The Ambassadors
Registered by 
haahaahaa98
of Watertown, Massachusetts USA on 4/21/2012
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
haahaahaa98 of Watertown, Massachusetts USA on 4/21/2012 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
Travelling as part of the "Books made into movies" bookbox.
To be released as part of the "Based on the Book" bookbox. Sending it off!
Chosen from GoryDetails' Based on the Book bookbox
Because my previous attempts at Henry James landed me in a morass of boredom, frustration and disgust, I chose this highly-praised classic to give him another chance. But this is the worst yet.
First, he brings in an attractive woman whose only role is to listen as the main character goes on and on about his oh-so-fascinating experiences and opinions. Actually, this was the whole story of James' "The Beast in the Jungle," but at the end the male character is forced to realize that he's been so obsessed with his own interior life that he's completely missed all other real-world events. So while I didn't like the story, I accepted it as a pointed cautionary tale.
But what we have here is the exact same thing, protracted for 426 pages! And here I find it a contemptible literary crutch. When James wants to make us aware of some new twist, he has Strether meet Marie for breakfast so he can tell us what's happened, and has Marie ask the questions that allow Strether to explain all the implications. This is a lot easier for James than writing a scene that will show us directly, but it's highly overused here.
The second complaint is that the writing is TERRIBLE. James should have been stood up against a blackboard in his youth and been forced to write one hundred times "Short sentences are good." When that got boring, he could have switched to "Pronouns need clear antecedents." You can sort of catch glimpses of themes like liberation from a cramped emotional life, and some real insights into social nuances. You can, that is, if you have the patience and strength to grit your teeth and plunge like an ice-breaker through the frozen masses of endless paragraphs made up of endless, maddeningly constructed sentences. I spent a lot of time trying, and now I'm giving up.
But that's just one person's opinion. Future readers, what do YOU think of this book?
First, he brings in an attractive woman whose only role is to listen as the main character goes on and on about his oh-so-fascinating experiences and opinions. Actually, this was the whole story of James' "The Beast in the Jungle," but at the end the male character is forced to realize that he's been so obsessed with his own interior life that he's completely missed all other real-world events. So while I didn't like the story, I accepted it as a pointed cautionary tale.
But what we have here is the exact same thing, protracted for 426 pages! And here I find it a contemptible literary crutch. When James wants to make us aware of some new twist, he has Strether meet Marie for breakfast so he can tell us what's happened, and has Marie ask the questions that allow Strether to explain all the implications. This is a lot easier for James than writing a scene that will show us directly, but it's highly overused here.
The second complaint is that the writing is TERRIBLE. James should have been stood up against a blackboard in his youth and been forced to write one hundred times "Short sentences are good." When that got boring, he could have switched to "Pronouns need clear antecedents." You can sort of catch glimpses of themes like liberation from a cramped emotional life, and some real insights into social nuances. You can, that is, if you have the patience and strength to grit your teeth and plunge like an ice-breaker through the frozen masses of endless paragraphs made up of endless, maddeningly constructed sentences. I spent a lot of time trying, and now I'm giving up.
But that's just one person's opinion. Future readers, what do YOU think of this book?
Journal Entry 5 by JudySlump612 at -- Wild, Somewhere In St. Paul in Saint Paul, Minnesota USA on Sunday, August 4, 2013
Released 10 yrs ago (8/3/2013 UTC) at -- Wild, Somewhere In St. Paul in Saint Paul, Minnesota USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
On 'Free Books' table at a friend's garage sale
