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    Washington Square
    Washington Square
    Washington Square
    Audiobook7 hours

    Washington Square

    Written by Henry James

    Narrated by Lorna Raver Raver

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Washington Square is the story of Catherine Sloper, a young heiress who is wooed by Morris Townsend, a handsome gentleman who is more interested in Catherine's inheritance than he is in her. When the two get engaged against the wishes of her stubborn father, Catherine must make a choice between the only man she will ever love and the wealth that she will inherit.

    Named for the upscale area of New York in which the novel is set, Washington Square is a classic examination of social class in mid-nineteenth-century New York.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 8, 2008
    ISBN9781400180141
    Author

    Henry James

    Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.

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    Reviews for Washington Square

    3.5/5

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    • 3/5
      Rich people live in Washington Square.This story is about one rich woman and poor man.After I read this story, I felt sad.But,I wonder if Moriss actually loves Catherine.I think that rich people is not always happy.
    • 4/5
       A psychologically acute construction of three interesting characters. Very short chapters with a lot of dialogue exchange, vocal as well as internal. Hardly any prose or description, the characters unfolded and grew as I turned the pages. Very nice.
    • 4/5
      After muttering, grumbling and hating on Henry James for upwards of 40 years (ever since I struggled and failed to read The Ambassadors for an American Lit course in college), I have finally read and enjoyed one of his novels. In truth, I enjoyed it quite a lot. This is the story of unattractive, un-brilliant, motherless Catherine Sloper, who has no prospects of marriage until she somehow attracts the attention of young Mr. Morris Townsend, of the "other" Townsends. His prospects are no better than hers, for although he is delightful to look at, and a charming dinner companion, he has no money, no career and no family connections of the better kind. Catherine's father, a prominent New York physician, will have no part of Catherine's determination to marry Mr. Townsend; she has her own income from her dead mother and Father cannot change that, but he can and emphatically will remove her from his Will and the assured thirty thousand a year she might expect after his death, unless she gives up Mr. Townsend. The exploration of human emotions, motivations, and relationships in this novel are subtle but superb. The movie, "The Heiress" with Olivia deHaviland and Montgomery Clift was based on this novel. The outcome is fundamentally the same, but rather more dramatic in the movie.Review written in September 2011
    • 4/5
      Henry James has a talent of getting to the essence of not only typical personages, but quite surprising and unexpected characters. Page by page he slowly unfolds their true nature. His narrative runs with such fluidity and is worded so exquisitely that upon reading it you get this quiet kind of satisfaction, of gaining something very beautiful and worth knowing. That's what I felt. At first the plot might not seem anything out of the ordinary - an idle dashing young man calculating a marriage to a wealthy, yet not apparently popular young woman. But it's much more than that, as we discover...
    • 4/5
      This is a surprisingly ambiguous story with a deceptively simple plot. Set in New York in the early 1900s, the story tells the tale of Catherine Sloper, the rather plain, rather dull daughter of a wealthy, domineering father who becomes the target of a charming gold-digger of a suitor. Will she marry him over the objections of her father? See how simple that is? But this is Henry James, after all, so the plot extends – like the proverbial iceberg - several layers below the surface.Catherine isn’t a terribly sympathetic heroine – her dullness, her lack of intelligence, and her refusal to stick up for herself will almost certainly grate with self-actualized women of the 20th century. However, she’s much more sympathetic than the uniformly unpleasant cast of characters with whom she interacts in this tale, all of whom see her as little more than a tool to be manipulated for their own purposes. Her aunt uses her as the means by which to fulfill her own melodramatic fantasies of secret trysts and the tragedy of doomed love. Her lover sees her as the path to ready fortune and a life of indolence and ease. Even her own father demonstrates heartbreakingly few signs of genuine affection, viewing his daughter alternatively as an interesting scientific experiment (“how will she react if I apply *this* stressor?”) and as a ready affirmation of his own cleverness. The fundamental principle of sarcasm is making the wielder feel superior by belittling another, and in this tale Dr. Sloper wields sarcasm with the same brutal precision he brings to his surgeries.This is no pat morality tale, however, in which the wicked are punished and virtue is rewarded. Nor is it a thematically simplistic novel, characterized by a resolution in which the main characters change or grow in wisdom. The world isn’t as simple as that, and James does us the favor of positing that we know this as well as he does – and that, therefore, we can cope with an ending that is both morally and thematically ambiguous. The novel raises many provoking questions, some of which include: to what extent is a parent justified in preventing their children from making their own mistakes? At what point does principled defiance become merely obstinacy … or, worse, cruelty? To what extent do we (knowingly and unknowingly) justify meddling in the affairs of others to achieve our own ends? Can harm and humiliation caused by the betrayal of others be mitigated by a steadfast refusal never to betray oneself? And is this steadfast determination never to betray one’s own principles an acceptable substitute for living a life devoid of happiness? In other words, despite the relative simplicity of plot, this definitely isn’t the kind of book you take with you to the beach. However, the novel’s moral complexity makes it a worthy read and probably great fodder for book club discussions.
    • 3/5
      I liked this story of a young woman, Catherine, in the 1800's who lives with her father, a wealthy aristocratic doctor, and her widowed aunt. Her father has never quite forgiven his daughter for her mother's death, for being plain, and for just not living up to his expectations. You do learn quickly that living up to his expectations would be impossible anyway. Along comes a handsome, poor, and over-eager suitor who sweeps Catherine off her feet and then add the meddling, ridiculous aunt, who's trying to relive her life through her neice's romance. In this story you will experience innocence, naivete, foolishness, jealousy, passion, sadness, spite, stubborness, and pride.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book, but I did not like any of the characters. It holds up well as a snapshot of another time, a different society. Prefer Jane Austim et al.
    • 3/5
      I decided to listen to this book after listening to The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields which is about Edith Wharton. Edith Wharton and Henry James were good friends and I became curious about this writer. Apparently this book is often compared to Jane Austen's work but I'm not a big fan of Jane Austen and it is therefor no surprise that I didn't particularly like this book.In a nutshell this is the story of a plain but rich girl (Catherine Sloper) who falls in love with a handsome but poor man (Morris Townsend). Catherine's father suspects Townsend's motives and refuses permission for them to marry. He takes Catherine on an extensive tour of Europe hoping that she will give up on Townsend or vice versa. When that doesn't work he makes it plain that Catherine will inherit none of his wealth. Townsend calls off the engagement because he doesn't want to deprive Catherine of her inheritance or so he says. It's pretty clear that Townsend was only interested in Catherine for her money and when he realized that he wouldn't get it he dumps her.Maybe this was a new storyline when it was written but it certainly isn't now. I found it hard to care about Catherine even though I felt I should. She just seemed so insipid. At any rate I was not impressed and I won't be running out to find other books by Henry James.
    • 5/5
      Published in 1880, Washington Square looks back to an earlier period of New York City’s history, when upper-crust society lived at or adjacent to Washington Square, before society eventually migrated uptown. Set in the first half of the nineteenth century and based on a story that was once told to Henry James, this novel tells the story of Catherine Sloper the daughter of a respected physician and the heiress to a fortune of $10,000. One evening she meets Morris Townsend, a young man of whom Dr. Sloper is immediately suspicious, for wanting to marry Catherine for her money. Although Dr. Sloper forbids his daughter to marry or even see Mr. Townsend, as the risk of her losing her fortune, she does so anyways, with the help of her aunt, Mrs. Penniman.Washington Square in the early nineteenth century wasn’t so much a location as it was an address, a way of life. The heyday of Washington Square was in the 1840s, although many people were starting to move further uptown. Henry James’s perspective is from the later part of that century, when New York’s high society had already moved northwards in Manhattan, so this novel highlights the differences that 50 years or so have wrought. There are often comparisons between the way things are now (in the 1880s) and the way things were before the advent of the Civil War. The house in Washington Square represents a comfortable, consistent way of life valued by nearly everyone in the novel but Catherine, who seeks a way out through marriage.Washington Square is based upon a story that was told to Henry James by the actress Fanny Kemble. James is rather cruel to Catherine; she is described as a plain, unintelligent girl. We are never given a clear picture of her thought process. We get much more from the tyrannical Dr. Sloper, a man who can deliver “a terribly incisive look—a look so like a surgeon’s lancet.” He is never afraid to say exactly what he thinks, which makes him an easier character to understand and empathize with. Henry James doesn’t describe his characters or their actions in simple adjectives; rather, he uses similes and analogies to describe how his characters think and feel.Morris Townsend is harder to understand; seen though the eyes of Catherine, our idea of him is hardly objective. We don’t get any kind of inner monologue from him at first, so it’s hard to judge him exactly. But the more the book goes on and the more we are allowed to view his thoughts, the more we start to see Townsend from Dr. Sloper’s point of view. It’s very interesting to see how Henry James reveals nuances of character the way he does. In all, all of the characters are portrayed very well.
    • 4/5
      Is it better to be clever or good is the question that lies at the heart of this short novel. The question is raised about the dull but dutiful daughter, Catherine, by her father, Dr. Austin Sloper. Dr. Sloper has had two major losses in his life with the deaths of a son and his beloved wife which may have contributed to his barely disguised disdain for his infant daughter. Catherine?s physical needs are met by her father with the help of meddlesome Aunt Lavinia, but Catherine is a very sheltered young lady with little self-esteem when the charming and handsome Morris Townsend joins the cast of characters and the struggle to dominate Catherine begins.Washington Square is a short book and one of the most accessible written by Henry James. It is worth the few hours of time it takes to eavesdrop on society in New York City before the time of the Civil War. Life was slower back then and women largely depended on men to live a fulfilled life. It is gratifying to see how Catherine, despite being thought common by her father, used her common sense and growing independence to control her own destiny.
    • 4/5
      A father and his daughter debate a young man's intentions in a story conveying messages about the admixture of pride and love. As the father of a very young daughter I've received its precaution not to invest too much in a singular vision of the future woman my daughter will grow up to be. The author does an admirable job with the daughter's character arc, very convincingly moving her through the stages. I couldn't decide which way I wanted the ending to go, and still have mixed feelings about how it wound up - as I think I'm supposed to.I was surprised by how present the narrator is in this work, which I thought was antithetical for Mr. James. A quick search confirms this novel was from his early period before he became so entrenched, also explaining the easy reading. This short work is a good place for anyone to start who wants to sample James as an author without getting too bogged down.
    • 4/5
      HJ himself didn't much care for this but lots of his readers (including me) emphatically disagree. This was also made into a terrific movie with Olivia DeHavilland as Catherine Sloper and Ralph Richardson and Montgomery Clift as the bad guys. (The Heiress, 1949)
    • 3/5
      (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classic" books for the first time, then file reports on whether or not I think they deserve the labelBook #10: Washington Square, by Henry James (1880)The story in a nutshell:Agreed by most to definitely be one of his minor works, Washington Square is in reality not much more than a novella, written between major novels in the late Victorian Age as James often did throughout his career. And there's not much of a plot either, to tell you the truth; it's primarily the story of Catherine Sloper, a pleasant but rather dim-witted and plain-looking young woman living in the ritzy old-money New York neighborhood of Washington Square, along with her father who she shares a large house with, Austin Sloper, a typical middle-aged business-focused white guy who sorta laughingly condescends to all the people around him who aren't middle-aged business-focused white guys. In fact, this is the crux of the problem between the two of them, the conflict that fuels almost the entire storyline; it seems that Catherine has met a good-looking charmer named Morris Townsend who wishes to marry her, but her father deems him a simple-minded dreamer who's most likely after her money, and Catherine herself as just too much of a blockhead to be able to make a realization like this on her own, which is why he forbids the two to wed for her own good.The father and daughter then whisk off to Europe for a year, as upper-class Americans so often did at the time; but instead of Morris heroically coming to the rescue and bringing his true love back, it turns out that her father was right all along, with Morris turning out to be a kinda skeevy loser who actually was kinda after her money, and who sorta slinks off in this weasely way once she gets back into the country and declares that her allowance will be cut off if they wed. Instead of this making her grateful to her father for seeing the light, though, Catherine just ends up pissed at both of them, eventually growing into a matronly middle-aged old maid who becomes the buddy of the younger crowd in the neighborhood, but who never experiences love for herself even once.The argument for it being a classic:The argument for Washington Square being a classic is not a strong one, truthfully, and seems to most concern what the small novel is not -- it's not one of James' ponderous epics, not one of his later experimental works, but rather a simple and entertaining little story in the spirit of Jane Austen, told in about the most straight-ahead fashion possible. This is why people become fans of James in the first place, after all; he's considered by many to be the godfather of the modern realistic novel, the kinds of no-nonsense, clearly-written stories that comprise most Pulitzer winners and other academically-revered books. Certainly there are a lot of other novels in James' ouevre that are better-written, better-known, more historically important and a much better argument for being a classic, even this book's fans would say; it's just that Washington Square is one of his most accessible novels, a great way to ease yourself into his larger and denser pieces, and thus should be included in "The Canon" as well.The argument against:As mentioned, the argument against Washington Square being a classic is clearly the stronger one, and consists mostly of what we've been talking about; that it is simply too slim and obscure to be considered a classic, certainly a good beginning for people new to James' work but definitely not something to be held up against early-career trans-Atlantic sagas as The Portrait of a Lady and The Bostonians, nor the proto-Modernist experimental stylings of such late-career novels as The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl. It may be a good introduction to James, critics argue, but that comes with a price; it is also a frothily light novel, its plot so wispy as to almost not exist, and not something that will give you a good idea of why James fans are so nuts for his work in the first place.My verdict:So I have to confess, this was the very first book of James that I've ever tackled, and I picked it deliberately because I was a little intimidated by his larger and more well-known ones; James has a certain reputation, after all, especially among academic intellectuals who enjoy thick and challenging books, and I've also heard that his larger novels can sometimes get extremely bogged down in their middles. Ah, but like everyone else, I've discovered the problem to starting with a classic author's lighter and less-important work, which is the same thing mentioned in the criticisms above; that you just really can't get a sense from work like that about why people love that author so much to begin with, of why their work got so famous and respected in the first place. Washington Square comes and goes with the reader barely noticing; just when you think the story's about to get ratcheted up and interesting, suddenly it's over, and you realize that the entire point was to provide not much more than a trifling and amusing afternoon of diversion*. It was decent enough for what it was, and I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the 1997 movie adaptation with Jennifer Jason Leigh, but I certainly can't say that I "know" James' work in any kind of significant way because of reading it, nor can I in good conscience declare Washington Square a classic.Is it a classic? No*And by the way, some final proof of just how lightweight this novel is -- James himself, when doing a retrospective of his ouevre late in life and putting together the revised 24-volume "New York Edition" of his work, actually left Washington Square out on purpose, reportedly because he couldn't even read through it again as an older man, disgusted as he was with the frivolity of the story. When the author himself is disgusted with one of his own books, it's usually not a great sign that it'll be making the canon list anytime soon.
    • 3/5
      Well, a Henry James story that I actually found readable - a first after quickly giving up on Turn of the Screw and In the Cage. This was a reasonable story about a shy daughter of an overbearing father who is taken advantage of by an avaricious young man after the fortune she is due to inherit from her mother and, in the future, from her father. Felt very Jane Austen-like, but without the charm and James is a less good writer. I felt sorry for Catherine trapped between two men trying to manipulate her emotions, though there is a suggestion at the end that, years later after the father's death, her former lover may have turned over a new leaf. 3/5
    • 3/5
      A physician-father (Austin Sloper) marries well and loses, first, a young son, and shortly thereafter, his wife after the birth of a daughter. He realizes early that the daughter is of average intelligence and not beautiful, whereupon he gives up the raising of the child to his live-in widowed sister, for whom he has little respect. But it's convenient and he remains unengaged with the daughter. The daughter, Catherine, grows up shy, uneasy in relationships, and very inexperienced in society. Catherine has an income from her mother, and can expect a large inheritance on her father's death. She is a target for suitors more interested in her money than in her person. Dr. Sloper has high regard for his own ability to evaluate the worth and temperment of acqaintences he meets. When Catherine meets Morris Townsend, she is smitten by the attention he gives her and rapidly develops a love for him. Dr. Sloper recognizes that Morris has a mysterious background, but he doesn't rapidly follow up on investigating the young fellow's life path until he is surprized by the rapid development of a serious relationship between the shy Catherine and the worldly Morris. Upon talking with Morris's sister, with whom Morris lives, all his fears about Morris's character are realized. But it's too late, Catherine has agreed to marry Morris, even though Morris did not ask Dr. Sloper for his daughter's hand in marriage prior to his proposal. Dr. Sloper refuses to give his approval to the marriage and, in addition, announces that Catherine will not inherit any money from him if the marriage occurs. Dr. Sloper proposes that Catherine accompany him on a tour of Europe for six months before she marries, to which Catherine and Morris agree. In some ways, the Dr. Sloper, the physician, acts like a scientist experimenting with a guinea pig in a laboratory. He is detached from a real relationship with his daughter, He just tries various experimental procedures and watches the result and adjusts according to the response.After they return from Europe, Catherine and Morris see each other. Catherine explains to Morris that there is no chance that her father will relent from his plan of disinheritance. Morris realizes that Catherine is not going to inherit her fathers estate and begins, badly, to withdraw from his committment to Catherine, and disappears from the City in a short time. Catherine is devestated, recovers, but is forever wounded by the affair. Long after the engagment is ended, Dr. Sloper still is suspicious that Morris will return. He still will not return the will to its former state of inheritance.
    • 5/5
      This was actually assigned me in high school--but amazingly, unlike what is so often the case, I didn't hold it against it. I find this a heartbreaking book--but oh so well worth reading. It's been compared to Jane Austen in its focus on family dynamics, courtship and social satire, but unlike Austen this is really an anti-romance. Catherine Sloper is not cut out of the cloth of which romantic heroines are made. A "good" girl but plain, socially awkward, and none too bright--and her clever father can't forgive her for it. The heart of this book is the battle between father and daughter over a man wooing Catherine. And the hell of it, is her father is right about Morris Townsend, but so badly misjudges and mistreats his daughter that I couldn't quite root for him to succeed. Catherine does change through the course of the book, and some might read the last paragraphs as triumphant--but I found it a Pyrrhic victory. I haven't (yet) gone on to read more of Henry James--I understand this is one of his more readable books--he's known in his later works for very ... er... complex sentences, but that's not the case here in this short novel that falls early in his output. The book was the basis for two films, The Heiress with Olivia de Haviland and Washington Square with Jenifer Jason Leigh. Both are worthy and faithful adaptations.
    • 2/5
      This is a love story.The cool man and the very shy women are main characters. They fall in love.But,her father against it. I think this story is very typical,so Iwas not surprised the end.I could imagine the last easily.I couldn't understandher feeling.
    • 3/5
      Washington Square is the story of Catherine Sloper, the only child of a widowed doctor and a bit of a disappointment at that for she is neither a boy nor particularly clever or otherwise remarkable. She is rather shy, which makes her appear as cold to some who don't know better, and while not homely, she is plain and often passed over by those around her. At age 22, Catherine has never had a suitor, despite the fact that she is an heiress and in spite of the romantic imagination of her Aunt Lavninia (Mrs. Penniman). That changes when Catherine meets Mr. Morris Townsend at the home of her other aunt, Mrs. Almond. It's here where the story begins in earnest.To be clear, Washington Square is not necessarily a romance, even though the courtship is at the heart of it. It’s more akin to a social satire in the style of Jane Austen. This is a book about characters more than plot as the plot is very thin. As such, Henry James invests a lot in each character, but I find that the end result is more of a caricature or stereotype than a fleshed out person. Morris Townsend is a thorough cad; Mrs. Almond is the kindly matron; Dr. Sloper is harsh always, even in the face of his daughter's disappointments; Aunt Lavinia is so ridiculously absurd as to be comical; and Catherine is so dull and completely lacking in backbone that you really can't root for her much. (For anyone who thinks Fanny Price of Mansfield Park is insipid, Catherine is a thousand times worse … and possibly then some.) Furthermore, from the beginning of the novel until the end, none of these characters grow and/or change. Arguably, Catherine gains the tiniest modicum of respect for herself by the end, but even that could depend on who you ask.Overall, my feeling on this book was “eh.” It’s not a bad book per se, but it’s just not great. It certainly wasn’t one of those classics that makes you say, ah, yes, I see why this is a classic! While I liked James’s style, particularly when he employed a sly kind of funny or broke down the fourth wall by referring to Catherine as “my heroine” and so forth, sometimes style alone isn’t enough to carry a book.Also, for the audio book listener, the audio reader on this one was similar to the book itself – good but not great.
    • 5/5
      This American classic is about a “crime of the heart.” Catherine Sloper is emotionally abused by her father and abandoned by her fiancé, but she triumphs in the end. James also offers a detailed portrait of the lives of New York’s upper-middle class during the Gilded Age and realistic depicts the atmosphere of Greenwich Village’s Washington Square. One of my all-time favorites.
    • 4/5
      The happening is quite an ordinary one, nothing too grand, or incredible. The female protagonist, Catherine, is one of the dullest creatures I've ever encountered in literature (and real life, for that matter). The book is not riddled with melodramatic expressions, or epic gestures.
      Despite all that (or because, I've yet to decide), it is one of the more compelling books I have ever read.

      I adore Henry James' irony, that is most apparent in this book. I love his hopelessly flawed characters. I love his writing style.

      I also find it interesting that while compiling his work, Henry James excluded the book because he didn't like it. I have an affinity to the works the artists themselves despised.

      As of the time of writing this review, I've yet to read any other of Henry James' works, so I cannot draw any kind of comparison or general opinion non him as an author (other than adoring what he did with Washington Square). I have also yet to read the afterward by Michael Cunningham, will do so after I've read the book a second time.
    • 4/5
      Washington Square was my true introduction to the art of Henry James. I say this because I first encountered James in dramatic form by attending a production of "The Heiress" by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. They had adapted James's short novel in 1947. By the late 1960s the play had become a popular vehicle for High School students and that is where I encountered it, and indirectly Henry James. James originally published his novel in 1880 as a serial in Cornhill Magazine and Harper's New Monthly Magazine. It is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, British actress Fanny Kemble.The book is sometimes compared to Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. James was hardly a great admirer of Jane Austen, so he might not have regarded the comparison as flattering. In fact, James was not a great fan of Washington Square itself. He tried to read it over for inclusion in the New York Edition of his fiction (1907–1909) but found that he could not, and the novel was not included. Other readers, though, have sufficiently enjoyed the book to make it one of the more popular works of the Jamesian canon. It's popularity may have been enhanced by the stage adaptation "The Heiress" by Ruth and Augustus Goetz.
    • 4/5
      After seeing The Heiress on Broadway (starring Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey fame!), I felt compelled to read the novel behind the play. I'm not sure how long the book has been on my shelf, but the measure is in years rather than months.

      My love of the show certainly influenced my reaction to the book, and it often felt like I was watching the play again as I read. As far as Henry James novels go, this seems to be among the most readable. He is famous for long, convoluted sentences, especially in later works, but there was very little of that here. Washington Square is relatively straight-forward and easy to follow.

      A description of Catherine:
      "She was a healthy, well-grown child, without a trace of her mother's beauty. She was not ugly; she had simply a plain, dull, gentle countenance. The most that had ever been said for her was that she had a "nice" face; and, though she was an heiress, no one had ever thought of regarding her as a belle. Her father's opinion of her moral purity was abundantly justified; she was excellently, imperturbably good; affectionate, docile, obedient, and much addicted to speaking the truth. In her younger years she was a good deal of a romp, and though it is an awkward confession to make about one's heroine, I must add that she was something of a glutton. She never, that I know of, stole raisins out of the pantry, but she devoted her pocket money to the purchase of creme cakes..." p. 12

      and on her character awakening:
      "Catherine meanwhile had made a discovery of a very different sort; it had become vivid to her that there was a great excitement in trying to be a good daughter. She had an entirely new feeling, which may be described as a state of expectant suspense about her own actions. She watched herself as she would have watched another person, and wondered what she would do. It was as if this other person who was both herself and not herself, had suddenly sprung into being, inspiring her with a natural curiosity as to the performance of untested functions." p. 104

      My rating:
      3.5/5 stars

      Bottom line:
      Overall, a very readable and enjoyable Henry James novel, but The Portrait of a Lady is still my favorite. The play is highly recommended!
    • 4/5
      I listened to the Librivox recording of this. The reader's mispronunciation of numerous words was distracting, but otherwise I enjoyed the story, probably one of the few by James simple enough to manage in an audio version.
    • 4/5
      Catherine is a young woman living in New York City with her father in the 19th century. She is a plain sweet girl who has had a cold upbringing. After her mother died in childbirth her father never recovered. He married out of love and her death broke his spirit forever. The result was a distant parent who treated Catherine with a mild objective interest at best. As Catherine grows older she begins to attend parties and at one she meets the charming Morris Townsend. His immediate interest in her and his passionate attitude sweeps her off her feet. Her father, Dr. Sloper, forbids the match, believing Morris to be interested in her only for her money.The novel is an opera of subtlety. In the first half we aren’t sure of Morris’ true intentions. We aren’t sure of the depth of Catherine’s feelings and we aren’t sure if her father’s suspicions are justified or if they’re a product of his controlling nature. There’s never a big reveal, just a series of quiet scenes that reveal the individuals’ true character. Dr. Sloper’s sister, Mrs. Lavinia Penniman (a widow), lives with them and creates a strange dynamic. She thrives on drama and she pushes her own romantic notions on both Morris and Catherine, tainting Catherine’s judgment and unnecessarily pushing herself into the middle of their courtship.SPOILERSFor me, the most interesting aspect of the book is Catherine’s nature and her evolution throughout the story. She kept her emotions tucked deep inside her, showing little of how she truly felt. As she matures and the plot unfolds she continues to stand strong. The suspense comes from inaction, a slow burn towards two potential outcomes. Catherine changes slowly; she begins to take pride in her obstinacy and finds the courage to stand up to her father. By the end of the book she may be living a lonely life, but she has found the strength to resist Morris. The moment when Morris’ sister tells Catherine’s father not to let her marry her brother is a turning point. That’s the moment we truly begin to suspect Morris for being the shallow selfish man he is. As we get to know her father, even if he is dismissive and condescending to her, I felt like he really did have her best interests at heart. He became so callous towards the world after his wife died that he didn’t understand how to be compassionate anymore. He whisks her off to tour Europe for months in a vain effort to make her forget him. BOTTOM LINE: I liked this one more than I thought I would. There’s no major action, but watching Catherine slowly grow strong under the circumstances was beautifully done. “He walked under the weight of this very private censure for the rest of his days, and bore forever the scars of a castigation to which the strongest hand he knew had treated him on the night that followed his wife's death.”“…it seemed to her that a mask had suddenly fallen from his face.” 
    • 3/5
      This is the first Henry James book I have read. It's somewhat depressing and painful on the part of the heroine, and ends with an equally depressing but correct ending. The themes are wealth, matrimony, honesty and integrity.
    • 3/5
      I pitied every principal character for their having to eat the fruit of who they were; I never grew to like them. Strangely, I pitied John Ludlow the most--for his passion being given no chance.
    • 4/5
      The great tragedy of this novel is that no one really understood Catherine, and she had so much to give and such value to offer in a relationship. Her father judged rightly of Morris and Aunt Penniman - but never saw the prize in his daughter. I felt such empathy for Catherine in the end, and sorrow that these two men in her life used her so poorly. Mr. James' prose is a joy to read - his descriptions are so interesting and so apt.
    • 5/5
      I have read this book several times before, and it still reveals new things to me. This is a masterful novel, full of intriguing characters and a great plot. And although it's rather sad, James says so much about human nature. It's one of his more accessible books, and a good place to start for someone interested in getting to know his work.
    • 4/5
      While I did not find it exactly amazing, I did really like Washington Square. Henry James has a way with words that is all his own. One can almost tell immediately when they're reading one of his works. Washington Square actually took me to a place I had been once a couple of decades ago, and I just couldn't help but appreciate the social anthropology found within its pages. In a great many ways, one becomes involved with the lives there. More to come in the blog.
    • 2/5
      Morris and Catherine love with each other . But Catherine's father does not like Morris .I think sometimes parents should not say " No. " for their children's love .Of course , maybe parents love their children . So they are worried about their children.But everyone has each personality .So I hope love of Morris and Catherine is congraturated by everyone .