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The Turn of the Screw (Diversion Classics)
By Henry James
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Featuring an appendix of discussion questions, the Diversion Classics edition is ideal for use in book groups and classrooms.
A chilling tale set in the English countryside, THE TURN OF THE SCREW follows a governess as she contends with the supernatural in her new employer's home. As she cares for two orphaned children, the governess becomes aware of sinister secrets and a ghostly presence. Grippingly suspenseful, this classic ghost story entertains and enthralls.
A chilling tale set in the English countryside, THE TURN OF THE SCREW follows a governess as she contends with the supernatural in her new employer's home. As she cares for two orphaned children, the governess becomes aware of sinister secrets and a ghostly presence. Grippingly suspenseful, this classic ghost story entertains and enthralls.
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 The Turn of the Screw (Diversion Classics)
Rating: 3.3986078922969836 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
2,155 ratings93 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chilling! That ending is utterly chilling!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5At Bly, a country estate in 19th century England, a young woman is hired as a governess for two young children who have been recently orphaned after the death of their parents. The home belongs to the children’s uncle who, although their legal guardian, wants nothing to do with them. At first, all is seemingly well, as the governess is thoroughly charmed with the beauty, intelligence, and disposition of her charges. Soon enough, though, things take a serious turn for the worse when she begins to see the ghosts of two former employees of the estate who seem to have malicious intentions toward the children. But are these apparitions real and, if so, why is the governess the only one who can see them? Alternatively, is she slowly descending into madness, or afflicted by some other malady? What are the secrets that the children seem to be protecting? How does the uncle’s apparent indifference factor into the situation? What explains the ultimate fates that the children and the governess experience?Those are all excellent questions. Of course, one of the things that has kept The Turn of the Screw relevant fiction for more than a century is that Henry James never really answers any of them. Instead, he offers a psychologically complex gothic horror story that allows readers to decide—or at least try to—for themselves what actually happens. Certainly, the author’s innovations in this tale were hugely influential on many subsequent artists; over the years, the novella has inspired works in literature, film, theater, and even opera. What the book is not, unfortunately, is a particularly interesting or compelling narrative in the modern context. James wrote with a bloated, overly wordy style that severely minimized the impact of the suspense in the tale. Although described by some critics as “chillingly evil” and “sinister,” I found the story to fall well short of those marks, with the horrific elements often buried in long passages of verbose inner monologue from a very unreliable narrator. So, while I am glad to have read the book for its historical importance, it was not one that I especially enjoyed.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another genre classic that I hadn't read for a long time-and this time with good reason. James' way with a convoluted sentence often makes me want to scream, and having to backtrack to work out his intended focus does not make for a smooth flow in reading experience.
That said, there is a definite power in this tale, and it builds nicely in dread and atmosphere to a chilling conclusion. It is definitely a classic of the genre, but the movie THE INNOCENTS showed how it could have been done in a more straightforward, yet still distinctly superior, fashion, and Peter Straub's retelling in GHOST STORY is also a superior version.
Could easily have been a 5 star tale, and saying that, I've nudged it up from 3 to 4 this time around. It could be a long, long time before I want to read it again though. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry James. Reading is work is like wading through a jungle of commas and just before you can't take any more coming across something that is beautiful. Like eating chicken wings in Heaven; you’ve still got to work too damn hard for a little that is sublime.Everyone knows the story. It’s worth reading and the percentage of commas to sentence does fall after the first half.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Wow, I forgot that I *HATE* Henry James. Actually, I didn't hate him quite so much before I read this book, but now I really do. So disappointed! The hugely long paragraphs made my eyes glaze over. I couldn't pay attention long enough to figure out what was really going on. I think if I hadn't heard the whole discussion on [The Turn of the Screw] - is it really ghosts or is the governess nuts - I would have been at least a little drawn into the story, to see what would happen next. But as it is, I just couldn't force myself to finish this! My vote is a solid 'the governess is nuts' vote. Totally unbelievable premise and I couldn't STAND the woman. Just bad.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The antiquated grammar and long sentences makes this book a little difficult to read. However, once the cadence is mastered, the story is filled with brilliant insights. The great thing about this book is that it can be read at face value as a ghost story or more in depth as a psychological and sexual thriller.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5'The Turn of the Screw' isn't really about ghosts. James explores the debilitating effects of the sexual repression pervasive under the absurd 'morals' of the Victorian age. The governess is clearly unstable - the 'turn of the screw' is a reference to her insanity. The spooks in the novel are pedophilia and patriarchal repression, both the direct product of Victorian mores.I found James's style too heavy. Between his long, tortuous sentences, and the subject matter, the novel is a tough read - despite its brevity. To James's credit, his execution of the unreliable narrator technique is impressive.The most remarkable aspect of the book is the sensitive subject matter, and James's success in avoiding censorship.'The Innocents' (1960) with Deborah Kerr is a great screen adaptation of 'Turn of the Screw.' Look it up, it's well worth watching!
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Disappointing ending. I wanted more talk from the men in the room in which the story was being told. Annoying superfluous narratives.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great edition of the FIRST edition of Henry James's most popular story.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The sentences are very long. That's fun sometimes. Whether it's a story about ghosts or a psychological disturbance is entirely subject to your preference.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Read this about 4 times in college, and I was thinking about it today (thinking about how much I enjoyed discussing literature at length and writing essays about my crazy interpretations). I enjoyed arguing a thesis about what was actually haunting the house...I believe I argued that it was a forbidden lust or something.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I tried to read this classic Victorian story of haunted children years ago, but quickly gave up as I could not cut my way through the impenetrable language in which it was written; this time, I have succeeded in reading it, but I cannot say I have enjoyed the experience (and if it had been a full length novel rather than a novella of 117 pages in my edition, I probably would have failed a second time to get through it). I am a considerable reader of classic Victorian novels and have no problem with the more challenging language in which they are often written, compared to more modern writing, but here the language is often so opaque that I frequently read a sentence four or five times and still could not divine its meaning. The effort in doing so does not repay, as I found the story to have no real atmosphere and to be hardly chilling at all, except at brief moments and at the very end. A disappointment that for me does not deserve its high reputation.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A suspense novel........a thriller..........and eloquent writing! A spectacular ending which left me speechless (a rare occurrence!)! Great book!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5TURN OF THE SCREW is Henry James's most famous ghost story. Set on an English estate, Bly, the narrator has been hired as governess for two young orphans, Miles and Flora. The previous governess, Miss Jessel, and Peter Quint, the valet of the children's uncle, had died under mysterious circumstances, and their ghosts may have returned to reclaim the children. The tale is highly ambiguous as the reliability of the narrator is in question. Are there really ghosts or is she mad? The tale was written in 1898, and the repressed Victorian sensibility of the narrator seems a bit quaint even for the time -- but perhaps that was part of James's technique of character development.I saw the film THE INNOCENTS, based on the story and starring Deborah Kerr, when I was a young teenager and was more frightened than I had ever been in a film -- the memory stays with me to this day, at least 45 years after I saw it.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5While Henry James remains a brilliant but decidedly un-fun author to read, the Turn of the Screw is the greatest ghost story ever (except for perhaps the incomparable Wayans brothers' movie the 6th Man and that unmatched children's program Ghostwriter). A psychological thriller, the story is crisp and tight and features brilliant twists and turns along with memorable characters and a maddeningly inconclusive ending. It's a definite must for anyone who likes stories of the supernatural because it's actually good writing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Terrific and short little ghost story -- ends with lots of unanswered questions. As I was reading, the tone really reminded me of the movie "The Others." After finishing the book I found out that the movie is in fact very loosely based on the book. This is one of the books referenced on "Lost" as well.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This story is about a young lady who work in a rich house as governess.She looks after two children.Their name are Flora and Miles.They enjoyed living in that house.But they get to realize existence of ghost.I think she is very brave woman.If I saw a ghost,I move immediately and quit job.Perhaps I couldn't think about two children and protect them.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It was better than I thought it'd be.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was gripped by this short tale of supernatural goings on. What was real, who was the ghost, was the protagonist what she seemed? The flow of the language on the page was like the flow of speech. I couldn't keep myself from reading on, I had to know what happened.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Victorian Ghost Story about the evils of men and the fear of the uncivilized... WE find a governess who is duty bound to protect the children in her charge from the things that go bump in the night. The story presents the isolation caused by a guarded Victorian rectified World.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The very uncertainty embedded throughout makes this a dark psychological story. Illusion, reality, light, shadow, innocence and evil, all subtly inter-played. An enigmatic ending adds to the ambiguity.
Despite all these interesting qualities, James' narrative can be tough going, his overuse of commas and lengthy sentences among some of the obstacles the reader must get through. I intend to re-read it in the future, in order to appreciate the subtle nuances layered over and within this unorthodox ghost tale. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Haunting and haunted and ambiguous. Don't read this for a pat ending.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is one of those books that I hadn’t read despite it being mentioned pretty much every time someone called for a good ghost story. During our latest winter storm I decided it would be a good time to dive into it and for the most part I really liked it. It had excellent pacing and the story was trim, not a lot of extraneous detail. There’s the set up, which is folks gathered around a fire to hear a scary story, the prologue which puts our protagonist in place and then we’re off. Strangely the tale just ends and we never get back into the room with the fire. I wonder if James forgot or his editor or what, but those people never show up again. Kind of sloppy if you ask me.And there’s that ending. Wow. It came on extra suddenly for me because I read it as a Project Gutenberg ebook which has a lot of publishing info at the back so it’s hard to tell exactly where the book ends. Is it me, or does everyone have to read the ending three times to get it straight? And by straight I mean bendy and weird and what? Spoilers on the move - I knew it was a psychological horror story going in and that there might be more to the story than what’s on the surface. I don’t want to go so far as to declare an unreliable narrator, but it’s close. Even if what Jane perceived wasn’t real, she believed that it was and to me, that’s not an unreliable narrator, merely a fallible one. Are there the ghosts of servants past haunting the old pile, or is Jane crazy? Does Miles have some sort of symbiotic connection to Peter Quint? Does getting Flora away from the place break hers to Miss Jessel? There are no concrete answers. Instead, James relies on the reader’s interpretation of some pretty unspecific information. For example, just why are these ghosts so evil and is their evil different now than it was in life? Both are branded as villains, but nothing is specifically stated about what they did exactly. It’s hinted that there was an illicit affair going on between them, very improper, and somehow because the children were aware of it, the knowledge corrupted them. Did that lead to Miles’s unknown crime that got him kicked out of school? And speaking of unfathomable and unresolved...what’s with the uncle’s condition that Jane never contact him about the kids? That’s just weird. The whole thing is weird and that’s what makes it fun.The actual writing, I should warn you, is convoluted. James is fond of the very long sentence populated by many, many commas. At first it was a job getting into the rhythm of his writing, but reading out loud helped, something I find useful for older novels. As you might have guessed, if you’re the type of reader who needs everything explained and tied up neatly, The Turn of the Screw isn’t the ghost story for you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A compelling psychological novel with ghosts, this story is both creepy and intriguing. As always, James’ first interest is in the psychological relationships between his characters, in this case a naïve young governess, unnamed, and her two young pupils, Miles and Flora, at an isolated Essex mansion. The governess is charmed by the children’s apparent good natures and beauty, and ascribes to them an innocence that seems idealized, but completely typical of the late Victorian thinking about children. (And James himself had no children of his own to compare the ideal with.)The governess soon discovers that the children have a dark side, which seems to be associated with their previous governess, Miss Jessel, and her lover, the valet, Peter Quint. She and the children see these dead beings, although no one else in the house seems to do so. The housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, however, knows things are not right with the children. What is interesting is that the governess is unwilling to confront the children directly with her believe that they are happily communing with the evil dead for fear of finding out that they are not as innocent as they appear. Not only would this disturb her illusions about the children, but she would then have to deal with their choice, and she has no idea how to do so. As long as she can, she prefers to live with the illusion of goodness rather than have to deal with evil. That’s a situation that’s easy enough to identify with.But of course it leaves her vulnerable, and the children know it. They use her unwillingness to confront them to manipulate her into going along with their continuing relationship with their former guides. Because she won’t admit there is anything wrong, she cannot object to their play, even when they seem to be meeting with their evil partners. She tries to protect them, but they or the ghosts can see what she is doing and find ways around her care. When finally she is forced to act, she finds that the evil is more powerful than her attempt to overcome it. This all takes place in the first-person narrative of the governess, so she is describing what she sees and how she feels. She feels that she is being manipulated by the children, but she has no way to know what they are really thinking. She reads their looks and glances and reacts to them, but as readers we know only her interpretation of what she sees. She sees shadows and figures, and to her they appear as the ghosts of the Miss Jessel and Peter Quint. She thinks that the ghosts are manipulating the children, but it sometimes appears that the children are the manipulators. If it isn’t all in her own head.The picture of the innocence of the children, their good breeding, manners and charm as a mask hiding their corrupted true nature gives the story an extra layer of intrigue, one that James also explores in his other writing.What I like here is the psychology of the relationships and James’ ability to portray their shifting dynamics. At times, the governess tries to take charge, but loses control when one of the children shows that he or she knows that is going on, or suggests that the governess has shown bad judgement. The governess accepts the shifting power and loses it. This is a theme that James uses in other novels, and through it James illustrates how subtle social power is exercised. Of course, his characters could reject the social conventions that are at work, but that would be inconceivable to them. In this way, the ghosts are a bit of an excuse. They set up a situation in which the characters work out their relationships, and the extremity of the situation makes the dynamics unavoidable. But the relationship are created by the social situation and how the characters act in it. That, I think, is what interests James, and it’s what I read his books for.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After reading The Turn of the Screw by Henry James all I can say is "Huh”? I was looking forward to reading this old fashioned ghost story so I wrapped myself up in a quilt and curled up in my comfy chair all ready for the chills I thought this ghost story would bring, and indeed at first it was everything I hoped for. But the ambiguous ending spoiled this story for me. I wanted resolution not confusion.The story of a governess who slowly comes to realize that her charges are being haunted by the corrupt former valet, Quint and ex-governess, Miss Jessel is a fascinating one. The story builds slowly, and by the time the governess realizes that the children know full well of these ghostly apparitions, we, the readers have become aware that Quint may well have sexually assaulted the young boy, Miles. The young girl, Flora, seems to be stalked by Miss Jessel, the former governess who was involved in an affair with Quint. Eventually Flora is removed from the house and sent to be with her uncle. This leaves Miles and the current governess to confront Quint, which they do and instead of the resolution that I hoped I would find, I was left feeling quite confused over what just happened. A number of questions about the children and their safety springs to mind, but for me the biggest question was did all this really happen or was this simply a product of the governess’ psychotic imagination. The story was appropriately chilling and certainly creepy enough, but I would rather have had an ending that I understood instead of all these questions, but perhaps this was exactly how Henry James wanted to leave his readers.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I don't know why I was so irritated this time round, but I was. It was a chore to read. The writing seemed so roundabout, with sentences wandering hopelessly. Several of the premises didn't ring true and I felt no love for the governess or the children. And the ending...did her young charge, Miles the boy, die?!? What then happened his sister? Was Flora never to return? Was the governess discharged? Who was the man she "loved" as hinted at in the beginning of this tale by Douglas? The questions go on and on. Many people have stipulated that [The Turn of the Screw]'s "very ambiguity, its resistance to any final formulation in terms of the realistic or actual...is a major source of its strength." I would disagree. Most unsatisfying.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5You know, it's good. I just don't like Mr. James' style. Oi! with all the goddamn commas! It's halting and unnecessary. I did, however, enjoy the story. Deep, engaging, suspenseful, everything you'd want in a ghost story. It's just his style. I can't get into it. I finally, in the last 20 pages or so, figured out how to tolerate his style: ignore the commas. It worked capitally. It was almost like reading Dickens.
In all, I recommend this book, I just don't prefer it. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I like the ambiguity of the ghosts, it is the redeeming aspect of the story. Otherwise, I am convinced that woman is crazy and much of the dialogue seemed annoyingly unrealistic. "oh you know you know!" I guess no one could speak plainly back then? It is a quick read. I gave four insead of three stars because I think some aspects just didn't translate over time and the book deserves some credit for originaity when written.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An inexperienced young woman is hired to become the governess of two small children near the town of Bly in Victorian England. The children have no parents and it is their uncle who hires her. She is informed that she is not to contact him at all u less there is a good reason. The two children are Miles and Flora. Soon, two ghosts appear, Quint and Jessel, who were the former caregivers of the children.It never becomes clear if it is the governess alone who sees these ghosts or if the children do as well. Who is the crazy one... Who knows.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I really wanted to find this scary, but it's just too Victorian for me to take it seriously. (Oh, the scandal of a governess having a romantic fling! Oh, the horrors of young children keeping secrets from their elders! *sigh*)
Book preview
The Turn of the Screw (Diversion Classics) - Henry James
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