Pa's review
Washington Square
by Henry James
Pa's review
Washington Square by Henry James
Pa's review
rating:
Washingston Square tells a tragic, thwarted love story of Catherine Sloper, the plain-looking and dull daughter of a wealthy New York doctor and an heiress to a fortune, who fell for a penniless young fortuneseeker, Mr. Townsend. When Townsend found out that Catherine's father, Dr. Sloper, was determined to prevent the marriage by all means, including threatening to disinherit her, Townsend quickly broke his engagement. Jilted and heart-broken, Catherine chose to remain single and ultimately rejected Townsend when he returned to her years later after her father had died. James' portraits of Catherine, a mixture of vulnerability and sensitivity and unassertiveness, and her cruel, unimaginative father are convincingly drawn. If you haven't read many of James' novels, this is a great one to start as it is fairly short compared to James' other famous novels, such as The Portrait of a Lady, Wings of the Dove etc.