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What Maisie Knew

by Henry James, Paul Theroux (Editor), Patricia Crick (Noted by)

3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 · rating details · 1,600 ratings · 167 reviews

What Maisie Knew represents one of James's finest reflections on the rites of passage from wonder to knowledge, and the question of their finality. The child of violently divorced parents, Maisie Farange opens her eyes on a distinctly modern world.

Paperback, 275 pages

Published January 7th 1986 by Penguin Classics (first published 1897)

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1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

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Best Books of the Decade: 1890s

37th out of 57 books — 54 voters

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Apr 03, 2011 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Years ago, I read somewhere, perhaps in Graves' Goodbye to All of That, or a biography on Ford Madox Ford, where it was recorded (a tricky word if it's Graves) that Ford, while out in the trenches, read and greatly admired Henry James' What Maisie Knew. What stuck in my mind was the fact that Ford (as I remember it) thought it a great treatment of evil and children. Ford, a quirky but fine critic, could be a critical bear when it came to James, so the fact that he singled this novel out for prai...more Years ago, I read somewhere, perhaps in Graves' Goodbye to All of That, or a biography on Ford Madox Ford, where it was recorded (a tricky word if it's Graves) that Ford, while out in the trenches, read and greatly admired Henry James' What Maisie Knew. What stuck in my mind was the fact that Ford (as I remember it) thought it a great treatment of evil and children. Ford, a quirky but fine critic, could be a critical bear when it came to James, so the fact that he singled this novel out for praise certainly raised a hopeful flag for me. Up to that time, I just assumed that Evil and Children and James = The Turn of the Screw. That's still true, but the fact is that it's Evil with (in my opinion) a supernatural element. Maisie has nothing that goes bump in the night (unless it's one of the incredible parade of adulterous adults), but it's bleak picture of human corruption goes into more identifiable areas of darkness than the famous ghost story.

As the novel opens, Beale and Ida Farange are getting divorced. It's been a nasty affair, and floating between them is their only child, Maisie. Neither parent really wants her, and I believe she's between four and six years of age at the time. What follows is the passing back and forth between the parents of the child. She becomes a pawn for the eventual step parents, the new Mrs. Beale and the new Mr. Ida (Sir Claude) as well as the old fuddy dud governess, Mrs. Wix (who herself has a silly crush on Sir Claude). At the start this is somewhat comical, but in the back of your mind you keep asking yourself, What about the child? And it's good to keep asking yourself that question, because it provides a sure anchor just in case you're losing count of the adulteries. In the last quarter of the book, things take a much darker turn. The original Beale is off to America with an ugly rich woman, and Ida, Mama, is batty as hell. Masks are dropped, sex is in the air, and there is a rather long and amazing confrontation at the end that has the gravity of a theological debate. This isn't boring, I assure you. Maisie, who to my mind is somewhere around 11 to 13 at this point (and there is some debate about her age), has, unlike so many Dickens heroes, been corrupted to some extent by all that she has had to live through. (How could she not?) The one good figure, Mrs. Wix (and she herself is a mixed bag), argues strongly for the "moral sense," and it's need to be maintained. (And she is sincere.) Maisie's cruelty, just now starting to show itself, will surprise you. What will be her choice? The end is ambiguous, but powerful. This novel invites a number of different interpretations, and would probably be a great candidate for a book club reading.

(less)

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Nov 15, 2012 Rosemary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books

When I saw that this book was about a young girl whose parents divorce and both remarry, and how she is shuttled between the various adults that have some reponsibility for her, I wondered why it wasn't in the Ultimate Teen Book Guide in place of 'Daisy Miller'. But the reason for that became clear as soon as I started reading it.

The language is very difficult, with sentences that go on for line after line without ever arriving at an obvious meaning. I was often getting to the end of a paragrap...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

Well, I told myself to review more of my 5 star books instead of taking the easy way out projectile sneering at some grisly two star efforts. but it's hard. There are some brilliant Henry James reviews dotted around, and this won't be one of those. I think there's a point in some of these long, long literary careers (it's true of long musical careers too) where you've followed the writer out of the early period into the majestic middle period and you know the late period is going to give you a m...more

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Dec 07, 2008 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars

Try as I might, I just couldn't get into what I thought was going to be right up my alley. I blame that partly on circumstances -- I do much of my reading on the subway, and you just can't read James like that: a short trip alone will get you through a mere paragraph which you'll have gone over three or four times trying to even comprehend. So yes, I'll give James another chance when I can read him under more favorable conditions, but I also find his style needlessly cumbersome and obscure rathe...more

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Donald Michael,
You are right, James is impossible on the subway, no point in even trying, I am amazed to see people on the train reading him while wearing he...more
Dec 07, 2008 04:06pm

Don Incognito Henry James isn't for everyone. I love James, but The Portrait of a Lady took me a year to read.
Nov 07, 2009 10:44am

Wayne The older James got, the more obscure and convoluted his style. I think "Maisie" may be one of those!!
Try Washington Square...it is delicious and much...more
Dec 25, 2009 09:13pm

Oct 08, 2012 FrankH rated it 4 of 5 stars

Club Read

Purely from the perspective of plot mechanics, 'What Maisie Knew' centers on the plight of an innocent girl and her mute pain and confusion suffered at the hands of the parents and their surrogates. In conversational exchanges throughout the novel, James stages the young Maisie interacting with the Beales, Ida and the weak Sir Claude, contrasting the heartful earnest qualities of the young girl with the calculating, self-involved motives of the conceited adults. When Maisie expresses th...more Club Read

Purely from the perspective of plot mechanics, 'What Maisie Knew' centers on the plight of an innocent girl and her mute pain and confusion suffered at the hands of the parents and their surrogates. In conversational exchanges throughout the novel, James stages the young Maisie interacting with the Beales, Ida and the weak Sir Claude, contrasting the heartful earnest qualities of the young girl with the calculating, self-involved motives of the conceited adults. When Maisie expresses the cautious hope that the Ida's trip to South Africa will include the watchful, loving presence of the Captain, the mother lashes out: "Him! -- the biggest cad in London!...you're a dreadful, dismal, deplorable little thing." The equally, unloving father gets off no better: Says Beale, 'Don't you understand when (Sir Claude and Ida) have made you as horrid as they can, they'll just simply chuck you?" Harsh words ringing on the contemporary ear.

Still, as the story evolves, the heartbreak of this psychological abuse quickly becomes eclipsed by the pathos of Masie struggling to understand her place and function in a forever-changing, indifferent adult world. James means to explore this major theme -- unaided by first-person narration -- from the point of view of the child, Maisie's 'angle of vision' cocked, at the outset, surveying only behavior, never its logic or origins. At the beginning, the author lays it out for us: 'Her little world was phantasmagoric -- strange shadows dancing on a sheet'. Maisie starts as a tabula rasa -- 'what' she knows is almost nothing. But at key intervals in the story, Maisie gradual enlightenment emerges, and despite the maddening lack of chronological detail demarcating the early/middle/late stages of her childhood, we feel her angle of vision widening. And so it is, in a meeting with the Captain, she reveals an understanding beyond her years, empathizing with the position of her Mother relative to men and imploring the Captain to love Ida 'not only for a little..but always'. Later, her grasp of her situation still imperfect but growing, Maisie knows enough -- and has matured enough -- to condition Claude's plan to 'give up' Mrs. Wix on Claude's 'giving up Mrs. Beale'. Here, as in the final chapter in which Maisie finally clarifies her safe harbor as the unappealing, strict, but faithful guardian, she becomes not just a searcher for truth but its agent. 'What Masie Knew' is not finally source material for the case worker, but a a strange kind of mystery story in which the child comes of age by sleuthing the dark recesses of what passes for morality in the adult world.

Though there are lapses and over-reaching, I would argue that James' abstract, ruminating narrative style and focus effectively supports this theme. If we are on a quest for knowledge, then we have passages that are structurally influenced by the examination of ideas, as when the narrative personna renders, spot-on, a child's mind struggling to parse the weird geometry of the amorous pairings on her life: "It was a matter of sides..Maisie was on nobody's; Sir Claude had all the airs of being on hers. If therefore Mrs. Wix was on Sir Claude's, her ladyship on Mr. Perriam's and Mr. Perrriam presumably on her ladyship's, that left Mrs.Beale and Mr. Farange..Mrs. Beale clearly was on Maisie's, and papa, it was supposed on Mrs. Beale's. Here indeed was a slight ambiguity, as papa's being on Mrs. Beale's didn't somehow seem to place him quite on his daughter's". Even when the prose is in the service of routine, behavioral descriptions, there may be an idea emerging, still faithful to Maisie's angle of vision but carrying extended meaning: "Her visits were as good as her outfits...She (Ida) was a person addicted to extremes -- sometimes barely speakng to her child and sometimes pressing this tender shoot to a bosom cut, as Mrs. Wix had also observed, remarkably low. She was always in a fearful hurry and the lower the bosom was cut the more it was to be gathered that she was wanted elsewhere." (It's another adult-behavior conundrum for Maisie, the logic of decolletage and visitation time, expressed here with a humor channeled from Dickens). Less successful and entertaining, of course, are those passages suffering badly, as readers have remarked, from vague antecedents to an earlier text or, conversely, references in a first sentence that cannot be completely understood until you have read the second ( a reason why so many readers, including myself, feel the need to re-read). I don't mind looking up words like 'titivate' and 'animadvert' but there are sections of Chapter XVII that I still don't get after multiple re-readings. As Yoda might have said, "Syntactically challenged is he, Mr. James!"

As for Mrs. Wix, the occasional lapses into the tough-love Church Lady notwithstanding, I'll take her over the rest of this crowd any day of the week. Even as she remains vulnerable to the charms of a younger man, her actions and point of view are perfectly within character. Without her, James lacks the necessary dramatic voice to denounce these shameful proceedings, sealing the verdict, perhaps, that the Brits do indeed hate thier children.(less)

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Mar 16, 2011 Sue Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-books-before-you-die, books-read-in-2011

It's interesting how literature changes through the ages - the structure and meat of the stories can all probably be pegged into various eras by how they're written. So I did find this one a wee bit of a slog to get through. Not that the content was hard to understand - it was well put out. No - it was the structure of the language that I found -for the lack of a better word- difficult. Often jumbled and sentences very complex - you really had to read slowly - or reread entirely - sentences, so...more

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Jul 07, 2012 soul rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: no one

Правдив портрет на английското общество и нравите му в края на 19-ти век и история на бързото и болезнено съзряване на едно дете - това е накратко "Какво знаеше Мейзи", към която подходих с много големи очаквания. И може би щяха да се оправдаят, ако книгата беше събрана в максимум половината от сегашния си обем.
Мейзи е момиченце с открадното от възрастните детство, използвано вместо разменна монета, средство за изкупление, оръжие за саморазправа, отмъщение и постигане на цели. Непрекъснато прехв...more Правдив портрет на английското общество и нравите му в края на 19-ти век и история на бързото и болезнено съзряване на едно дете - това е накратко "Какво знаеше Мейзи", към която подходих с много големи очаквания. И може би щяха да се оправдаят, ако книгата беше събрана в максимум половината от сегашния си обем.
Мейзи е момиченце с открадното от възрастните детство, използвано вместо разменна монета, средство за изкупление, оръжие за саморазправа, отмъщение и постигане на цели. Непрекъснато прехвърляно и разнасяно като ненужен багаж между различни странни хора, оплетени като в латиносериал в още по-странни връзки помежду си. Харесвано понякога, мразено, лъгано, заблуждавано, то жадува да бъде обичано и да обича, да има истинско семейство и се вкопчва като в спасителна сламка и в най-малката проява на внимание или загриженост.

Авторът влиза много добре в образа детето, но е прекалено обстоятелствен и поради това трудно задържа интереса и вниманието. Дълги сложни съставни изречения от по няколко реда, изобилно обяснителни и излишно много казващи, повтарящи, предполагащи и подсказващи (подобно на тези в ТВ сапунките) и не оставящи на четящия нищо за размисъл. Абзаци от около страница, с еднообразни, повтарящи се разсъждения и пояснения, в които или се губиш, или можеш спокойно да прескочиш. Почти абсурдни диалози и ситуации, в които всяко естествено поведение, мисъл или реплика са в разрез с тогавашния добър тон и морал.
Абстрахирам се напълно от факта, че те са ми абсолютно несмилаеми, както и тогавашният манталитет и въпреки огромното ми желание да харесам книгата, не успях. Дочетох я много трудно, не ми вървеше - мудна, бавна, отегчителна. Очевидно това не е моят тип класика. Бих я препоръчала горещо единствено на някого, страдащ от тежко безсъние. (less)

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Feb 10, 2013 Victoria Young rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: victoriana, modernism, families

What Maisie Knew tells the story of a child subject to a vicious custody dispute between her parents in 1890s London. Family law dictates she is to be 'halved' between them and thus begins Maisie's life as the pawn in her parents' power struggle.

I think this would have to be a must-read for anyone with an interest in child psychology. I found little Maisie's struggle to understand the convoluted world of adult relationships into which she has been prematurely thrust quite touching, despite the v...more

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May 15, 2013 Tiffani rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013

Henry James's novel is about the plight of Maisie, a child caught up in the bitterness and ongoing battles between and among her parents, stepparents and governess. Her parents are Ida and Beale Farange. At the beginning of the novel they are in the midst of a bitter divorce. They fight over custody of Maisie, not because either of them loves or really wants her, but to deprive the other of something, to prove that they are the better half of the now separated couple. Both parents take up with n...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Linda Robinson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thought I was over a mild obsession with Henry James, but not so much. Having bumped into the Toronto Film Festival and a movie adaptation of What Maisie Knew, I got the book. And was transported back to college and my infatuation with James and his marvelous voyeuristic peerings into emotional (sexual) repression. Freud was obsessed with it. James as well. I thought Turn of the Screw was the best example before today. Oh blimey, that marvelous scene when The Governess first conjures Peter Quint...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001-books

My first encounter with James and it took me a while to get into the rhythm of his prose. It is a heck of an achievement to see the fallout of a dysfunctional amoral couple as visited on their only offspring through her eyes, an achievement made all the more great by the complications, all too prevalent at this time, indeed in any period, caused by society's demands and the necessity of having the financial wherewithal to live with as much propriety as one would wish. That sentance is indicative...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Matthew Collins rated it 4 of 5 stars

Henry James has a complicated style of prose so this book can get a little heavy at times. I found I either had to carefully read the text, or simply really strain to understand if I chose to read at a faster rate. This is the kind of book that I feel I could re read another three times and get an entirely different story out of. So much is left up to innuendo, interpretation, and ambiguity (which are all kind of the same)that you really are reading the story you want to read. Of course being fa...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Ross rated it 4 of 5 stars

First of all, the title of this novel is particularly appropriate.

Maisie is a wise child who notices and understands everything that is going on with the adults around her. The grown-ups in the novel, particularly her parents, treat her as if Maisie is-not exactly stupid-but a nonentity.

This is, in fact, one of those rare novels about a main character who everyone else places in a corner and ignores, yet is able to control most of what is going on through the advantage of being invisible. This...more First of all, the title of this novel is particularly appropriate.

Maisie is a wise child who notices and understands everything that is going on with the adults around her. The grown-ups in the novel, particularly her parents, treat her as if Maisie is-not exactly stupid-but a nonentity.

This is, in fact, one of those rare novels about a main character who everyone else places in a corner and ignores, yet is able to control most of what is going on through the advantage of being invisible. This allows her to wield a power that is sometimes destructive.

While Maisie is wise beyond her years, most of the adults suffer from a case of arrested development. This does not exclude the females, particularly Ida, Maisie's mother.

Ida simply doesn't know how to be responsible. Not to her ex-husband, Beale, or to the many men who suddenly appear to take his place. Most certainly not to her daughter, who remains a bargaining chip in the aftermath of her divorce. Maisie's father is no better. But it seems clear from the first,that Ida is the villian, a position that she holds for most of the novel.

She refuses to show love for her daughter, she throws tantrums, and when she's caught red-handed she acts morally superior. She essentially believes black is white and night is day.

But even Maisie is far from perfect. Her (sometimes selfish) desire to be loved and yet to keep everybody happy, causes her to make many unfortunate decisions. One wonders what chances this poor little rich girl has to become a decent (or a normal) adult.

Note: This novel is a period piece and is filled with elements that might seem mystifying or even downright distasteful to the modern reader. I won't go into them in detail.

Then there's the language. Even for a Henry James novel, the language can get rather vague. This despite the author's assertion to the reader, at several different points, that what is going on is completely obvious, even to a six-year-old child.

But, perhaps, that's the point. Maisie is a "little adult". Adults feel no reason not to talk freely around her, not because she is an equal, but because they believe she is just a child. This relationship changes as the little girl gets older. She becomes the one the adults begin to rely on for guidance, since she is obviously the most mature person in the room. It's a strange, backwards situation.

A very thoughtful book, and shorter than the average James novel.(less)

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Nov 20, 2012 Diana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A beautiful book, even if it portraits something as dark as a child's perspective of divorce, you get transported into this vortex around Maisie that somehow, personally, affects her spirit very little. Sure she jumps around, exchanges guardians and most of the time can but barely understand what is happening, but she doesn't worry. Maisie has that belief that everything will turn out all right and all she has to do is keep the peace and give the right answers (she would give quite the politicia...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Miriam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks

Finally, a good use of James's unwillingness to say anything outright. How could you say everything in front of a child? And how much could she understand anyway? Lots of people have sex in these books, but it's all about the fallout and machinations and hurt feelings and none of the pleasure. Maisie's parents are so much more interesting than Sir Claude or Mrs. Beale, but they work better as minor characters. And the scene when Maisie's father basically forces her to take responsibility for a c...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Sinn rated it 5 of 5 stars

During my tenure as a student at the university, I read my fair share of 19th century authors. While the 19th century was not my favorite time period—I took as many medieval literature classes as I could and devoured Viking/Icelandic sagas—Henry James was one of the authors that kept reoccurring. Many of my professors liked his work; however, without fail, we would always read Daisy Miller. So, even while I had a little experience with James, I never had the chance to read one of his novels. Whe...more During my tenure as a student at the university, I read my fair share of 19th century authors. While the 19th century was not my favorite time period—I took as many medieval literature classes as I could and devoured Viking/Icelandic sagas—Henry James was one of the authors that kept reoccurring. Many of my professors liked his work; however, without fail, we would always read Daisy Miller. So, even while I had a little experience with James, I never had the chance to read one of his novels. When I discovered that What Maisie Knew was being turning into a film, I decided it was finally time to settle down with something other than a short story. And, even though it was daunting, it ended up being well worth the effort.

The book opens with a vicious divorce between Beale and Ida Farange. From brief details given, it seemed like a circus of mud-slinging. And at the centre of it all is their little daughter, Maisie. The court decides that she is to split her time between her parents. Six months are spent with her mother; six months with her father. And, through all of this, both of her parents decide to use her as their own personal weapon. Sending her to the other parent with little "gems" and messages, Maisie cannot help being a carrier pigeon for her parents' continued hostility. As things progress, each of her parents remarry. And, from all appearances, her step-parents love her, care for her, and give her more love than either of her parents. However, being the people that they are, her parents decide to partake in adulterous affairs with other people, and, whether it is full intentional or not, they involve Maisie. All the while, her step-parents are drawn together out of their mutual love for the child. Instead of being an innocent child, Maisie is thrust into an adult world of intrigue, drama, and failed relationships.

From the first page to the last, this book is heart rending! It appears as though Maisie was merely an accessory to her parents. She was constantly used as a way to send hurtful and damning messages to each parent, they wanted her as their own information gatherer, and so on. Every horrible thing you can imagine, her parents made her do. And, unless she had some juicy tidbit about the other parent, neither parent was interested in her company, and she was cast off to governesses. When her parents do speak with her concerning other things, she is subjected to horrible psychological abuse.

Through all of this, Maisie is struggling with her position in the world, her family, and her role. While she loves Sir Claude and Mrs. Beale—and the idea of them being together—she wants her parents to want her and to be a part of their lives. At every turn, she is cast aside by the people who are supposed to love her the most. When each parent individually asks the child to come with them, it hurt to read that Maisie—in the maturity and knowledge gained from watching her parents' self-destructive and self-involved behavior—knew they didn't really want her but where just reassuring themselves that they did try to put on a show that they wanted her.

Honestly, this book is extremely hard to discuss without giving everything away. Suffice it to say, this book obviously spans a number of years, and Maisie grows older as the story goes on. However, while James does not tell the specific passing of time, it is obvious in Maisie's widening of knowledge, her field of vision, and her ability to learn and manipulate the games being played around her that she is aging. While this book follows Maisie, it also seems to be a huge statement from James about parents refusing to take responsibility and the decay of the system of marriage and what people will do/sacrifice in order to keep themselves happy. At the centre of the whirlwind of her parents' divorce and multiple love affairs, Mrs. Wix's batty nature, and Sir Claude and Mrs. Beale's relationship, is a young girl who has been cast aside by her parents and desperately wants someplace, someone to belong to.

The finally chapter of this book really brings home the reality that Maisie lives in. Furthermore, it also uses Mrs. Wix as James' mouthpiece to attack the behavior exhibited by both sets of parents and voice his feelings concerning the parental role. And, while I understand Maisie's final choice, I still find myself wishing that Sir Claude had been willing to do as the child had asked. (less)

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Sep 13, 2007 Tad rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone.

I recommend this book to anyone who cares about the craft of novel writing--or the ability of a middle-aged man to imagine himself as a young girl.

I learned that James is brilliant. Maise has the hots for Sir Claude. And most parents are as awful as we always imagined them to be when we were children.

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Sep 30, 2012 Erin Cataldi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-journal-reviews

James, Henry. What Maisie Knew. 8 CDs. AudioGO. ISBN 9780792789901.

Henry James’ classic work, What Maisie Knew, explores the confusion, heartbreak, and despair that follow divorce through a young girl’s eyes at the turn of the century. Maisie is used as nothing more than a pawn between her spiteful parents and as she matures she begins to realize it. She vainly tries to find a trustworthy adult guardian to look up to, but despite all the adults, governesses, and new spouses in her life she keep...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Kelley rated it 4 of 5 stars

A difficult novel to read if you are used to the novels of this century and breezing through them. This book will have you reading slower and re-reading things to make sure you understand what is being said. A rewarding adventure in spectacular use of the English language from a time so different than ours, be patient with it.
Interestingly, this book is about a divorce and use of a child as a weapon between dueling spouses... a scene more real today than it surely was when this was written, yet...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Jenna rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really disliked this book.

I couldn't really figure out what was going on until I re-read the passages again and again. When I was just about into the last chapter, I found that my book had synopses of each chapter. I wish I had found it at when I began reading it so I would have had a context of the direction of the novel. It made me feel stupid that in effect I needed the "cliff notes" to have enough continuity to follow the story clearly.

That being said, I assume James wrote it in innuendo...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Megan Chance rated it 4 of 5 stars

How exactly does he do it? How does Henry James take weak-willed, deeply flawed people and make me root for them, even knowing that he never, NEVER redeems them in any wholly satisfying way? James's characterization--his strength always--is just as strong here as it always is. His usually long-winded but completely on-point skill at depicting the intricacies of human behavior is also beautifully accomplished here. The biggest plus? It's short, which means there's little time for the gelatinous w...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Phoebe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century

Next time I feel the need to procrastinate, I'll google scientific research on papers on procrastination, and wonder about how much time the writers spent procrastinating while doing their research.

Moving on...What Maisie Knew. The humour was sharp and satirical, and while I haven't read Henry James' other works, I can easily believe how nothing else could top this. Although I do often wonder, is Maisie really that naive? I don't think so. Granted that she doesn't always grasp the subtext, there...more

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Oct 29, 2009 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first experience with James, and I must say that I am intrigued. James is meticulous in creating Maisie's point of view, though in somewhat of an odd way. His description of what runs through Maisie's mind never deviates from what I would see as Maisie, but it is still very much James describing. It almost feels like a funnel, this wider perspective shedding light into this narrower perspective. Yet, he never abuses this and widens the narrow perspective by viewing it with the wider....more

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Oct 17, 2011 Caitlin Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think I would have hated this book if I had simply tried to read it; the language is impossibly dense and unnecessarily wordy more often than not. But I listened to it instead and found an appreciation for it. There were laugh-out-loud funny moments and some incredibly sad moments I found myself following on the page just to get the most of the experience. It was incredibly soap opera-esque, but that just intrigued me more than anything. What does a 19th century soap opera look like? Clearly t...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Molly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Phew...that was a slog. In the end there were some redeeming moments and phrases, but mostly I found this book to be a muddy march through uninteresting characters, ill-drawn events, and completely impenetrable prose. I've read James before, and enjoyed it; I do not remember the utter lack of clarity displayed in this novel from his other works. I realize that times change, styles change, blahdy blah, but as an editor, I would have made James pay me a dime for every unnecessary comma, every pare...more

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Feb 04, 2012 Trent added it

I first read this in college, when I was probably too young to appreciate it. Picked it up again because they're making a movie version, set in the present, and was wondering how it would work (honestly, was thinking: how could you update Henry James-the sensibility doesn't translate to our speedy times). The storyline is timeless--a young girl, being used as a weapon in a war between her divorced parents, gains knowledge of how the adult world works--so it might work. Still, the emphasis on the...more

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Jun 21, 2009 Bob rated it 5 of 5 stars

An only child of divorced parents is passed around among half a dozen adults of varying relationships to her (nannies, parents' new lovers, second spouses), all of whom are unfailingly selfish and incapable of framing her well-being in any terms other than what suits them. Admittedly anyone in the world who claims to be acting in a purely disinterested manner on any occasion is probably not telling the truth but this presents a notably pessimistic view of human nature. Written in 1897, close to...more

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May 05, 2012 Kat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

This was my second time through this gem; I can't possibly have appreciated it the first time! James was way ahead of his time in examining the fate of Maisie, whose parents are divorced. The greatest triumph of the book is the delicate and perfectly done consciousness of Maisie as she shapes herself to survive her unusual circumstances and grows in understanding of what is in fact going on around her. To fully appreciate what transpires it would be well to keep in mind the scandal that attached...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very strange book. What's James doing associating with people like this? But some memorable characters -- Mrs Wix, Sir Claude, Mrs Beale; even those barely seen, like the countess and the captain. And thn the sccene-setting: Boulogne, Folkstone... a novel told in a series of conversations and arguments in each of which Maisie's comprehension grows further; she stand as a James, I think, and the dynamics among the politics of the thought-processes of the varoius contenders reveals and build the c...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Lianne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, ebooks

This is the third novel by Henry James that I've read. I was curious about this novel because of the adaptation coming out starring Julianne Moore and Alexander Skarsgård.

I remember focusing a lot on the parenting in James' Daisy Miller but here it is the theme of the novel. Poor Maisie is treated merely as a bargaining chip in her parents' very bitter divorce, carted between their places and being told all sorts of things by both parents as a way of getting back at the other. Maisie's parents a...more

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About Henry James

Henry James, OM, son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author, one of the founders and leaders of a school of realism in fiction. He spent much of his life in England and became a British subject shortly before his death. He is primarily known for a series of major novels in which he portrayed the...more

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The Wings of the Dove (The Modern Library Classics)

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Quotes from What Maisie Knew

“She took refuge on the firm ground of fiction, through which indeed there curled the blue river of truth.” — 13 people liked it

“She had a new feeling, the feeling of danger; on which a new remedy rose to meet it, the idea of an inner self or, in other words, of concealment.” — 3 people liked it

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