About this title: Published in 1886, "The Bostonians" begins with the arrival in Boston of Basil Ransom, a young Mississippi lawyer in search of a career. Through his cousin, Olive Chancellor, Ransom comes to meet Verena, the beautiful daughter of a charlatan faith-healer and showman. When they hear Verena talk, Olive hopes to win the girl over to the feminist ...
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Description: Fair. 1593082975 Not a used copy....Bend to book with some waviness. Inside pages clean, binding tight. No remainder marks. Shipped with delivery confirmation inside US. Selling books since 1979*p/BN-O4-119. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: McGraw Hill Text
Date Published: 1956
ISBN-13:9780394309590ISBN:0394309596
Description: Good. ---464 pages. Interior has minor prn marks otherwise clean and tight. Nice overall condition. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780192834423ISBN:0192834428
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. ******PLEASE NOTE****** Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas unless you select EXPEDITED shipping! Thank you & Happy Holidays! read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN-13:9780192816399ISBN:019281639X
Description: Good. 019281639X light shelf wear / edge wear cover / pages good condition//"Buy with Confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Customer Service Makes All the Difference. " read more
Description: Very Good. 0394309596 Mass Market Paperback / light shelf wear / edge wear cover / pages very good condition//"Buy with Confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Customer Service Makes All the Difference. " read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780451525505ISBN:0451525507
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. clean, straight, very tight and unmarked, chipped corners, reading crease adjacent to the spine in front. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 384 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
"Henry James is a subtle and refined writer. I imagine that many readers, if they were to open the pages of this book, wouldn't get far before they'd toss it. This is not an easy book to read. It is ponderous. It takes patience and determination to get through it. But for me it was worth it. The psychological insights, which are strewn like jewels through the book, are meaningful. Reading The Bostonians is like watching a Merchant Ivory Production - we are somewhere in time, the narrative is slow-moving and freighted with detail. But the finish, because of the carefully crafted narrative, is layered, textured and poignant. I almost think a second reading would force me to give the book four stars. And if I weren't 'reading against the clock', I'd certainly dive in again and see."
"I read this book when I was in my mid-20s and really loved it. James explores the relationship between two young women, both of whom are involved in the movement for women's equality in the late-18th century. The setting is very much in the shadow of the US Civil War, and conservatives are becoming militantly anti-feminist. Basel, the aspiring lover of Verena, bemoans the fight for equality. HIs comments echo the views of many other men of the time: "The whole generation is womanised; the masculine tone is passing out of the world; it's a feminine, a nervous, hysterical, canting age ...which, if we don't soon look out, will usher in the age of mediocrity"."
"Not quite sure what to make of this. It has a few Jamesian qualities: the enormous significance of details, general tragic view of life etc... But this is surrounded by mind-numbing detail and a set of characters with uninteresting psychologies. James is at his best when he's finding the complexity in the simple. But the main characters here are a caricature of an early feminist; a caricature of a post-war Southern gent; and a girl who's a bit too good to be anything but stupid. When the characters are this one dimensional, the usual James pyrotechnics can't do their thing. It's like watching fireworks during the day. The whole thing is very uneven. To begin with, we sympathise with the Southern gent. At the end, you want nothing so much as to kick him in the head. Did James change his mind? Is this change intentional? It's certainly infuriating. It was always obvious that Ransom (the Southerner) was a horrible human being, just as it was always obvious that Olive was at least partially good. The final forty pages are brilliant, but the 400 or so before them are pretty tough going. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, really. You're much better off with the other novels of this period- Portrait of a Lady, Washington Square - and, before them, The Europeans. Still, it's James. So I can't go below three stars."
"I've also read Portrait of a Lady, but the Bostonians is my favorite. I liked learning about the early women's rights movement and the country in general after the Civil War. I also liked the character drama. It is a book that gets me all worked up, because of the mistakes the characters make in their judgments."
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