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lornreadsbooks's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
heresthepencil's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
was the term "fool in love" coined specifically based on mr john thornton?
i know for a fact that if i read this at a tender age of early teenagehood, it would have been over me. my standards would never again be met, and i would simply stop reading all together.
yes, the romance is exquisite (and frankly unhinged in the best of ways), but this is obviously so much more than that. on the prose level this is absolutely gorgeous. the social commentary, the clash of the classes, the feminism? chef's kiss.
i know for a fact that if i read this at a tender age of early teenagehood, it would have been over me. my standards would never again be met, and i would simply stop reading all together.
yes, the romance is exquisite (and frankly unhinged in the best of ways), but this is obviously so much more than that. on the prose level this is absolutely gorgeous. the social commentary, the clash of the classes, the feminism? chef's kiss.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Death and Xenophobia
elsahh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
annaki_laila's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
Some interesting social commentary but it was kind of painstaking to read and also the deaths got a bit much. I think Mrs Hale's death was treated well in terms of time given to her and time spent by Margaret grieving - it was quite affecting. But the other deaths were so quick, which was fine for the first one, but then it happened again, and again... it was too much. Of course people can die suddenly and without 'reason', deaths can happen and feel senseless, but it was just a lot of death to the point that my perspective of the novel is now 'the one about everyone dying and Margaret being left alone' rather than 'the one about strikes and workers' rights and complex social ties'.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide
samanthaleereads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexism, and Classism
Moderate: Suicide
lizzye33's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Grief
Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Child death
Minor: Suicide, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Murder, Medical content, Hate crime, and Gore
mmehdi_auteur's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, and Police brutality
iced_mochas's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Workers’ strikes, radical interventions, suicide driven by spiralling debts, changing belief systems, turning down marriage proposals – this is truly a novel that could have been written over the past year.
A contemporary of Charles Dickens, author Elizabeth Gaskell is unbelievably accessible as a classic novelist and alarmingly progressive in her representation of class struggle and womanhood. I would go as far as saying she is miles ahead – and the cherry on top – her writing is enjoyable!
Due to an interesting moral dilemma, the Hales have to move from their comfortable countryside living in the South to the polluted manufacturing town in the North. Gaskell uncovers the social landscape by pitting the classes against each other, then putting them in conversation.
While the passages written in Nicholas Higgins’ voice can feel a bit long (I took a break from the book roughly midway), there is such careful attention paid to the various trials that life dishes out to each of these groups. There is even a distinction made between striking workers and a more radical, desperate cohort of people, who have had even less luck in life. During the strikes, mill owner Mr Thornton “imports hands” from Ireland – the crude dehumanising language exposing cheap labour.
The protagonist, Margaret Hale, is an all-too-perfect daughter to her ailing parents and their turbulent life choices. Yet while her round-the-clock kindness and obedience is unconvincing, her critical take on exploitative bosses and working conditions, as well as her quick, sharp, irritated tongue are a comfort to behold. “Papa, I do think Mr. Thornton a very remarkable man; but personally I don't like him at all,” she tells her father.
Opinionated as she is, Margaret offers a more neutral platform through which to explore each of the characters. We accompany her through the tragedies and we observe as she grieves. Mr Bell, though a fleeting presence, was one of my favourite characters with his amusing, warm and loving nature. Mr Thornton doesn’t really grow on me the way he grows on Margaret. His mother, in particular, is depicted as snobby and overbearing.
As for the ending, I wonder how much the editors influenced it. I remember being a bit disappointed by the ending to Mary Barton too – the other Gaskell novel I read – but both literary works left such a huge impression. This is a great place to start with Victorian literature if you’re interested in the themes above.
***
“She used to sit long hours upon the beach, gazing intently on the waves as they chafed with perpetual motion against the pebbly shore, or she looked out upon the more distant heave, and sparkle against the sky, and heard, without being conscious of hearing, the eternal psalm, which went up continually. She was soothed without knowing how or why.
But all this time for thought enabled Margaret to put events in their right places, as to origin and significance, both as regarded her past life and her future. Those hours by the seaside were not lost, as any one might have seen who had had the perception to read, or the care to understand, the look that Margaret's face was gradually acquiring.”
A contemporary of Charles Dickens, author Elizabeth Gaskell is unbelievably accessible as a classic novelist and alarmingly progressive in her representation of class struggle and womanhood. I would go as far as saying she is miles ahead – and the cherry on top – her writing is enjoyable!
Due to an interesting moral dilemma, the Hales have to move from their comfortable countryside living in the South to the polluted manufacturing town in the North. Gaskell uncovers the social landscape by pitting the classes against each other, then putting them in conversation.
While the passages written in Nicholas Higgins’ voice can feel a bit long (I took a break from the book roughly midway), there is such careful attention paid to the various trials that life dishes out to each of these groups. There is even a distinction made between striking workers and a more radical, desperate cohort of people, who have had even less luck in life. During the strikes, mill owner Mr Thornton “imports hands” from Ireland – the crude dehumanising language exposing cheap labour.
The protagonist, Margaret Hale, is an all-too-perfect daughter to her ailing parents and their turbulent life choices. Yet while her round-the-clock kindness and obedience is unconvincing, her critical take on exploitative bosses and working conditions, as well as her quick, sharp, irritated tongue are a comfort to behold. “Papa, I do think Mr. Thornton a very remarkable man; but personally I don't like him at all,” she tells her father.
Opinionated as she is, Margaret offers a more neutral platform through which to explore each of the characters. We accompany her through the tragedies and we observe as she grieves. Mr Bell, though a fleeting presence, was one of my favourite characters with his amusing, warm and loving nature. Mr Thornton doesn’t really grow on me the way he grows on Margaret. His mother, in particular, is depicted as snobby and overbearing.
As for the ending, I wonder how much the editors influenced it. I remember being a bit disappointed by the ending to Mary Barton too – the other Gaskell novel I read – but both literary works left such a huge impression. This is a great place to start with Victorian literature if you’re interested in the themes above.
***
“She used to sit long hours upon the beach, gazing intently on the waves as they chafed with perpetual motion against the pebbly shore, or she looked out upon the more distant heave, and sparkle against the sky, and heard, without being conscious of hearing, the eternal psalm, which went up continually. She was soothed without knowing how or why.
But all this time for thought enabled Margaret to put events in their right places, as to origin and significance, both as regarded her past life and her future. Those hours by the seaside were not lost, as any one might have seen who had had the perception to read, or the care to understand, the look that Margaret's face was gradually acquiring.”
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide and Death
kelly04's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Classism and Chronic illness
Minor: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail
milesjmoran's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Sexism, Classism, Death of parent, Child death, and Suicide
Moderate: Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Animal death