Review of 'The Woman in Black' by Susan Hill

I'm not a fan of anything 'scary'. No thank you horror films. I still remember when I was at school and the drama kids went on a trip to see The Woman in Black in the theatre and spoke about how terrifying it was. Everyone else was gutted they couldn't go on the trip but I was pretty glad I didn't have to watch something that would make me scream. Anyway, I've found the prettiest little copy of the book and after finally going to see it in the theatre last year I can confirm I would/did scream and also have nightmares. Such fun.

Arthur Kipps is an old man now, and can hardly bear to hear his grandchildren tell ghost stories. When they finally badger him into telling them one, he launches into his tale of the woman in black, a tale that wasn't just a story for him.

When Kipps is a young man, he is asked to secure the estate of Alice Drablow by his boss, and arrange her affairs after her recent death. He travels to her home unaware of what awaits him. The townspeople avoid the house, and warn him to look after himself. The more time he spends there the more he feels as though he's not alone, and after he asks around as to who the woman in a black dress that he sees wandering around is, he realises that he's the only one who sees her.

This book was honestly frightening. Susan Hill is incredible at creating a terrifying atmosphere that builds and builds as the novel grows more tense. There's some twists and turns in it that I absolutely did not see coming, and I finished the book fully shocked. I can see this as something I'll come back to over and over again in coming years as it was such a good quick read that's different to what I would normally go for. I've given this 4 stars.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I had a hard time picking my favourite quote for this one, but I had to go with the opening sentence of the book. It made me realise from the very first moment that this book was special, and as it progressed I realised it's the most poetic prose I've ever read.

Love in the Time of Cholera is one of those books people have recommended to me over and over again, but I've always put off. Written almost twenty years after the author's One Hundred Years of Solitude, and hailed as another great classic, this is a tale of great unrequited love. Fermina Daza and her husband Juvenal Urbino have reached a platonic stage of their relationship in their old age. When he dies after falling off of a ladder at the start of the book, her childhood lover Florentino Ariza turns up at her house at the wake. 

The book then launches into the tale of this love that never quite came to be, right from the very start of their relationship. The book explores class divides and struggle in a country in South America, most likely Colombia although this is never stated explicitly. Their love can never be as Ariza is a poor man, trying to earn his way in the world but not proving very successful, whilst Fermina's father wants her to marry into an old noble family to better their social standing.

I loved this book. The author put a lot of emphasis into sensory descriptions of scenes, making them so vivid that you felt almost as though you were right there with the characters. I enjoyed the non-traditional love story narrative, and the different perspective you have in knowing from the start that the young lovers aren't going to end up together. It's a book about love in all its forms: physical, conversational, platonic, familial, sexual and even predatory.

I would really recommend this, especially if you're looking to engage more with South American literature.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker

Aaaaand on to the first re-read of the year. I am a BIG Dracula fan. I took my time getting about to reading it the first time, and held off until I was 20. Basically I was still in the teenage phase of not wanting to like something because everyone said it was good so I didn't read it (so many regrets) until way after pretty much everyone on my uni course had given it a go. 

Anyhow, the first time around I read it for a first wave feminism module at uni and it was so interesting to approach the book from that perspective. This time around, however, my reading felt a little less focused and it allowed me the chance to notice a whole lot that I'd overlooked the first time around.

Dracula begins when Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania on business to meet a Count. When he arrives, the locals seem to fear him, wearing garlic around their necks and crossing themselves. He is attacked by wolves on his way to the Count's castle, but saved by the Count himself. Once he's there, he begins to notice that things aren't how you would expect. He never sees the Count during the day, most of the castle is closed off to him, and Jonathan ultimately realises he's trapped.

Back in England, his betrothed Mina Harker is staying with her closest friend Lucy Westenra, who is trying to deal with the (so hard) problem of having three very different men seeking her hand in marriage. However, soon Lucy's behaviour starts to become very concerning. She sleepwalks, and when she returns to her bed she seems pale and almost lifeless. 

Soon begins a battle between one of the most esteemed doctors of the time, Professor Van Helsing, and a force making nightly visits to Lucy, intent on draining her blood ...

This is one of the key Gothic horror novels, sitting alongside the likes of The Monk, Frankenstein and Edgar Allen Poe's poetry. It has all of the key elements of being an OG Gothic novel: a gloomy moody setting, supernatural elements, the sublime, the question of morality vs depravity, and a side helping of sexually depraved women. The language isn't too dense or antiquated, and whilst the book is quite lengthy, it does switch between various narratives to keep you on your toes.

I am such a big fan of the book, and would put it in my top ten all-time reads. I love how much popular fiction has come from the idea of Dracula put forward in this book, and thinking about how much of an impact it has had globally and across time just blows my mind. Basically, if you want to get into Gothic fiction (who doesn't?), this is a great book to start with, or use to delve deeper into the genre. 

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'The Leopard' by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa

It's been a while since I've sat down on here to review a classic, hasn't it?! This took me SO long to read, and has absolutely put me behind with my Goodreads target for the year, but I am done and free and never have to read it again. This whole statement probably tells you a lot about how I found the book ...

You see, I LOVE reading classics and being all 'yeah, I did that, and it was okay' and knowing that I never have to read it again. There have been so many classics that I've adored, and you're never going to like them all, and this was one that I just never feel as though I truly got into.

The Leopard is the top-selling novel in Italian history, and often heralded as one of the Italian classics we've all got to give a go. Set in the 1860s, it discussed the downfall of the Italian aristocracy from the point of view of an old Sicilian family. The main character sees the downfall happening, but is helpless to prevent it and realises that he will be the last of the Leopards (his family's sort of emblem, sort of idea of their own embodiment).

If I'm being totally honest, because I read this on my Kindle it was something that I dipped in and out of rather than reading in big blocks, and I've struggled to keep up with any sort of plot strand that kept its way throughout the book. It's been a few months since I read it, but even almost as soon as I finished I had hardly any memory of what really happened in the whole text.

I'm going to give this two stars because it was interesting to learn about Italian history (something I know almost nothing about) and I'm glad I went for it and pushed myself to read it, but I just didn't find it interesting.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'The Trial' by Franz Kafka

Kafka is an author I really struggle with, but I think that's part of the aura of his works (right?). I first came across his work when I had to read The Metamorphosis in my first year at uni. It was nightmarish and pretty horrifying, BUT, has stuck in my mind so well that I can still imagine a cockroach-esque man chilling (fretting) in his bedroom. 

The Trial wasn't any more comforting, or easy to get through. But, it was a true modernist novel, and it was something that I imagine could have been written today, or any other time in history. The fact that it almost sat outside of my own concept of time made it simultaneously excellent and even more confusing.

The Trial commences with Josef K. being arrested on his thirtieth birthday, despite having done nothing wrong. The book then follows his case both in and outside of the courthouse, exploring how the justice system works (or doesn't). As the book goes on and Josef panics more, it gets more convoluted until we are in a nightmarish state of reality, trapped in maze-like buildings and plot lines that trail off into oblivion. The prosecutor for the case is inaccessible both to the reader and Josef, creating an omniscient power that can't be touched.

Although I found it tough to get through, I am glad I read this. I've been making my (slow) way through a number of European classic novels over the past few months, and it's interesting to see how things progressed to a place where Kafka can write something like this. He absolutely nailed writing as though you're in a nightmare: you know the ones where you're in a building you open a door and wow all of a sudden you're walking into a meadow where a living room should have been? Those kind of twisted, vivid dreams are kind of what the book feels most like for me. 

Looking back over the book, one thing that really stands out is that this could describe a modern trial, where the prosecutor has almost become an overpowering and invisible figure through the media. Big trials invade every aspect of the defendant's life, and every single act is scrutinised by hundreds of people before the defendant is anywhere near a court.

If you've read and enjoyed any of Kafka's short stories, or any of James Joyce's works, then I would definitely recommend reading this as a foundational work.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Cranford' by Elizabeth Gaskell

I didn't realise we had another classic coming so soon, but I really went through a ~phase~ in September/October (and yes, I am still this behind on reviews even after cramming so many in over the past week or two!). Elizabeth Gaskell is an author I came across whilst studying at uni and I'm so glad I did because her books are incredible, and Cranford was no different. 

Published in novel form in 1853, the book is set in the fictional village of Cranford. The twist is that it's a matriarchy, poking fun at all the elements of the restrictive patriarchy of Gaskell's contemporary world. The book was initially published in serial form, and it's clear as each chapter is almost a short story of its own within the context of the town.

Marriage is bemoaned, and any woman that wants to marry, or worse, gets married, is left out of the loop of social gatherings. The women of Cranford never want men, or more men, to live within the walls of the town, and feel genuine horror at the thought of a woman being 'lost' to marriage. 

A satire in nature, the book is an incredible insight into what Victorian English society was like, and what some women thought of it. Victorian fiction is absolutely my favourite epoch (the Bronte sisters give me life) and I just loved every refreshing moment of this. If you're a fan of Victorian fiction, or want a humorous look into society at the time, then I'd definitely recommend this!

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube 

Review of 'Hunger' by Knut Hamsen

If ever an author nailed the whole plot of a book in the first sentence, this is it: 'it was during the time I wandered about and starved'. Yes, this isn't the most exciting premise for a book, but the storytelling is incredible, and I can see why it's regarded as a must-read classic European novel. Hamsen is said to have inspired a whole collection of modern authors, including Kafka and James Joyce. Having read books by the three authors now, the influence is clear both in the style and writing of the novels.

Hunger follows the story of a writer living in extreme poverty. We follow him in his wanderings around the city as he becomes more and more starved, and increasingly unhinged. There are times of hope, when food or a potential job is found, but each instance of this is ruined either by circumstance or the writer's own self-destructive ways.

I won't lie, I didn't expect to be too enamoured with this. It looked dry, and sometimes I really struggle to get into classic European novels. However, the writing in this was so emotive and well done that I couldn't not enjoy it. As the book progressed and the protagonist grew more confused, it came across the page, and you almost felt your mind wandering with his. 

The story was one that I do feel is so important, about the ravaging impact of poverty on both your mind and body. It explores the extreme state one gets into when one cannot afford to eat, as well as the vicious cycle of poverty (not having enough resources to secure opportunities around in a loop). 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone studying modern literature, as a pre-cursor to this epoch, as well as those studying the European novel. It's also a fab read for anyone interested in a reading a pretty short classic that will grab you in.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' by George Orwell

Aaand here's the next classic in this little string of ones that I ended up reading all in a row. I'm pretty proud of getting my act together and posting my sixth review in short succession on my big catch up stream. What's Twixtmas for if not to get up to date on everything you've been ignoring for months?

Nineteen Eighty-Four has been on my to-read list since, well, when I started my English lit course and everyone was horrified I hadn't picked it up. 6 years on from then, I finally got around to it, and I'm so glad I didn't put it off any longer. I LOVED this book, and I can finally see why it's a must-read, so basically if you haven't picked it up yet, then go go go.

The story is told by Winston Smith, a citizen living in Britain, which is now part of Oceania, one of three major international powers (the other two being Eastasia and Eurasia). He doesn't remember a great deal of what came before the state of the world that he lives in, only that it wasn't always how it is now. Separated from his parents, Winston as an adult lives alone in a small apartment. He is woken up for work every morning by an oversized TV screen that watches his every move. Orders are barked at him through the screen, and he must always be diligent to avoid being seen as an opposition to Big Brother and the party. 

Big Brother is a person that no one ever sees, but he controls every part of every day. Anyone might be a spy, so one can never speak out against the ruling party. Winston is (somewhat) lucky to not be a member of the proles - the poorer people cast out of the hub of the city and neglected - but he's curious to find out more about the memories he's lost.

You see, Winston's job is to be one of the many people who go back through old media records and update them in accordance to the party's current legislation. If they decide to be at war with Eurasia, then they must always have been at war with Eurasia, and Winston has to amend any newspaper clippings, pamphlets or books that suggest otherwise. This leads him to realise that no one's memory can be relied upon, and that there is no real historical 'truth' in their world. 

Winston manages to keep his budding concerns at bay until he meets Julia. Together they start to question the party, and what's worse, outright defy it. Soon there's no going back for Winston, and everything he's ever held true comes under fire.

This book was so incredible, and yet so terrifying. It's a dystopia that's almost become true. Our electronic devices do listen in on us (have you ever spoken about something out loud only for it to pop up as an AD on Instagram??), and we are manipulated by the media to think what others want us to think. It speaks about the rhetoric we're faced with every day being pushed to the extreme, and it made me consider how scary it is that so many people tune into a show called Big Brother.

Everything about this book was powerful, and so thought-provoking. From the revolutionary 'manual' at the centre, to the writing style, to the absolute shocker of an ending, this is firmly one of my favourite books of the year and one that I know I'll re-read in the future to get even more out of it.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert

I've got a little bunch of classics heading your way next - these all seemed to come together for me. As the days got shorter and nights got longer, I felt like delving into something a little more intense (we're caught up to September now - help!). 

The debut novel of Gustave Flaubert, this book was first published in a novel form in 1857, after the author was acquitted from an obscenity trial it caused. Madame Bovary follows the story, at first, of Charles Bovary, a poor teenager who is ridiculed at school and goes on to be a doctor. He marries the man that his mother chooses for him, but falls in love with a local educated girl named Emma. When his wife passes away, he begins to court Emma in earnest, and they marry. 

At this point, the narrative switches to focus on Emma, who is now Madame Bovary. Bored by Charles' dull appearance and habits, and finding motherhood not what she thought, she seeks an affair with a man named Rodolphe. 

The book is a work of literary realism, telling the story of the passions of both man and woman, and the trouble these can create. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say it was an enjoyable read, it was a powerful book. The story-telling seemed almost beyond its time, and it is well worth reading if you want to engage more with classic European novels. 

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins

We may only be just over half way through the year, but I think this is going to be one of my main classics reads for 2018. It was lengthy, full of OTT description (my fave, no, really) and is hailed as being the first full detective story in English literature.

Written in the same epoch as Dickens' novels, the Bronte sisters' and Hardys', Collins explores the parameters of what a 19th-Century English novel can be. He uses the familiar multi-narrator tool to give us glimpses of the story from a variety of different viewpoints, making the story more intricate with each one. But, he goes beyond this with each narrator forming part of a mystery being examined by a number of detectives.

At the start of the novel, the reader is introduced to the Moonstone, a one-of-a-kind diamond plundered from the depths of India. Once it has been taken to England, a series of deaths connected to the diamond raise the suspicion that it is cursed. Knowing this, a malicious uncle leaves it to his niece in his will, hoping that it will bring despair upon her and her mother.

And it does, but not in the way you would expect. On the first night in the house, the Moonstone goes missing. As a local detective is brought in, everyone is under suspicion, from the servant girls right up to the head of the house. But the detectives come up with nothing. 

The rest of the story tracks the mystery surrounding the loss of the Moonstone, as well as minor mysteries entangled in this cursed object. 

If you want to understand in more depth the progression of the detective novel from its conception up to the modern day, I would definitely recommend starting with this, as it opens up a variety of tropes in traditional crime fiction.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Cousin Henry' by Anthony Trollope

I love it when I'm expecting a book to be a bit rubbish, but then I end up totally into it. Cousin Henry, originally published in 1879, looked completely dry. The jacket was dull, the title is dull, and the opening wasn't exciting either. BUT, I powered through and it ended up being a very insightful look into the idea of primogeniture and why it's flawed.

Isabel Brodrick had been living with her elderly uncle Squire Indefer Jones. After the death of her mother, Isabel found herself an unwelcome extra mouth to feed in the household of her father and step-mother, but since living with her uncle, she felt nothing but loved. 

As he grew older and more unwell, the squire knew that he needed to solidify his will. But there was one key problem. A man of tradition, Indefer Jones wanted to pass his estate down to the next male successor in his line, and keep it under the Jones name. However, he also loved his niece as a daughter, and knew deep down that it was right to give it to her. Indefer made a series of wills, changing his mind in each one. At the point of his death, it appears as though Indefer's left everything to Henry, but two of the men living on the land swear they were witnesses at the signing of a more recent will, leaving everything to Isabelle.

The main problem is that Indefer's heir is Cousin Henry. And he's a bit of a prick. Henry cares for himself and himself alone. He's a shit landlord, he's an awful master to the servants in the house, and he didn't even care about his late uncle. Isabel embodies everything that Henry's not. She would make an excellent landlord with her knowledge of the land and good business head.

This book challenges gender norms and the way society was constructed way back in the late 1800s, which is just incredible. Readers are shown that 'what if' that surrounds the idea of what would happen if you passed your land down to a shoddy heir. Isabelle is a strong woman, who is treated wrongly at every turn and holds her own. Emotionally abused by her stepmother, ignored by her father, wrongly disinherited by her cousin, she still refuses to agree to marry the man she loves because she wants to be independent before she does so. 

If you want to read a classic that challenges some of the norms that Dickens and Austen would normally gloss over, then this is a great one to go for!

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling' by Henry Fielding

Whenever I pick up a physical book, and it looks a little *too* long, I always check the font to see if it's a full on tome. But I never check when I'm downloading books to my kindle, which is how this happened. The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling is a full on 900-odd page doorstop that took me three months to get through on my kindle, but was still an interesting read for sure.

One of the earliest English novels, Tom Jones was published in 1749. It's a bildungsroman, which means that it follows the story of someone's growth from childhood to adulthood, and even death. Tom Jones was abandoned as a baby on the bed of Squire Allworthy, who took him in out of the goodness of his heart. Allworthy's sister Bridget begs him to take on the baby, as she knows it will struggle to survive outside of this family. Filled with jealousy as they're brought up together, Bridget's son Master Blifil begins to accuse Tom of crimes he's innocent of. Eventually succumbing to the deception, Squire Allworthy turfs Tom out of his home, devastated that the teen would do what he believes he's done.

And here's where it gets a bit comical, in the same strain as a bawdy Shakespeare play. Tom sleeps around, getting into mishaps and hiding under beds. He lives a sexually debauched life, but maintains his moral compass in all other areas. Eventually all the threads of the story come together in a happy ending (my fave tbh).

Although it took a whole lotta time to get through, I did enjoy this. It really did remind me of a tongue-in-cheek Renaissance play, but the action was extended over 900 pages (help), rather than 5 Acts. Tom was a bit of a trope, a man that loves getting drunk and falling into trouble with the ladies, but is 'actually really good on the inside'. Master Blifil is a great wicked character who stirs the point and twists perspectives at every moment.

The ending genuinely had me shocked, and tied up every loose end which I LOVED. I didn't expect to have had the wool pulled over my eyes in this plot, and it was genuinely a great way to finish things off.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Little Men' by Louisa May Alcott

Confession time: I've never read Little Women. I owned a truly ugly version of it up until about a year ago and it totally put me off the book. BUT, I have a hella cute vintage copy of Little Men that I just couldn't resist.

Louisa May Alcott's writing has a traditional storytelling vibe (shocking, I know), that reminds me of Robinson Crusoe, Little House on the Prairie or any of Enid Blyton's fiction. It was cute and childish and comforting. There were a whole load of skewed 'this is what girls do vs this is what boys do' outdated sexist chat, but for its time, it wasn't an overly restrictive view at all.

Little Men is all about a couple who run a boarding school for 12 boys. They open up their home to both orphaned children and those whose parents want them to get a good education. Each boy (and a coupe of girls too) are treated as a member of the family. Through a variety of lessons, both practical and theoretical, the mother and father help the children to improve in all aspects of their lives.

Each chapter contains a story about one of the children's mischievous adventures, and offers a resolve to what happens that makes the child a better parent. I loved reading what the boys got up to, and I think this book would make a fab read for a child before bedtime.  

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Johann W Goethe

The Sorrows of Young Werther has been heralded to me as a great work of European literature forever, and it's something that a lot of Romantic authors have alluded to in their novels. I was expecting a tome of intense language and powerful scenes, and I have to admit that I was left feeling a little underwhelmed whilst reading the first two-thirds of the novel. But, as the novel started to reach its end I finally saw why this has its own pedestal in the literary world.

Goethe actually wrote The Sorrows of Werther within six weeks, and it's a vaguely autobiographical account. The majority of the novel is formed through letters from Werther to his friend Wilhelm, whilst the last section is more of a narrative. 

Werther moves to the countryside at the beginning of the novel, and falls in love with a peasant girl named Charlotte. There's one problem: she's already engaged. But, Werther continues to befriend this motherless girl who is rearing her younger siblings. 

Soon, the sadness Werther feels at the fact that he cannot have a relationship with Charlotte begins to overwhelm him and he moves away. Eventually he realises that he cannot be away from Charlotte, and sinks into a deeper depression.

Werther returns to the countryside, and finds Charlotte married to her beau. The pain he feels is getting worse and worse, but he just can't keep away. Eventually, Charlotte is forced to ask him to leave her, and things go rapidly downhill from there ...

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of 'The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I'm a BIG fan of BBC1's Sherlock series. I'm always gutted that each series is only three episodes long, but they are incredible. And yet, I've put off reading any Sherlock Holmes novels for years. I've always wondered how an entire show with multiple series' could be based around a couple of books, but now I see: each chapter of the novels (I assume it's the same for all of Conan Doyle's works as well as The Great Adventures) encompasses a new mystery. 

Sherlock Holmes has become a household name because he is the first detective in the English literary crime canon who used intuition to solve crimes rather than clues. This strikes a massive difference to what would then have been more traditional mysteries. I am a big fan of the intuitive detective: TV crime shows are my thing, and The Mentalist (a show all about a man using his intuition to solve crimes) is one of my favourites. I can't imagine this genre not existing. 

Also, now that I've read one of the books, I can see how Benedict Cumberbatch is the PERFECT fit for playing Sherlock Holmes. The detective is quirky, tall, and likes to brood. I honestly couldn't imagine anyone else playing him so well. Anyhow, let's actually get on to reviewing the book shall we?

The novel is written from the perspective of Dr Watson, who is Sherlock Holmes' second-hand man. Watson is always a few steps behind Sherlock, but he documents their adventures together. The pair come up against an array of mysteries in the novel, including kidnapping, bank robbery and murder. Sherlock always has a great many cases that he is being asked to work on, often by Scotland Yard, as his opinion is so highly revered.

Once on the scene of a crime, Sherlock sets to work examining every last detail visible to the naked eye. From here, and from interviewing witnesses, or the victims of the crimes, he begins to form an image of who may be responsible, or what exactly is going on. Then he is able to make a focused inquiry into the crime and ultimately arrive at his conclusion far before anyone else can.

If you're interested in crime novels, especially how they've developed in the last few centuries, then I would definitely recommend giving this a go!

Review of 'Villette' by Charlotte Bronte

I LOVE the Brontes. Wuthering Heights is my favourite book in the entire world, and Jane Eyre comes up pretty close too. I've even read the slightly less well known Anne Bronte. Having said all of that, I really didn't fall in love with Villette as much as I did with the other novels.

Villette felt kinda torturously long. I mean, I've read a billion and one long novels from the same period, but this really felt like it dragged. I just couldn't connect with the protagonist Lucy Snowe as much as I've done with similar heroines. Everything about her just felt a little 2D. We  whizzed through her childhood and then spent the majority of the novel bound up in just a couple of years of her trying to find her way in the world. It was a sort of 'coming of age story' but without the romance I felt.

I mean, there was actual romance in the novel, just no stylistic romance. Lucy fell in love with a close family friend, Dr Bretton, and he was kind to her, but threw her aside as soon as he found a younger, prettier, richer replacement. He was never really intending to go any farther than friends with Lucy, but she didn't quite see this.

I think the main reason why I didn't get on with the novel is because I didn't find Lucy's character admirable, or particularly intriguing. She works at a school for girls in France, and a teacher who works alongside her is utterly vile to her. He makes her cry, feel out of place and feel inferior at every possible opportunity. But later in the novel we learn that he's a great philanthropist, and this makes him some kind of hero deemed worthy of Lucy's love??? He's even made out to seem like some kind of martyr for loving Lucy even though she's a Protestant. And naturally his behaviour is explained away as 'just the way he is'. It's kind of like the whole 'boys will be boys thing' *rolls eyes*.

You get a slightly similar relationship in Jane Eyre, with Mr Rochester being quite unfriendly to the governess, Jane, but it's definitely not on anywhere near as large a scale. All in all, I'm glad that I saw another side to Bronte's writing, but I can definitely see why Jane Eyre has remained the more popular novel!

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen

This is the third Jane Austen novel that I've attempted in my life, and the second that I've completed. Before reading Persuasion I really did hate her works. Pride and Prejudice is one of only a handful of books that I've started reading and not completed because I simple couldn't stand it, and Mansfield Park didn't win the author any favours with me either. But I think we've finally had a little breakthrough: Persuasion was tolerable, in fact it was even enjoyable. I'm kinda starting to see what the Austen hype is all about.

Anne Elliot, the novel's heroine is someone I can relate to. She's an Austen heroine who doesn't accept the first man that toodles along, and acts with a reasonable level of maturity. Anne's family are sinking financially, and her father needs to take some rapid action to save them from plunging into debt. Since the death of her mother, Anne has been a little isolated from the heart of the family - her sister Elizabeth and her father are eternally in cahoots, and they look down on her. But, she knows that a friend of the family, Lady Russell, holds sway with the pair, and between them they persuade the rest of the Eliots to downsize their home.

This isn't the biggest change for Anne however, as she soon goes to visit her sister whilst the remainder of her family move to Bath (a place she doesn't particularly enjoy). There she learns that a man she once loved as a young girl has returned from overseas. She listened to the advice from her family and Lady Russell, went against her heart's desire, and broke off her engagement from him. He was deemed to be beneath marrying an Elliot. Now, seven years on, he's made his way up in life, and Anne is more mortified than ever at her past actions.

Will she see if they can repair a seven year rift? Or will she succumb to other men's persuasions?

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe

This book has been sat around on my shelves since I was about nine or ten. For real. That's well over a decade. It's remained unread the entire time, but it had a pretty cover so I kept it. Priorities and all that. Anyhow, for the longest time, I thought Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island were the same book, and that kind of shows how much interest I paid to the novel as it sat gathering dust.

I finally decided to put my curiosity at ease as to why this was a classic and get underway with the novel, and despite being fairly slow-going in some places, in others it was actually quite interesting. Robinson Crusoe is largely renowned for being the first English novel.

Robinson Crusoe is a young man who, like many others, doesn't really know what to do with his life. He needs to join a profession, and his father is keen to get him set up in one, but Crusoe decides he wants to sail for a bit before settling down. He heads off on a short voyage from one part of the UK mainland to another, and is shocked at the violence of a storm that his ship is swept up in. 

Robinson is not put off however; he's caught the sailing bug and wants to do it again. This time it's a longer voyage. All is going well until the ship is caught up in an even bigger storm, and ends up wildly missing its destination. Instead, the group of shipmates end up being captured by an African lord, and kept as hostages. Once Crusoe finds a way out, he cannot return to England: he is in but a tiny boat, and keeps close to mainland Africa. Finally, he ends up in Brazil and sets up a plantation there.

Robinson is at last making some good profits, but his neighbour suggests that they go on a voyage to capture slaves from America to work on the plantations they own, and Robinson cannot resist the temptation of being on the sea once more. The ship they travel on shipwrecks off of the coast of a small island, and Robinson is the only survivor. He must adapt to life alone on this island, and the majority of the novel tracks his progress as he does this.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of 'Ruth Hall; A Domestic Tale of the Present Time' by Fanny Fern

Although I love reading older novels, it can sometimes be really hard to relate to them. We no longer live in a world where we need chaperones to wander around, or where you can only travel by foot, horse or train, or where you have to send letters to contact people. But the issues involved in this book are things that I still come into contact with all the time. It was startling, but nice to finally be able to properly connect with a female protagonist of the 1800s.

The novel opens just before Ruth Ellet marries Harry Hall. She's lucky: they genuinely love each other, and the match is a good one. Her family have money, but are only too glad to get the only girl of the family off of their hands. The Halls are not as wealthy. After their marriage, Ruth and Harry make do with the little money they have and are happy. They have their first child, and she is a wonderful creature, but dies young. Ruth is devastated, and struggles to recover from her grief.

Behind the backdrop of this family unit, is a pair of overbreaing in-laws. Harry's mother criticises everything Ruth does; she insults her housekeeping, spies on her, critiques the way she brings up her children, and has no sympathy for the mother who has lost a child. 

Soon Ruth and Harry have another two girls, and the family is becoming more financially stable. Ruth is happy. Suddenly Harry is struck with an illness. His parents won't take it seriously, and by time the doctor is permitted to be called it is too late. Harry passes away and Ruth is left alone to look after their young girls. But what about the Halls who always wanted more involvement in the pairs' marriage? They don't think they ought to support the young widow - she's not their child after all. Despite being very well off, Ruth's father and brother considered her done with: they felt that as she had married into the Hall's family, she was not their concern anymore. The village that her and Harry lived in loved the little family so much that they raised money for the poor widow, but her brother took it, vowing he would give it to her himself, yet he never did.

Ruth is forced to live on a pittance that her father guilt trips her about endlessly. It's hard for a woman to find work and she goes into poverty stricken lodgings. Ruth tries a variety of forms of work, but she is too physically weak for manual labour: grief has hit her hard.

Soon, Ruth struggles to raise enough income to support both children, and reluctantly agrees to allow her eldest to live with the Halls. She is determined to improve her monetary situation and get her daughter back asap. Ruth finally turns to writing, and after a long and strenuous toil begins to achieve some success from it. Writing saves both her mind and body.

I loved this book so much. Overbearing in-laws are the bane of my life, and I felt like I knew exactly how frustrated Ruth felt. It was also fab to see a girl win her own place in the world, and prove everybody that tore her down wrong. If you want a feel-good classic that's not as long as a Dicensian novel, or as wordy as a Hardy, then I would 100% recommend giving this a go.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of 'Coelebs in Search of a Wife' by Hannah More

It's a bit scary that some people still adhere to the beliefs within this statement, which was written over 200 years ago. As you can probably guess, I wasn't the greatest fan of the morals set out within this novel, but yet I wasn't the least fan of it either. It's set worlds apart from the modern day, and despite this quotation being largely negative, it was actually seen as a feminist novel in its heyday. 

It largely looks at how to parent young girls, which was a bit of a risky topic back then, as it is now. Coelebs is looking for a wife (as you may have guessed), but every woman he comes across is too 'something'; they're too religious, or too dowdy, or too loose in their morals, or spend too much time reading novels (whoops). 

Coelebs' dying father asks him to spend some time with an old friend, Mr Stanley, after he passes away. Coelebs does this and is struck with the wonderful way in which Stanley raises his children, in particular his eldest Lucilla. They are taught from a young age that, though they are a family of means, the girls must do charitable work for the goodness of doing it, not for any praise or reward. They raise their own garden together, and sell the flowers they produce to raise money for the infirm in their area, or give the flowers for the poor to sell themselves. They are taught all aspects of domestic life and come to love them, as well as being competent in other pursuits such as singing and instrument playing.

All in all, Coelebs begins to see them as ideal women. And he falls in love with the eldest Lucilla, but does not know how to reveal this to her father. When he does, Mr Stanley tells Coelebs a tale that shocks and thrills him (as well as the reader)!

Have you read it? What did you think?