What Maisie Knew and The Pupil

by Henry-James

'A very modern story about aimless lives and messy marriages' Paul TherouxCaught in the crossfire of her parents' acrimonious divorce, witness to their battles, intrigues and affairs, neglected and exploited, Maisie is a child who knows too much about the world of adults. James's portrait of a little girl who maintains her goodness and dignity in the face of the bitterness and profligacy of her warring parents is both thought-provoking and inspiring.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Novels, Historical, Victorian

343 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

Reviews

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of this book. The language is complex but in a way that I found quite interesting and comprehensible. I like the character of Maisie, obviously she is very sympathetic, though it's hard to understand how she became so intelligent and loving with such selfish adults as role models. But I thought it would go somewhere and eventually I found the repetitiveness of the scenes tedious. Every chapter of the book is a dialogue between Maisie and one or more adults. There was no great detail on any emotion Maisie was feeling which was what I was expecting from the book. Or even any action such as what she did from day to day which might have given clues to how she was feeling. Eventually I skipped through the last few chapters to see what happened, and a sad and weak ending I thought it was. I think this story had a lot of potential and the modern film adaption, though not perfect by any means (it could have been a much cleverer and more complex film I think given the original material) at least had enormous emotion and portrayed Maisie exactly as I wanted her to be.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 4 out of 5]

That four parents and two houses weren't enough to shelter little Maisie's innocence is heartbreaking. Fascinating look at tabloid-grade divorce and its effect on an 11-yr old child at the turn of the century in 1907 London. So unfair that both parents were equally horrendous but its the mom that gets skewered. Exquisite foreshadowing and pacing, I loved rooting for Team Wix.

Somehow I didn't realize that The Pupil was a stand-alone short story, so the whole time I was reading it I was looking for some connection between those characters and those from Maisie's story, der. I so love James's early work, and so hated The Ambassadors!

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book really interesting. At times it can be a bit heavy going and the style James uses is difficult in places but it is worth persevering with it. The book opens with the settlement of divorce and then proceeds to follow the complex situation Maisie finds herself in, caught between the two warring parents. The first few chapters should be read by anyone going through a divorce and thinking it is acceptable to use their child to attack the other parent! It is both shocking and heartbreaking to see how Maisie is exploited by those around her for their own gains. By using Maisie as our insight into the world around her, James is able to portray the innocence and confusion the child faces when confronted with adult issues and agendas. At times Maisie fails to understand or misinterprets the actions around her and this affects our knowledge of the situation as we rely largely on Maisie for our information. It is a challenging book but is thought-provoking and an interesting read, particularly in that it is so different from anything else I've read. This edition had the added bonus of the short story of 'The Pupil' which was equally a good read, with James again placing a child at the forefront of the story.

[Vickii · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Maisie Knew is a startling story about a child that was never allowed to be innocent. The setting is England in the 1890s. The novel opens with the nasty divorce of six-year-old Maisie's parents. By agreement, Maisie will spend six month alternating between the custody of her father and mother. Quite early it is obvious that neither parent loves the daughter, but values her only as a weapon to use against the other. Each parent remarries, and Maisie immediately develops a closer relationship with her two step-parents than with her natural parents, eventually bringing the two of them together.

It's a difficult book but genius in construction. It's written in third person, yet purely from the POV of Maisie, who thinks she knows a lot but doesn't because she's a child, surrounded by manipulative and selfish adults who think they are worldly and cunning and know nothing of themselves or other people. It's about knowledge, lack of, gaining of, and it takes a while to get to the point where we can understand the novel. Brilliant but understandably not absorbing. (3.5 stars)

[Artie LeBlanc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up at Chapter 23. I really wanted to get to grips with Henry James, having failed with two of is other works in the past: but his style really does not work for me.
In the first chapter, I felt sympathy for Maisie: but this didn't last - she just doesn't feel like a real child. Also, even allowing for the passage of time, and the change of custom, I really cannot believe that people spoke as James would have us believe. I am sorry, but I'm done with James.

I should add that I have not attempted to read "The Pupil".

[Pip Tlaskal]

My parents bought me this book for Xmas and I love James- Portrait of a Lady is up there in my top Ten novels. This is very different; cool, collected and unlovable. I did not connect to any of the characters and just felt sorry for the poor girl, a victim of two shallow, narrow parents.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

James's prose is very heavy handed but really quite frank and amusing. This was an excellent book. It made me cringe, but he really managed to capture what some parents put children through during and after a divorce. Quite shocking but very real.

[Jelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the full circle of Maise's story starting with the custody case of her parents and ending with a lively custody debate with her step parents. The step parents stepping in and loving Maise as their own was well done though their romance was rather surprising and ackward. Still the stories does get points for it's portrayal of what it's like to be a child of divorce and the social coding that takes place living in a household where one parent hates the other. I was however struck by the lack of narrative timeline and pacing as it seems to drag and rush in uneven intervals. The six month arrangement blurs and expands and I'm left wondering how long did the second last anyway. That being said Maise truly embraces a childish notion of object or should I say parental permenance in that she falls in love with the parental figure in front of her cycling from Ida, Mr farange, Mrs. Beale, Sir Claude by turns. The people in her heart are constantly displaced much like her living arrangements in the novel.

In regards to The Pupil, I like how it serves as a foil to Maise where Morgan and Pemberton directly contrast the dynamic of Maise and Mrs. Wix in which devotion for one's pupil is the underlying force that propels them to action. The twist of Morgan's sudden death was rather poor and I do wish James had fleshed the Moreens out more, particularly what it means to he a man of the world. That being said the stories taken together get a 7.5 over 10

[Dillwynia Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr James, Mr James!

Again, a strong story & well told, but there were moments - well pages - when I floated down a river of molasses & didn't feel you were adding to my enjoyment. It is very cleverly done in that the reader learns snatches of what Maisie's parents are doing, through her eyes. And her parents are particularly nasty people. And then you discover, for different reasons, why her new adults are almost unsuitable in an Edwardian world. I was a dunce, in one aspect - why where the two loving people unsuitable for Miss Maisie & why Mrs Wix was strident about moral code. Then it hit me! - they weren't married. Oh, how morality has shifted since 1893/1907 (original story & the revised edition).

And how different children were treated. I am reminded of Charlie Brown & how all the adults are represented as muted trumpets: they are speaking, but the children don't understand; just as Maisie behaves with all her naivity. Like a puppy, anyone who is pleasant to her & engages her, she instantly loves.

Women are treated poorly in this story, because James obviously felt that a woman who chased after her own desires & not become subservient to their child's is a monster. Also, they had strictures that they must submit too & during this period, women were developing a voice.

The Pupil, however, is another class altogether. Here we have a much tighter story about a young tutor working for a family of "cads" and he falling in love with his brilliant, but slightly sickly student. This family want to be accepted into polite society, but they haven't the means & so do regular bunks to cheaper cities. Mrs Moreen is wonderful! Her attitude to weasel out of paying the tutor's wages is a delight & golden James. The last page ending is poor, but the 1st time I have encountered one as this written by James. There are homosexual overtones, but James would never have seen it, had you shown them to him, but they are there in black & white. It does couple "What Maisie Knew" nicely.

[Catsalive · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Maisie a bit tough going but I bet things are no different now. I particularly enjoyed The Pupil.

What Maisie Knew
Caught in the crossfire of her parents' acrimonious divorce, witness to their battles, intrigues and affairs, neglected and exploited, Maisie is a child who knows too much about the world of adults. James' portrait of a little girl who maintains her goodness and dignity in the face of the bitterness and profligacy of her warring parents is both thought-provoking and inspiring.

The Pupil
The Pupil is a short story by Henry James, first published in Longman's Magazine in 1891. It is the emotional story of a precocious young boy growing up in a mendacious and dishonorable family. He befriends his tutor, who is the only adult in his life that he can trust. James presents their relationship with sympathy and insight, and the story reaches what some would consider the status of classical tragedy. (From Wikipedia)

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of my Great Books book club. Many members were frustrated with James' convoluted language. I, on the other had, find convoluted language, when still clear and precise, absolutely delicious! This is a wonderful examination of child abuse and neglect, and parents' inability to see beyond their own selfish needs, from another century. Twas ever thus.