North and South in Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)

Oct 22, 2017 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, vic-lit, 1001-books

Read for Victober 2017.

I loved this book because it was quiet and slow and completely enchanting. Mrs Gaskell told her stories with a graceful build of story told without huge plot points and without shocks and surprises. She told her stories with nuance and subtlety. I expected a romance and instead I got characters who are stubborn and silly and unique; characters who refuse to see that they are in a romance. Ms Hale and Mr Thornton were obviously going to end up together but neither knew it. Read for Victober 2017.

I loved this book because it was quiet and slow and completely enchanting. Mrs Gaskell told her stories with a graceful build of story told without huge plot points and without shocks and surprises. She told her stories with nuance and subtlety. I expected a romance and instead I got characters who are stubborn and silly and unique; characters who refuse to see that they are in a romance. Ms Hale and Mr Thornton were obviously going to end up together but neither knew it. This quote, for me, tells the entire story:

"He shook hands with Margaret. He knew it was the first time their hands had met, though she was perfectly unconscious of the fact."

Honestly, I am not a reader of romance novels and so I am possibly the worst reviewer of a romance book. And as read through the reviews of so many others here on Goodreads I realized that many saw a true romance while many others saw none. I think I am somewhere between. This is not a romance where the characters are a couple and you see their growth together. You won't see stolen moments and kisses. And yet, in some ways I found that to be truer to real life. Romance, for me, is about those moments when the emotion surprises me. Some of us call the feeling "butterflies." So let's look back at that one quote:

"He shook hands with Margaret. He knew it was the first time their hands had met, though she was perfectly unconscious of the fact."

For me, that is romance... Mr Thornton had butterflies -- he felt the romance. He stubbornly refused to accept it, as did she. But his emotions were raw and Mrs Gaskell gave the reader dozens if not hundreds of such glimpses into her characters' heads.

This book was one that I read in two days -- listening while too active to read. I enjoyed each moment, as it felt quite magical. And then, since it ended it has also made me think. I realize that I learned a lot about life in England at the time. History came to life for me through its pages and so the original 4 star rating became 5. ...more

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Jan 08, 2022 Ketutar Jensen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Such whiny people.

Very unsatisfactory, because I find the hero pretty unlikable. How much would it have cost him to give the "hands" a raise? But, sure, he got married to a rich heiress, and didn't need to... uh.
What ever.

Elizabeth Gaskell is a good author, but I dislike this book rather much.

It starts with a selfish man dragging his family away from their home to this dirty, sad industrial town in North, and then whining rest of his life because of the consequences.
His wife was terminally il Such whiny people.

Very unsatisfactory, because I find the hero pretty unlikable. How much would it have cost him to give the "hands" a raise? But, sure, he got married to a rich heiress, and didn't need to... uh.
What ever.

Elizabeth Gaskell is a good author, but I dislike this book rather much.

It starts with a selfish man dragging his family away from their home to this dirty, sad industrial town in North, and then whining rest of his life because of the consequences.
His wife was terminally ill, and chose to not discuss with anyone (either), so when her family finds out, it's a terrific blow.
The father of the family expects his 18 years old daughter to deliver all bad news to his wife, and the mother makes the daughter responsible for the father's peace of mind. So when the mother dies, the daughter cannot mourn, because she has to take care of the father. Who, of course, mourns with all the emotional flagellations and excuses one can expect.
And, servants don't have any feelings, so we don't need to care one bit about the mother's maid, who loved her probably more than her husband and daughter. But, as servants don't have any feelings, it's totally fine to expect her to keep working without a hitch as if nothing had happened.
Also, for some weird reason, the couple had send their daughter to live and be raised by the mother's sister in London. So, when the father goes and dies at the old age of 55, the aunt comes and takes the girl back to London, where she is being treated as her cousin's companion.
The cousin is newly wed and has a son, and Margaret becomes the boy's nanny. Her cousin seems to be a total airhead who doesn't do anything.
So - next dies Mr. Bell who is a rich man who left his fortune to Margaret, and - of course - the London family decides she should marry her cousin's husband's brother, who is in love with her, to keep her close by as the cousin's companion, the boy's nanny, and to keep the money in the family.
But, Margaret has gone and fallen in love with what ever f his name is, the conservative a-hole mill owner, in the proper Pride and Prejudice manner (he asks her to marry her, she refuses, and then spends rest of the book being ashamed of how she did it, and Elizabeth Gaskell even invented a smaller scandal the guy can save Margaret from, to add more burning coals over her head, and make her "understand" what a swell guy he really is, even though the first impressions told differently.)
Frankly, I don't believe in that love, or the happiness of the marriage. The hero's basic values are very much against the heroine's basic values, his mother hates her, and there is a history of miscommunications, misunderstandings, and carrying a grudge.
Urgh. ...more

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Mar 03, 2018 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-novels, fin-2018

I feel like I am grading on a curve, rating this book 3 stars. Did I actually like it? Or do I like the idea of it? I usually adore 19th century British novels so started this novel with high hopes. I'd seen the BBC adaptation of Gaskell's Cranford and loved it as well, so felt sure I was in for a treat with North & South. Oh my, what happened?

The book starts off slow & I struggled to make myself pick it up and read it. The novel finally - finally! - picks up speed in the last hundred pages. How I feel like I am grading on a curve, rating this book 3 stars. Did I actually like it? Or do I like the idea of it? I usually adore 19th century British novels so started this novel with high hopes. I'd seen the BBC adaptation of Gaskell's Cranford and loved it as well, so felt sure I was in for a treat with North & South. Oh my, what happened?

The book starts off slow & I struggled to make myself pick it up and read it. The novel finally - finally! - picks up speed in the last hundred pages. However, at that point, it develops too quickly. I wish she had spread out events in the book more evenly, instead of cramming so much in at the end. It reminded me of when you are writing something on a posterboard and then, uh oh, dang, you are running out of room so you have to start writing smaller and leaving less space between words so it will all fit. The end result looks somewhat sloppy and ill thought out.

My first issue with the plot came at the beginning, when the reader learns that Mr Hale, for some vague & unspecified reason, has decided to leave the Church of England & his job and move north to an industrial town. Um, what? WHY?! Hold on, this seems like a major, major decision and plot point but it is glossed over by Gaskell. Maybe she thought specific attacks on the Church would give her negative publicity or even prevent publication? I could not get behind Mr Hale's decision because I had no idea where that decision came from. I wanted a lot more focus on religion than I got.

I also never followed why Mr Hale decided to move his family so far north and reside in such a different environment. As self punishment? Who knows. Oh sure, Gaskell writes the reason was that Mr Hale had a friend from the north who could help him get a job as a tutor. Hello, that friend lived in Oxford, not Manchester/"Milton" - why not move there and get a job tutoring? You know, in a college town. Located in the South. That would have made more sense and also been less upsetting & healthier for Mrs. Hale & Margaret.

Once in Milton, the reader is subjected to long winded speeches by various characters, concerning industrialization & unions. It didn't further the plot, merely gave Gaskell a mouthpiece to expand on her own political beliefs. It was very heavy handed. Dickens is able to put forth his viewpoints without bludgeoning the reader over the head with them. I wish Gaskell was able to weave her thoughts more deftly into the actual story of the book.

As for the romance, it is so, so cliched. Perhaps when the book was written, it was more fresh? Austen does the same set up more gracefully and more entertainingly with Darcy & Elizabeth. Margaret spends 95% of the book loathing Mr Thorn for no real apparent reason other than to manufacture some romantic tension. Mr Thorn becomes wildly enamored of Margaret, who treats him shabbily, because....uh, who knows. Maybe he's a masochist. Her haughty, regal beauty? I was rooting for them to not get together at the end. Poor Mr Thorn, once the sexual desire fades, he's going to regret his decision.

Ok, then why 3 stars if I have so many complaints? Good question. I felt that there WAS a good story, buried under all the dross. I enjoyed many of the supporting characters. I am interested in that period of time in England. I liked her Cranford story. Like I said, I am grading on a curve. ...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Kai Coates rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: group-bookish, group-the-victorians

I jokingly referred to this book as "Pride and Prejudice and Politics", but I feel the description has merit. Margaret Hale has been raised in London by her rich aunt and superficial cousin. When her cousin marries, Margaret is sent back to live with her parents, a parson and the wife who never forgave him for not having more money, in the idyllic setting of Helstone. Mr. Hale decides to leave his job and moves his family to the northern industrial town of Milton. It is an interesting novel of c ...more

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Jul 23, 2013 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Picture Pride and Prejudice, but with less aristocracy and more death and social labor issues.

I really enjoyed it. Read through it in a day or so, and the end came too soon.

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Nov 10, 2014 Susannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, reading-the-classics

Starting again on May 24, 2017, with Chapter 11.

Setting this one aside for a while. Both the story and the narrator are just fine, and while I understand that North and South reflects the time in which it was written, I'm just not in the mood right now for the story of a woman who is at the mercy of the selfish imbeciles around her (namely, her parents). ...more

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