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jessicalovett's review
5.0
I LOVE THIS! Mistress Henley is the revolting lesbian of the late 18th century. She hates her husband (he sucks), she's obsessed with Lady B (gay), she doesn't want to be a mother (wants to be her own person, doesn't know how, no one gets it). Isabelle de Charrière was thinking in such abstract ways for the time. I love her.
"The best I can find to do, in this verdant season, is to watch the leaves appear and unfold, the flowers blossom, a cloud of insects fly, creep, run every which way. I don't understand any of it, I apprehend it but superficially; but I contemplate and admire this world that is so full, so alive. I lose myself in this vast whole that is so wonderful, I do not say so wise, for I am too ignorant: I know not its ends, I know neither its means nor its purpose, I do not know why the voracious spider is entitled to so many gnats; but I watch, and hours pass during which I have not thought even once about myself or my childish sufferings."
"The best I can find to do, in this verdant season, is to watch the leaves appear and unfold, the flowers blossom, a cloud of insects fly, creep, run every which way. I don't understand any of it, I apprehend it but superficially; but I contemplate and admire this world that is so full, so alive. I lose myself in this vast whole that is so wonderful, I do not say so wise, for I am too ignorant: I know not its ends, I know neither its means nor its purpose, I do not know why the voracious spider is entitled to so many gnats; but I watch, and hours pass during which I have not thought even once about myself or my childish sufferings."
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