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aliceboule's review against another edition
4.0
I only read Life in the Iron Mills in this collection, and honestly it was incredible.
Others in my class called it boring and long and grinding. I found it fascinating.
There is something in the dreariness of Davis' words that communicates the daily grind of 19th century America. And yet her language is beautiful; striking in only the way old English - proper English - can be. And perhaps I am too much of an English major snob, but I liked the complexity of her syntax.
That being said, the plot itself is super awesome.
I would read more of her works.
Others in my class called it boring and long and grinding. I found it fascinating.
There is something in the dreariness of Davis' words that communicates the daily grind of 19th century America. And yet her language is beautiful; striking in only the way old English - proper English - can be. And perhaps I am too much of an English major snob, but I liked the complexity of her syntax.
That being said, the plot itself is super awesome.
I would read more of her works.
char_sienk's review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
First piece of literature I read for my “The Power of Injustice and the Injustice of Power” class at Ithaca College. Loved its commentary on gender, sexuality, and social class. Even for a short story, there was so much to talk about. What a great introduction to the course themes.
caitlin_89's review against another edition
3.0
School read. One passage made me cry. I may just be crying from exhaustion at this point, though.
Yay for Davis being ahead of her time with the whole Realism thing.
Super heavy-handed and didactic. A little Dickensian, now that I think about it.
Lot of Biblical and color imagery.
Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. Yay American Lit.
Yay for Davis being ahead of her time with the whole Realism thing.
Super heavy-handed and didactic. A little Dickensian, now that I think about it.
Lot of Biblical and color imagery.
Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. Yay American Lit.
gtonsager's review against another edition
5.0
The only novel read for my American Literature course that I gave a perfect score to. What an incredible and absolutely enthralling piece of literature. I was blown away by the sheer raw emotion I felt from these pages. Harding writes with such intense profundity, she makes you feel everything ten times over and wants you to know this fact.
Life in the Iron-Mills is a wonderful meditation on the lives of the working class, the creation of art that can’t be explained in words, the experience of beauty by those who aren’t themselves beautiful, and so much more. Truly one of the best things I’ve ever read.
Life in the Iron-Mills is a wonderful meditation on the lives of the working class, the creation of art that can’t be explained in words, the experience of beauty by those who aren’t themselves beautiful, and so much more. Truly one of the best things I’ve ever read.
philip_bonanno's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.75
So good. One of my favorite things I’ve read from the 19th century for sure
angeldominiquee's review against another edition
5.0
“Is this the End?”...nothing beyond? no more?”
WOW.
Read this for a summer course I am teaching, and was very taken aback by the realism Davis depicted within this short story. This story is incredibly detailed and descriptive of how horror-filled life within the iron mills could become, and I thought it's dark nature was deeply profound.
WOW.
Read this for a summer course I am teaching, and was very taken aback by the realism Davis depicted within this short story. This story is incredibly detailed and descriptive of how horror-filled life within the iron mills could become, and I thought it's dark nature was deeply profound.
colin_cox's review against another edition
5.0
Life in the Iron-Mills is a readable, relevant, and prescient story of workers, workers' rights, and capitalist exploitation. As I write this, the world suffers from a global pandemic, and in the United States, some political leaders call for the end of stay-at-home orders (orders designed to protect us all, but workers in particular). Some argue the economy is more important than life itself. This is the logic of capital, and it is precisely this logic that Davis works to expose. While the particulars change, the logic that unpins forms of exploitation in a capitalist system remains the same.
loganmorgan's review against another edition
4.0
Finals season! Thank you Miss Davis for being a pioneer of the literary realism movement
m222ddy's review against another edition
4.0
This was such an amazing read and really interesting to analyze in my lit class! Harding-Davis writing in a welsh eye-dialect was hard to transcribe though lol