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The main problem, as so many others - that is, other Goodreads contributors - have pointed out, with TTOTS, is, after careful reflection - some of it many days, the long, suffocating days of July, after finishing the novel, short though it is - the use of sentence structure; trying in length and, perhaps typically for James (though I have NEVER read anything else by him) littered - liberally, densely - with punctuation which, considering the length of the sentences, I suppose, is a necessary evi ...more
I was expecting a lot more out of this.
I trod through the first part, hopelessly bored and not really liking the narrator much (she was crazy clingy with the children and very old-school-gothic-heroine, and I do not like those types) in the hopes that it would get creepy. I wanted it to be creepy. I wanted chills down my spine and to be left with a sense of horror when the ending came.
I was not. Some of this might simply have been that my expectations were way too high. I normally try not to let ...more
I trod through the first part, hopelessly bored and not really liking the narrator much (she was crazy clingy with the children and very old-school-gothic-heroine, and I do not like those types) in the hopes that it would get creepy. I wanted it to be creepy. I wanted chills down my spine and to be left with a sense of horror when the ending came.
I was not. Some of this might simply have been that my expectations were way too high. I normally try not to let ...more
I did not realize this was a short story until I began reading it (then wondered how I was so far along). But it was good - the Gothic atmosphere is right up my alley, so I enjoyed it a lot.
I'd give this book a 3.5 rating, if I could. I enjoy books with unreliable narrators, of which this is certainly one. It's ostensibly a ghost story, but is it really? Hmm. Anyway, it's a quick read and a classic, so I gave it a shot. I may read more Henry James in the future. Probably Portrait of a Lady. Also, Emma Thompson did an excellent job narrating the audiobook.
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It was long, wordy, hard to focus and boring. I tried.
Mar 23, 2015
Gina
marked it as to-read
Mar 04, 2016
Amber
added it
Mar 19, 2018
Jody
added it
Feb 03, 2020
Jill
marked it as to-read
Apr 19, 2020
Michele Harkins
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