No Subject

[Donna]

You have to read Isobel in the context of the time she lived in to understand her behavior. Women in the 19th century had very few choices. She made a mistake in choosing Osmond as a husband like any woman could do today but she couldn't divorce him or leave him. He owned her. Men pretty much owned their wives at that time. She has no real independence at all. If she divorced she would have been a cast out from society. She chose him in the first place because she was naive and misguided. Perhaps it was her fate to choose such a bad man; she seemed to me to lack common sense in many ways. She was a bit of a dreamer, not very practical I think.

[Megan]

I read this book as a junior in high school. The first third of it was excruciatingly hard to get through, but in the end, I really enjoyed reading it.<br><br>It was hard for me to identify with Isabel. James described her as brilliant and full of theories, but in not explaining them, I didn't feel like I knew her very intimately. I didn't understand the choices she made: marrying Osmond, feeling attached to Pansy, and refusing Goodwood and returning to Osmond. It was hard to see her changing from such a headstrong and independent girl to the "lady" she became.<br><br>The more minor characters I felt closer to. I myself fell in love with both Warburton and Goodwood. And Ralph Touchett is quite possibly my favorite male character in literature. The scene of his death was difficult for me to read. I felt like I had lost my own brother.<br><br>All in all, this was a fine book and I am better for reading it. My only advise for people who would like to read it is "don't give up on it." It takes a long while to get into, but once you do, you won't be able to put it down.