mjohnson11253c

Even better than I was expecting, and I was expecting a lot. The Woman in White has compelling characters, memorable villains (I want to get a pug and name him Fosco), a twisted plot, some truly harrowing scenes, and prose that is both crisp and intimate. All the interpersonal formality of Victorian England is present, even as the heroes and villains struggle to gain the upper hand over one another, which increased the anxiety this novel produced in me. (As I read, I would find myself silently urging the heroes to drop the courtesy and just run! Needless to say, they never took my advice.) I was also happily surprised to find such a strong female character at the center of a novel written by a man in the mid-nineteenth century. Marian Halcombe could easily give a character like Jo March a run for her money, particularly since Marian kept her cool under far greater terrors than the little women suffered (and understandably so, of course--this being a "sensation" novel rather than a "realist" novel). I hesitate to say much more than this because the book is so filled with plot twists that explaining even the most basic plot elements would inevitably give something away that the average reader would prefer to be surprised by. So let me just say that if you enjoy Gothic fiction, adventure fiction, mystery novels, or novels set in the provincial countryside circa 1850, The Woman in White is definitely for you.

2020-08-11 00:20