About this title: Margaret Hale moves with her upper-class family to a provincial industrial town in northern England. There she becomes involved in the lives of local factory workers and union members, at one point even participating in a strike. A stormy and difficult romantic relationship with a factory owner, John Thornton, ends happily after Thornton changes ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780140620191ISBN:0140620192
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Edition: Edition Unstated
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc., Cary, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780192815958ISBN:0192815954
Description: Good. As issued No Jacket. Slight spine curl, corner bumps, corner creases, handling creases to the covers, pages age toning, and other moderate to heavy shopwear. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780192831941ISBN:0192831941
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 496 p. Oxford World's Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Very Good-; W. W. Norton & Company, New York
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780393979084ISBN:0393979083
Description: First Edition. 8vo 8"-9" tall Wrinkling in pages in first half of text; a little underlining in text; Norton Critical Editions; 585 pages. read more
"The verdict is in: I read Elizabeth Gaskell's 1948 novel North and South and loved it. Loved, loved, loved it!
Not only that, it is even better than the movie, that gorgeous dramatic masterpiece. It will go down as one of my favorite books of all time. I loved Gaskell's exploration of human nature, our inherent distrust of the "other" and yet, our innate goodness. I love how she profiled the little idiosyncrasies in human nature {much in Austen fashion}. And, as should be a true marker of good literature, the story is incredibly relevant today. I couldn't help but see a mirror of the economic hardships of our time and the heated push and pull between "classes" that often results in hardship for everyone {think GM and Chrysler, unions and bankruptcy}. The love story at the heart of the book is but a metaphor for the broader themes Gaskell explores. And, N&S is refreshingly redemptive, as is the case with much Victorian literature. I won't spoil the ending, but the writing is immensely gripping and satisfying.
I can't wrap this up without mentioning John Thornton and my love for him that is slightly bordering on obsession. Thornton in the book? Even more intelligent and passionate than the movie version. Believe it! I love how Gaskell layered his personality and, alongside Margaret, we get to discover the heart behind the broody exterior. I hate always to bring up the Austen comparisons {only because I know every self-respecting, red-blooded woman has read her} but John Thornton is like Mr. Darcy unchecked. Mr. Darcy with raw emotion. Move over, indeed.
Not to leave the book's heroine out in the cold, Margaret Hale is refreshingly modern! She's strong and outspoken and unafraid. I love that she is portrayed as incredibly moral and able to engage when her opinions are challenged.
And while we're on the topic: Why in Victorian British literature has no one heard of Gaskell, yet everyone's read the Bronte sisters {Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights} and Charles Dickens. You've probably even heard about George Eliot {pen name for Marian Evans} and most definitely Robert Louis Stevenson. And William Thackeray {Vanity Fair, anyone?}. And Lewis Carroll. But Gaskell has somehow fallen off the map for the general public, and it is my mission to galavanize you intelligent book readers out there to go and read her books. At the very least, watch the BBC Masterpiece Theatre adaptations."
"OK, I want to preface this review by saying that there is a very good chance that poor timing has caused me to not enjoy this book as much as I probably would have otherwise. I chose to read this immediately after finishing the ridiculously fast-paced and, I'll admit, addictive Twilight series, thinking that a classic romance would, as I told a friend (probably "former" after she reads this review though), get me back into the habit of reading "big people books".
Unfortunately, North and South just frustrated me, nearly from start to finish.
I am a huge Austen fan. I find her witty, fun and funny, and smart as a whip. She is well-known for her social commentary, and yet when she is commenting on these rather serious social issues, it doesn't feel like a lecture. She manages to carry the story while still making her stance on whatever issue known, and isn't heavy-handed about it.
Sadly, Gaskell was quite different. I'm not one to shy away from serious issues, or from books that take those issues seriously and address them seriously. But Gaskell wasn't joking with this one. This is no light-hearted satire or social commentary. It's barely even romance, at least by my -perhaps biased- standards. Yes, there is a loving embrace at the end, but the 70 or so pages leading up to it had me so annoyed that it was almost not worth the happy ending.
I felt that every issue was dealt with in such a heavy-handed way that it all but interrupted the story. At times, I would be reading along, minding my own business, and then it's like I hit a Wall of Lecture and Deep Thought. Religion, class divisions, religion, workers' rights, religion, women's rights, etc, etc, etc. Each it's own wall, that I would unfortunately wander smack into time and again.
I wish that I had known what this book would have been like before I began reading it. I would have absolutely chosen a better time to read it, and a better mindset to read it in, and I guarantee that I'd have appreciated it more. I was looking for something light and romantic and fun. My idea of this book was formed by three good (and again, probably "former" after reading this) friends continually telling me that a certain leading male character was "melt-worthy" and that I would just fall in love with him, and that he is far superior to "Arsy Darcy" (not my term). Thus leading to my incorrect assumption that this is a classic romance similar to the ones I'm used to reading.
I wish I could say that I melted for Mr. Thornton. Probably stemming from the Wall of Lecture and Deep Thought encircling most of his parts, I just didn't see it. He can be quite stubborn and set in his ways, but this also has the pleasant counter-part of being extremely loyal. I didn't understand his motives when it came to the strike, but I freely admit that he is fair and only became more fair as the book progressed. There was a time when I felt that he was rather a Mama's boy, but this idea passed too as their relationship became more clear. I wish that Gaskell would have shown us more of his actual character, rather than the little snapshots we see of him on his own, and the very colored view we have of him through Margaret.
And speaking of Margaret. *sigh* I began the story quite liking her, but by the end, I wanted the union between she and Mr. T simply because it would make HIM happy. She didn't deserve him, in my opinion. Someone so stubborn and set in her mind to think the worst of people that she thinks think the worst of her is just stupid. Sorry. It's true. Swallow your pride a bit and explain yourself if it bothers you OH SO MUCH that he must hold this atrocious opinion of you. At least then if he still hates you, you could say that you TRIED. UGH. Granted, this is probably my modern feminism coming through, and isn't fair to someone who can't go somewhere on her own, but... wait. What's that? Margaret was independent? Oh, Hmmmmmm. I swear if she could have taken up sheep-shearing, she probably would have done it to avoid the knowledge that she certainly HAD to have that she should just go and talk to him. Yet the entire time, she'd be moaning to herself about how misunderstood she is. (Can you hear my eyes rolling? I'm getting dizzy.)
I ended up giving the book a three star review for a couple reasons. One, I fully admit that I didn't do this book justice reading it in the wrong frame of mind. Two, Mr. Thornton. I did like him, even though I didn't fully understand him. And anyone who is willing to give people second chances and is willing to go into ruin himself just for honor is worth at least that much in a review. Three, the movie, which I haven't seen yet, but is a BBC mini-series, so it's probably awesome.
Now that I'm done, I would like to say... To all of my former friends, I still love you! :)"
"Elizabeth Gaskell is a remarkable writer. I enjoyed all of the different facets she built into her story. There is something for everyone.
Two characters stand out to me: Margaret Hale and Mrs. Thornton. Margaret is the one who is always there. She has to break the bad news to families when loved ones are lost, she has to care for sick people, she jumps in when people need defending, and when someone needs a companion to talk with...she is there. I think we all would love to have a friend like Margaret Hale (and the world would be a better place if we could be a friend like her, too.)
Mrs. Thornton is woman who's strength is unquestionable. She went from being dirt poor to one of the wealthiest women in the city. However, she remembered the travel upward and knows that the fall can be just as quick. The pride she has in her son is astounding. And although her feelings toward Mrs. Hale seem harsh, I do not think that she acted any differently than any other woman would. What a woman.
I watched the BBC rendition of the book and it was good. It helped explain a few things more while ignoring others. Overall, I think that it was a nice representation of a great book."
"I have just completed reading this book for the second time and it has been even better then the first time.
I'd already seen the BBC series before reading the first time so I already knew the story, and I wish I'd come to the books afresh in a way though I do not think that would have altered in anyway, the way I perceived them. Though Richard Armitage certainly does help and I swooned over Thornton even more.
What I love about North and South is the passion and the realness of the characters, the emotion between the characters. I loved the passion of Thornton, his feelings and emotion so strong and real they almost popped off the page.
The characters aren't characters but people, and they feel real and honest, not caricatures of people or flat emotionless representations.
North and South is Pride and Prejudice meets Industrial Revolution in the North of England. Only, Mr Darcy is more of a Margaret in that she snobs Mr Thornton in the beginning. Like Lizzie though, Margaret is a strong woman - and more fiercely independent.
Both of these books would make an interesting comparison. Both books are set in rather different times. North and South in a time when women could own property and so could be more independent. The industrial revolution was in full fledge with the rising middle class during a great time of progress. The railway made it easier for people of all classes to move about.
North and South is a love story that takes place on the background of two conflicts - the class conflict between the North and the South, and the conflict between the mill owners and the trade unions.
Mr Thornton is a tradesman from Milton (really Manchester) and Margaret is the daughter of a parson from the New Forest. She has grown up for most of her latter path of childhood in Harley Street, London.
When Margaret's father decides to leave his job as parson of Helstone in the New Forest over a crisis of conscience he takes his family to Milton to start a new life as a tutor. One of his favourite pupils is the mill owner, Mr Thornton who is brusque and does not have the manners of the south.
There was a great snobbery about tradesmen - even though money-wise Thornton was richer then the Hales - he was still a tradesman rather then a perceived gentleman. And through misunderstandings of each others manners and ways, Margaret and Mr Thornton often find themselves at opposing sides of the argument. Meanwhile, she also befriends Nicholas Higgins, a passionate mill worker who is behind the trade union strikes.
I much prefer North and South to Pride and Prejudice, though both are so different from each other in many ways. Gaskell is a bit more worldly, having been married, lived in the North and having a wider circle of friends. Her father was also a dissenter who left the church on grounds of consciousness, a theme I have noticed popping up in her other stories. (My Lady Ludlow springs to mind.) So North and South has a much more wider perspective.
I think in the end though, what makes a novel good, what makes a good author - is their ability to create characters that feel so real you can almost tough them. If the characters are flat, then so will the rest of the story even with a brilliant plot - it is the characters that make a story.
Margaret Hale and John Thornton are two people that live on in my imagination."
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