I read this - somehow - when I was a teenager, which may be proof that we all had more focus before the internet came along because this was a struggle to start and keep going with for the first 200 pages at this age. James - he does like to dither on. And on and on and on. When it does hit though, it REALLY hits. It's like a literal gut punch when Milly's letter is thrown in the fire. It takes a little work to get there but I really do love this book.

I think Henry James has some interesting ideas in terms of plot but man alive he is so darned wordy and "The Wings of the Dove" is no exception.

In this novel, Kate Croy needs money and the man she wants to marry doesn't have any. She intrigues to get some by getting her fiancee Merton Densher to pursue a wealthy woman who is gravely ill. Antics ensue.

As I said, I liked the general plot and the ending, but James' writing is really tough.... he goes on and on and says very little. I had a hard time getting through this one.

Gave up halfway, something I don't do. I'm a major fan of The American, The Portrait of a Lady, & have read Washington Square, Turn of the Screw, Daisy Miller. I usually enjoy Henry James? And I was really amazed by the first few chapters, Kate Croy seemed a more mature, realized female characterization than I'd ever read from him. But then? I'm not sure what happened, Croy's dour and interesting premise turned stock James, the same cast of invalids, retiring Lords, elder ladies of fortune willing to pull up the floundering young ...and the same scene chewing from earlier novels. It was overlong, and didn't seem on its way to anything notable. Maybe I'll try to finish again sometime.

Recommended if you like: beating around the bush

I've said this before: I don't generally add "star" ratings to the classics. If a book has been in print for one hundred years or better, it's a fair assumption that it's a five-star book, even if it's not everyone's cup of tea.

For the first few chapters, I was convinced this wasn't my cup of tea. I had just read The Sun Also Rises, and the contrast between Hemingway's "simple declarative sentence" style and Henry Jame's wordiness couldn't be greater. However, I was determined to persevere, because this book makes almost everyone's Top One Hundred list, and a friend of mine whose opinion I respect "loves" Henry James.

So persevere I did, and about one hundred pages in, James sets the hook. However, he is never really clear as to what motivates most of the characters until rather late in the book, and that's part of the fascination. Who is lying and why? And will there be consequences? Oh yes, there are quite the unintended consequences. And for my part, I ended up loving the book despite my rocky start. And yes, I will read Henry James again. I've got a copy of The Golden Bowl...

I swear I will read Henry James before I die. It might take that long for me to finish this book, considering I have to read each sentence at least 3 times.

2/9/08 Just picked it back up from the library. Renewed twice and still only got to page 308.

2/10/08 Could he be any more verbose?

2/11/08 On page 375, and finally something is starting to happen. The man is a master of motive and character study, once you can figure out what he's actually saying.

2/18/08 I'm down with the system, and this book is no longer so difficult to read. The pattern seems to be a few pages of character's developing thought, reasoning, and analysis of events, then finally arriving at the character's perspective. Then several pages of dialog to back it up.

Once you get it, it's fascinating. It's the Victorian Age, and the characters are as repressed as it gets, which explains why everything is almost painfully understated. In one sense, the book reads like pages of Victorian gossip. In lesser hands, the plot would read like a bad soap opera. I find myself racing to the end to find out how it all turns out. This book has been well worth the perseverance.

2/24/08 Finished the book. It's juicy to the last sentence.

Henry James is not for me. And I am an admitted anglophile - not just for the stunted romances and strained communication that finds a simple declaration swathed in pages upon pages of dialogue. No, I enjoy the evidences of cruelty with all of the souls triumphing or not as well. But James is just a fucking sadist. I find him gross. Talented perhaps, but definitely a douche of a writer...