peeps’s Reviews > Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw > Status Update

i like seeing the governess kind of unravel, but i need to reread at a later point from the perspective that she isn’t telling the truth, but i think for a first read, there’s a much more entertaining/engaging side to the novel by believing that there is something supernatural at bly!

okay i’m back with it! i like feeling a bit spooked, and i definitely did in chapter 9! also really suspicious of the children, there’s just this uneasy and emotional feeling at bly, it’s well constructed but can be hard to follow

lost a bit of steam here because i was a tad confused about what was going on! i’m sort of establishing a bond between grose and the governess, but everything between them is so ambiguous that it’s hard to keep track!

it’s getting so spooky, but noticing themes has also been fab! the paragraphs about the guy in the window and that last line of chapter four are so chilling, it’s great! “I wondered why *she* should be scared.” henry james, you may have lost me with daisy miller, but god i am invested in this!

started turn of the screw! it’s super eerie, and after going over the plot a bit, everything feels so secretive! i read a bit of an article whilst studying frankenstein that included this book about the trope of the ‘legible countenance’ and i keep noticing it here! i’m ready for things to get supernatural though, right now it’s just mysterious (only 2 chapters in though!)

daisy miller… not really that good? idk, it didn’t feel like it had any worth to it, and henry james’ motives seem interesting within it, but they just don’t translate well at all! it’s a shame really, but i think the book is too entrenched in its time and it’s too short for any of the characters to feel full, like even daisy herself is somewhat two dimensional!

i’m 3 chapters in of the four and i still haven’t warmed to the novella! i do get the idea of daisy having different expectations on her as a woman, and how it’s scandalous for daisy to walk with winterbourne but not vice versa, but i do think it kinda gets lost in the novel, and because it isn’t made clear, i don’t pick up on it and don’t see her actions as scandalous, i suppose it is mentioned but

i’m perplexed really with Daisy Miller as a novella, i feel like it comments on society in a way that’s unbeknownst to me, which is a shame! i think daisy is very well written, but this feels like it’s from a universe i’m unaware of, and i’m about halfway through and i’m not getting much out of it, which is a shame really, because i feel like if i understood it more, i’d enjoy it more!

daisy miller:
am i supposed to be confused by her? idk she just seems like a free woman with a little demon for a brother (who i envision as the “do the roar” child from shrek 4). she just seems flirtatious and bubbly i suppose, interesting though! also, winterbourne as an observer is an interesting character choice that i hope fleshes out well in the narrative!

i don’t know how to feel about daisy miller at the moment 😭 i suppose she’s an enigma maybe? idk she just seems outspoken and enjoys dinners, what’s wrong with that!