Laurie Breedon
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
I did enjoy this book very much, but it left me with mixed feelings and overall rather non-plussed. I loved the sensuousness of the language, and became so involved that I wanted to follow Isabel back to Rome to find out what happened. These merits are not light or unworthy ones; yet one wonders how James could have borne to write this magnificent slab of plush without going crazy at the insanity of the world he was describing. It set my teeth on edge. Several times I thought that the whole lot of them could do with some serious sodomising ; then they might be better able to live in the world of real need and emotions instead of the pampered fat palaces of their own stupified invention. While they all minced about Rome and Florence mentally playing with themselves, people with real lives were starving in the gutters around them no doubt.<br> Bad as things are today, 'Portait of a Lady' made me glad that times have changed.<br> Laurie Breedon