strange and random happenstance

Even if you weren't prescribed a rest cure for your postpartum depression so you can get back to your wifely duties that have nothing to do with the house when you have a spinster sister-in-law and everything to do with opening your legs, six weeks in the Bertha Mason suite with bars on the windows and a bed clamped to the floor would drive you round the bend. And that is exactly what happens here. The Yellow Wallpaper was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 and strongly portrays what it is to be a woman, especially a woman under the "care" of her husband. Who happens to be a doctor. And if you're a woman you know exactly how inept doctors are when it comes to women's health, more so during the Victorian era. This adaptation is Henry James meets Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with some Shirley Jackson and Angela Carter on the side. And yes, I know that only one of those predates this story, but the other authors, in particular Jackson and Carter, can be seen to be profoundly influenced by Gilman so it makes sense that in adapting the earlier work the later would influence it. There's a definite ouroboros effect going on here. What I find most fascinating about this adaptation is that someone at the BBC obviously watched The Company of Wolves and followed it up with Dreamchild and went, OK, now this is what we want to do, but without any budget, anybody have any ideas? And someone went, well, have you read Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper? Woman menaced by wallpaper? I think we can manage that! They transplanted the story to England and created something that really needs to be seen to be believed. I mean, more than anything it felt like an episode of A Ghost Story for Christmas. Consummate British actors in a creepy house with an ambiguous ending? Yes, very much A Ghost Story for Christmas. But sadly not one of the stellar ones, more like the ones that got the series cancelled in the late seventies. There were parts where I felt "The Ice House" was being channeled. Especially when the husband was going on about pollination. At least there weren't any plants making oddly detailed holes in widows. Overall I felt like it skipped a step in the telling of this tale. The wife has an active imagination and left to her own devices and the company of only the wallpaper she cracks. But it didn't feel gradual, it felt like instantaneous insanity. Like, the visions she was experiencing, the pent-up energy, just exploded from overstimulation. I think this needed to be longer, expanded, so that her break with reality is earned. Though where this adaptation was really let down was in the special effects. I really don't think there was any way to save this show once she's making out with her doppelganger that has emerged from the wallpaper. OK, it's more of an embrace, but it's still weird. It's not the imagery, it's the eighties music video bad special effects that ruins it. Earlier there had been a terrifying reveal of eyes in the wallpaper. Because they are a practical effect they still shock. Over time practical effects will weather technology changes more than any "special effects" of the day. So yes, this does have merit, but it is also sadly very dated. Though not in regard to women's rights.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Ghost Story for Christmas, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Angela Carter, BBC, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Henry James, Rest Cure, Shirley Jackson, Special Effects, The Yellow Wallpaper

At the Bottom of the Garden by Camilla Bruce
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
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The official patter:
"A murderess becomes the guardian of two very unusual girls in this mesmerizing Gothic novel from acclaimed author Camilla Bruce.

Clara Woods is a killer - and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flower bed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace - or so she's always thought.

Then the girls arrive.

Lily and Violet are her nieces, recently orphaned after their affluent parents died on an ill-fated anniversary trip. In accordance with their parents' will, the sisters are to go to their closest relative - who happens to be Clara. Despite having no interest in children, Clara agrees to take them, hoping to get her hands on some of the girls' assets - not only to bolster her dwindling fortune but also to establish what she hopes will be her legacy: a line of diamond jewelry.

There's only one problem. Violet can see the dead man at the bottom of the garden. She can see all of Clara's ghosts...and call them back into existence. Soon Clara is plagued by her victims and at war with the gifted girls in her care. Lily and Violet have become a liability - and they know far more than they should."

A very interesting Henry James vibe!

The Weekend Guests by Liza North
Published by: Harper Paperbacks
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
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The official patter:
"In the vein of Lucy Foley's chilling, atmospheric mysteries, a compulsive, psychological thriller about a group of old university friends whose seaside reunion will end in betrayal and murder.

Five old friends...One reunion to die for.

After years apart, old college friends Aline, Sienna, Rob, Michael, and Brandon reunite in idyllic Dorset, for a weekend at Aline's beautiful house perched on a cliff above the sea. It should be the perfect chance to relax, rekindle friendships, and meet each other's partners; plus, there's a sitter to watch the kids.

What most of the guests don't know, however, is that Aline has called them all together for a reason: someone has threatened to expose the dark crime they committed at university. Long ago, these old friends swore one another to silence, and have never spoken of the deed since. But now, menacing postcards have begun to appear - and Aline is convinced it's one of them turning on the rest.

In Liza North's propulsive and unsettling dual timeline narrative, truths emerge, secrets surface, and long-simmering grudges explode - and by the end of this reunion weekend, at least one of them will be dead..."

I don't know why but any book that is basically a murderous version of Peter's Friends is a book I have to read.

Head Cases by John McMahon
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
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The official patter:
"Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying - and commercial - series debut.

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI's hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.

When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer.

Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer's identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families...before it's too late?

With an enigmatic case that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and a thoroughly engaging ensemble cast, John McMahon's Head Cases is a triumph."

I mean, if she wasn't seven wouldn't it be great if Camila was the killer?

The Rules of Fortune by Danielle Prescod
Published by: Mindy's Book Studio
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A daughter's investigation into her family history threatens to destroy their legacy in a gripping novel about power, money, and secrets by the author of Token Black Girl.

On their Martha's Vineyard estate, the Carter family prepares to celebrate. But when the billionaire patriarch dies right before his seventieth birthday, the media is quick to question the future of the multi-industry conglomerate that makes the Carters living legends. Amid the succession crisis, his daughter, Kennedy, is questioning her father's past.

Kennedy is an aspiring filmmaker, and the documentary she'd planned to present at her father's party begins an inquest into the life of a man she never really knew. A thoughtful outlier in an elite and fiercely guarded dynasty, she's not interested in keeping up the appearances that define her impeccably poised mother or in the capitalist games her ruthless brother plays. Kennedy wants only to understand the origins of their empire, and the lethally ambitious man behind it. That understanding comes at a cost.

As a twisted history emerges, the fault lines in the family grow. Torn between morality and the promise of maintaining wealth, Kennedy must decide what's most important - the Carter legacy or exposing the shocking truth of how it was built."

I mean, a character named Kennedy unearthing family secrets? It's totally about THE Kennedys, and I'm all for taking down that corrupt family, even if only fictionally. 

Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature in the latest puzzling entry in this USA Today bestselling series.

An ice fisherman is savagely mauled to death in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and an eyewitness claims the man was attacked by a hodag. There's just one problem with that: it's well known that the creature is not real and was created by a local hoaxer. So how could an imaginary creature be chomping on local sportsmen?

The suggestion that a hodag killed someone isn't well received by the townsfolk because of its beloved ties to the town and the money it generates from tourist dollars. Due to this, people begin to suspect the witness is the real killer, especially when it's discovered he has a tangled past with the victim.

The witness to the attack happens to be the nephew of Morgan Carter's bookstore employee, Rita Bosworth, who convinces the professional cryptozoologist to travel to Wisconsin to prove that a hodag not only exists but killed the victim.

Clues may be hard to come by, but one thing's for sure: something killed that man, and that something now has its eyes focused on Morgan."

As a Wisconsinite just seeing that hodag on the cover brings me joy. And yes, I obviously was able to identify it before reading the blurb.

Barbarian's Heart by Ruby Dixon
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The next novel in the Ice Planet Barbarians series, an international publishing phenomenon - now in a special print edition with a bonus novella!

The unthinkable happens when a devastating accident causes Pashov to forget his mate, but Stacy will do whatever it takes to make her family whole again...

The first time I laid eyes on Pashov, we resonated. I was happy and in love, and we were raising a beautiful child together. All of that was torn apart when the world shook.

My mate nearly died.

He woke up from his coma...but he can't remember me. Or our son. Every memory of the past two years is gone. And that changes everything between us. How can I love someone who doesn't remember me?

How can I not when I know he's still my mate underneath it all?"

It's cold out, Valentines is near, come enjoy the Ice Planet Barbarians series!

A Lady Would Know Better by Emma Theriault
Published by: Entangled: Amara
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Get ready to swoon for this dreamy, forget-me-not romance that's filled with the delightful tartness of Jane Austen and the sweeping, unputdownable drama of Bridgerton.

There are many things an English lord might encounter on the grounds of his wintry estate. Trees. Birds. Perhaps a wandering gamekeeper. Instead, the Earl of Belhaven finds a woman in the snow, unconscious and nearly frozen to death. Then her luminous gray eyes open just long enough for her to plead, "Don't let them get me."

Now Jasper Maycott has his hands full with a woman who has absolutely no memory of who she is or where she came from - to say nothing of her name! Just a gold ring, some fine clothes, and a penchant for pert conversation. But while "Jane" dresses and speaks quite like a lady, Jasper can't make any assumptions. After all, she could be a crafty fortune hunter...albeit a charming and unutterably beautiful one.

Only there's no room for romantic love in the Earl of Belhaven's world. There is just grim duty, a lingering sense of loss, and the knowledge that love - in any form - can only bring heartbreak in its wake.

But while a lady should know better, the heart heeds no rules...even if its every beat portends the danger she was running from."

Well hopefully the danger will be dealt with and a HEA is on the cards. It should be if Jane Austen and Bridgerton are anything to go by...

Lord of Intrigue by Nina Jarrett
Published by: Rogue Press
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Kindle, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mysterious heir is on his way to England. Will Molly be able to find her place in his household, or will a tragic fate befall one of them within the week?

In this steamy mystery romance, two people are thrust together on the ashes of a disastrous murder plot. Now they must find a way to work together despite the unexpected attraction between them.

No one knows the new heir...

Marco Scott has never been to England, but now he is next in line to a title. Surrounded by potential enemies, he must find his footing in this strange land. Learning he is to act as guardian to an enticing young woman only makes matters more complicated.

A ward stuck in a stranger's home...

Molly Carter is handed over to the new heir, a man no one knew existed until it was revealed a peer was murdered to conceal his existence. To make matters worse, he might be the most beautiful man alive, which is making her blurt out the most embarrassing nonsense.

But someone is not happy that Marco will inherit. Danger lurks in the shadows, and he can't inherit if he's dead. Can Molly and Marco come to terms with their newfound passion to solve the mystery before one of them ends up in a grave?

Lord of Intrigue is the delightful fifth book in the Inconvenient Scandals series of steamy Regency suspense romance books. If you like worthy heroes, fast-paced plots, and enduring connections, then you'll adore Nina Jarrett's charming novel. Can be read as a standalone book."

That cover captured by imagination, and then the blurb? Yeah, I gotta read it.

The Girl Made of Stars by K.E. Le Veque
Published by: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 346 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Lola Grayson had it all.

In 1934, Lola was on top of the world. Dubbed "The Siren" by MGM, she was a protégé of Louis B. Mayer, the original talkie sex symbol before the rise of stars like Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow. But like Harlow, Lola Grayson had a dominant stage mother and bad health that struggled to meet the demand of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Exploited, pushed, primped, and promoted as MGM's biggest star, Lola Grayson made one fatal mistake - falling in love with fellow MGM star Robert Taggart. Together, they were the golden couple that audiences demanded to see. But Lola wanted what every young woman at the time wanted - a husband and a family. For a major star, that was a death sentence.

Lola Grayson's death rocked the world.

In the present day, Joey Cabot is a novelist with a struggling career. In a stroke of fate, she purchases Lola Grayson and Robert Taggart's former home in Los Angeles. It was a secret love nest they kept hidden from the world, but what comes out of the old walls is a secret no one wanted to see the light of day. Something so explosive that it could lay Hollywood history wide-open. In discovering that secret, Joey sees the salvation of her career, but it soon becomes apparent that Joey isn't working for her salvation, but for Lola's.

Old Hollywood glamour and tragedy brings together two lost souls in this masterpiece fictional tale of one woman's death... and one woman's life."

I'm such a sucker for Old Hollywood.

There's Something About Mira by Sonali Dev
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 317 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev comes the heartfelt story of a woman determined to reunite a lost ring with its owner, who ends up finding herself along the way.

Mira Salvi has the perfect life - a job she loves, a fiancé everyone adores, and the secure future she's always imagined for herself. Really, she hasn't a thing to complain about, not even when she has to go on her engagement trip to New York alone.

While playing tourist in the city, Mira chances upon a lost ring, and her social media post to locate its owner goes viral. With everyone trying to claim the ring, only one person seems to want to find its owner as badly as Mira does: journalist Krish Hale. Brooding and arrogant, he will do anything to get to write this story.

As Krish and Mira reluctantly join forces and jump into the adventure of tracing the ring back to where it belongs, Mira begins to wonder if she is in the right place in her own life. She had to have found this ring for a reason...right? Maybe, like the owner of the lost ring, her happy ending hasn't been written yet either."

There's a certain serendipity to Sonali Dev's latest book...

Abduction of a Slave by Dana Stabenow
Published by: Head of Zeus - An Aries Book
Publication Date: January 28th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The gripping new historical mystery from New York Times bestselling author Dana Stabenow. In Cleopatra's Egypt, the clouds of war are on the horizon...

Cleopatra, seventh of her name, all-powerful ruler of Egypt, has found her most able and trusted agent in Tetisheri, her Eye of Isis. So when Tetisheri asks permission to visit the Kingdom of Cyrenaica, she is surprised - and suspicious - when her queen grants her leave from Alexandria.

A middleman in Cyrenaica has ceased communication and Tetisheri's uncle, a master trader, is on a mission to find out why. But there are others in Cyrenaica with hidden agendas: Julius Caesar's spies, Caesar's sworn enemy Mettelus Scipio, and the ever duplicitous King Juba I.

Tetisheri soon realises why Cleopatra consented to her mission, for Cyrenaica is a web of intrigue that also includes Pompey's widow and an army readying to take on the might of Caesar, who is massing his legions in Sicily. With war on the horizon, Tetisheri's skills will be stretched to the limit as she also tries to decipher a murder mystery closer to home."

I am ALL. ABOUT. EGYPT! Especially with a side of Rome!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Annelise Ryan, Camilla Bruce, Dana Stabenow, Danielle Prescod, Emma Theriault, Henry James, John McMahon, K.E. Le Veque, Liza North, Nina Jarrett, Peter's Friends, Regency, Ruby Dixon, Sonali Dev, Wisconsin

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Published by: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: August 6th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Rowan is in prison. Yes, she's the nanny who had the worst thing that could possibly happen happen. The police won't listen. No one will listen. Her fate has already been decided due to a few bad decisions on her part. She thinks if she could just get her story completely told to one person that person would understand and help her. Because no one gets what it was like at Heatherbrae House. The lack of sleep, the feeling of going mad, constantly being pushed beyond her limits. She was thrown into the deep end and she sank. She might be a flawed human being, but she is no murderer! It all seemed like a dream until it became a nightmare. The job in the middle of nowhere, the ridiculous salary, the perfectly behaved children, the chance to get away from her current job at Little Nippers, and the house. Oh, Rowan would have given anything to live there and to be a part of that family, and in the end she did. She should have known it was too good to be true. But the impeccable references got her in the door and she did the best job of selling herself she ever had and somehow she achieved the impossible, her dream job. But the interview gave her a glimpse into a nonexistent world. The smart house with it's omniscient technology might sound appealing, but it's just a means of control. Of forcing the modern and the old to coexist in a way they shouldn't. Also the remodeling of the house was just a means to scrub the past away. But that past is buried deep, like the roots of the plants in the poison garden out back. A garden conceived by a man who lost his daughter due to the very poisons he cultivated. Then there's Jack. He's the handy man. And he is very handy. Maybe too handy. He's always there when Rowan needs him but she doesn't question this until it might be too late. She should have questioned everything. She should have done better. She should have come clean sooner. Maybe then things would have turned out differently. Or maybe she was always supposed to be the catalyst for this tragedy, just a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

I have issues with The Turn of the Screw. Many, many issues. While many people have written copiously on all the plurality of meanings in The Turn of the Screw I could probably write a dissertation on why I hate it. There'd even be footnotes! But I think spending all my time dwelling on something I dislike wouldn't be the most beneficial to my health, though as I've said before, it's easier to write about something you hate than something you love. You can pinpoint with unerring accuracy everything that gets under your skin while that which makes your heart sing is almost impossible to describe. At this point you're wondering, well, then why did she pick up a retelling of The Turn of the Screw if she hates it so much? The answer is simple, I can see that this story has potential written by anyone other than Henry James and therefore I wanted to see where Ruth Ware would take it. The answer is a lot further and more futuristic than Henry James! Aside from the fact that she uses the built in horror tropes of a smart home perfectly, a home I would never live in because even my phone stopped reading my fingerprint, the bones of this version make it the best version of The Turn of the Screw I have yet read. Notice I am not mentioning The Haunting of Bly Manor, because that was watched, and that is now the pinnacle of perfection all retellings of The Turn of the Screw should be aiming for. What this retelling did so well is make us actually care about the characters and the family dynamic. Plus, with double the number of children, it's like Russian roulette, at least one of them is going down, and you can't be sure which one! So not only did I care if these characters lived or died, the fact that they were all in jeopardy made me turn the pages at breakneck speed. I was totally invested in a story that I thought would be just a mild diversion. Because of this I really started to over-analyze everything. There are weird little errors throughout the book. Rowan purposefully picks up an iPad when leaving the kitchen to watch the children but then ends up using her phone instead. The dog beds move from the weird servants pantry to the kitchen. There are all these little things that add up and I wonder, was it purposeful to highlight the fact that Rowan is an unreliable narrator? Or accidental? If accidental, this is the first time a lack in editing has paid off.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Going Gothic, Heatherbrae House, Henry James, Jack Grant, Murder, Nanny, Poison Garden, Retelling, Rowan Caine, Ruth Ware, Scotland, Smart Home, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Turn of the Key, The Turn of the Screw

After seeing the amazing interpretation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House that Mike Flanagan pulled off I was beyond excited for The Haunting of Bly Manor. And this was only approximately 79% to do with Rahul Kohli being cast. OK, it was probably closer to 100% because I am not a fan of The Turn of the Screw like I am with The Haunting of Hill House, but that's why this adaptation is so perfect, it made me like The Turn of the Screw and the other stories by Henry James that were incorporated. This miniseries turned a bleak tale of possible madness into a love story. And not just a single love story either! There are many couples to ship here. In fact this show might have healed and broken my heart simultaneously. If someone were to say to me "it's you, it's me, it's us" I would probably break down sobbing right this second. Yet this phrase which comes to mean so much about the power of love started out menacing. That's what's amazing here. The way the story unfolds. What was one thing becomes another and another and everything you think you knew keeps changing. This is a miniseries that could easily be rewatched the second you finish it just to fill in the gaps you might have missed. The one thing I found odd when reading reviews of what people have dubbed the second season of Mike Flanagan's "Haunting" series is that so many people took exception to the penultimate episode shot in black and white, "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes." This episode set centuries earlier explains how Bly Manor came to be the haunted place it is with Mike Flanagan's wife, Kate Siegel, Theo from The Haunting of Hill House, taking center stage. This episode is lyrical and perfectly paced. There are phrases that come back to me again and again while thinking about this show. "She would sleep, she would wake, she would walk." And while yes, this could be a way to explain all our lives during quarantine and it's repetitive nature, it also taps into the broken record aspect of a haunting. How ghosts are just reliving the same moments over and over again which is why the penultimate episode is crucial! This show is time loops and the supernatural and true love all mashed up together and all I have to say is more!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Ghosts, Henry James, Kate Siegel, Mike Flanagan, Rahul Kohli, Shirley Jackson, Short Stories, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Haunting of Hill House, The Turn of the Screw

After the deathly dull adaptation of The Golden Bowl I was hesitant to say the least about diving right into another Henry James miniseries. But thankfully The Spoils of Poynton is my kind of jam. Firstly, it is not at all what I assumed it was based on the title. I thought Poynton was a location in some far flung locale that was being sacked. Perhaps I'm forgetting here that Henry James wasn't British and therefore wasn't all about King and Country and conquering. Instead Poynton is a house. A house jammed to the rafters with a lifetime of collecting by Adela Gereth. Mrs. Gereth's collection and home are actually the rightful property of her son Owen now that her husband, Owen's father, has died. The problem that has arisen is that Owen has fallen for one Mona Brigstock. Mona is entirely unsuitable in Mrs. Gereth's mind to understand and revere the collection belonging to Poynton. Mona is the "sporting" type and has designs on putting a billiards table where the classical music instruments are. Into this contretemps walks Miss Fleda Vetch. Miss Vetch is exactly the kind of girl who would look after Poynton and Mrs. Gereth is going to try her best to see that Owen sees this as well. Mrs. Gereth bides her time by removing herself from Poynton, along with all the contents of the house, enraging Mona to no end. Which annoys Owen. Which means Miss Vetch must act as a go-between for Owen and his mother, all the while falling in love with Owen, as Mrs. Gereth had hoped. Fleda doesn't play her hand right and Mrs. Gereth reacts prematurely and no one lives happily ever after. And here's the thing, I so needed a happy ending right now. It's not that I thought the character of Fleda deserved it, but she was played so magnificently by Gemma Jones that I couldn't help but root for her. I mean how could I NOT root for her!?! It's Bridget Jones's mom! It's Louisa Trotter! It's the actress behind so many roles I have loved over the years! Sure she was nothing more here but the crown jewel in Mrs. Gereth's collection that turned out to be paste, but I SO wanted her to have a happily ever after! Even if Owen was a total loser and when he was Elizabeth's husband on Upstairs, Downstairs he was nothing but trouble. But I think Fleda could have succeeded where Elizabeth failed! And as for Mrs. Gereth... well, she's really just an older version of me I fear. Perhaps that's why I enjoyed this so darn much! OK, where's a Maltese cross I can run off to the country with?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Collection, Fifty Years a Masterpiece, Gemma Jones, Henry James, Miss Fleda Vetch, Mona Brigstock, Mr. Owen Gereth, Mrs. Adela Gereth, Poynton, The Golden Bowl, The Spoils of Poynton, Upstairs Downstairs

Years ago I went to the Paine Art Center and Gardens up in Oshkosh to see "Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen." I freely admit I went for one reason and one reason only, and that was to see the costumes from the Colin Firth adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. There were lovely surprises too, an amazing costume Cate Blanchett wore in Elizabeth that had a panel that was actually from the time of Queen Elizabeth I, the ballgown from Ever After, and on and on, I spent hours looking and looking again. They even had all the costumes for the 2000 Kate Beckinsale/Uma Thurman production of The Golden Bowl, AKA one of those movies I keep meaning to get to, especially as it was directed by James Ivory of Merchant and Ivory. But then I heard about the old Masterpiece Theatre adaptation, well, I figured six episodes had to delve deeper than a two hour movie! Plus it starred Gayle Hunnicutt, loved by me for being James Beaumont's mother on Dallas and the final girl in The Legend of Hell House. Another delightful surprise was Daniel Massey, brother of the amazing Anna, as Prince Amerigo, who also had a complicated love life just like the Prince, leaving his wife Penelope Wilton for Penelope's sister Lindy! So what of this Henry James story about a father and a daughter who end up caught up in the affairs of ex-lovers... I really don't know what to say. I watched six episodes and nothing happened. I'm not even sure if there was an affair. Was the dutiful daughter Maggie's husband having an affair with her father's wife Charlotte? Meh, can't be certain, and I couldn't even really bring myself to care. There is just so much verbiage and talking around the issue that nothing ever really gets said. And as for the narrator? Well, if he were still alive he would make a killing doing those little audios that help put people to sleep. I literally zoned out for whole chunks of time. I would have said I fell asleep without knowing it, but I was on a treadmill and seeing as I didn't end up in a pile on the floor I must have remained upright. I will say that the sets and costumes kept me entertained. And looking back on that long ago trip to Oshkosh, the large living room that they placed the costumes for the movie in looked very much like it could have been a room in Mr. Verver's house.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adultery, Colin Firth, Daniel Massey, Elizabeth, Fifty Years a Masterpiece, Gayle Hunnicutt, Henry James, Masterpiece Theatre, Pride and Prejudice, The Golden Bowl, The Legend of Hell House, The Paine

A Backward Glance: An Autobiography by Edith Wharton
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: 1934
Format: Paperback, 424 Pages
To Buy

"Memoirs are always suspect. People tend to remember what they want to remember; images become blurred or combined; details are rearranged. BUT. This is Edith Wharton we’re talking about. Who can resist the chance to see the New York of her childhood through her eyes, even if it might be a bit tweaked about the edges? Especially when there are lines like these: The little girl and her father walked up Fifth Avenue: the old Fifth Avenue with its double line of low brown-stone houses, of a desperate uniformity of style, broken only -- and surprisingly -- by two equally unexpected features: the fenced-in plot of ground where the old Miss Kennedys' cows were pastured, and the truncated Egyptian pyramid which so strangely served as a reservoir for New York's water supply. The Fifth Avenue of that day was a placid and uneventful thoroughfare, along which genteel landaus, broughams and victorias, and more countrified vehicles of the "carryall" and "surrey" type, moved up and down at decent intervals and a decorous pace. Wharton’s very nostalgia for that vanished world, and the way she constructed it in contrast to what came later, provided a great deal of insight into the culture wars between old and new that are a major theme in the background of The English Wife. And now that we’ve had two Wharton-related books in a row, let’s just move right on past those fifteen other Wharton books on my shelves...." - Lauren Willig

The official patter:
"Edith Wharton, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, vividly reflects on her public and private life in this stunning memoir.

With richness and delicacy, it describes the sophisticated New York society in which Wharton spent her youth, and chronicles her travels throughout Europe and her literary success as an adult. Beautifully depicted are her friendships with many of the most celebrated artists and writers of her day, including her close friend Henry James.

In his introduction to this edition, Louis Auchincloss calls the writing in A Backward Glance “as firm and crisp and lucid as in the best of her novels.” It is a memoir that will charm and fascinate all readers of Wharton’s fiction."

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Backward Glance, America, Autobiography, Edith Wharton, Europe, Fifth Avenue, Henry James, Lauren Willig, Louis Auchincloss, New York, New York Society, Pulitzer, The English Wife, Willig Winter

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Published by: Vintage
Publication Date: 1983
Format: Paperback, 164 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Arthur Kipps could easily contribute to his family's tradition of ghost stories on Christmas Eve... only his ghost story is so dark and so disturbing he dare not utter it. After the holidays he decides he will commit it to paper so that it is recorded, exorcised from his life. A life that was destroyed by him going to Crythin Gifford to deal with the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow. As a young solicitor he was excited at the opportunity this job gave him to prove his worth. He planned to spend a few days sorting out the elderly widow's papers and return to London and his fiance. Though the townspeople seemed reluctant to endorse his staying out at Eel Marsh House by himself. Arthur thought it was because of the Nine Lives Causeway which would cut him off from the mainland during high tide... but the seclusion wasn't the only reason. The main reason is a woman in black Arthur saw at Mrs. Drablow's funeral. A woman whose appearance presages something which the villagers dare not discuss. Despite vocal opposition Arthur ensconces himself at Eel Marsh House and is subjected to many supernatural apparitions, terrifying noises coming from the causeway, as well as many revelations. He learns who the woman in black is and what she wants, and what she will take from him... though, even in death, it looks like she will forever be unsatisfied.

I remember when the Daniel Radcliffe adaptation of this book arrived in cinemas, everyone who saw it kept insisting that it didn't capture the book. How The Woman in Black was a classic of Gothic storytelling and the stage adaptation was brilliant, but how I should avoid the movie and just go to the source. Of course I did both. I picked up the book at Barnes and Noble and then I eventually got around to watching the movie. Oddly for me I actually decided to watch the movie first and was unimpressed and confused. The sequel, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, which had almost nothing to do with the book or the adaptation, might actually be my favorite among the three. As for the book, I don't know if it's because people were building it up to me or if it's just that horror films and other Gothic stories have gone so far beyond what Hill did here in the early eighties that it fell flat. The worst person though in building up this story is Hill herself. She set herself up for a fall with all the allusions to this story being too terrifying for Christmas Eve, and that it really shouldn't be uttered. I'm sorry, but if your narrator is telling a story about his past right there almost all jeopardy is gone. He's alive at the end. He survives into old age. He's never in real danger, so why is this story so scary if he makes it out alive?

But Hill keeps insisting on the danger... and with each insistence, with each demurral from daring to tell the tale she comes across as smug and overly pleased with herself. Oh Arthur was so damaged he never recovered... yet here he is with his new family surrounded by love and light at Christmas! So Hill thinks she's SO clever trying to break all the tropes? Others have broken the tropes and FAR better. She thinks the beauty of nature and the surrounding country makes it not your typical ghost story? I think that Mary Shelley kind of blasted apart the setting trope with her Gothic classic. Breaking with genre locals and connecting with nature... sorry to say but a pretty place doesn't a book make. The question of who is really the baby's mother? Um, yeah, it's not like this is anything original. Especially in Gothic literature! As for the townsfolk who don't trust outsiders and close ranks? Seriously, you think this was groundbreaking? In fact, this is also to everyone who recommended this book to me. Seriously? And no, you're not allowed to use the excuse that she did it first, because 1983 isn't that long ago and many many people did it better first. I just couldn't shake this feeling of Hill thinking she was superior throughout the book and this continually alienated me.

The narrative just didn't sit right with me. But then again this could all be Arthur's fault. Arthur isn't a good lead. Skipping over his dramatics about even wanting to tell his story, let's just go with him being a whiny little pretentious bitch. He views this job as a real feather in his cap. Oh, he'll just do this job so well that he'll get a huge promotion enabling him to marry his fiance sooner and well, his boss will just love him and never want to let him go, just throwing money at him for simply doing his job. I could say that this was Hill showing the naivety of youth that will be jaded by experience... but the fact is I wanted to smack him so bad that I couldn't relate to him on any level. Plus he's like manic depressive or something, split personality perhaps? Because during the days at Eel Marsh House nothing bothers him, he's all rainbows and puppies and oh, that noise was nothing, look at the beautiful view out these glorious windows, and the night falls and he's running around like a chicken with his head cut off screaming about the noises on the causeway. Maybe Jekyll and Hyde is a more apt way of describing Arthur. Yes, things can get scary at night, in the dark, but having him so blithely swan through the day talking about how lovely everything is? He's in serious denial and needs help. But it's not coming from me.

What does "help" Arthur is that lovely trope of the fever that puts him abed. Suffered by any overactive man who just collapses from strain. I kind of wonder if this is a trope that women writers use to just poke fun at men who have been claiming that women are weaker and prone to fainting... because whenever I've seen this trope used so heavy-handedly it's always been from the pen of a female author. Like they're saying, "we'll show you a wilted flower!" Which amuses me to no end. But then again Conan Doyle even used this trope in a Sherlock Holmes story... so maybe it was really a thing. And I have to say, if this is a real thing, how can I get in on this action? Because I'd seriously like a month off to just lay in bed and read. Because I don't want to take it to the extreme of delirium, but just a slight wasting problem that needed bed rest. Can you seriously, in this day and age, imagine someone saying that they are convalescing for the foreseeable future do to nerves? Everything is so diagnosable now this isn't something that can be believable in novels written in present times about the past. We know better now and so this trope too must pass.

The Woman in Black was actually in a perilous position. Until the last few pages it was about to receive the dreaded one star rating and then it surprisingly redeemed itself, just a little. If you don't know the motives of the woman in black, Mrs. Drablow's sister, now is the time to get a fever and take to your bed. OK, so I assume now if you're still reading you either already know or don't care to be spoiled that the woman in blacks appearance heralds the death of a child, which is why the villagers never wanted to talk about it, because it might be their child next. So Arthur figures this all out we and think he's getting his happily ever after, he gets married, has a child, but turns out, things aren't so resolved. Because the woman in black, she is a ghost that is unrepentantly evil. She is not able to be "put to rest" or "exorcised" and THIS is the selling point of the book. There is no happy resolution. Arthur loses his wife and child to the woman in black because she is pure evil. This is rare in ghost stories, I can only think of a few, usually Japanese in base, where there is no tidy resolution, evil wins. Yes, you could say that Henry James did this with The Turn of the Screw, but he didn't do it effectively. Here there is no doubt that evil wins. And I like that. It's spelled out cleanly and clearly, like the vengeful ghost in The Ring. So if you stick with it, there's this lovely light at the end of the tunnel. Sure it's actually a train, but it brings you some satisfaction.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Children, Christmas, Daniel Radcliffe, Fever, Ghost Story, Going Gothic, Henry James, Jekyll and Hyde, Mary Shelley, Susan Hill, The Ring, The Turn of the Screw, The Woman in Black, Trope

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Published by: A Public Domain Book
Publication Date: 1818
Format: Kindle, 148 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Victor Frankenstein has had a perfect life surrounded by love and plenty. His curious mind was supplied with everything he could desire focusing his studies on outdated theories of the natural world. When he ventures to university in Ingolstadt he realizes that his opinions are outmoded and he devotes himself to the study of the modern theories and practices of natural philosophy and chemistry. Victor's studies lead him to a discovery that he could create life from death. He succeeds at playing God but instantly regrets his experiments and falls gravely ill while his creation sets out into the world, alone. The consequences of his actions take Victor's life of love and joy and transforms it into a nightmare of his own making. His inability to take responsibility for what he has done and atone with the smallest sliver of empathy will destroy his world. Yet Victor sees the destruction of his world as a sacrifice that must be made to save the rest of the world.

Everyone knows some version of Frankenstein. That's the thing though, it's a "version" of Frankenstein. I'm not naive in that I knew I wasn't going to be reading a book about a green monster with bolts in his neck while someone screamed "He's Alive!" Yet there was a part of me that worried that I would be bored and disinterested to the point that I wouldn't want to finish the book because I had heard the story so many times before. I truly hadn't heard the story though. Frankenstein is this story that no adaptation has ever gotten right (putting Mary Shelley before the title didn't help you Kenneth Branagh). Though on my first reading of the book I was blinded by the appendixes. The historical context of the story's creation, the tie-ins to philosophy, all these other aspects were so fascinating that I fell in love with the book without actually judging the book on it's own merit, because re-reading it I was bored and disinterested, belatedly proving my concerns. Victor is such a reprehensible character that without that something more, more backstory, more context, you just want to punch his smug little face.

One of the interesting things to come of Frankenstein is the odd quirk that the majority of the people think Frankenstein is the monster, not the creator. Personally I think this is a Freudian Slip that acknowledges the truth, the real monster. Because while the creature eventually does become a monster because of Victor's actions, in truth Victor is the monster. Just look at the evidence? He creates life and abandons it. When the life reaches out to him he "helps" only to give his creation false hope. Also, a thing that niggled at me, if Victor's real horror at creating a mate for his creation was that they would populate the earth with their abominations, well, he was "making" her so he could have just removed the baby making parts. Getting back on track, Victor, knowing of the danger the creature brings to his family he just goes home and waits while carnage rains down on him. The creature is lashing out at the world because all he wants is love. Is that a monster? No a monster is someone who is amoral, lacks empathy, doesn't care about the consequences of their actions, and has an ego that easily has delusions of being a god. IE, Victor. 

While I love so many different kinds and genres of books there are some books that just blow you away and your mind slowly melts out your ear. Then you re-read that book and start to seriously question your own judgment. Was this the book that I loved? Was this the book I was lauding and throwing laurels at and telling everyone I'd ever known to go and read it? The interweaving of philosophy and science, arts and literature, the book's subtitle, even the origins of the story easily make this book's categorization as a classic almost a forgone conclusion because it's the perfect book for a college student to take apart and write several essays on. The sheer richness of the text though is never bogged down though in being indecipherable or overly written (yes, I'm looking at you Henry "Turn of the Screw" James). I think it would surprise the average reader that despite being written almost two hundred years ago this is an easy read, even if some of the concepts delve into the greatest questions that have plagued mankind. Again, making it an approachable classic. It's rare that a book can be easy to read yet robust enough to withstand much research and scrutiny.

"Last time I saw you
We had just split in two.
You were looking at me.
I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face;
I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That's the pain,
Cuts a straight line
Down through the heart;
We called it love."

In his lyrics for "The Origins of Love" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which incidentally is heavily influenced by Frankenstein, Stephen Task retells Aristophanes' myth of primal man from the Symposium which Shelley's husband translated as "The Banquet of Plato" and which Shelley incorporated into her novel. The lyrics are able to poetically express all the concepts that Shelley took from Aristophanes' story and incorporated into Frankenstein. The duality of Victor and the creature being halves of the same whole is again and again brought to the reader's consciousness. They are one whole person that has been separated quite literally by a bolt of lighting into a being of love (the creature) and a being of rationality and science (Victor). They need each other, which the creature sees but Victor is unable to accept. This doppelganger aspect was taken even further in The National Theatre's production of Frankenstein back in 2011 when Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller would alternate nights as to who was Victor and who was the creature, further highlighting this aspect of the work.

These opposing natures, which in one person would form a whole, sets up all the struggling forces in the book. Conflict abounds with man versus monster, god versus science, man versus nature. The last thing I want to touch on is this last aspect of nature, as in the material world, not as in humankind. Up until Shelley Gothic had a very specific look, ie moldy old castles in remote areas; which is probably why so many adaptations of her books has reverted to this trope. But Shelley is able to do what you might think impossible, she is able to create the small and cloistered environment that is shut off from society while still in the glory of nature. The lightning stuck peaks of the alps, the glory of God's creation of ice and snow. These scenes of bleak beauty that bring home all that Victor was flying in the face of when he decided to make a man. Every aspect of this book brings home to me how amazing Mary Shelley was. She was wicked smart and broke the mold for her time, so while I have developed issues with Frankenstein, I think it IS a classic if just for her.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:01 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Artisophanes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Doppleganger, Frankenstein, Hedwig, Henry James, Jonny Lee Miller, Kenneth Branagh, Mary Shelley, Nature, The Origins of Love, The Turn of the Screw, Victor Frankenstein

Mrs. God by Peter Straub
Published by: Pegasus
Publication Date: February 14th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Esswood House is the dream of all literary types. Housing rare manuscripts from some of the literary elite. Henry James, T.S. Eliot, Ford Madox Ford are just some of the luminaries that not only stayed in the house, but left work to the great library. Yet, for researchers, there is a road block to this holy grail. Unlike many country estates in England, this house and it's contents aren't part of The National Trust or even open to the public. Oh no, the Seneschal family not only still reside within it's walls, but are recluses as well. Every year they invite scholars to come and research there, with the coveted Esswood Fellowship. But in all Professor William Standish's life, he has never seen anyone make it to Esswood. Sure, they get the fellowship and are all excited, but then something always happens. A letter appears saying something has arisen, some secret in the candidate's past that invalidates the arrangement.

William Standish has never really thought about applying himself. He's never had a reason. But now, well, now, his standing at his university is in jeopardy, and he needs to be published. He has always had a connection to the work of the minor and virtually unknown poet Isobel Standish. She was the first wife of his grandfather and William has always felt her work deserved a wider audience. Against his wildest imaginings, he is accepted as the Esswood Fellow and waits daily to get the letter saying the offer has been revoked. Yet the letter never comes and he is shortly on a plane to England, leaving behind his very pregnant wife and entering a world of his dreams. Though some dreams quickly become nightmares.

I so wanted to like this short book. Mrs. God has the elements that I so love and long for in my readings, forgotten English Country Houses, literati, ghosts... and yet, this book is the biggest failed attempt to emulate Shirley Jackson that I have ever read. It wanted so much to be of the caliber of The Haunting of Hill House, but Peter Straub is no Shirley Jackson. Firstly their is the crudeness of William Standish. He has dark thoughts and really is a misogynistic bastard. The feelings towards his wife I'm surprised haven't resulted in murder. Not only that but there are constant references to his erections and a rather odd and very disgusting masturbation scene. Also, his eventual breakdown seems not to be because of the unearthly whatever is going on, but because of women all being unfaithful. Yes, because instead of being an adult about things, when women are unfaithful, even if they are pregnant, why not just decapitate them. Say what? I'm dearly hoping that Standish's views on women are nothing more then fiction for Straub, because they are disturbing in the extreme. I kept wishing that at every meal of veal (was it really veal?) and Morel Mushrooms that Standish sat down to that some False Morel's would slip in there and that would be the end of Standish.

Yet this lack of a likable character isn't the only flaw... yes, it is the big flaw, but you can have anti heroes and still have a redeemable book. Though there really was no way to redeem Standish. The lack of any cohesiveness to the "haunting" was a big problem. We see "things" but we get no answers. There are possible immortals that still have aged a bit, witchcraft, aka magick, maybe vampires, maybe little people trapped inside dollhouses, maybe disfigured children that have cold white hard skin, maybe just incest, maybe, maybe, maybe. Yes, ok, there are the great ghost stories, by the likes of Henry James, that have no concrete answers. In The Turn of the Screw was it ghosts or was the governess insane. But see there, it's one or the other... not fifty million possibilities! We have a choice as to what to believe and can create an ending for ourselves. Not be left with the feeling that the author himself obviously had no idea where he was going either so everything will just fall apart, (even his grasp on the English language with the almost incoherent writing the book devolves into), while William Standish feverishly declares that he knows what's going on. Does he really? Because if he does, could he let me in on it... oh wait, he can't... he burned the whole freaking place down and ran off into the woods after some ax murdering, because obviously this is The Shinning now...

Gaw. Give me back my money and my time Straub, you owe me! Also, your graphic designer obviously didn't bother to read the book, because while the cover is suitably Gothic, the house is supposed to be Palladian... so, fail on you Michael Fusco. Shame on you. You give Graphic Designers a bad name!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Esswood, Henry James, Morel Mushrooms, Mrs. God, Palladian, Peter Straub, Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House, The Shining, The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Published by: Modern Library
Publication Date: 1898
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

On Christmas Eve ghost stories are being told around the fire and Douglas says his will chill them to their very bones, but he will only tell it in the words of his friend, who at the time was a young governess. Douglas sends away for her journal, which she gave to him for safe keeping after her death, and when it arrives he begins the story. The young governess is hired by the attractive uncle of two children, Miles and Flora. He has them ensconced in the country at his estate in Essex and has no desire to be bothered in any aspect of their upbringing. Upon her arrival at Bly the governess is taken in by the angelic beauty of Flora, just as she will be by Miles when he is expelled from his boarding school and returned to Bly, an occurrence she cannot understand, due to his apparent perfection.

But soon their idyllic life is shattered by the appearance of two people. This man and woman seem to come and go as they will. After discussing them with the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, she learns the female spectre is none other then her predecessor, Miss Jessel, and the male is Peter Quint, Miss Jessel's lover and another former employee. Only both of them are dead. The young governess is convinced they want the children and will do anything to achieve their nefarious goals from beyond the grave. But even if this is what is really happening can she stop them?

Much like the young heroine in The Turn of the Screw I had my head turned by a hansom man and visions of romance. Many many years ago my friends Matt and Becky and I were walking to the video store, you remember those, you could rent physical movies on these large clunky tapes that could get easily damaged and had to be rewound before returning. We were in the trashier section of our college campus and we found $40 on the ground. Knowing it was probably a drunken frat boy who had lost said money we pocketed it and used it to rent some movies.

After looking for ages we decided on two movies, the new Hamlet staring Ethan Hawke and The Turn of the Screw, because, well, Colin Firth. There was one thing all three of us could agree on, and that was Colin Firth is hot. Also the movie not sounding too much like a period piece, Matt agreed, and again, Colin Firth is hot. We lasted only about twenty minutes into Hamlet before we gave up, yes, it was that bad. But we did watch all of The Turn of the Screw... after this both my friends said I should pay them for having to watch the two movies because I had suggested them in the first place. We compromised by making me return them to the video store.

I was left with two thoughts after watching the movie, one, false advertising, you put Colin Firth's name as a star he should be in more then five minutes, and two, evil wins!?! No matter what your interpretation of events, it's evil, in some form, that is victorious. And as evil took root, I waited for Colin to reappear, and he never did. I fell for the same bait and switch as that young governess. Of course she was unwilling to ask him for aid in a time of need to show her reliability and fortitude, whereas I was all like, Colin, come back! Since then the BBC has made another version, this time with several stars from Downton Abbey, which again left me unsatisfied. For so many years I have been under this impression that The Turn of the Screw was this amazing classic that was being done an injustice by bad adaptation after bad adaptation. I now know that that isn't the case. The Turn of the Screw is just a badly written story with enough wiggle room to allow for many interpretations of the text.

In the final analysis the question isn't was the governess insane or were there supernatural forces at work, the question is, is this even readable? The answer is no. The writing in this book verges on the indecipherable. James took a lot of flack for his overwriting stories, and, I can see why. He has a tendency to not only write too much but write sentences that seem to turn back in on themselves so he talks himself out of his original idea. These long sentences with too many commas have a tendency to be the length of paragraphs, and in a few rare instances, pages long, always ending up in an entirely different place then where they started and becoming increasingly incoherent in the process.

If James can't be bothered to maintain a train of thought in a sentence it's no wonder the book is all over the place and ripe for adaptations that can take as many liberties as they want, because, let's face it, even James didn't know where his story was going. If it wasn't for the fact I knew the plot, well, I wouldn't have been able to figure it out by just reading it. I spent more time fighting to grasp onto the text and try to get some sense out of this book then any other book I've ever read. In the end I gave up to the inevitable and just let the text wash over me as my eyes glazed over and I prayed for the end.

But the inability of James to write coherently is nothing to his structural issues and his unsympathetic characters. Firstly, there is no suspense in this story. I'm not sure if this derives from his inability to set the stage or just the fact that I didn't care if all the characters died horrifically, but there was no jeopardy that made me want to keep reading. A ghost story should at the very least have some suspense, some ability to have the hair on your next rise up and question the sudden chill in the room. Now to the aspect that annoyed me most. James uses the "framing" device of having a group of friends sitting around the fire telling each other ghost stories on Christmas Eve. I have no problem with this, what I do have a problem with is that this "framing" device was left unfinished and in the end was more of a prologue.

To frame a story you need it at the beginning and the end, not just the beginning! I get that he might have wanted to end with the "shock value" of what happened to the insufferable Miles, but, well, the governess's story went on, she somehow got another job and came to meet Douglas and impart this story to him. How the hell did she get another job? Just, gaw! She was THE WORST GOVERNESS EVER and someone else employed her after this? Something shouldn't be labelled a classic because of the time you can spend discussing the text and delving into the deeper meanings, sometimes you're just thrusting your own ideas and meanings onto a text that doesn't deserve to be cherished, but deserves to be forgotten in the mists of time... or the mists that hide the spurious phantasms around Bly.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Classics of Horror and Suspense, Colin Firth, Downton Abbey, Ethan Hawke, Ghosts, Governesses, Hamlet, Henry James, Insanity, The Turn of the Screw

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Published by: Penguin Classics
Publication Date: 1818
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Victor Frankenstein has had a perfect life surrounded by love and plenty. His curious mind was supplied with everything he could desire focusing his studies on outdated theories of the natural world. When he ventures to university in Ingolstadt he realizes that his opinions are outmoded and he devotes himself to the study of the modern theories and practices of natural philosophy and chemistry. Victor's studies lead him to a discovery that he could create life from death. He succeeds at playing God but instantly regrets his experiments and falls gravely ill while his creation sets out into the world, alone. The consequences of his actions take Victor's life of love and joy and transforms it into a nightmare of his own making. His inability to take responsibility for what he has done and atone with the smallest sliver of empathy will destroy his world. Yet Victor sees the destruction of his world as a sacrifice that must be made to save the rest of the world.

Everyone knows some version of Frankenstein. That's the thing though, it's a "version" of Frankenstein. I'm not naive in that I knew I wasn't going to be reading a book about a green monster with bolts in his neck. Yet there was a part of me that worried that I would be bored and disinterested to the point that I wouldn't want to finish the book because I had heard the story so many times before. I truly hadn't heard the story though. Frankenstein is this amazingly written story that no adaptation has ever gotten right (putting Mary Shelley before the title didn't help you Kenneth Branagh). There is such depth and nuance that I highly doubt that any adaptation would be able to capture the spirit of the book and do it justice.

While I love so many different kinds and genres of books there are some books that just blow you away and your mind slowly melts out your ear. There's the bestsellers with little depth that you devour like popcorn and then there are the books that are a twelve course meal plus dessert. There is so much meaning and thought put into every word and phrase that you finish the book and want to start over again right away because you know you've missed so much. The interweaving of philosophy and science, arts and literature, the book's subtitle, even the origins of the story easily make this book's categorization as a classic almost a forgone conclusion. The sheer richness of the text though is never bogged down though in being indecipherable or overly written (yes, I'm looking at you Henry "Turn of the Screw" James). I think it would surprise the average reader that despite being written almost two hundred years ago this is an easy read, even if some of the concepts delve into the greatest questions that have plagued mankind.

One of the interesting things to come of Frankenstein is the odd quirk that the majority of the people think Frankenstein is the monster, not the creator. Personally I think this is a Freudian Slip that acknowledges the truth, the real monster. Because while the creature eventually does become a monster because of Victor's actions, in truth Victor is the monster. Just look at the evidence? He creates life and abandons it. When the life reaches out to him he "helps" only to give his creation false hope. Also, a thing that niggled at me, if Victor's real horror at creating a mate for his creation was that they would populate the earth with their abominations, well, he was "making" her so he could have just removed the baby making parts. Getting back on track, Victor, knowing of the danger the creature brings to his family he just goes home and waits while carnage rains down on him. The creature is lashing out at the world because all he wants is love. Is that a monster? No a monster is someone who is amoral, lacks empathy, doesn't care about the consequences of their actions, and has an ego that easily has delusions of being a god. IE, Victor.

In his lyrics for "The Origins of Love" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which incidentally is heavily influenced by Frankenstein, Stephen Task retells Aristophanes' myth of primal man from the Symposium which Shelley's husband translated as "The Banquet of Plato" and which Shelley incorporated into her novel. The lyrics are able to poetically express all the concepts that Shelley took from Aristophanes' story and incorporated into Frankenstein. The duality of Victor and the creature being halves of the same whole is again and again brought to the reader's consciousness. They are one whole person that has been separated quite literally by a bolt of lighting into a being of love (the creature) and a being of rationality and science (Victor). They need each other, which the creature sees but Victor is unable to accept. This doppelganger aspect was taken even further in The National Theatre's production of Frankenstein back in 2011 when Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller would alternate nights as to who was Victor and who was the creature, further highlighting this aspect of the work.

These opposing natures, which in one person would form a whole, sets up all the struggling forces in the book. Conflict abounds with man versus monster, god versus science, man versus nature. The last thing I want to touch on is this last aspect of nature, as in the material world, not as in humankind. Up until Shelley Gothic had a very specific look, ie moldy old castles in remote areas; which is probably why so many adaptations of her books has reverted to this trope. But Shelley is able to do what you might think impossible, she is able to create the small and cloistered environment that is shut off from society while still in the glory of nature. The lightning stuck peaks of the alps, the glory of God's creation of ice and snow. These scenes of bleak beauty that bring home all that Victor was flying in the face of when he decided to make a man. Every aspect of this book brings home to me how groundbreaking it was and still is, I could continue to delve deeper and deeper, but I think the time has come for you to pick the book up for yourself.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Artisophanes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Doppleganger, Frankenstein, Hedwig, Henry James, Jonny Lee Miller, Kenneth Branagh, Mary Shelley, Nature, The Origins of Love, The Turn of the Screw, Victor Frankenstein

One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell
Published by: Voice
Publication Date: January 1st, 2008
Format: Hardcover, 433 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

One Fifth Avenue is a residence unlike any other. The people who live there love the building more then they do their spouses, children, or lovers. The older residents represent a golden bohemian age of New York with famous writers, gossip columnists, actresses, and old socialites. When the building's oldest resident dies her three story penthouse becomes a focal point for all the residents. Mindy Gooch, the head of the building's board and denizen of the worst apartment in the building dreams of dividing up the unit and claiming the top floor ballroom as her own. But seeing as Mindy doesn't have the money she will thwart the plans of others who want to break up the apartment, notably the author Philip Oakland's Aunt Enid, who wants one of the floors for him to expand his apartment. Mindy therefore strong arms a young couple with new money obtained dubiously through hedge funds to buy the apartment and what ensues could easily be considered war. Paul Rice views that if he paid $20 million for an apartment, well, everyone in the building should do as he says. They should let him have the one parking space and unsightly air conditioners. They should bow down to his every wish. At least his wife is likable. But the Rice's arrival signals a time of trials for One Fifth which they will all hopefully survive, Enid at least has newly lowered expectations and hopes to get the twenty two year old Lola out of her nephew's bed and Philip back with the lovely age appropriate actress Schiffer Diamond. But the hearts and "heads" of men might be harder to control then the fate of a beloved building.

No one can doubt the place Sex and the City has carved out for itself in our cultural zeitgeist. It has reshaped New York City for young women in such a way that I actually know someone whose ambition in life was to be a Sex and the City tour guide. This for her was the ultimate dream, the highest aspiration of her life. I was never on this bandwagon. Yes I knew about the show because I had watched one or two episodes back in 1998 with my mom to see what it was all about, but we both agreed rather quickly that this just wasn't our type of show, we're more into someone being murdered with a shoe versus a discussion of the shoe being Louboutin or Manolo Blahnik. Even Candace Bushnell has jumped on her own bandwagon being self-referential and meta with the character of Lola being obsessed with Sex and the City. Therefore when looking through my shelves to see how to round out my Chick Lit reading for the month I thought perhaps I should include an American author to try to get some kind of balance to this British dominated genre. So that's how I finally picked up a Candace Bushnell book thinking that I'd get some American Chick Lit... boy was I wrong. One Fifth Avenue is not Chick Lit, it's like a New York version of Maupin's Tales of the City where all the characters are unlikable with oddly graphic sex interspersed throughout the text. In other words, not what I was expecting. But I was willing to give the book the benefit of the doubt only to have it repeatedly dig itself into a deeper and deeper hole.

Firstly I want to address the issue of Lola. Lola is the wet dream of all middle aged men. She's perfect in body, with lipo and breast augmentation. Her libido is insatiable and she's willing to do most anything to get her way, sexual favors for cash is fine by her. And while she might not have Daddy issues she likes her men older so they can be her sugar daddies. I have issues with this trend. There's a part of me that knows this does happen, there is truth in this situation that Bushnell is writing about. Also Lola isn't the most likable character so I do wonder, is Bushnell taking the piss a little, but it's not enough. The problem I have is she is perpetuating this "manchild" dream that come midlife crisis there's a hot bodied twentysomething for every man out there. I get why the male dominated media wants to continue this trend, when they reach middle age they want this dream for themselves. I see it again and again in movies and television shows and books, but these are written, produced, and directed by men! Candace Bushnell is a woman. How about some women's lib? How about breaking free of the sexual fantasies of older males and writing something different, something new? There can be no change in this trend if even female writers are willing to accept the status quo.

Yet Lola is just one of a plethora of unlikable characters. There is not one character who you can latch onto as good or appealing. I've said it what seems like a thousand times before and what I bet will be a thousand times more; you need at least a likable character, someone to give you an entre into this book world. If you're going to play the antihero card, which you can do, look to Thackery and Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, at least have a plot with interest, instead of having me read hundreds of pages about vapid lives of people who think they are entitled. There's a part of me that really thinks that this book would not fly off the shelves in 2014 as it did in 2008. Back in 2008 there was more hope in the world, we, as a society, might have found a glimpse into this elite world as titillating and interesting. Since then things have kind of gone to hell and the 1% that is represented by all the characters in this book, they have not fared well among us lower classes. Such wealth and excess isn't escapist for us, it's aggravating. I couldn't find any humor in a man spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on fish. There wasn't any wry chuckling and me thinking "oh those crazy rich bastards, what will they do next?" There was me going, can a burn this building to the ground with all these indulgent whiners trapped inside? You'd think that the "poorer" people in the book would be sympathetic, but no, they are even more annoying then the already affluent because of their money grubbing tendencies. I just want to wash my brain out after reading this book.

If, as the blurbs say, Bushnell is the modern day Wharton with a little of F. Scott Fitzgerald thrown in, chronicling New York and it's never changing passions and desires, well I weep for our modern age. She is no Wharton, she is no James, she is no Fitzgerald. Bushnell is a vapid and shallow storyteller that gives us no insight, no depth. This book aggravated, annoyed, and insulted me on almost every page. There was a romance and a vibrancy in Wharton's Gilded Age and even Fitzgerald's Jazz Age, a world you wanted to go to. When I first visited Washington Square Park these thoughts crossed my mind, I was walking in the steps of greatness. I'm going back to New York this summer and I will once again be walking in that park, I can only hope that by then I will have removed this book fully from my memory because as I walk through the arc up fifth avenue I don't want to being thinking about the people at One Fifth, I want to be thinking about the world as it was in bygone days, not this world of Bushnell's, never this world of hers. But perhaps I should look on Bushnell with pity. This book might be a cry to be a part of this world. Perhaps my friend who said Candace Bushnell had one good idea was right. She captured something with Sex and the City and she will never be able to get that kind of buzz again. She's scrabbling to stay a part of this world. Why else would she be now writing prequels except to cash in on her own previous success? Maybe Philip is Bushnell? Never able to recapture what she once had. That actually makes me a little bit smug and gleeful.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Armistead Maupin, Candace Bushnell, Chick Lit, Edith Wharton, Fitzgerald, Gilded Age, Henry James, One Fifth Avenue, Sex and the City, Tales of the City, Thackery, Vanity Fair, Washington Square