The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

CHAPTER XLV. THE DUST-HEAP DISTURBED.

CHAPTER XLVI. THE CRISIS DEFERRED.

CHAPTER XLVII. THE WIFE'S CONFESSION.

CHAPTER XLVIII. WHAT ELSE COULD I DO?

CHAPTER XLIX. PAST AND FUTURE.

CHAPTER L.

Right from the beginning view of the dust heap, I knew there was an answer to the question inside of it. Not sure why. Maybe because it seemed like Collins really called attention to the heap.

I've enjoyed a handful of Collins' works before this, and have to say that while this was an enjoyable read for me; it wasn't one of his better books in my opinion. I liked the others much more and felt they were stronger in writing.

I just finished, and all I can say is - what an odd book!

I did enjoy it, but as Deborah said, it definitely wasn't as good as his other books. I've only read The Woman in White and the Moonstone, but I think that there is a reason that they are his most famous.

I was obviously uncomfortable with the portrayal of Dexter's physical disabilities as well.

But I did like Valeria. At first, she irritated me, giving up everything for her husband. But as the novel moved on, I liked her spunk. She didn't listen to anyone: Eustace, her mother-in-law, Mr. Playmore, Benjamin. She just did her own thing.

And visiting Dexter on her own, and staying after his bizarre behavior...definitely not a passive delicate flower.

Deborah wrote: "Right from the beginning view of the dust heap, I knew there was an answer to the question inside of it. Not sure why. Maybe because it seemed like Collins really called attention to the heap.
..."

I thought the same when I read about the dust heap. The answer was in there, but obviously had no clue exactly what it was.

Only in Victorian fiction would someone write out their whole confession while in the process of dying! But there were several false suspects that seemed possible, it wasn't totally obvious. I did note the dust heap as well.

It was indeed a very bizarre read, but a useful one. So many of us have read Collins's iconic works, but this one was something new, even if it was not a top-notch read.

Robin, a lovely comment about the written confession. Ostensibly, this kind of death is quite painful, but not painful enough to diligently record all the trials and tribulations that led her to this crucial decision!

There was one thing that was perpetually confusing - the technical innovations in the 19th century, especially when the chemical analysis was involved.
The following paragraph is from my review.

On the personal note, I experienced certain technical and anachronistic issues with the book. Because the novel was written at the cusp of the industrial revolution, a reader comes across the technical reality of the Victorian life, namely trains, chemical analysis of a certain letter, wheelchairs, and telegraph. Victorian literature in terms of physical time covers several decades, and it takes a while to incorporate those changes into the image of the world, created by Victorian writers. Most of them lived through the period of drastic changes, and some of their novels do not allude to technical innovations while others, later novels, reflect the ever-changing life they witnessed and portrayed. So every time, the telegraph or any other technical innovation was casually mentioned, my mind went through a certain check, 'Aha! This one was already invented/ discovered/ implemented/ used!'. Oh, well, the pleasures of reading books that take place during the industrial revolution. I am sure our reading descendants will be significantly confused about our time with its turbulent, influential, and reality-shaping inventions.

Here is my review on the book.


Although I was really looking forward to reading a Wilkie Collins novel for the first time, I must say I was tremendously let down by this particular work. As a mystery it was sub par. As a Victorian novel, it was far beneath the level of quality that I have grown accustomed to expect, especially from the pen of a man who was admired by and worked with the Immortal Dickens.

My major beef with this work concerns its style and prose. Of the Victorians which I have read, Collins has the simplest prose. While this is not always a bad thing in itself, (Hemingway was much admired, and revered for his simple, to-the-point sentences), The Law and the Lady falls short of its contemporaries. There was too much redundancy in the descriptions of the narrator. "I saw, in the glass, my skin take a false fairness, my cheeks a false colour, my eyes a false brightness..." In another place she observes: "Unutterable misery was in his face; unutterable misery was in his voice." I must say "unutterable misery" was in my heart as I consistently found myself fumbling over such mumbling.

At first, I was hopeful that this was just an idiosyncrasy of the narrator, but other characters had similar limitations to their vocabularies and shared the same speech impediments. Such as the Major Fitz-David who fumbled and mumbled over his character observations of the ladies he encountered. "You are a person of prodigious tenacity of purpose. Madame Mirliflore is a person of prodigious tenacity of purpose." Collins finally found some more descriptive words for his characters to use, but then he overused them.

In leading up to the first major climax, the author over-dramatized, over-emphasized, and over-killed the build up to the unveiling of the mysterious husband's big secret. When it was finally ready to be revealed, the author could leave nothing to the reader's imagination, he had to repeatedly emphasize the importance of the Major's book-case. "And yet the Major had certainly stolen a look at the book-case. And again, the broken vase had once stood on the book-case." Instead of leaving the reader to deduce the importance of the book-case, he has to return to it, and use repetition in replace of subtlety to enhance the drama. "He had been watching me at the book-case! The man who was in my husband's confidence, the man who knew where the clew was to be found, had been watching me at the book-case!" There was no subtlety, everything was on the surface, leaving this novel lacking in the depths so aptly dug by other great novelists of the time.

I love mysteries. I have read dozens, and all of them by British Authors. But, this one I loathed. In my opinion, the author did a poor job of building suspense. Instead of a creative use of sub-plots, he stuck to the main problem from the beginning to end. He painted himself into a corner, and was left to resort to his favorite tool, the brush of repetition to make his feeble attempts to create tension prior to the revelation of important information. In other words, he was unable to divert the reader's attention long enough to create suspense, obviously a much needed part of a mystery novel, and instead he just kept repeating himself, "This is important! This is going to be huge! Wait, till you hear this!" Maybe not in so many words, but certainly the author's simplistic approach to igniting interest in a fact or discovery, left much to be desired by a mystery enthusiast.

I won't give away the ending, or too much of the plot, but I should say that Collins appeared more of a master in his account of the trial. I am given to understand, that like Mr. Dickens, he also spent some time working in a courtroom, and this played to his area of expertise. Miserrimus Dexter, villainous character, suffering not only from physical deformity, but also from mental madness, deserves an honourable mention. The goings on at his residence, the eccentricities of his and his servant's characters were amusing, and colored up this otherwise black and white and bleak work of fiction.

I wondered what would happen with Valeria's being jealous of Helena, and I didn't quite buy the explanation of how the jealousy was dissipated:

Chapter XLIX Past and Future: Mrs. Beauly had been a witness of the public degradation of my husband. That was enough in itself to prevent him from marrying her: He broke off with her for the same reason which had led him to separate himself from me. Existence with a woman who knew that he had been tried for his life as a murderer was an existence which he had not resolution enough to face. The two accounts agreed in every particular. At last my jealous curiosity was pacified...

If she were feeling insecure in the love anyway, that piece of knowledge might not be enough to conquer it.

The two characters in the story who seemed really inconsistent and confusing were the first Mrs. Macallam and Mrs. Beauly. Mrs. Macallam's inconsistency might be attributed to the fact that we only know her through the different points of view of the other characters in the novel, and she seems to run the gamut from witchy bitch to compassionate gentlewoman. Mrs. Beauly, however, eludes me completely. She writes this passionate letter to Eustace, and supposedly Eustace is heart broken over this unfulfilled love affair, yet she disappears from the story in kind of a shallow haze, and I guess Eustace's broken heart mends quickly enough to fall in love with Valeria in short order afterwards.

For me the weakest part of the novel was the last chapter, where the mystery is explained in narration and flashbacks (well, referrals to previous chapters). I suppose it could be considered a model of what later comes to be the standard method in detective novels, but it doesn't seem to fit well here... in fact, it just feels like there are so many loose threads in the story that Collins had to use this method to finally wrap everything up.

Janice George wrote: "The two characters in the story who seemed really inconsistent and confusing were the first Mrs. Macallam and Mrs. Beauly. Mrs. Macallam's inconsistency might be attributed to the fact that we onl..."

I agree...nicely said...

It's weird that even though she is such a central character that we never get to meet Mrs. Beauly, even after Collins spent so much time building up to it, we get her side of the story through Dexter, her maid, and her maid's new lady. I do think that whatever was supposed to have happened between Eustace and Mrs. Beauly after the trial should have been explained in more detail.

That's what's missing from this book - details. I never recall one scene that called one's attention to the trivialities of everyday life. Mrs. Woodville (McCallan, whatever) never woke up and had a cup of coffee or did anything that a normal person would do. There was hardly anything going on here other than the mystery, which made the book all the more unbelievable. You have to create a sense of realism and it takes these details in order to accomplish that, and I think The Law and the Lady fell short of doing that. I have been asked to reserve my judgment on Collins until I have read some of his other works, which I fully intend to do. So, for now, I must say I was disappointed, rated it at 1 star, and that this book was not good FOR ME. I primarily read mysteries and classics, and although this book fit both categories, it didn't do a whole lot for me. But, hopefully I will like Wilkie's other works, considering the fact that I just bought his Illustrated Collected Works on Kindle Fire.

Jonathan wrote: "But, hopefully I will like Wilkie's other works, considering the fact that I just bought his Illustrated Collected Works on Kindle Fire...."

I enjoyed The Woman in White especially for its atmospherics and characters. I haven't read The Moonstone yet, but I do still intend to do so since it has been sitting on my library shelf for years now.

My favorites so far are the Woman in White, The Moonstone, Armadale, and No Name.

I enjoyed this group read very much (although I was somewhat behind) and enjoyed the contrast to the much stronger The Woman in White. While I loved the character of Valeria, I was disappointed in Eustace (although I think even Collins acknowledges he is weak in how his mother speaks of him and in that comment-I forget by whom-that women need to make a hero of the man they love) and feel that regular married life and motherhood might be a letdown for Valeria after the excitement of exonerating her husband. If Collins were writing today, he could segue into a series of mystery novels starring Valeria! Thanks for all your interesting comments-they really enhanced my enjoyment of (and encouraged me to complete) this novel.

Finally finished...always playing catch up here. Definitely not in the same league as the Woman in White, this book did provide sufficient interest for me to complete it but it somehow became less and less interesting towards the end. Even though Valeria was in love with Eustace, somehow the reader cannot warm to him or trust him. Collins tries to build suspense, but sometimes it seems contrived ...I agree with previous comments about overuse of repetition. I enjoyed the book, but would only give it three stars. I hope it will not deter first time Collins readers from tackling The Woman in White....because that book had a lot more to offer the discerning reader.