Indian Readers discussion

The winner of the September BOTM poll is the 19th century classic:



Blurb:

The plot of Washington Square has the simplicity of old-fashioned melodrama: a plain-looking, good-hearted young woman, the only child of a rich widower, is pursued by a charming but unscrupulous man who seeks the wealth she will presumably inherit. On this premise, Henry James constructed one of his most memorable novels, a story in which love is answered with betrayal and loyalty leads inexorably to despair."
-- from the Introduction by Peter Conn

In Washington Square (1880), Henry James reminisces about the New York he had known thirty years before as he tells the story of Catherine Sloper and her fortune-seeking suitor Morris Townsend. This perceptively drawn human drama is James' most accessible work and an enduring literary triumph.



So, grab your copy and join in!

P. S. Being a classic, this book is available for free on Project Gutenberg and the Kindle book is also free on Amazon.

Hi all

I have started reading the book. I have read Turn of the Screw, but horror is not the genre for me. So I will not be able to participate next month and October we are going on vacation, there is no internet.

I have read 4 chapters of the book and I liked it. I think I will read more of Henry James next year.

Happy Reading 🌺

I'm going to start it on 5th. Smitha, have you started?

will be starting soon. Being the one who suggested I have to discuss it in a methodical manner .

Yes... Please let me know.

started the book. Beginning is like any other 19th century classic - slow and descriptive
got introduced to Dr. Sloper and his circumstances.

I'll tomorrow... 🤗

Good ...

At the begining of chapter 8.
(view spoiler)[.Catherine, the motherless girl , raised by her flighty widowed aunt and her doctor father who neglects her is the heroine here. And she is totally different from Austenian or Brontë heroines. She's quite insipid and importance is given to her swain and father. is it because it is a man who is the author ? I have to read further and see how it develops. (hide spoiler)]

completed 16 chapters .
Initially I disliked Dr. Sloper a bit , but now am slowly warming up to him and coming to understand his thought process.

Catherine is one of the most insipid heroines ever ... hope she keeps on to it and never does anything drastic .
Lavinia Penniman to me is the villain of the book, despite not attempting actively to be one.

Morris Townsend is one fellow who is slimy and hides it well. if I were Catherine , I guess I would have seen through him.
Or perhaps, at 20, one is easily fooled or brainwashed


am loving this book and eagerly awaiting future developments.


One reason I love classics is their slow pace and character development .

Yes, I've just completed chapter four and I already have started loving the narration and the characters. Classics never put me down. :p

more than half way through , am liking Catherine now.

Finished chapter eleven and I couldn't ask for more. What a writer. My first Henry James and I think I am going to stick to him. Already eying his 'The turn of the screw'. :p

Oh Catherine I wish I could give you advice about men ,let’s see where this goes

I finished the book a few days ago.
it was worth the read.
strongest point of the book was the character development.
And the author could portray the greyness and vagaries of the human soul with great astuteness.
None of the characters were fully bitter or saccharine .
they had good and bad to varying extents .

loved reading the book

This book reminds me alot of modern day arranged marriage vs love marriage debate. Dr Sloper on one end as a parental voice of reason, and Catherine on the other. These classics really are timeless for their themes and personalities.

This book reminds me of Govinda's movies [Bollywood, 90's kid favorite pass time]. Where always a poor boy falls in love with a rich girl and then has to bring around her father. And then the father tears out a cheque from his cheque-book and asks the lover to take whatever amount of money he wishes but leave her daughter. :p Where are these kind of fathers? I'm looking for them!

Hi friends

Finished this book two days ago rated it 3 stars.
This book could not impress me as James is compared with Woolf Forster and Lawrence. I will be reading his masterpiece A Portrait of a Lady next year.