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William's review

The Bostonians (Oxford World's Classics)
by Henry James

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2686.The_Bostonians?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Bostonians (Oxford World's Classics)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1161192947m/2686.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2686.The_Bostonians?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Bostonians</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/159.Henry_James">Henry James</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15182696?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars My major question about this novel is -- What is it about? Is it a lampoon on women activists? A satire on the over-earnest people of Boston? A cautionary tale of what can happen to a vivacious and oddly talented young person (in this case, a woman, Verena Tarrant) who becomes the prize in a power struggle between two strong, arrogant, self-centered and diametrically opposed combatants (Olive Chancellor, a self-professed man-hating women's advocate; and Basil Ransome, an ultraconservative man from Mississippi)? It seems unlikely that James meant the story to be ambiguous. Which leaves two possibilities: that the novel is badly written or that James and I are not on the same wavelength. Since James is universally acclaimed as "The Master", I guess I am left with only one option. In my defense, I can only say that none of the 7 or 8 other people at the book group for which I read this novel had a particulary convincing interpretation either. 
 
 If this is intended as satire, in my view it does not display the "delicacy and wit" attributed to it in the blurb. The portraits of Olive and Basil are more in the line of broad caricature. Examples: 
 
 Olive to Verena: "You don't dislike men as a class."
 
 Basil to Olive: "I consider women have no business to be reasonable." 
 
 In fact, both with regard to characters and plot, this book is more in the Dickens vein. Interestingly, like many (most?) of Dickens' novels, this story was serialized. And one can tell: it has an up-and-down emotional tone, with continuous exaggerated emotional jolts. Hardly the subtle writing that I was expecting (personal disclosure: this is the first Henry James novel that I have read). And the ending is horrid! Clumsily written and heavyhandedly provocative -- definitely not witty and delicate satire. 
 
 There is much good writing in this novel, concise and colorful. But it is overshadowed by much bilious prose -- strings of 4 and 5 adjectives in a row occur several times; and there are many sentences that run on far too long, dragged down by multiple long clauses which require them to be artifically resuscitated. 
 
 It appears that this novel came in James' middle period, which was not his best. So I will try one more. But not just yet. 
 
 However, I must admit that James was prescient about our current political scene. At one point Verena thinks about Basil: "She didn't know that being a conservative could make a person so aggressive and unmerciful." Unfortunately, she doesn't take this insight to heart, leading to her downfall. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/851215?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

William's review
rating:

My major question about this novel is -- What is it about? Is it a lampoon on women activists? A satire on the over-earnest people of Boston? A cautionary tale of what can happen to a vivacious and oddly talented young person (in this case, a woman, Verena Tarrant) who becomes the prize in a power struggle between two strong, arrogant, self-centered and diametrically opposed combatants (Olive Chancellor, a self-professed man-hating women's advocate; and Basil Ransome, an ultraconservative man from Mississippi)? It seems unlikely that James meant the story to be ambiguous. Which leaves two possibilities: that the novel is badly written or that James and I are not on the same wavelength. Since James is universally acclaimed as "The Master", I guess I am left with only one option. In my defense, I can only say that none of the 7 or 8 other people at the book group for which I read this novel had a particulary convincing interpretation either.

If this is intended as satire, i...more My major question about this novel is -- What is it about? Is it a lampoon on women activists? A satire on the over-earnest people of Boston? A cautionary tale of what can happen to a vivacious and oddly talented young person (in this case, a woman, Verena Tarrant) who becomes the prize in a power struggle between two strong, arrogant, self-centered and diametrically opposed combatants (Olive Chancellor, a self-professed man-hating women's advocate; and Basil Ransome, an ultraconservative man from Mississippi)? It seems unlikely that James meant the story to be ambiguous. Which leaves two possibilities: that the novel is badly written or that James and I are not on the same wavelength. Since James is universally acclaimed as "The Master", I guess I am left with only one option. In my defense, I can only say that none of the 7 or 8 other people at the book group for which I read this novel had a particulary convincing interpretation either.

If this is intended as satire, in my view it does not display the "delicacy and wit" attributed to it in the blurb. The portraits of Olive and Basil are more in the line of broad caricature. Examples:

Olive to Verena: "You don't dislike men as a class."

Basil to Olive: "I consider women have no business to be reasonable."

In fact, both with regard to characters and plot, this book is more in the Dickens vein. Interestingly, like many (most?) of Dickens' novels, this story was serialized. And one can tell: it has an up-and-down emotional tone, with continuous exaggerated emotional jolts. Hardly the subtle writing that I was expecting (personal disclosure: this is the first Henry James novel that I have read). And the ending is horrid! Clumsily written and heavyhandedly provocative -- definitely not witty and delicate satire.

There is much good writing in this novel, concise and colorful. But it is overshadowed by much bilious prose -- strings of 4 and 5 adjectives in a row occur several times; and there are many sentences that run on far too long, dragged down by multiple long clauses which require them to be artifically resuscitated.

It appears that this novel came in James' middle period, which was not his best. So I will try one more. But not just yet.

However, I must admit that James was prescient about our current political scene. At one point Verena thinks about Basil: "She didn't know that being a conservative could make a person so aggressive and unmerciful." Unfortunately, she doesn't take this insight to heart, leading to her downfall. ...less

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message 1: by Erika

02/15/2008 06:33PM

sounds like i should probably skip it. i am not a fan of bilious prose. "out stealing horses" was the opposite of that - clear declarative sentences that managed to say a lot without the flowerly language. you should add that one to your list.