#642 in our old book database. Not rated.

I was in the mood for some creepy gothic horror and The Turn of the Screw fit my needs perfectly. I love the writing and story. Really happy I finally got around to reading this novella. ( )

6/10
I have very conflicted feelings about the book and did not overly like it, but it was certainly well done. Part of these problems stem from the first gothic scene. I must have misread the setting and could not understand why the main character was so scared. After that, I could not really believe her tale and thought she was prone to overreacting. Later, the setting is further explored and I finally realised how horrible that experience would have been.
Despite this oversight, the ending is weak. Still, the prose is reasonable and storytelling strong. Will revisit James again, but not rushing off to read to him again. ( )

This is what happens when a realist tries to be a romantic. Ghost stories are irrational and melodramatic by nature, they need to be presented using theatrical tools that Henry James would have found beneath him. Instead we get what could be a gripping story buried under some grueling prose. It's exhausting.

Edit: Virginia Woolf wrote about Henry James' ghost stories positively, and it's good to see what a contemporary (a genius contemporary at that) thought of it. She confirmed what I suspected, that by their time creepy castles and rainstorms had become cheesy and psychological terror was a novelty. But she also states that he put his ghosts in a scenario of the utmost realism, vividly described, so that it created a jarring effect on the reader. It's like if we suddenly saw HD footage of aliens, something impossible depicted utterly sincerely. The effect didn't work for me but it's good to understand another perspective. ( )

Eh, I could take this or leave it. The wording on most of the sentences seemed intentionally convoluted to me. I hope all of Henry James isn't written like this. (This is my first Henry James.) I love a good Gothic story, but this is not the one for me.
*Book #135 I have read of the '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die' ( )