Notes by
rainweaver
The Woman in White
By Wilkie Collins
Edited by Matthew Sweet
I've circled this book for easily 50 years, finding recommendations, adding it to "to read" lists, and just never getting around to it. I had no idea what I was missing.
Yes, it's written in the Victorian era, so it's long on description and moves slowly compared to more modern novels. But the story itself is fantastic and rewards the patience required to read it.
It's a story that couldn't happen today, since much of the plot involves mistaken identity and threats to women that (thank goodness and fingers crossed) are no longer present. But in "The Woman in White," those threats are very real; living in a society in which a woman could be put in an asylum by any man in her life (father, husband, brother...) for just about any reason whatsoever.
The plot unfolds from multiple viewpoints in this epistolary telling, and includes some of the earliest fictional depictions of detective work (albeit unofficial). It also features a remarkable female character, Marian Halcombe, whose intelligence and drive manages to keep the plot moving. Not to be dismissed is the fact that parts of the story are just plain funny.
"The Woman in White" was considered to be a 'sensation novel' at the time of its publication. In my opinion, it's still pretty sensational today.
Don't wait 50 years before reading it.
Yes, it's written in the Victorian era, so it's long on description and moves slowly compared to more modern novels. But the story itself is fantastic and rewards the patience required to read it.
It's a story that couldn't happen today, since much of the plot involves mistaken identity and threats to women that (thank goodness and fingers crossed) are no longer present. But in "The Woman in White," those threats are very real; living in a society in which a woman could be put in an asylum by any man in her life (father, husband, brother...) for just about any reason whatsoever.
The plot unfolds from multiple viewpoints in this epistolary telling, and includes some of the earliest fictional depictions of detective work (albeit unofficial). It also features a remarkable female character, Marian Halcombe, whose intelligence and drive manages to keep the plot moving. Not to be dismissed is the fact that parts of the story are just plain funny.
"The Woman in White" was considered to be a 'sensation novel' at the time of its publication. In my opinion, it's still pretty sensational today.
Don't wait 50 years before reading it.
720 pages
Published Apr 28, 2003 by Penguin Classics
Fiction - Classics
Fiction - Thrillers - Psychological
Fiction - Romance - Historical - Victorian
Fiction - Horror - General