The Turn of the Screw,
by Henry James
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| Source: Amazon.com |
From the book’s cover:
One of literature's
most gripping ghost stories depicts the sinister transformation of 2 innocent
children into flagrant liars and hypocrites. Elegantly told tale of unspoken
horror and psychological terror creates what few stories in literature have
been able to do — a complete feeling of dread and uncertainty.
The review:
The Turn of the Screw. I liked it.
Suspenseful, but old fashioned. I
especially liked that you couldn't tell whether the governess was seeing
things, or if she was truly mad. And the
children being corrupted by the ghosts of wicked people? Delightfully... well, twisted.
However, at times Turn
of the Screw seems a bit stretched, seeing as pre-1900s novels seemed so
rapt in heavy exposition. Almost every
little detail is drug out and run through the mill. That got old for me. But at the same time, the modern audience's
attention span seems a bit lax to me.
There is something to be said for taking the time to set the mood
perfectly.
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| The author, Henry James. / Source: Wikipedia.org |
Overall, The Turn of
the Screw was well worth the time.
And the Librivox narrator who presented was first rate. Nikolle Doolin was her name. One of the best narrators on Librivox I have
heard yet. Nice job.
Or listen to Ms. Doolin's Librivox version here.
The parting comment:
I forget what movie this comes from, but I've seen this scene changed to fit other humorous subjects before (such as the tempestuous "Han Shot First" theme). But this one was clever. "The Dictator Fun Loving Book Club"? My favorite part though was the line: "How will I explain the ending to Stalin?"
And if you are curious, here is someone else who does a video review of The Turn of the Screw. Personally I didn't get hung up on the difficulties of the book's plot, but apparently it is a big deal. Who knew?
Ambiguity.
The parting comment kept me laughing. Thanks for posting it.
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