Reviews for The Awkward Age

The average rating for The Awkward Age based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-11-30 00:00:00 Tim Zitzelberger "If you are going to be pushed, you had better jump." Almost everyone in this book is awful, but I... think I liked it? I read Henry James once, years ago, and I picked The Turn of the Screw, which turned out to be a bad decision. It put me off for a long time. I also hear that James gets a little more experimental in his later works, delving into that stream-of-consciousness style that has never really floated my boat, which might explain why I heard a lot of complaints about him from English students at university. Washington Square, however, is more of a straight-up drama, that sees familial duty clashing with a potential romance. It's like Austen, but infinitely more depressing. Maybe more like Edith Wharton. Here, James' heroine is the well-meaning, plain and rich Catherine Sloper. She falls deeply in love with a charismatic and broke young man called Morris Townsend, whom her father is convinced wants Catherine for her inheritance. He refuses to give his blessing to their engagement so Catherine must decide whether to remain loyal to her father or follow her heart. This is considered a classic, but don't believe for a second it's not a total soap opera. Between Dr Sloper going to interrogate Morris's sister, and Catherine's Aunt Lavinia setting up secret meetings to advise Morris how to manipulate the doctor, Catherine is just pulled from one drama to the next. The doctor's self-righteousness, his coldness, and his inability to respect his daughter's feelings, make him an infuriating character. And Aunt Lavinia seriously needs to mind her own business! It's a short read, but all the characters are very well-drawn and nuanced. Even if they are insufferable. I enjoyed how James explored all their personal motivations but left a lot open to interpretation. I am still not sure what message, if any, he wished to impart with the novel's conclusion, but I do think I am ready to take on The Portrait of a Lady now. Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review # 2 was written on 2017-01-11 00:00:00 Dirk Henne If I close my eyes and ask myself what impression this book has left on me, the idea that comes immediately to mind is stillness. The stillness radiates from the main character, Catherine Sloper. I see her as a monumental figure in a hieratic pose, immobile, meek, but solid to the core. Her immobility impressed me greatly, especially as this book is quite like a play. There is a lot of dialogue, a small number of characters, and one principal location where most of the important scenes take place. The characters circle that space, and they circle Catherine. She rarely moves, and since she pauses before answering every question addressed to her, we have time to imagine her face turning slowly towards the speaker as she meditates her careful response. The result of Catherine's overly cautious responses is that the other characters fail to know her, and fail abysmally. Though he allows the reader to see more of her inner life than the other characters ever guess at, Henry James allows Catherine to keep the core of her being a secret even from us. I like to think that as he developed his heroine, his respect for her grew so that he had no choice but to preserve her privacy and to keep the mystery at the heart of her stillness a mystery to the end. That's what I wanted for her and that's what he delivered. .............................................................. While Catherine doesn't say very much, the other characters more than make up for her lack of verbosity. The exchanges between Catherine's various relatives reminded me of Jane Austin's ability to deliver witty dialogue line after line (of course people don't talk like this in real life, but how we wish they did). There were in fact many moments during reading when I was reminded of Jane Austin, and particularly of Fanny Price from Mansfield Park. Like Fanny, Catherine is undervalued by her entourage, and treated quite badly by certain among them. But Fanny acquires a savior. Henry James prefers Catherine to be her own savior.