What Maisie Knew, by Henry James
Title: What Maisie Knew
Author: Henry James
Publication Date: 1897
Edition: Project Gutenberg Ebook
Wiki Description:
"What Maisie Knew is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in the Chap-Book and (revised and abridged) in the New Review in 1897 and then as a book later in the same year. The story of the sensitive daughter of divorced and irresponsible parents, What Maisie Knew has great contemporary relevance as an unflinching account of a wildly dysfunctional family. The book is also a masterly technical achievement by James, as it follows the title character from earliest childhood to precocious maturity."
So, for a once-was-an-english-major-for-a-bit type person, I readily admit I have vast gaps in my reading, particularly with regards to 18th and 19th century lit. Like, MOST of the really well known, well regarded classics/big names? Haven't read em. Have no interest in reading them. Especially the English language ones...
That is to say, I came to this with no familiarity at all with Henry James. This is the first novel of his I set my eyes on. I came to this with no particular interest in trying out some Henry James. If I was in a bookstore, the chances of me picking up a copy of this would be....very low indeed. Which is why Books1001 is awesome of course - nothing like broadening the horizons and all that.
Anyway, must say, this is not what I'd necessarily think of, at all, if you said 19th century novel. Content wise, I do think it pushes the envelope a bit. The protagonist of the story is Maisie. Henry James takes on a tricky challenge in writing the entire book from her perspective, starting from a very early age. He does this really well. The whole POV of a young child is captured very well, very believable. Also, what he does well is...writing about larger things going on in a way that both captures the fact that a lot of things adults do totally go over the head of a young child, while still conveying and allowing the reader to know exactly what those things are. Kind of how good children's tv shows can include a bunch of jokes that the adults get, kids are oblivious to and whatnot.
His characterization is also very good. The characters are by and large not likeable at all, but they sure are believable. This is pretty much a story of kid gets manipulated and used and neglected and screwed over and abandoned by the super selfish and self-absorbed adults in her life, whose relationships are totally soap-opera like in their convolutedness but...yeah, written well. Not a heartening tale but I agree with wiki description that its still relate-able - i'm sure people who've actually been involved in/bystanders to really messy divorces could probably relate.
Structure-wise, it's written in a bunch of really short chapters, which makes for easier reading for those with shorter attention spans, or needing to multi-task, or reading for short periods of time at a time. Personally, since this wasn't the type of book to really CAPTURE my attention, and since I read the first half of it while procrastinating during mid-term time, the short chapters format was a definite plus for me.
The ending rang true for me. The writing was pretty easy to get through, no complaints there. Would I read more Henry James? Honestly, probably still no. But I liked this book well enough. The fact that it was chock-full of dysfunction probably contributed to this, lol, but yeah. I'd say it was worth the time. If you're in the mood for something that will leave you with a 'wow, people really are bastards' type warm fuzzy feeling, i'd say give the book a go.
Author: Henry James
Publication Date: 1897
Edition: Project Gutenberg Ebook
Wiki Description:
"What Maisie Knew is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in the Chap-Book and (revised and abridged) in the New Review in 1897 and then as a book later in the same year. The story of the sensitive daughter of divorced and irresponsible parents, What Maisie Knew has great contemporary relevance as an unflinching account of a wildly dysfunctional family. The book is also a masterly technical achievement by James, as it follows the title character from earliest childhood to precocious maturity."
So, for a once-was-an-english-major-for-a-bit type person, I readily admit I have vast gaps in my reading, particularly with regards to 18th and 19th century lit. Like, MOST of the really well known, well regarded classics/big names? Haven't read em. Have no interest in reading them. Especially the English language ones...
That is to say, I came to this with no familiarity at all with Henry James. This is the first novel of his I set my eyes on. I came to this with no particular interest in trying out some Henry James. If I was in a bookstore, the chances of me picking up a copy of this would be....very low indeed. Which is why Books1001 is awesome of course - nothing like broadening the horizons and all that.
Anyway, must say, this is not what I'd necessarily think of, at all, if you said 19th century novel. Content wise, I do think it pushes the envelope a bit. The protagonist of the story is Maisie. Henry James takes on a tricky challenge in writing the entire book from her perspective, starting from a very early age. He does this really well. The whole POV of a young child is captured very well, very believable. Also, what he does well is...writing about larger things going on in a way that both captures the fact that a lot of things adults do totally go over the head of a young child, while still conveying and allowing the reader to know exactly what those things are. Kind of how good children's tv shows can include a bunch of jokes that the adults get, kids are oblivious to and whatnot.
His characterization is also very good. The characters are by and large not likeable at all, but they sure are believable. This is pretty much a story of kid gets manipulated and used and neglected and screwed over and abandoned by the super selfish and self-absorbed adults in her life, whose relationships are totally soap-opera like in their convolutedness but...yeah, written well. Not a heartening tale but I agree with wiki description that its still relate-able - i'm sure people who've actually been involved in/bystanders to really messy divorces could probably relate.
Structure-wise, it's written in a bunch of really short chapters, which makes for easier reading for those with shorter attention spans, or needing to multi-task, or reading for short periods of time at a time. Personally, since this wasn't the type of book to really CAPTURE my attention, and since I read the first half of it while procrastinating during mid-term time, the short chapters format was a definite plus for me.
The ending rang true for me. The writing was pretty easy to get through, no complaints there. Would I read more Henry James? Honestly, probably still no. But I liked this book well enough. The fact that it was chock-full of dysfunction probably contributed to this, lol, but yeah. I'd say it was worth the time. If you're in the mood for something that will leave you with a 'wow, people really are bastards' type warm fuzzy feeling, i'd say give the book a go.