Washington Square marks the first of what will probably be several books visited because of my recent reading of Reading Lolita in Tehran. I'm pretty sure the only James I had read prior to this book was Daisy Miller, which I read for literature classes in both high school and college. I remember distinctly disliking it in high school (because "nothing happens and it just ends") although I think I did like it more the second time around.

Washington Square is the story of Miss Catherine Sloper, a young lady of New York who is endowed with practically nothing to make her interesting or memorable. She is unattractive, but not grotesquely so; of average intelligence; extremely quiet; largely passionless; and in general a very agreeable and easily forgettable character. She lives with her father (to whom James bestows intelligence, irony, social status, and wealth) and her aunt (who receives the gifts of meddling and gossip), each of whom believe they have Catherine completely figured out and who try to impose their plans for her onto her reality.

Catherine's life changes markedly when an attractive, witty young man named Morris Townsend arrives on the scene and is instantly infatuated with her. Dr Sloper is opposed to their relationship from the start, while Catherine's aunt's romantic nature seeks to have the two married off against all odds. The doctor believes Morris's interest in Catherine centers around the wealth she will inherit when her father dies, and James insinuates that he is not entirely incorrect in this assessment. However, neither the doctor nor the aunt estimate Catherine highly enough, and before the end of the book the quiet, passionless girl has confronted and overcome every major character in the book.

Washington Square is definitely not an "action" book. What action does occur is subtle and understated, and it's easy for me to see why I disliked James so much in high school. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this book as much as I did if I hadn't read Reading Lolita in Tehran first, but armed with Dr. Nafisi's assessment of the novel, I could see a lot of myself in Catherine and was impressed by her quiet victories. She doesn't really "win" in any traditional sense of the word, ending up alone and poor, but it's nice to see the character that even the narrator condescends about (calling her "poor little Catherine") discover her own reserves of strength.