I'm sure this is one of those books that is supposed to be studied for greater meanings, but I didn't do that. I'm so aggravated at Isabel. She had so many people in her corner and still ends up with a POS man. I love her sweet cousin.
Henry James is a difficult author to love, but an easy author to admire. Portrait of a Lady has many of the standard features of a 19th century novel. It has proposals, bad marriages, trips to exotic locations and sordid secrets. Also like many 19th century novels it is too long. James prose is ...
When we first meet Isabel, she is in the prime of her youth—beautiful, irresistible to men (every male character seems to eventually fall in love with her), intelligent, poised, vibrant, hungry for life, and marching to her own drums. She has all the potential to be an exceptional woman. To remove t...
“Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” “..she was very particular about the appearance of her linen” “it (i.e. the step) had an inquisitive, experimental quality which suggested that it would not st...
I just...I don't know. I have now read The Portrait of a Lady and I'm just feeling a little flat. Like I stubbed my toe on something invisible, and I'm not quite sure what. I'm not sure why this book didn't grab me, I only know it didn't. I didn't hate it, I was just a little bored by it, and that's...
It's been a couple of weeks since I finished "The Portrait of a Lady", and I have thought about it ever since. The story and its characters have been hunting me, lingering softly in the back of my mind, and I have desperately wanted to form a review, to find the right words to describe it. Sadly I h...
Questo è uno dei miei libri preferiti, di un realismo sconcertante. E Henry James, scrittore americano, è di una bravura unica. Da leggere, assolutamente.
No question that James's prose was a challenge by this time in his career, though I found the later The Ambassadors much easier going and the most compelling of the two books (likely due to my responding to Lambert's age). There's a sort of shimmery pointillist effect with character that James pulls...
EXTREMELY LONG, but the material is great! Isabel Archer remains a wonderful woman of literature, and James' stream of consciousness technique is superb when used with Isabel.
Important: Our sites use cookies.
We use the information stored using cookies and similar technologies for advertising and statistics purposes.
Stored data allow us to tailor the websites to individual user's interests.
Cookies may be also used by third parties cooperating with BookLikes, like advertisers, research companies and providers of multimedia applications.
You can choose how cookies are handled by your device via your browser settings.
If you choose not to receive cookies at any time, BookLikes will not function properly and certain services will not be provided.
For more information, please go to our Privacy Policy.
Log in with Facebook 
