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orndal's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book is INCREDIBLY slow. Also count fosco is FAT FAT FATTIE. HIS FAT FACE FATTILY EATS CROISSANTS.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Murder, Racial slurs, Bullying, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Ableism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
ceallaighsbooks's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Most extraordinary,” said Miss Halcombe. “I should not have thought it possible that any of the boys had imagination enough to see a ghost.”
“Eh!—but I saw t’ ghaist,’ persisted Jacob Postlethwaite, with a stare of terror and a burst of tears.
“Come!” she said; “I mean to know all about this. You naughty boy, when did you see the ghost!”
“Yerster’een, at the gloaming,” replied Jacob. “Arl in white—as a ghaist should be… Away yander, in t’ kirkyard—where a ghaist ought to be. T’ ghaist of Mistress Fairlie.”
TITLE—The Woman in White
AUTHOR—Wilkie Collins
PUBLISHED—1860
GENRE—gothic literature; “sensation novel”; epistolary format in multiple POVs
SETTING—Victorian era England
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—mental illness, lunacy & institutionalization; misogyny & Patriarchal oppression & manipulation; Romanticism; female agency; oneiromancy (dream prophecy/divination); epistolary format; commentary on human nature
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—Reading this parallel to John Harwood’s The Seance was a stroke of excellent luck! Highly recommend!
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“I saw darkly what the nature of the conspiracy had been; how chances had been watched, and how circumstances had been handled to ensure impunity to a daring and an intricate crime.”
Whew this is a long one, but quite readable! Once I got the hang of the Victorian writing style (which isn’t my usual thing) I enjoyed the book immensely and couldn’t put it down. There is something about Collins’s writing style that is a little humorous, almost tongue-in-cheek feeling in spite of the heavy, tense topics and plot.
I loved the political undertones of the writing and his characters were phenomenal: incredibly unique and visceral representations of truly complex people who are at once very realistic and relatable and also a bit unusual and in some cases a bit larger-than-life seeming. Marian Halcombe was an easy favorite but Walter Hartright was also very lovable and Fosco and Mr. Fairlie were just entertaining AF—oh and Mrs. Catherick! Usually when secondary characters—especially villains—like that “have their say” in epistolary narratives or multiple POV narratives I get a little bored with the story but Fosco’s, Mr. Fairlie’s, and Mrs. Catherick’s POVs ended up being some of my favorite parts of the book. They are also the characters that seemed a bit larger than life—flamboyant, but without the modern connotations of that word. 😅 (I actually read that the character Fosco from this book was the source of Oscar Wilde’s Oxford days nickname as well. 😂 Love that. ❤️)
<SPOILER>I also loved how the build up to the climaxes and endings belied the reality of what the actual situation of the story was, though hidden from the reader (and the characters, mostly). It was such a trip of the imagination to speculate about Percival’s “Secret” and the reason behind Mrs. Catherick’s complicity and Anne’s fate etc. etc. and then when all is revealed it’s as though Collins is saying: What? These are humans. What did you expect? As chaotic as the events in the narrative are and how often they bordered on the extreme—indeed, even the supernatural at times?—in the end it was all down to just very much the simple reality of human nature.</SPOILER>
Honestly I’m still kind of surprised this book was written by a Victorian English cishet man. Obviously a very liberal-minded man as any bestie of Dickens is likely to be but wow. He depicted the true horror of the Patriarchy in a way that I just wouldn’t have guessed a man of that era would have truly seen let alone understood. Props, my dude.
Overall a really satisfying read both in terms of the story, the characters, the philosophy, and the deeper commentaries on human nature.
“Our endurance must end, and our resistance must begin, to-day.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW // graphic, upsetting dog death; all the usual sort of offensive content in English classic literature: fatphobia, misogyny, gaslighting, xenophobia, racism, classism (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- The Seance, by John Harwood (actually a loose retelling of TWIW)
- The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton—for the multiple POVs and colorful characters
- Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
- Bleak House, by Charles Dickens—TBR
- The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins—TBR
- Armadale, by Wilkie Collins—TBR
- Corpse Bride, by Tim Burton & Danny Elfman (2005 film)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Xenophobia
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