The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2
By Henry James
3.5/5
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"The Wings of the Dove, Volume II" by Henry James is set in London and is based on a couple, Kate and Merton who are engaged but have no money to marry. They create a plan to take advantage of an American heiress, Milly who is extremely ill, in an attempt to try and inherit her fortune. The beautiful Milly ends up obliviously altering their entire plan.
Henry James
Henry James (1843-1916), junto con su hermano William, recibió una esmerada educación europea. Estudió Derecho en la Universidad de Harvard, pero abandonó la carrera para dedicarse por completo a la literatura. En 1882, tras la muerte de sus padres, fijó su residencia en Londres. Cultivó la novela, el ensayo, el teatro y los relatos.
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Reviews for The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2
374 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Enjoyable Henry James fare, Americans in Europe.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I had entered this dense book with what I think to be valid complaints. James expends an incredible amount of words to communicate so little, he falls into the trap of trying to shape the reader's impression of his characters (a charge brought an influence of his, George Eliot), he draws conclusions on events that a reader of average intelligence (me) could reach on his own, and ends a fair share of sentences with prepositions (something up with which I will not put!). These problems definitely irked me and made reading the first half a real slog, but from about the near end of the first half and throughout the second, the book fast picks up steam and James mines stronger ground with the moral implications of the book. The best of this book recalls the superior Portrait Of A Lady, no doubt, and that's what saves it, but I feel that the above-mentioned complaints are too grave for the book to warrant the masterpiece status it has received.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My favorite of James' journey's into a society thin on plot, but full of characters whose struggles show us so very much about them.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This being my first Henry James reading, I was initially overwhelmed by the style and the concentration necessary to get the gist of each sentence. The insights into the workings of the human mind and emotion along with the descriptions of them made the effort worthwhile. The depth of the character portrayals made them each of them likable despite their faults although I found Densher's submission to love more admirable than Kate's strength. Basically Kate's strength was used to manipulate others to serve her greed. Millie was seemingly too good but appeared to be meant as a pawn to display the characters of Densher and Kate. The book has left me contemplating the characters and the plot long after finishing it -- the sign of a good book
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Strunk and White wrote The Elements of Style in 1918, and I think it's entirely possible that they meant the entire book as a critique of Henry James. If you must read James, opt for one of the novellas--"Turn of the Screw" or "Daisy Miller," for instance--where James proves that he was not entirely incapable of clarity and economy of style. Or better yet, just read Edith Wharton, who is just as adept at the leisure-class, drawing-room tragedy and a far better prose stylist. In my opinion, the privileging of Henry James over Edith Wharton is one of the two best arguments the feminist school has for gender bias in traditional literary criticism. (The other being the privileging of James Joyce over Virgina Woolf.) If ever there were a book that justifies the practice of just reading the Cliff's Notes, The Wings of the Dove is it.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5To give this book justice, which is deserves, it would require a review as long the novel - which I have no intention of doing. I'll just say that I found the characters to be unsympathetic, unrealistic in the sense that they said nothing positive or instructive about the human experience. In a way, it showed what was wrong with the society leading up to WWI where most of them died (these sorts of people, not these actual people). I did not like them to such an extent that I didn't really care what happened to them - including Milly - who is supposedly the victim, but it insipid and not worthy of the respect that they afford her. I did enjoy the ending however which left things as vague as the entire work. Perhaps that was truely James' point - that no matter how much weight all of these people try to enfuse their lives with, it is meaningless even to the point of even bothering to tie up the story with an actual ending.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nobody else could put you through the torture of 500 pages of infinitesimally-qualified, soul-destroyingly-tentative prose and — almost — get away with it. There is a terrible tragedy tucked away under all that one-step-forward-two-steps-back ambiguity, and James's technique somehow manages to communicate the nature of that tragedy very powerfully at an emotional level whilst leaving you more than a little baffled as to what he is actually telling you in terms of the conventional landmarks of plot and character. So it is definitely worth reading, but I wish it wasn't...
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It appears as though his earlier works were better written. By the time I got to "The Wings of the Dove" (1902) I had grown tired of him. By the end of his career, there wasn't a simple action or thought that he couldn't convey in an unending stream of words. His mantra seemed to be, "I could be succinct, but why? I enjoy writing. I couldn't give a damn whether I burden the reader with my verbal diarrhea." A highly overrated writer, maybe because he was an ex-patriot.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wings of the Dove by Henry James; (4*)The reader must read Henry James carefully, closely and slowly. One must also read between the lines.The Wings of the Dove is made up of characters so subtle and so intelligent that even a careful reader will be challenged to keep up. The story follows a young man and woman, Densher, and Kate, who are in love and want to be together. But her guardian disapproves as there is not a bright financial situation ahead for Kate.Kate devises a plan to improve their prospects and asks Densher only to be patient. Her intelligence and moral flexibility allow her to adjust her original plan when the possibility of an even better outcome presents itself in the person of her dear friend Milly. (ie: "the Dove") What the process will do to Milly is of little importance to Densher at the outset. However as he gets to know Milly better, Densher's conviction begins to crumble. Despite his best efforts to turn a blind eye to his own part in a terrible deception, he feels his character eroding and needs constant reassurance from Kate that it all will be worth it in the end. By the end, however, he has to come face to face with what he's done and the price he, Milly and his relationship with Kate have paid.This was not an easy read for me but I found it well worth the time and effort I put into it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I think Henry James has some interesting ideas in terms of plot but man alive he is so darned wordy and "The Wings of the Dove" is no exception.In this novel, Kate Croy needs money and the man she wants to marry doesn't have any. She intrigues to get some by getting her fiancee Merton Densher to pursue a wealthy woman who is gravely ill. Antics ensue.As I said, I liked the general plot and the ending, but James' writing is really tough.... he goes on and on and says very little. I had a hard time getting through this one.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I have tried to read this book on a few occasions. Conclusion: it's not actually readable! I am a big HJ fan up until some point in his career, after which I do not comprehend his prose at all.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/51052 The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James (read 3 May 1970) Since I recently read another volume of Leon Edel's biography of Henry James, I thought I should read something more of his so I read this. I do not know what to make of it. Long, but slowly, with considerable dramatic power at times, yet what can one sayof some of it. Its two chief characters--Martin Densher and Kate Croy--all out of character, it seems to me, conspire to have Martin marry the dying heroine, Milly Theale, for her money. But Lord Mark--Kate's disappointed suitor--is to be reckoned with. [I won't set out more as such would be a spoiler.] I cannot pretend I enjoyed the book as much as other James novels I have read, e.g., The American, or The Ambassadors. It is too, too, really. Besides, I did not like Kate--so much, supposedly, but who in Venice becomes a scheming tramp. Well, I am not sure all the time I spent wading through this difficult book was well-spent. I doubt now I shall re-read The Portrait of a Lady, which I read 8 April 1952 with no appreciation at all.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5sometimes james is barely readable and usually not listenable but i had these cassettes. i don't know what really happened in this story. i liked the reader who compared james and wharton and joyce and woolf very interesting.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/53* for this audiobook edition; 2.5* for the book itselfI find Henry James a frustrating author - his topics and time period are those that I relish yet I don't like his books. This book, for example, had all the makings of a great story but it bored me when it didn't anger me. I thought up several possible ending for the story only to find that the actual conclusion was dull and predictable. I have heard James praised for his female characters but, to me, they were all objectionable in one way or another.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Honestly, I think this is only the third best of James' three late masterpieces (after the Ambassadors and the Golden Bowl.) I found it much harder going than either of those, although the plot was much more involved and interesting. I'm not sure how to explain that- maybe the plot was the main thing dragging me through the interminable paragraphs, whereas in the other two the reflections and nuances seemed much more important. Although I got something out this (as ever, James is an education in form and psychology), I would definitely recommend the Ambassadors over Wings of the Dove.