Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Thursday, February 4, 2010

"The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins  (1860, 617 pages in Barnes and Noble Edition)

A Woman in White  seems to have really set the book blog world on fire recently.   It looks like it is  among the most blogged about 19th century books in 2009.   Everyone pretty much  really enjoyed reading it.   For the majority it is the first book of Wilkie Collins they have read and it seems his consensus master piece.   For a lot of readers it seems to be among their first Victorian novels.   This was my first Collins.

The narrative of The Woman in White is carried out by numerous individuals.   Each narrator stood out well.    The story kept my interest to the end.   In fact I found I liked the last 100 pages of the novel more than the rest.   I enjoyed the character of Count Fosco a lot.    Given the large number of posts on this work I am more or less just adding my voice to the chorus on this work.   There are a lot of good blog posts on this work.   I enjoyed this book a lot.    I liked hearing about secret societies and would have liked a bit more focus on that but maybe that is another book. 

Wilkie Collins was a very good friend of Charles Dickens.    The Woman in White was first published in serial fashion in a publication run by Dickens.   In fact, the younger brother of  Collins married the youngest daughter of Dickens.    It is said that Collins always felt his writings were not in the same category as those of Dickens.   I would have to say that he was right with the qualifier that the same could be said of nearly anyone!     I liked The Woman in White and I am glad I read it.   

I read this book book for these challenges

Mutual Reads (Victoria Novels)
Typically British Challenge
Chunkster Challenge (over 450 pages)
Wilkie Collins mini-challenge
Read Before I Die Challenge
New Authors Challenge (refers to new to the reader)

8 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I must be the only person who has not read this book yet. Your review really makes me want to read this book sooner rather than later. Great review.

Suko said...

I haven't read anything by Wilkie Collins yet, either. I'm glad you enjoyed this Victorian novel, Mel.

Mel u said...

Diane-I will be very interested to see your response to the work

Suko-I am reading Jane Eyre now-great work beyond praise

Astrid (Mrs.B) said...

So glad you liked this! The Woman in White and Jane Eyre are on my all-time favourites list. Wonderful books both of them!

Mel u said...

Mrs B-I am reading Jane Eyre right now and it is great beyond words to describe

Lenore Appelhans said...

I bought this for a friend of mine for her birthday after seeing all the blog recommendations, but I still haven't read it myself.

Peter S. said...

Hi, Mel! This book was one of my favorite reads last year. And it made me discover how great Collins is a writer. I'm reading Armadale, No Name, and The Dead Secret. They're very sensational reads.

Anonymous said...

The Woman in White is my next book to read. So it's a good sign to hear someone praising it.
You read a LOT of books in a month, I'm rather impressed. Have started following you also.