Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman

I think this book starts quite fantastically: Maria is in an asylum, but you don't quite know why. It seems as though she's being watched, observed by some malignant force she can't quite see. She falls into a routine there because she has to; there is no alternative. It soon settles down, however, and loses that unknown quantity; eventually, you learn exactly how Maria ended up where she was, which is less enigmatic but just as chilling in its own way. The book is unfinished, but in some ways it is a catalog of all the terrible things that can happen to a woman in the late 18th century. It generally runs a pretty even keel, and I found the way that other stories were woven into Maria's in a number of different fashions fascinating; show more Maria seemingly had a project to acquire as many other women's stories as she can. show less

Short and sweet, Wollstonecraft makes expert use of the tropes of sentimentality to tug on the reader's sympathy.

An unfinished novel by [Mary Wollstonecraft], published posthumously in 1798. It was a work of early feminism. The main character, Maria Venables, is confined in a private madhouse by her cruel and manipulative husband, George Venables, who wants to control her and her inheritance. She forms several relationships while in the madhouse and those are the basis for the book. The book shows the oppression of women by society, law, and mental health facilities. The book ends abruptly, as the author died before it was finished. We never find out Maria's fate.

This book is tagged gothic, but I really didn't see the traditional gothic elements. I went to AI to ask it to identify and this is AI's response: ....".the book is considered gothic, show more although not in a traditional way. The scary house is replaced by the scary mental institution. Like many gothic characters, Maria is declared mad by a male figure, to strip her of her power, the "villain." The novel includes intense emotional suffering, dreams, memories, and reflections—hallmarks of the Gothic novels...."

So, I'm going to count it as a non-traditional gothic read! 102 pages show less