Scan barcode
mcfade28's review against another edition
3.0
Wilkie Collins is one of my favourite classical authors but unfortunately this book didn't match up to some of the others I've read. It was just OK for lack of a better word.
The book's first half concerns a painter who adopts a deaf orphan child from a circus, and the second unravels the mystery of the child's parentage.
I did like some of the characters and there was some mild intrigue but it was unfortunately a little on the dull side for me.
The book's first half concerns a painter who adopts a deaf orphan child from a circus, and the second unravels the mystery of the child's parentage.
I did like some of the characters and there was some mild intrigue but it was unfortunately a little on the dull side for me.
okenwillow's review against another edition
5.0
Publié en français sous le titre de Cache-cache, Hide and seek illustre des thèmes cher à Collins, la vengeance et le secret de famille. On ne change pas une recette efficace, surtout quand on a le talent inépuisable de Wilkie Collins. Deuxième livre de Wilkie lu en VO, joie inaltérable, si ce n’est un bug de pages emmêlées et un paragraphe disparu quelques pages avant le dénouement. Heureusement j’ai pu finir sur ma version papier de Phébus. Mais quand même, c’est énervant.
Toujours aussi habile et inventif, Wilkie Collins nous offre une histoire de famille et de bâtardise, de vengeance sur le tard, de réconciliations problématiques et de filiation contrariée. La mise en place nous introduit gentiment dans la vie paisible d’un artiste raté mais attachant qui a opté pour une carrière de peintre de commande, et de son épouse tendrement aimée mais invalide et condamnée à vivre alitée. Ce charmant couple abrite Madonna, une jeune fille adoptée quelques années plus tôt, et affligée de surdité et de mutisme suite à un accident. Le passé trouble et les origines inconnues de la douce Madonna vont refaire surface et des personnages truculents font faire leur apparition. Fidèle à lui-même Collins parsème son récit de traits d’humour toujours aussi subtils, et le personnage espiègle du jeune Zack Thorne n’y est pas étranger. L’intrigue tient en haleine non pas par son degré de vraisemblance, assez faible, mais par le génie de Collins qui savait entretenir l’intérêt du lecteur malgré des facilités qui chez un autre auteur nous feraient bondir d’indignation. Il savait y faire le vieux Wilkie.
Toujours aussi habile et inventif, Wilkie Collins nous offre une histoire de famille et de bâtardise, de vengeance sur le tard, de réconciliations problématiques et de filiation contrariée. La mise en place nous introduit gentiment dans la vie paisible d’un artiste raté mais attachant qui a opté pour une carrière de peintre de commande, et de son épouse tendrement aimée mais invalide et condamnée à vivre alitée. Ce charmant couple abrite Madonna, une jeune fille adoptée quelques années plus tôt, et affligée de surdité et de mutisme suite à un accident. Le passé trouble et les origines inconnues de la douce Madonna vont refaire surface et des personnages truculents font faire leur apparition. Fidèle à lui-même Collins parsème son récit de traits d’humour toujours aussi subtils, et le personnage espiègle du jeune Zack Thorne n’y est pas étranger. L’intrigue tient en haleine non pas par son degré de vraisemblance, assez faible, mais par le génie de Collins qui savait entretenir l’intérêt du lecteur malgré des facilités qui chez un autre auteur nous feraient bondir d’indignation. Il savait y faire le vieux Wilkie.
jowmy4's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
lbrex's review against another edition
4.0
The best of Collins's early novels (pre-TWiW) with some very memorable characters, chief among them Mat, the mysterious figure scalped by native Americans and who wears a black velvet skullcap to hide the top is his head. There are many of the components of the sensation novels of the 1860s already in place here, and the textual game of "hide and seek" constructed by Collins is always engaging. There were a few moments in the last 100 pages, however, where the momentum of the narrative seemed to drag, and the conclusion seemed to emphasize certain characters (and not others) in a way that was less than satisfying. In the conclusion, it seemed as if Collins underestimated the interest and fascination of Madonna, the deaf girl, who figures so prominently in the novel's plot earlier on. This book is especially interesting in connection with Dickens's _Hard Times_, since we have a presentation of the circus that is more compelling (and more invested in the circus characters) than in Dickens's novel.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
I'm beginning to wonder just how much I'd like The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins if I read it now. I thought it was pretty awesome when I read it about twenty years ago. But, having just finished Hide & Seek and finding it to be okay, but not spectacular and having read The Woman in White last year and being thoroughly underwhelmed....well. I do have to wonder.
Hide & Seek is centered on the mystery of Mary Grice (in fact, that is the subtitle for the novel). Mary, also known as Madonna, has been taken in by the respectable painter Valentine Blyth. He refuses to tell his friends and neighbors how he found her...and doesn't seem to mind that the answers they devise on their own are much more sordid than the truth. At least the truth so far as he knows it. She had been orphaned as a baby and a kindly couple with a traveling circus took her in. When Blyth sees the girl, he immediately fees a connection to her and convinces the couple to allow him to adopt her. What he knows of Madonna's past is only what the couple can tell him. The mother was known, but no one knows anything of the father. And therein lies the mystery. It is not until Blyth's young friend Zack Thorpe, who has had enough of his father's puritanical and domineering ways, breaks away from his father's rule and meets up with a mysterious stranger home from travels of 10 years or more that the mystery of Madonna's past will be fully unraveled.
This is a decent enough Victorian tale--and actually was quite good for about the first half. And then it just lost steam. It was a real struggle to complete this novel--it took me nearly as long as Middlemarch and was only about a third as long. Mary Grice, Madonna, is a lovely character. She is one of the earliest fully realized deaf characters in fiction. And Collins represents her well. I wish that there had been more of her and less of Blyth and young Thorpe, actually. I also wish I had more to say. But it took me so long to read and I didn't jot down notes as I did with Middlemarch...all I can really say is that I'm relieved to finally be done. Three stars.
Hide & Seek is centered on the mystery of Mary Grice (in fact, that is the subtitle for the novel). Mary, also known as Madonna, has been taken in by the respectable painter Valentine Blyth. He refuses to tell his friends and neighbors how he found her...and doesn't seem to mind that the answers they devise on their own are much more sordid than the truth. At least the truth so far as he knows it. She had been orphaned as a baby and a kindly couple with a traveling circus took her in. When Blyth sees the girl, he immediately fees a connection to her and convinces the couple to allow him to adopt her. What he knows of Madonna's past is only what the couple can tell him. The mother was known, but no one knows anything of the father. And therein lies the mystery. It is not until Blyth's young friend Zack Thorpe, who has had enough of his father's puritanical and domineering ways, breaks away from his father's rule and meets up with a mysterious stranger home from travels of 10 years or more that the mystery of Madonna's past will be fully unraveled.
This is a decent enough Victorian tale--and actually was quite good for about the first half. And then it just lost steam. It was a real struggle to complete this novel--it took me nearly as long as Middlemarch and was only about a third as long. Mary Grice, Madonna, is a lovely character. She is one of the earliest fully realized deaf characters in fiction. And Collins represents her well. I wish that there had been more of her and less of Blyth and young Thorpe, actually. I also wish I had more to say. But it took me so long to read and I didn't jot down notes as I did with Middlemarch...all I can really say is that I'm relieved to finally be done. Three stars.
brookepalmer796's review against another edition
3.0
Spencer's rating. Slow to get going, but interesting once you got into it. Not as good as The Moonstone, or Woman in White, but still a good read.
katherine27's review against another edition
4.0
After reading The Moonstone and The Woman in White, it’s hard not to expect the same mystery and riddle-like development in all Wilkie’s work. Mystery is still the heart of the book but more time is given to the characters and their thoughts and feelings (and secrets! …it’s why I read)
Even though the secrets swirl around the girl Mary she is much more talked about than actually… there. And the story progresses in the way life goes, unpredictable and unexpected.
Imagine someone telling you a bit of news you never would have thought could actually happen (got it?) and you understand Wilkie Collins’ work.
So where is Mary from? As a babe she is found by Mrs. Peckover and later on adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Blyth. They are very anxious she should be taken away. Enter Zachary Thorpe into Mary’s live.
Let’s leave it there.
Even though the secrets swirl around the girl Mary she is much more talked about than actually… there. And the story progresses in the way life goes, unpredictable and unexpected.
Imagine someone telling you a bit of news you never would have thought could actually happen (got it?) and you understand Wilkie Collins’ work.
So where is Mary from? As a babe she is found by Mrs. Peckover and later on adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Blyth. They are very anxious she should be taken away. Enter Zachary Thorpe into Mary’s live.
Let’s leave it there.
casvelyn's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
barbifowler's review
3.0
I enjoyed Hide and Seek, but the novel wasn't as engaging as Collins's two most famous novels, The Moonstone, and The Woman in White. However, Collins's characterization of Valentine Blyth has to be one of my of his characters. He is by far the best part of the book. Valentine, though an artist, isn't a tortured one. His relationship with his art, though passionate, isn't all-consuming. His love of his wife and adopted daughter are the ruling passions of his life. And this successful contrast of family man and artist is somehow intriguing. However, the novel's other characters fell flat. They seemed more like stock characters than anything else, but Valentine's presence in the novel does make up for that.
What Valentine can't make up for though, is Hide and Seek's narrative. It simply wasn't that engaging or interesting. Perhaps it was distance that comes with third person narration or maybe it was just the plot of the story itself. When I first read The Moonstone and The Woman in White, I tore through them. I couldn't wait to find out the big secrets. That just wasn't the case with Hide and Seek. It was predictable, a quality representative of Collins's other novels. I found myself eager to read only the parts that featured the Blyths.
What Valentine can't make up for though, is Hide and Seek's narrative. It simply wasn't that engaging or interesting. Perhaps it was distance that comes with third person narration or maybe it was just the plot of the story itself. When I first read The Moonstone and The Woman in White, I tore through them. I couldn't wait to find out the big secrets. That just wasn't the case with Hide and Seek. It was predictable, a quality representative of Collins's other novels. I found myself eager to read only the parts that featured the Blyths.
More...