The Portrait of a Lady

I am having difficulty writing this review because I did not like the protagonist one bit. Isabel Archer, so disturbingly beautiful, talented, and prizeworthy (as she herself would have told you) that no man appears good enough. She turns down the marriage offer of a brilliant member of the English aristocracy, a handsome English Lord, extremely wealthy and well sought after, on the inverted snobbish pretext that she is not good enough for him, so she keeps him hanging on in the background, (having nothing better to do) along with another couple of suitors littered about throughout the story.Ralph Touchett, Isabel's indolent, sickly cousin, was my favorite character. He of course like everyone else in the story falls madly in love with Isabel, but he is so intelligent, kind, generous, and selfless, I found myself cheering for this character and hoping against hope that Henry James would spare his life in the end; he doesn't of course. The amorphous Pansy flits in and out of the story like a fairy. The perfect child, a character not fully developed by James. One feels all along that something terrible is going to happen to her, a bit like Beth in "Little Women" but nothing does. She is there as the key to the mystery, find out about her and you know it all.Henry James, periphrastic as always, sometimes bores with his long descriptions setting the tone, the description of Madam Merle is a good example. This tedious character adds nothing to the story except just a little mystery. The man Isabel finally condescends to marry turns out to be more in love with himself than with her and even more so than she is with herself, so as in all good stories she gets her comeuppance, and well deserved too. I did enjoy his descriptions of the places I know in Italy, it took me back to my holidays in Florence, with mention of The Medici, and the wonderful Uffizi Gallery. Beautiful, beautiful, city, I wish you could see a photograph my husband took of The Arno at sunset!I like Henry James, he tells a good story, he is among the greatest American writers. I especially liked his critique of Nathaniel Hawthorne, well worth the money for that little book. This, not so much, but you? Well I couldn't possibly comment.....

Beware. There are two Amazon pages for the Signet Classics title. The one with the smaller text for book type boxes with prices - Hardback, Paperback, etc. - has James' 1908 American revised version for the Kindle download (not sure about the printed versions there). The other Amazon page has much larger text for the book types and that Kindle download and presumably the popular paperback versions there are the original 1881 edition.Background: The 1881 version was written when James was supposedly more of an "idealist," so to speak. James was much later asked to prepare an edition to please an American audience and that came out in 1908. I've found from downloading Kindle editions from both that the only way to know which is which is by the size of the text boxes showing the book type and prices, as I mentioned. If one has the two versions in hand, a sure way to tell is right before the end of the last chapter, 55, in the paragraph that starts, "He glared at her..." The later version includes a sentence about the two characters (Isabel and Goodwind) pressed together that crassly refers to his "hard manhood" (very American), while the original does not. There are many other differences between the two. Some prefer the later version, I chose this paperback, in spite of it being harder to read a more crunch text, because I do not.

I enjoyed the dialog between the eccentric characters. The various personalities were strong and impactful.I have only read about 6 chapters and this is my opinion as of this point. I did find humor laced in the book, butright now I can only say I will continue this review when I have finished the book.

Beautiful little gilded book with satin ribbon marker. Really a pleasure to hold & read & now my favorite classic. I am interested in Henry James’ other books & short stories.

I read Portrait along time ago when I was young lady. I loved reading it the second time around. Once you get past the sentence structure you're on your way. The book is brilliantly plotted - the themes in Portrait are both profound and universal.

My favorite book ever. Henry James is brilliant and has such interesting dark and insightful themes. It's more classy and real to me than Jane Austen's collection. I annotated this treasure thoroughly and I can't tell you how beautifully the dialogue and narrative precisely express how I've felt before. I hope you choose to read this and find it as wonderful as I did.

Very long, very wordy. Very Henry James. Sort of an early soap opera but with a heroine ahead of her time in her ideas. Unfortunately, because of the era, does not follow through. Slow going.

This has become one of my favorite novels. I have a special spot for Isabel Archer in my heart because she is such a dynamic character a subtle way- very cerebral novel. Whenever I hear the critique "nothing happens in this story," I cringe because so much happens, but it's mostly internal action rather than overt stunts.

The book arrived one day after I ordered it.Perfect condition.All good.Thank you.

Only half way through it, but a good read so far.

It's okay

Muy bueno. Bien escrito, estilo cuidado y tema intetesante para personas que entienden la cultura britanica. El lenguage es precioso

Verging on migraine inducingly small, it's personal preference. It's my own ignorance as to why, the half-size seems to be standard of this book regardless of the seller/publisher.The book itself (size notwithstanding) is wonderfully bound and of a very high standard I only wish I didn't have to squint whilst reading it.Fantastically written, there's many book reviewers out there far more eloquent than I and the overwhelming census seems to be this is one of the cornerstones of classic literature. All I can do is agree.