The Woman in White (Penguin Classics) by Wilkie Collins Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Brilliant!
Summary: 5 Stars
Collins spins a web of intrigue among the fascinating characters he creates and develops so intricately that they spring to life. He sets them in fascinating places, and with his imagination and blazing talent, he paints the setting perfectly. He has created an immensely compelling work, and it delivers at every setting.
This was written in installments, and one can but wonder how eagerly the next segment must have been anticipated back in the time of Dickens, his good friend. Thankfully, the installments are all gathered together and presented as one.
The wonderful thing about a book of this length is that, if done well (and IT IS!!), the characters are intricately detailed, and can be known in depth. And what characters!! Mr. Hartright, Miss Fairlie, Miss Halcombe, Anne Catherick, and the uncle Fairlie still linger, as if old friends and acquaintances. Even the minor characters, such as the lumpish maid at Blackwater, is so perfectly detailed and used that she made a lasting impression. Sir Percy and his entourage will linger in memory, as well.
This work made Collins very famous, and it has put him on my wall of favorites. Way up at the top!
Book Review: Engaging and verbose... perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
As an English professor who finds excellent vocabulary usage a thing of the past, this book provides the ultimate language high. The words, strung together like lights on a Christmas tree, give exuberance and thought to a novel that reads exquisitely. Reading many of the sentences over and over again to give myself the pleasures not often able to be achieved in this time period, I became lost in London, then at Blackwater Park, and everywhere in between. A true Anglophile and bibliophile's dream.
Because the book is written from the various persons involved in the drama, the reader is able to gain insight into each's personality, and oftentimes I found myself a little too sympathetic to characters who I felt may not deserve such recognition. (Count Fosco, for one...so revolting yet at the same time his enamor of Marian and his obvious detail to the care of his "pets" gave the reader a sense of humanity in an otherwise disgusting and subhuman man).
It took me a long, long time to read this book. However, I relished it like the final bits of cake... slowly and methodically, savoring every moment. On the one hand, the ending of the book would provide me with the answers I so emphatically desired, yet that would also determine the finality of the enjoyment of each word and sentence I came to treasure throughout the hours I spent curled in my bed, late into the early hours of the morning, drifting off to the picture of a dark lake surrounded by trees and a boathouse, with the whispering voices of the ghosts of all who live in the book.
A tremendous, tremendous joy to read. All hail Wilkie Collins.
Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This was my first time reading Wilkie Collins. I loved it. I truly didn't expect what happened to happen. It was a great mystery and kept me very entertained.Book Review: Madness, Mystery and the First Fat Villain
Summary: 4 Stars
The first 100 pages are the hardest to get through, but once Collins ushers his readers and protagonist alike into the isolated gloom of Limmeridge House it becomes plain why this is one of the most celebrated mysteries ever written. The lead couple is rather bland, in particular the heroine, but that weakness is more than compensated for by the presence of such memorable characters as the clever, resourceful Marian Halcombe and the insidious Count Fosco. The tale of greed, murder, madness, revenge and conspiracy that unfolds is well worthy of being considered one of the best and most influential gothic novels of all time.Book Review: Remember When It Was Written
Summary: 5 Stars
For sheer mystery and excitement," The Woman in White ", was unmatched in the genre of 19th century literature. That is what one must keep in mind when reading this extraordinary novel. Written in 1860, nothing approaching it had ever been attempted, and if the New York Times best seller list had been in existence at the time, it would have topped the list for countless numbers of weeks. Like many authors of the period, the book was serialized, and it was followed voraciously by tens of thousands of readers. It continued to remain popular when published in book form. For those who relish an intricate plot, serendipitous chance coincidences filled with its share of villains, heroes, and fragile heroines in distress, along with a modicum of amateur detective work, then this is the novel that will entertain and satisfy those who are avid readers of the likes of Dickens, Conan Doyle, and Thackeray.