Title: The Bostonians
Setting: Boston, Cambridge, and Cape Cod (mostly)Author from: He lived several years in Boston/ Cambridge, MA (he traveled around a lot)
Originally published: 1886
Page count: 350
Dates read: 5/14/19-5/21/19; 6/10/19-7/7/19
2019 book goal progress: 12 out of 41
Back to the Classics category:
Classic From a Place You've Lived
(Novel set there or author from there.)
I've lived most of my life in MA.
Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.
Description on back of book:
In The Bostonians, Henry James tackled one of the burning issues from his day - 'the woman question.' The story centers on the struggle between Olive Chancellor, a wealthy feminist from Boston, and Basil Ransom, a conservative from Mississippi, for exclusive possession of the beautiful Verena Tarrant. One of the most humorous and vibrant of James' novels, The Bostonians is also one of his most contentious.
First sentence:
"Olive will come down in about ten minutes; she told me to tell you that."
Favorite quotes:
"Men and women are all the same to me. I don't see any difference. There is room for improvement in both sexes."
"When I look back from here, I can measure the progress. You mustn't think there's no progress because you don't see it all right off. It isn't till you have gone a long way that you can feel what's been done."
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 3.6 - ⭐⭐
Characters - 1
Atmosphere - 4
Writing Style - 3
Plot - 6
Intrigue - 6
Logic - 3
Enjoyment - 2
What is a CAWPILE Rating?
Review:
When I first started this book, I was excited to read another fictional book regarding feminism. To be honest, I was skeptical with it being written by a man, but I chastised myself for my own sexism and read it anyway. Unfortunately, it turns out my concerns were well-founded and there wasn't much I liked about this book at all.
The book was EXTREMELY slow. The first half of the book (175 pages) should have been summed up in 75 pages, the second half of the book summed up in 100 pages, and the ending extended about 25 pages. That would leave the reader with a nice, short, 200-page book that, despite my not agreeing with it, could be recommended simply for the history of it - but it isn't. The author/narrator also made comments throughout the book. I would finally be getting into the story and then the author would make a comment and jolt me out of it. Apparently, 'show don't tell' wasn't around quite yet in James' time.
As the description says, the story is all about Verena either being friends with Olive and supporting the feminist movement or marrying Ransom and accepting to live a private, conservative life with him - it's all very black and white, which is just not what life is like. Also, the idea of feminism is in your face all the time, but, in actuality, it plays a secondary role in the story. Other than a couple of speeches, the book does not have much to do with feminism or the suffrage movement. The description also said that this book was one of his most humorous. Well, maybe the story was meant to be taken more satirical than I interpreted it, but I did not find this book funny at all.
I also didn't like any of the characters, even Olive, whose ideas I agreed with, rubbed me the wrong way. Actually, there was one minor character that stood out - Miss Birdseye. She was an elderly lady who was one of the first abolitionists and then fought for the equal rights of women. I would have been much more interested in reading a book about her life than the nonsense in The Bostonians. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book. There are so many others out there, this one just isn't worth wasting your time on.
The book was EXTREMELY slow. The first half of the book (175 pages) should have been summed up in 75 pages, the second half of the book summed up in 100 pages, and the ending extended about 25 pages. That would leave the reader with a nice, short, 200-page book that, despite my not agreeing with it, could be recommended simply for the history of it - but it isn't. The author/narrator also made comments throughout the book. I would finally be getting into the story and then the author would make a comment and jolt me out of it. Apparently, 'show don't tell' wasn't around quite yet in James' time.
As the description says, the story is all about Verena either being friends with Olive and supporting the feminist movement or marrying Ransom and accepting to live a private, conservative life with him - it's all very black and white, which is just not what life is like. Also, the idea of feminism is in your face all the time, but, in actuality, it plays a secondary role in the story. Other than a couple of speeches, the book does not have much to do with feminism or the suffrage movement. The description also said that this book was one of his most humorous. Well, maybe the story was meant to be taken more satirical than I interpreted it, but I did not find this book funny at all.
I also didn't like any of the characters, even Olive, whose ideas I agreed with, rubbed me the wrong way. Actually, there was one minor character that stood out - Miss Birdseye. She was an elderly lady who was one of the first abolitionists and then fought for the equal rights of women. I would have been much more interested in reading a book about her life than the nonsense in The Bostonians. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book. There are so many others out there, this one just isn't worth wasting your time on.
Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Henry James have the last words:
"Many men are starving to death while they have a cupboard at home, all full of bread and meat and wine... The meat and wine are simply the suppressed and wasted force of which society insanely deprives itself - the genius, the intelligence, the inspiration of women... The public life of the world will move in the same barren, mechanical, vicious circle - the circle of egotism, cruelty, ferocity, jealousy, greed, of blind striving to do things only for some, at the cost of others, instead of trying to do everything for all. All, all? Who dares to say 'all' when we are not there? We are an equal, a splendid, an inestimable part... Some of you say that we have already all the influence we could possibly require, and talk as if we ought to be grateful that we are allowed even to breath. Pray, who should judge what we require if not we ourselves? We require simple freedom; we require the lid to be taken of the box in which we have been kept for centuries. You say it's a very comfortable, cozy, convenient box, with nice glass sides so that we can see out... Good gentlemen, you have never been in the box, and you haven't the least idea how it feels!"
"Many men are starving to death while they have a cupboard at home, all full of bread and meat and wine... The meat and wine are simply the suppressed and wasted force of which society insanely deprives itself - the genius, the intelligence, the inspiration of women... The public life of the world will move in the same barren, mechanical, vicious circle - the circle of egotism, cruelty, ferocity, jealousy, greed, of blind striving to do things only for some, at the cost of others, instead of trying to do everything for all. All, all? Who dares to say 'all' when we are not there? We are an equal, a splendid, an inestimable part... Some of you say that we have already all the influence we could possibly require, and talk as if we ought to be grateful that we are allowed even to breath. Pray, who should judge what we require if not we ourselves? We require simple freedom; we require the lid to be taken of the box in which we have been kept for centuries. You say it's a very comfortable, cozy, convenient box, with nice glass sides so that we can see out... Good gentlemen, you have never been in the box, and you haven't the least idea how it feels!"
No comments:
Post a Comment