The Turn of the Screw: A Book Review

[@alma4037]

I agree completely about the convoluted writing, after a certain point I just started skimming. I always thought the ghosts were real, only after reading reviews afterwards (trying to see if I was the only one that found it boring) did I think that the governess might be crazy.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Yeah it wasn't my favourite. If it had been a much longer book I may have been tempted to DNF it but it was short enough that it held my attention. Thanks so much for commenting.

[@wayward.philosopher]

This is one of my favorite books! As for the whether ghosts were real, i tend to take a "Schrödinger's 'Ghost'" view, they are simultaneously real and not real. Also I think the style of james' prose was a product of his time AND the fact that he was an American living in Britain. And one either likes that or not.

[@seanraines5871]

I loved it. Henry James is a genius at creating atmosphere. I was listening to an audiobook and I just could not hit stop. I was like and then what happened?

[@al5068]

I’ve heard of this book but I’ve never read it. I have however watched “The Others” with Nicole Kidman. The premise of this book reminds me so much of that movie.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Yes you're right! The Others was based on this book, with some major differences. I loved that movie. Great catch there by you.

[@seanraines5871]

​@@PaperbackJourneysI had not realized it was based on or inspired by the turn of the screw but it fits. I love both stories but the ending of the turn of the screw was a little confusing and I think it was done on purpose

[@Rosie-n8m]

I have just finished reading "The Turn of the Screw" and I loved it. I also loved the ending. I thought it a brilliant book. I think that the ghosts were not real and that the reader is treated to the workings of a mind that spiralls into madness. It is book I will remember, a book open to interpretation, a book that can be discussed endlessly, a book to read again and again, a book that makes you think and ponder over, a worthy classic.

[@DavideMazzetti]

This is one of my all-time favourites and repeated readings repay the effort. I've seen reviews on Amazon complaining that its too difficult, boring tedious and too complicated. For me, this is a symptom of being unable to concentrate and wanting instant gratification. Tales like this require work on the part of the reader and this is part of its pleasure.

[@skunke2290]

Great video as always and now I need to check this one out. With the themes you talked about, it reminded me quite a bit about The Yellow Wallpaper which is another gothic horror story. Highly recommend it even though it’s short. I’m already looking forward to see what you think about Dracula. It’s my favorite gothic horror book for sure and it has inspired my own writing quite a bit as well :)

[@PaperbackJourneys]

I don't think i've ever heard of The Yellow Wallpaper but for some reason that sounds so creepy. I'll have to check it out. Is it a classic or did it come out a little more recently?

[@skunke2290]

@@PaperbackJourneys if I’m not wrong, it’s from the 1800’s. It’s a whole lot of subtext in it and you can easily find it online. I read it on I think it’s official page. I hope that you’ll enjoy it when you find it :)

[@heraalltheway]

@@skunke2290 How does it remind you of "The Yellow Walpaper". I read both of the stories but I think they are so different.

[@rodgilley-writer]

Awesome video! You sent this book to my overpopulated goodreads TBR :) Well done!

[@PaperbackJourneys]

HAHA! That's the problem with a TBR list, they just keep growing. Thanks so much for the comment.

[@chuck8478]

Thank you for sharing your love of literature and for encouraging us to explore this spooky gem. 📖👻👏

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Hey Chuck! Thanks so much for commenting. I love talking about books. It's the reason I set up this channel but it's really gratifying to know that people are getting something out of it too. Thank you mate!

[@isalovestoread]

In the perfect world you would talk about all the books in the world (I would never get tired)

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Ooooh! How nice can you be!? That's a lovely comment. Thank you. I'll try and get around to talking about every book in the world for you.

[@Mark-nh2hs]

The Victorians were the masters of Traditional Ghost Stories esp around Christmas times.

[@mmmoynihan]

Fantastic video as per usual. Read the book in anticipation and to be honest I think you enjoyed this more than I did. In fact I’m sure you liked it more than I did because I kinda hated it. Now I’m going to qualify that by saying that I read Jane Eyre not long ago and I may have a touch of governess in a creepy house fatigue. I think there’s a fine line between ambiguity and just bad plotting. I think James is so preoccupied with atmosphere and description that he flat out doesn’t bother to properly describe the events that take place in the plot. He was perfectly happy to be definitive with the ghosts motivations despite no evidence in the text beyond “I just know” I think the character motivations are completely unbelievable and Miles wasn’t creepy. He was just a little sh*t. The one blessing of this book. It was short. I was ready to quit but then realised it was two thirds finished so I may as well carry on. Glad you enjoyed though. You’re more ‘glass half full’ than I am. In answer to the big question, yes I do think that the ghosts were real, purely based on the governess describing the face of Quint to Mrs Grose even though she wasn’t aware of him or the fact that he died. If James meant it to be ambiguous he did that badly as well. I’m looking forward to your Dracula review. I’ve read that book so many times over the years and I love it, but it is very, very flawed. It’ll be interesting to see how a first time reader reacts to it, will you just see the flaws or enjoy it for being more than the sum of its parts? On to your next book framed in diary entries.

[@pablovargas7078]

I liked it a lot !

[@shimtest]

the great thing about this book is that James said it's a perfect puzzle, so it proves impossible to say if the ghosts are real or not

[@cfdavisbell]

Great video! Thanks again!

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@rachaelwritess]

Michelle dockerty as a second cousin is such a flex tho

[@Jameslfgsmith]

Michael Flanagan made it a masterpiece chefs 💋

[@Theggman83]

The haunting of Bly Manor! I'm watching that show with my wife right now. I'm only a few episodes in, NO SPOILERS! 😂

[@PaperbackJourneys]

HAHA Oooh I tried not to give anything away in this one. I'm trying to think now if I touched on spoilers.... Is the show good?

[@Theggman83]

@@PaperbackJourneys no, you're fine. No spoilers. But I recognized the story and a few of the characters names so I looked on Google and sure enough the show was based on this book. The show is pretty good so far. I do think I liked "The Haunting of Hill House" better but they're both good. Thanks again for your content.

[@calebshoemaker]

First time I read the book, it bothered me. Second time I read the book, it unnerved me

[@violaheartstring8216]

What happened the third time?

[@calebshoemaker]

@@violaheartstring8216 it's ambiguous! 🤣

[@violaheartstring8216]

@@calebshoemaker 😂

[@heraalltheway]

Thanks

[@monkey39128]

I always get this confused with " The Taming of the Shrew". 😂 "Taming of the Shrew" "Turn of the screw" sounds sort of similar. 😂 Don't listen to subconscious. It was a fun fact. 😂

[@pad92011]

I was really hoping for a spoiler review of this novella. I would have very much liked to hear your opinion on that ending. As to whether the ghost were real, I'm leaning more to the ghost not being real.

[@calebshoemaker]

I’ve read it twice and I still feel that

[@thomasceneri867]

Hi there - 3 stars for The Turn of the Screw???? For shame!!! 😂 Mrs. Grose is the head housekeeper. No, I don’t think that the governess is seeing ghosts. I think it’s her neurosis and sexual repression. Check out Edmund Wilson’s essay on The Turn of the Screw. He opened up a whole world of seeing the novel from a psychological perspective.

[@danecobain]

One of my favourite classics!

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Yeah I can see why. It's very atmospheric. Apparently Emma Thompson reads the audiobook?

[@danecobain]

@@PaperbackJourneysOh awesome!

[@Jameslfgsmith]

@@PaperbackJourneysyes, I’m listening to it now with her narrating

[@lesliewalsh1999]

Thanks again for another great review. I find I agree with you again. The Turn of the Screw - okay, it's considered a bona fide classic, just as Henry James is considered a bona fide master, but as I mentioned in an earlier review, I just cannot tolerate his prose. Like you, it always strikes me a s a little self-indulgent, a little insecure, but worse, by the time I've slogged through to the end of just one (!) of James' endless, marathon sentences, I find it almost impossible to determine what the heck he was getting at in the first place. After a few such convoluted whoppers, you feel as though you're a dummy and this novel isn't for you. After a few PAGES of such fare, you feel more like hurling your copy at the wall w/ great force. And if you're a writer who forces a reader to decide whether THEY'RE stupid or YOUR BOOK is stupid … well, maybe not the best direction to take, as an author. It's as though James hid a superbly creepy story behind a wall of willfully impenetrable prose. IMO a writer's first task is to communicate something - even if what's being communicated is ambiguous, such as whether the ghosts are in the house or in the governess's mind. Yet to me, the writing seems designed more to obscure its own meaning rather than to convey it, which makes the question itself almost moot. I have no sense that the author knows or even cares about the answer, so why would I? Think about this same story had it been written by James' contemporary, Robert Louis Stevenson, for example. Still, it is a haunting, uncomfortable, wonderfully creepy story once you struggle through the wall of thorns the author built around it, and 10/10 on the title! LOL. GREAT title.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Willfully impenetrable prose is such a great and concise way of describing it. I wish I'd thought of a great term like that for the video lol. Thanks again for a great comment.

[@calebshoemaker]

His take on James’s prose was spot on. That feeling of him reading next to you waiting for you to highlight a sentence

[@wayward.philosopher]

"Marathon sentence" ...so what are your thoughts on Faulkner? Personally can't stand Faulkner, but he, too, is considered a master, and also has a proclivity for marathon sentences. Weirdly, though, I actually kind of like Henry James. I feel like the style of his prose is somewhat a product of his time. But then I'm not a scholar, and I also haven't read Turn of the Screw in quite a while.

[@katerinazavalnyk5617]

I like the story but it took me almost a week to finish it because the writing was so dense

[@tomcappado]

I just read the book and honestly… so disappointed with it. There’s no complexity to any characters, and we don’t know enough about the governess to make any judgements on if the ghosts are real or not. It feels like forced ‘madness’ with no explanation other than her being a ‘hysterical woman’. I got the impression it was trying to discuss child sexual abuse from the way quint spent time with miles, and how he may have gone on to do the same to others at his school - but it wasn’t developed due to ambiguity. I kept waiting for her to talk to the kids instead of having another chapter-long breakdown about how terrified she was. I really enjoyed the prose, but was so dumbfounded by how shallow the characters and plot ended up being. It felt like the worst possible version of this story, it was too surface level for me to care about anything.

[@MohamedAli-pu2dr]

a