From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Portrait of a Lady

Henry James

Start date: June 1, 2009

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: Whitaker

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What Members Thought

Jul 11, 2007 Yulia rated it really liked it

What I love about this edition is that the James expert in the introduction cites all the flaws that were so glaring to me in the beginning of the book: Ralph and his father's constantly applauding Lord Warburton for his fine conversation, the father telling Lord Warburton not to fall in love with his niece (I didn't see that coming!), one of them mentioning how amusing the other is (hahaha). It was just intolerable how heavy-handed the dialogue was. Nor did I find it cute how much of a caricatu ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Aug 09, 2009 David marked it as own-but-not-yet-read

It strikes me that one's experience of reading "Portrait of a Lady", which in my edition clocks in at 630 pages, is likely to be colored by one's previous experience with James, and the resulting predisposition. Since my unlikely conversion upon reading "The Ambassadors", I am quite favorably predisposed. Thus, when instead of telling us that "the three people enjoying tea on the lawn were all men", Henry instead delivers himself of this sentence:

"The persons concerned in it (the tea party) were ...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-long-ago

I first read this in 1998, when my family was on vacation in the Olympic National Forest and my sister was at nursing camp. We were in this cabin called Gus & Pete's that ended up having a malfunctioning water heater, but we didn't move until the next day, and I finished this book in the upstairs of the cabin. (All to say, a book can really connect you to a place).

At the time, I was just about to be a junior in college, and I remember resonating very much with Isabel. I re-read this five years a ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

May 23, 2007 Kecia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: england, 1001-books, classics

It was a bit slow for me. I really liked the character of Isabel Archer. On the shelf to read again someday.

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Aug 14, 2007 J.D. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

There is a reason some books will last through the centuries as classics and thousands of others will float off into the land of anonymity. There is really not too much to this story, yet I was captivated the whole way through. There is so much happening underneath the actual events that if you do not allow yourself to be fully engaged you will miss and not be as struck by the ending.

There is such a shift in your interpretation of characters as the book goes on and you do not fully realize until ...more

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Jan 23, 2008 lisa_emily rated it really liked it

Shelves: fictions, 1001-books

I spent a whole Sunday, in bed, reading half of this book. It clocks in about 600+ pages, but the last 100pages really draw you in and make it near impossible for you to even get up to eat a meal. It is a surprise to me to like a book which was written 125 years ago, yet does not seem so far away.

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