Review: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Title: The Turn of the Screw
Author: Henry James
Genre: Classics / Gothic
First published: 1898

Rating: 9 out of 10

I chose this chilling short story by Henry James as the 2nd of my three annual Halloween Reads for 2012.

It is the story of a young governess who is hired to take care of two orphaned children, Miles and Flora, at a large manor house in the Essex countryside. The children have been handed over to their estranged uncle, who wants little to do with them or any contact with them. The governess whom he hires is more than happy to adopt the two innocent youngsters as her own, and grows to love them dearly. However, she begins to see strange things happening about the house where she now lives, and continually sees a mysterious man and woman lingering about the estate. Both the man and woman have a horrifying, terrible expression and atmosphere to them, and when she describes them to her friend Mrs. Grose, the woman recognizes them instantly. They were lovers who once lived at the house, and they both died a few years ago, though no one knows how. The governess becomes convinced that the ghost couple is after little Flora and Miles, though she can't understand why. The children insist that they do not to see the ghosts, but the governess is convinced that they are lying due to how frightened they appear whenever she questions they about it. The harder that the governess tries to protect her charges, the farther distanced from her they become.

I very much enjoyed this brief, chilly tale, and I loved the antiquated way that it was written, which really gave it a cold, "ghost story" air that more modern writing simply cannot capture.

In the beginning of the story, it didn't occur to me that the governess' ghosts may not be real, but by the middle of the book, I was convinced that they were simply figments of her imagination. However, at the very end, I didn't know what to think.
I love stories that end just when the plot isn't quite closed out yet, leaving the reader to wonder - what happened?
This story was certainly one of those, and I still can't decide if the heroine was crazy, or if the "horrors," as she called them, were really there. Perhaps they were, only they were real flesh and blood people who she wanted to think of as ghosts.

Miles and Flora play their part well as the innocent, helpless little children who are very in need of protection as they drift obliviously toward horrific danger.
Nowadays, every horror movie seems to cast an obligatory child, but when Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw, such themes weren't yet common.
I especially loved Miles, who is a more filled out character than his younger sister Flora. He is a charming boy, who wants very badly to be "bad," in spite of how good he is. He even stages an event where he goes outdoors at night, and schemes at how to get the governess to witness his little crime, in an attempt to show her how "bad" he is.
However, Miles is also very wise. Even though he never exactly tells his governess anything - he is always frustratingly vague - his little hints at deep, perceptive topics make him even more interesting.

The unnamed main character was a bit annoying, and I felt that she was at times contradictory. She is normally terrified of the ghosts she is seeing (which is understandable), while at other times she speaks of them lightly and does things that make it seem as if she doesn't fear them at all.
Her fierce protection of Miles and Flora was touching, and I couldn't help but wonder what made her care for them so much and so quickly, as if they really are her own family. Was she abandoned as a child? Did she always want children, but never married?

Speaking of speculation - there is much of it to be done within James' short story. There is, of course, the matter of the alleged ghosts. Are they imaginary? Real people mistaken as spirits? Or are they ghosts, after all? I think that everyone will ask these questions, but there are so many more to wondered about, if you look deeper.

For instance, it seems apparent by the end that Miles and Flora are extremely afraid of (or even hateful toward) the governess herself. The governess seems to think that this is because the ghosts are controlling the children's minds, while Mrs. Grose hints that it is because the children have been influenced by an evil presence. But what if the evil presence is actually the governess, and she simply doesn't know it? Perhaps this is a bit too M. Night Shyalman, but could the governess have been a ghost herself?
All of Miles' vague speeches, in which he is always saying things to the governess such as "you know what I mean..." could also be hints of this. Maybe she doesn't know what he means, and they are both talking about completely different things.
In the middle of the story, I even thought that Miles had a schoolboy crush on his guardian, which was what he kept referring to, even though the governess assumed he was speaking about ghosts. If you read their conversation with this possibility in mind, it would actually fit quite well, though toward the end I had mostly dismissed this idea.

All in all, I believe that I will keep wondering about The Turn of the Screw for a long while, and being so short, I know I will re-read it again in hopes of unlocking further clues that may help me solve the mysteries I found there.

This was a great Halloween read, though I would highly recommend it for anytime of the year.

Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Title: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Author: Washington Irving
Genre: Classics
Publisher: Wildside Press
First published: 1820
Pages: 71

Rating: 5 out of 10

This was my 3rd Halloween Read of 2012.

When pondering what three books to choose for Halloween this year and browsing through some online suggestions, I was almost surprised to realize that I hadn't read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow yet. I saw an animated film adaption as a child, and I know the story, but I hadn't read the actual book.
After requesting it at the library, I was surprised to find how tiny it was. It is actually a short story, and the edition I read just managed to be 71 pages, with the help of large font.

It is the story of a well liked schoolteacher named Ichabod Crane, in a small 1700's New York town. The town is rumored to be haunted, and despite his scholarly outlook on life, Ichabod himself can feel an unnerving presence in Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod falls in love with a beautiful rich girl named Miss Katrina von Tussell, who seems to return his affections. It is all too good to be true, but Ichabod's luck takes an unfortunate turn when he is riding home one night...

Though I am glad that I finally read this well known little short story, I can't say that I was overly impressed.
The book is just too short for the reader to ever get very invested, and the headless horseman (the part that everyone remembers) is only featured on a page or two.
The rest of the plot, which is meant to build up toward the scene of Ichabod fleeing from the horseman in the woods, does not have very much to do with the ending.
I felt that the book was pretty pointless, all in all. There were three plot elements: a) Schoolteacher and pretty rich girl fall in love. b) Jealous fighting man decides to make an enemy of schoolteacher. c) Schoolteacher meets a ghost in the woods at night and is never seen again.
If I hadn't already known the story going into this book, I would have been thinking at the last point: "wait - what?!"
Really, it has nothing to do with the plot before that.

The descriptions of the town were pretty at times, despite Irving's apparent aversion for periods (some sentences lasted an entire page - the first sentence in the book certainly did).

Review: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Title: Mistress of the Art of Death
Author: Ariana Franklin
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2008
Pages: 420

Rating: 7 out of 10

I chose this book as one of my three Halloween Reads of 2012, which was a wonderful excuse to read it, since I have been hearing good things about it for quite some time.

Mistress of the Art of Death is the first in a mystery series of the same name about the equivalent of a forensic pathologist in 1170 England. Adelia examines the dead, who metaphorically "speak to her" as she tries to ascertain how they died. Her talents are called upon when children start disappearing in Cambridge, only to reappear - dead. The Jews are being largely blamed, and chaos threatens to strike as the townsfolk begin to riot against them. Adelia, upon reaching Cambridge, immediately begins her investigation, but finds herself growing more horrified the closer she gets to solving the mystery and finding the killer.

I loved every bit of this book, and I am greatly anticipating the others in the series.

I was very worried, after reading the inside cover, that Adelia would be cast as the typical, and grossly historically inaccurate, modern feminist heroine. After all, I have never come across forensics in historical fiction, much less in the middle ages. That alone would have been a unique aspect to this book, but we also have a woman doctor practicing this rare form of medicine. In other words, unheard of.
However, Franklin's heroine is refreshingly realistic. She is more akin to a stubborn, grumpy old man than a hands-on-hips, sword-waving girl.
I was very relieved, and even more pleased to find that I loved Adelia. She is solemn and speaks factually and to-the-point, which most men find unsettling. She tends to approach things from a medical standpoint, so when she is faced with the prospect of romance, she can't seem to get her head around the fact that the human body can be looked upon in ways other than for healing - which I found to be funny. Adelia is a very world-weary, knowledgeable woman, and I found it charming that she is also so innocent about things that most women would have experienced by her age.

The other supporting characters are equally well written. I loved Adelia's companions, Simon and Mansur. Adelia's love interest, Rowley Picot, was also a character I loved. He is a great example of a hero that female readers just might fall in love with. I loved the first paragraph when the reader learns that he is attracted to Adelia, even though she isn't his "type."

I know that the comparisons to Law & Order: SVU will be common, due to the medical examiner plot, but I can't resist acknowledging it here. I expected that I would picture Adelia as Olivia, but I didn't. They are very different characters. However, I couldn't help but picture Simon as Elliot Stabler (the relationship between Simon and Adelia is very similar to Elliot and Olivia's) and Mansur as Finn.

The overall feeling of this book was eerie, chilly, and foreboding, making it a perfect pick for Halloween. While I wouldn't exactly call it Gothic, there were definitely quite a few scenes that would qualify.
The mystery itself was a gruesome one, and Franklin isn't in the least bit afraid to include horrible details and plot elements to her story, with quite a bit of mature content. There are some heavy themes here, to be sure, and this is no light read.
The conclusion of the mystery was satisfying, even though I did wish that there had been more of a surprising twist. I didn't guess who the murderer was (and unless it's by chance, you probably won't either, since it isn't written that way), but I did guess that Ulf (a young boy who Adelia befriends) would be come involved. That was pretty obvious from the very first time Adelia speaks to the boy.

Amidst the terrible details of the children's torture and deaths, and the dark atmosphere to this book, there were also some dashes of clever humor in the story. I like when an author includes a few light scenes in a story, without trying too hard to be comical. Franklin does this pitch perfectly.

I loved this book, and will be reading more of both this series and of Ariana Franklin. Recommended!