North and South in Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)

Jul 29, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: era-victorian, 1001-books, classic, romance, gutenberg

on NPR's list of 100 best romance books http://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/4267318...

Oh, the melodrama! This is very much social-justice = yay! and union yes! and I admire that. But, oh! the melodrama!

"...Yo're not of this country, I reckon?"

"No!" said Margaret, half sighing. "I come from the South -- from Hampshire," she continued, a little afraid of wounding his consciousness of ignorance, if she used a name which he did not understand.

"That's beyond London, I reckon? And I come fro' Burnley-way

...more

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Sep 01, 2013 Suvi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, 1800s, _great-britain

When the Masterpiece Theatre's production (Richard Armitage!) was first shown on Finnish tv, I fell in love with it (including the haunting theme music). I haven't seen it in a couple of years now, because I've been afraid that the enchantment will be broken or something, but after finally getting around to reading this, I'm probably going to hunt it down.

The opposites that are Margaret Hale and John Thornton are a part of the dynamics of the novel. Thornton seems a very hard man with an unpenet When the Masterpiece Theatre's production (Richard Armitage!) was first shown on Finnish tv, I fell in love with it (including the haunting theme music). I haven't seen it in a couple of years now, because I've been afraid that the enchantment will be broken or something, but after finally getting around to reading this, I'm probably going to hunt it down.

The opposites that are Margaret Hale and John Thornton are a part of the dynamics of the novel. Thornton seems a very hard man with an unpenetrable exterior, and someone who's not too keen on showing his emotions. When this break through the barrier happens, it's touching. Margaret on the other hand dislikes the superficial company of women, admires calm behavior, and her character is often misunderstood as arrogant. Both are stubborn, and despite all the misunderstandings, prejudices, and cold behavior, both understand each other in a certain way and see behind faked facial expressions.

Although I haven't read Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813), based on the reviews and the miniseries I've seen, the relationship between Thornton and Margaret seems very similar than the one between Darcy and Elizabeth. North and South however isn't just about wallowing in love and relationships, but also a story about loss and justice, and where the meaning of death is great in the development of the characters. This isn't dark though, because on the background there are always new possibilities and hope.

Most of all this is a study of human nature, the conflicts of industrialisation, and injustices of the society. A humane story about a city, where the collisions of different people might even be dangerous. The reader is allowed the space to make own conclusions. Both the factory masters and workers have reasonable thoughts, and Gaskell shows that both sides are able to make mistakes.

There were a few times in the dialogue where the speaker wasn't identified, but luckily just a few so it didn't bother as much as it could have. At first the workers' way of talking was kind of cryptic, but when I figured out the logic behind it, it became easier to read. Reading aloud helped, although my speech kind of verged on the Irish side. The ending might seem abrupt to some, but I didn't mind. If I could have, I would have held my breath the whole time, and at the end I could finally sigh for a relief (won't admit any tears), even though we all know how these books end. ...more

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Jan 08, 2022 Ketutar Jensen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Such whiny people.

Very unsatisfactory, because I find the hero pretty unlikable. How much would it have cost him to give the "hands" a raise? But, sure, he got married to a rich heiress, and didn't need to... uh.
What ever.

Elizabeth Gaskell is a good author, but I dislike this book rather much.

It starts with a selfish man dragging his family away from their home to this dirty, sad industrial town in North, and then whining rest of his life because of the consequences.
His wife was terminally il Such whiny people.

Very unsatisfactory, because I find the hero pretty unlikable. How much would it have cost him to give the "hands" a raise? But, sure, he got married to a rich heiress, and didn't need to... uh.
What ever.

Elizabeth Gaskell is a good author, but I dislike this book rather much.

It starts with a selfish man dragging his family away from their home to this dirty, sad industrial town in North, and then whining rest of his life because of the consequences.
His wife was terminally ill, and chose to not discuss with anyone (either), so when her family finds out, it's a terrific blow.
The father of the family expects his 18 years old daughter to deliver all bad news to his wife, and the mother makes the daughter responsible for the father's peace of mind. So when the mother dies, the daughter cannot mourn, because she has to take care of the father. Who, of course, mourns with all the emotional flagellations and excuses one can expect.
And, servants don't have any feelings, so we don't need to care one bit about the mother's maid, who loved her probably more than her husband and daughter. But, as servants don't have any feelings, it's totally fine to expect her to keep working without a hitch as if nothing had happened.
Also, for some weird reason, the couple had send their daughter to live and be raised by the mother's sister in London. So, when the father goes and dies at the old age of 55, the aunt comes and takes the girl back to London, where she is being treated as her cousin's companion.
The cousin is newly wed and has a son, and Margaret becomes the boy's nanny. Her cousin seems to be a total airhead who doesn't do anything.
So - next dies Mr. Bell who is a rich man who left his fortune to Margaret, and - of course - the London family decides she should marry her cousin's husband's brother, who is in love with her, to keep her close by as the cousin's companion, the boy's nanny, and to keep the money in the family.
But, Margaret has gone and fallen in love with what ever f his name is, the conservative a-hole mill owner, in the proper Pride and Prejudice manner (he asks her to marry her, she refuses, and then spends rest of the book being ashamed of how she did it, and Elizabeth Gaskell even invented a smaller scandal the guy can save Margaret from, to add more burning coals over her head, and make her "understand" what a swell guy he really is, even though the first impressions told differently.)
Frankly, I don't believe in that love, or the happiness of the marriage. The hero's basic values are very much against the heroine's basic values, his mother hates her, and there is a history of miscommunications, misunderstandings, and carrying a grudge.
Urgh. ...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Kai Coates rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: group-bookish, group-the-victorians

I jokingly referred to this book as "Pride and Prejudice and Politics", but I feel the description has merit. Margaret Hale has been raised in London by her rich aunt and superficial cousin. When her cousin marries, Margaret is sent back to live with her parents, a parson and the wife who never forgave him for not having more money, in the idyllic setting of Helstone. Mr. Hale decides to leave his job and moves his family to the northern industrial town of Milton. It is an interesting novel of c ...more

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Jul 23, 2013 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Picture Pride and Prejudice, but with less aristocracy and more death and social labor issues.

I really enjoyed it. Read through it in a day or so, and the end came too soon.

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Nov 10, 2014 Susannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, reading-the-classics

Starting again on May 24, 2017, with Chapter 11.

Setting this one aside for a while. Both the story and the narrator are just fine, and while I understand that North and South reflects the time in which it was written, I'm just not in the mood right now for the story of a woman who is at the mercy of the selfish imbeciles around her (namely, her parents). ...more

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