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Virginia's Reviews > The Woman in White
The Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins, Matthew Sweet
by Wilkie Collins, Matthew Sweet
My friend Nora Ephron suggested i read this. Okay, I don't know her, but I feel like she'd be a friend. Therefore I honored her recommendations.
In her collection of essays "I Feel Bad about my Neck," she includes a bit about books that have completely transported her. She says it better than I do about this wonderful mystery:
"I open Wilkie Collins's masterpiece, The Woman in White, probably the first great work of mystery fiction ever written (although that description hardly does it justice), and I am instantly lost to the world. Days pass as I savor every word. Each minute I spend away from the book pretending to be interested in everyday life is a misery. How could I have waited so long to read this book? When can I get back to it? Halfway through I return to New York to work, to mix a movie, and I sit in the mix studio unable to focus on anything but whether my favorite character in the book will survive. I will not be able to bear it if anything bad happens to my beloved Marian Halcombe. Every so often I look up from the book and see a roomful of people waiting for me to make a decision about whether the music is too soft or the thunder is too loud, and I can't believe they don't understand that what I'm doing is much more important—I'm reading the most wonderful book."
For what it's worth, my husband really enjoyed it, too.
In her collection of essays "I Feel Bad about my Neck," she includes a bit about books that have completely transported her. She says it better than I do about this wonderful mystery:
"I open Wilkie Collins's masterpiece, The Woman in White, probably the first great work of mystery fiction ever written (although that description hardly does it justice), and I am instantly lost to the world. Days pass as I savor every word. Each minute I spend away from the book pretending to be interested in everyday life is a misery. How could I have waited so long to read this book? When can I get back to it? Halfway through I return to New York to work, to mix a movie, and I sit in the mix studio unable to focus on anything but whether my favorite character in the book will survive. I will not be able to bear it if anything bad happens to my beloved Marian Halcombe. Every so often I look up from the book and see a roomful of people waiting for me to make a decision about whether the music is too soft or the thunder is too loud, and I can't believe they don't understand that what I'm doing is much more important—I'm reading the most wonderful book."
For what it's worth, my husband really enjoyed it, too.
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Valerie
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Apr 17, 2008 12:26pm
I really enjoyed this book as well. I even got the movie version of this book as well as reading and viewing another Wilkie Collins book, The Moonstone. Not bad adaptations but I find that nothing is ever as rewarding to me as reading the original literary work.
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So true that nothing is like reading the original. I can't imagine a movite version of Woman in White. That said, I've fallen in love with several BBC miniseries this year .... Wives and Daughters and North and South. While they don't do justice to the originals, they are wonderful attempts!
So interesting to see that someone else picked up the book for the same reason. I have it at home right now and it's my very next read!
Virginia, what a delightful review you wrote ! I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the Woman in White (well, almost :)I just finished it, and I loved it as well. I never expected to get so caught up in a classic....and it's funny that most everyone I know who read it we all love Marian. Such a strong woman, a real spitfire, so unusual for the time. When she climbed onto the roof to eavesdrop on Fosco and Percival, I was dying, thinking she would be discovered somehow. I found it so hard to remember that this book was written in 1860. Some things are just timeless!
Diane, I'm haunted by that same scene. Thank you for your compliment on my review, though Nora Ephron deserves most of the credit! Jessica, did you ever get to it?
I did! And it was absolutely fantastic! I've always been a lover of both romantic and gothic literature, so it was right up my alley. I am forever grateful to Nora Ephron for introducing me to this hauntingly beautiful novel.
