broad scope of the novel, coupled with insightful depth and comment means that each reading of th...more
The broad scope of the novel, coupled with insightful depth and comment means that each reading of th...more
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After watching the BBC mini series based in this book and enjoying it so much I just knew I had to find a copy of the book! That's what I did a few weeks ago.
The story begins by presenting to us the character of Margaret Hale, a middle class young lady who, by her father's decision has to move with the rest of the family from Helstone in the south to Milton (it's actually a fictional Manchester)in the north of England. Margaret's father was a clergyman but due to matters of conscience decide...more
The story begins by presenting to us the character of Margaret Hale, a middle class young lady who, by her father's decision has to move with the rest of the family from Helstone in the south to Milton (it's actually a fictional Manchester)in the north of England. Margaret's father was a clergyman but due to matters of conscience decide...more
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Read in June, 2008
North and South is at once a social commentary on Victorian working class and one of the best love stories ever written. It is a slower paced book than many of today's readers may appreciate but anyone who reads this book will be richly rewarded.
Elizabeth Gaskell's character's are wonderfully drawn. The heroine of the story is Margaret Hale. She and her parents have come to Milton, the North, because Mr Hale, the country parson from the South, realizes that he can no longer accept all the doct...more
Elizabeth Gaskell's character's are wonderfully drawn. The heroine of the story is Margaret Hale. She and her parents have come to Milton, the North, because Mr Hale, the country parson from the South, realizes that he can no longer accept all the doct...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Christina by:
TiffanyThis review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in February, 2006
recommends it for:
Charlotte Bronte fans
A couple of years ago I had the tremendous fortune to see the BBC's adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, which may well top their mid-nineties adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as the best period mini-series they have ever produced. In fact, it's rather like Pride and Prejudice in some regards, only it has more passion and intensity and a slightly more modern, industrialised setting.
Like the mini-series, Gaskell's book tells the story of Margaret Hale and J...more
Like the mini-series, Gaskell's book tells the story of Margaret Hale and J...more
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Read in January, 2007
recommended to Paula by:
PBSrecommends it for: Victorian Literature Fans
In America, we have a great body of literature that explores the struggles between the Industrial North, and the Rural South during the Civil War era. The title of this book suggests to the American mind that this is what the book is about. Some may be disappointed to find that this book, written by a British author, is set in England, not America. Yet, surprisingly, the book explores these same themes (though the slave issue is merely an issue of exploitation of workers). The Industrial North o...more
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Read in September, 2007
I love this book.
The writing is nineteenth century and may not be accessible for all readers, but I find this style soothing and rhythmic. More than anything, though, the book touches the romantic inside me.
A vast majority of the story has little to do with romance. Gaskell focuses much of the text on industrialization, unionization, and the human condition. These topics are not too terribly interesting to me, and I would normally feel impatient with these passages. But I was more than w...more
The writing is nineteenth century and may not be accessible for all readers, but I find this style soothing and rhythmic. More than anything, though, the book touches the romantic inside me.
A vast majority of the story has little to do with romance. Gaskell focuses much of the text on industrialization, unionization, and the human condition. These topics are not too terribly interesting to me, and I would normally feel impatient with these passages. But I was more than w...more
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Read in September, 2002
Many have compared the North & South storyline to another great English novel, that being Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. There are similarities, (boy meets girl and likes her, girl forms an immediate dislike to boy, girl overcomes her prejudices and likes boy in the end), but they are indeed very different stories and characters.
North and South presents, as the title suggests, a contrast between the old agricultural gentry of the south of England and the new industrialists of the n...more
North and South presents, as the title suggests, a contrast between the old agricultural gentry of the south of England and the new industrialists of the n...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
Jane Austen fans, Charlotte Bronte fans, Emily Bronte fans, anyone who loves good books
I came upon the authoress Elizabeth Gaskell by happy chance one day while out with a friend. She had long been trying to persuade my sister and I to watch “Wives and Daughters” which she thought was a wonderful movie. I was interested although she had not spoken of the plot, but only a while after did my sister and I finally watch it. I was amazed at the characters and the plot. When we had finished watching it I felt almost sad that I had not read the book before watching the movie. So I de...more
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Read in February, 2008
I read this because I'd seen the BBC production, and wondered if Margaret Hale would be less silly in the book. North and South sounds like it should be about social and geographic divisions, but it's actually about finding balance amidst constant change. Although I found her character annoyingly reactive, the Miss Hale of the novel is decidedly less silly than she of the movie.
I've read comparisons of Mr. Thornton to Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy, but I don't personally see much likeness--aside f...more
I've read comparisons of Mr. Thornton to Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy, but I don't personally see much likeness--aside f...more
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Read in August, 2007
You could call this the industrial revolution version of Pride and Prejudice: woman of lesser means meets stern, rich man; she hates him; he loves her; she rejects him then learns to appreciate him and finally falls in love with him.
However, the roles are a little more complex.
John Thornton is a wealthy cotton manufacturer in Milton, but he's worked hard to get to the top. He's a nouveau riche with worn hands. Margaret is an ex-parson's daughter, fresh from the idyllic south, transplanted...more
However, the roles are a little more complex.
John Thornton is a wealthy cotton manufacturer in Milton, but he's worked hard to get to the top. He's a nouveau riche with worn hands. Margaret is an ex-parson's daughter, fresh from the idyllic south, transplanted...more
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Read in March, 2008
I finished my latest book club selection (North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell) on the drive home from California and we had the meeting Thursday night. It is really the first novel we've read (I missed the meeting for To Kill A Mockingbird) and I definitely thought it was the most interesting discussion we've had so far! I must admit I was a little wary of the book when I first started reading it. It was written in the 1850's I believe, so the writing style took some getting used to and it was ...more
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Read in March, 2008
Up until a few weeks ago, I had not heard of North and South. One of my daughter’s friends said that she “just had to” watch the recent BBC production, and so I thought I’d see what the fuss was about. I definitely enjoyed the DVD and thought it was very well done. So, as I am wont to do when I’ve enjoyed a movie that is adapted from a book, I started researching a bit on the author and began looking for a copy of the book when I was out at Half Price Books. (I did not realize that Gas...more
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I gave this book 4 stars because I was pretty absorbed in it towards the end and couldn't put it down, but I think three and a half might be a more accurate rating, I'm not sure if it has much rereading potential like all the very best books do.
North and South reads very much like a Jane Austen novel as far as plot is concerned; the basic outline is Pride and Prejudice all over again. It lacks, however, Austen's witty writing and gentle mockery of human nature, and sometimes the descriptions ...more
North and South reads very much like a Jane Austen novel as far as plot is concerned; the basic outline is Pride and Prejudice all over again. It lacks, however, Austen's witty writing and gentle mockery of human nature, and sometimes the descriptions ...more
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Read in April, 2008
Like some of my fellow reviewers, I've seen the BBC production and loved it but kinda hated Miss Hale - probably because I thought she was a snobbish, cold, b.... who in my humble opinion wasn't fit to even lick Mr. Thornton's boots - so I decided to read the book in hopes of redeeming her. Not that I got to like her but reading the book made me understand her better.
I'm partial to passionate, brooding heroes so of course, I was quite taken with Mr. Thornton - both Armitage's and the book's....more
I'm partial to passionate, brooding heroes so of course, I was quite taken with Mr. Thornton - both Armitage's and the book's....more
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Read in March, 2007
I like to describe this book as a combination between Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Gaskell has Austen's sense of the plight of women -- and also Austen's romance. She also has Dickens' social reformer tendencies, with a keen awareness of class issues and the perils of poverty. This book is very earnest about its social issues, and the herione's life during this book is chock-full of tragedy, so there is not as much wit and satire in this novel as in some of Gaskell's other work, or in Austen...more
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Read in April, 2008
genere: Victorian domestic lit (e.g. classics), I listened to an audio book version read by Juliet Stevenson.
I loved the BBC miniseries of _North and South_, which is what prompted me to pick up the audio book. All in all, the TV series and the book are very similar - the biggest difference is that the audio book spends 14+ hours being gray and dreary, whereas the TV show only spends ~4 hours. I found it very difficult listening becase there were almost no "light" or "up"...more
I loved the BBC miniseries of _North and South_, which is what prompted me to pick up the audio book. All in all, the TV series and the book are very similar - the biggest difference is that the audio book spends 14+ hours being gray and dreary, whereas the TV show only spends ~4 hours. I found it very difficult listening becase there were almost no "light" or "up"...more
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Read in April, 2008
I thought this book was skillfully written. I didn’t find it had the emotional depth of Anne Bronte’s Tenant of Wildfell Hall or the deeply believable characters of George Eliot’s Middlemarch; but it’s quality. It had a very contemporary feel, apparently Gaskell was ahead of her time.
Margaret, a proud and stunning beauty, but with a loving heart, is dealt one blow of fate after another, until the only one she has left to turn to is the one who loved her against his will from the mome...more
Margaret, a proud and stunning beauty, but with a loving heart, is dealt one blow of fate after another, until the only one she has left to turn to is the one who loved her against his will from the mome...more
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