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Jezebel's Daughter

Wilkie Collins,

Jason David Hall (Editor)

Start date: September 1, 2017

Finish date: September 30, 2017

Why we're reading this: September 2017 Classics
[close] September 2017 Classics

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Sep 30, 2017 Viv JM marked it as dnf

DNF @ 82 pages. I just couldn't get into this. Maybe I'll come back to it at a later date... ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 08, 2017 Sarah rated it it was ok

Definitely not Collins's best. ...more

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Sep 05, 2017 Brad rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Jezebel's Daughter is not going to be on any list for the great books to read before you die. From a literary standpoint, it is just a mess. The plot hinges are coincidences that are both gratingly frustrating and hilariously incomprehensible. However, I enjoyed this book for some reason. I think Collin's greatest strength is his easily digestible prose. It absorbs easily, but you never have to overthink it. I could sit down and read Jezebel's Daughter for 3 hours and not feel tired. It's light Jezebel's Daughter is not going to be on any list for the great books to read before you die. From a literary standpoint, it is just a mess. The plot hinges are coincidences that are both gratingly frustrating and hilariously incomprehensible. However, I enjoyed this book for some reason. I think Collin's greatest strength is his easily digestible prose. It absorbs easily, but you never have to overthink it. I could sit down and read Jezebel's Daughter for 3 hours and not feel tired. It's light and airy, and yes, enjoyable. The characters aren't underdeveloped, but they aren't overly developed either. They somehow hit that sweet spot of feeling like you know just enough about them. Sure, some come off as one dimensional, like Mr. Engelman, but for this book it doesn't really bother me. I had fun reading this novel even with all of its attendant problems. If you need a break from dense, exhausting literature, open up a Wilkie Collins book and cleanse your palate.

Spoilers below.

Madame Fontaine was without a doubt the most complex character in this story. She was manipulative and conniving without a doubt, but it was all supposedly done in the name of her daughter's honor. Honestly, I didn't care for this plot point. I would have preferred a purely evil villain who just basked in her own toxicity.

The coincidences, oh boy, where to begin. Mr. David "accidentally" runs into Minna within moments of arriving in Frankfurt. Come on Collins, there surely was a more artful way to have them meet. However, that is a relatively small problem when weighed against an antidote that counteracts two vastly different poisons with vastly different side effects. The coincidences pile up innumerably in between these two big ones that book end the entire story.

Then, there is Jack Strew AKA Hans Grimm. He was part comic relief, part sad sack, part lapdog, part vainglorious child. I can respect historically that Collins wrote about the reformations involving the mentally ill. Jack wasn't developed enough to make any conclusive statements about his illness. I vacillate between him just having a low IQ or having ASD. In any case, the treatment of mental illness 200 years ago is chilling, and it was nice to see a light shined on it in the time period.

Fritz and Minna are arguably the most minor characters even though the whole plot revolves around their romance. Mr. Keller treats Jack Straw with more respect than his own son. I didn't know who to take Fritz except that he is a horny moron who can't wait for his wedding night. Minna, on the other hand, is mostly developed in contrast to her mother. She is the angelic white woman in the story, and she does no wrong.

Mr. David, the narrator, is an idiot. He sees a woman who has been rumored of poisoning people alone in the bedroom of her enemy, the next day the enemy is discovered to be quite ill, and the woman comes forth as the only woman who can save him. You think, possibly, she poisoned him? Not David! He wouldn't dare besmirch a woman's character without proper evidence. Ugh, it is a necessary plot point in the crazy story, but it was frustrating nonetheless. ...more

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Aug 04, 2017 Kim Kaso marked it as to-read

Shelves: classics-literature-tbr

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