Henry James Jr.

The Turn of the Screw (Penguin Popular Classics)

Henry James

The Turn of the Screw', first published in 1898, is a novella written by Henry James, who was considered a master of creating best psychological fiction. It is a gothic novel, work of great horror, by one of the most acclaimed authors of the modern European literature.

The Turn of the Screw

Bárbara Deoti

Draculelle

Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller

How could I not give ‘Turn of the Screw’ five stars? Although, appropriately, I had a very different response to the plot of this book this time round than when I last read it (maybe 20 years ago). Perspective is everything. Which was probably Henry James’ point.

Naomi J.

Margo Koss

The classic ghost story about a high-strung governess and the two young children who may--or may not--be plotting with the diabolical Peter Quint.

Sarah Sammis

The extra words James used fall into one of two categories. The first is to warn the reader to look away before he relates the next scary thing. The second is to relate how the governess is feeling. She's either too scared to believe her eyes, extremely skeptical, or very worried. Throughout this re-read I spent most of my time wishing either the narrator or the governess would get to the bloody point.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comm...

This gothic classic, “The Turn of the Screw” is one of the most famous ghost stories of all time. On Christmas Eve, Douglas reads a manuscript written by a former acquaintance, the governess, whom Douglas claims to have known and who is now dead. The manuscript tells the story of how the young governess is hired by a man who has become responsible for his young nephew and niece after the tragic deaths of their parents. He is uninterested in raising the children. The governess’s new employer gives her full responsibility for the young siblings and explicitly states that he is not to be bothered with communications of any sort. Set in a remote estate this critically acclaimed novella tells the tale of a governess who, looking after two children, becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted. This story has been adapted many times for film and television, most recently in The Turning (2020). Famed for its ability to create an intimate sense of confusion and suspense, this novella is a must-read for all horror and ghost story fans.

Tobias V. Langhoff

Like every time I review a classic book, I just want to recommend listening to it as an audiobook. I listened to Emma Thompson’s fantastic rendition of this one, which gives it a star extra. Yes, that means that the text itself gets only 2 stars from me. Perhaps a little harsh, but although it had a couple of eerie moments, overall this fairly boring story didn’t capture me at all. I just found it pretty boring; Emma Thompson, however, is anything but.

Even though feeling obliged to like the story - as it’s considered to be one of the greatest gothic ghost stories ever written - I can’t really say that I did.

First of all, the writing style is awfully hard to follow and feels blown out of all proportions, even for a late 19th century text. Every little bit of suspense that may arise is immediately crushed beneath the bulky grammar and pretentious wording. 

Besides, I didn’t really understand the story’s point. Neither could I discern the “element of evil”, as Henry James himself put it in a foreword, nor did I find the children’s behavior particularly “bad” or “naughty” or “wretched”, as the protagonist pointed out repeatedly.

The most interesting thing about this novel may be the interpretation that it’s all happening in the governess’s head - which would make The Turn of the Screw to a very early psychological novel, but doesn’t change the fact that the characters and the storyline is annoyingly boring.

I did like the setting, though. It’s hard to mess with an old manor in the English countryside.

Nezumi

Even though feeling obliged to like the story - as it’s considered to be one of the greatest gothic ghost stories ever written - I can’t really say that I did.

First of all, the writing style is awfully hard to follow and feels blown out of all proportions, even for a late 19th century text. Every little bit of suspense that may arise is immediately crushed beneath the bulky grammar and pretentious wording. 

Besides, I didn’t really understand the story’s point. Neither could I discern the “element of evil”, as Henry James himself put it in a foreword, nor did I find the children’s behavior particularly “bad” or “naughty” or “wretched”, as the protagonist pointed out repeatedly.

The most interesting thing about this novel may be the interpretation that it’s all happening in the governess’s head - which would make The Turn of the Screw to a very early psychological novel, but doesn’t change the fact that the characters and the storyline is annoyingly boring.

I did like the setting, though. It’s hard to mess with an old manor in the English countryside.

“No, no—there are depths, depths! The more I go over it, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I fear. I don’t know what I don’t see—what I don’t fear!”
--
First of all, I would like to think that we have all learned enough from 19th century literature that it is NEVER a good idea to go to a neglected mansion as a governess, no matter how attractive and broody the master of the house may seem. Second of all, never put yourself in a situation where you must stay alone with 2 orphaned children in a big house in the country, especially when staff has left under mysterious circumstances before your arrival.

Now, on to the review part. Perhaps, my expectations for this book were too high, considering that Netflix has very recently made an adaptation of the book with a trailer that was enough to give me stress-nausea. However, this is not the case with the original text. And here is why:
- The writing is extremely adorned and wordy, with sentences that take up half the page. So many words, so little meaning.
- I really like spooky stories that make the reader question reality (are the apparitions real?? Or is it a figment of imagination?), but I really did not care in this case. The governess was just a shell of a character, with no personality or logic to her actions.
- Just how fast everything went from 0 to 100 over absolutely nothing. The main character goes into absolute hysteria over the most mundane things. A servant being friendly with children? Dear God! A letter has arrived from school? Dread for half a day. Two people have had an affair with their own consent and in discretion? Fetch my smelling salts. What next, a child being too well-behaved?????!!

Although its premise and setting were very good, the story itself was a bit over-dramatic and under-whelming with an abrupt ending.
Now, stay calm and slowly put down that thesaurus, James.

jack

this was no fun to read. not even an interesting ghost story, in my opinion. for all the overly wordy passages focused on the relationship between miles and the governess, james still somehow (hopefully accidentally?) implies she wants to fuck him. yikes!
only cool thing was the imagery used in her near addiction to becoming privy to the ghosts around her. using terms like “sealed off” reminds me of the way people fall into ideology. some parallels there. cool shit!
oh the opening frame was cool too!

henry james writes in such an ornate way that it’s kind of hard to be scared in the moment-to-moment of the book but it’s a wonderfully ambiguous and dense story that i’ll be thinking about for a while.

Mitch McGonegal

Briar's Reviews

The Turn of the Screw is a classic horror novel that will intrigue you and leave you utterly confused.

I had to read this for an English class, which let me tell ya is quite the delight. I liked hearing what the Professor had to say about this book because WOW. This book leaves the ending up to you (to a degree). It's not one of those books that has a clear cut ending. Honestly, I'm left more confused than I would like to be. I hate cliffhanger endings, so this book had me sitting all grumpy and annoyed.

So, we have these guys telling a story from a Governess a long time ago. The one guy might have loved her so already we may have an unreliable narrator on our hands. This guy starts telling the story that was written in a manuscript that has basically been hidden away for a long time. The woman, an untrained governess, goes to a mysterious house with two kids and some housekeepers there. She's to teach these kids well for the unseen Master and make them learn lots of stuff. That's all fine and dandy, right? Wrong.

Something is weird about this place. There may be ghosts, the kids are kinda weird and the main character is suspicious (insert Among Us quote here). What's the actual evil in this book? The creepy ghosts that may be actual ghosts or may just be this woman's imagination? Is there something supernatural in this place? Is the unnamed woman governess just actually crazy? Maybe the kids are evil and doing it to spite her! Who. Knows. Also, is Miles (the young boy) trying to sleep with his teacher? That's not weird or anything... He's like, 10. 

So, to go on, this governess wants to protect the kids but seems to be acting crazier and crazier. And, eventually everything turns sour and her protective ways aren't all that protecting.

What happened? You get to choose! It's like a choose your own ending novel because the book is very subjective. 

The most interesting part is: If you've read Jane Eyre, this book is an intertext. It actually references Jane Eyre a lot and uses a lot of the themes and devices it uses. An untrained Governess trying to teach a child (or children) while trying to please a master. Gothic inter texts are super cool and picking these two apart has been super fun. It's not something you'd pick up right away, which makes it way more interesting.

Overall, this spooky gothic tale is really interesting! The ending is very subjective depending on the other books you've read in the genre and how much of the references you pick up. 

Four out of five stars.

Daniel Kilby

For all its peripatetic syntax, the suspense certainly has me on the hook

Sage

Colleen

4 Stars

The Turn of the Screw isn’t the best written novel I’ve ever read, and yet there is something powerful beneath it. I can see the influence this novel has had on many works including  House of Leaves .
 
This is the story of a young woman at her first governess job. She has the care of two beautiful orphans. At first, she loses herself in the idyllic setting, lavishing love on the two angelic-looking children as they frolic about their country estate. But looks can be deceiving. And any modern reader will probably scream that a pretty face does not equal goodness inside. Soon she starts seeing two mysterious figures, and she realizes there is something unnatural about the children. And her sanity spirals as she realizes that she is alone at an isolated estate and possibly haunted by something dark. What’s really going on behind those innocent-looking little faces? Why was the eldest permanently expelled from his school? Are they haunted? Why did their guardian send them to such a remote place and order the governess never to contact him?


  “Of course I was under the spell, and the wonderful part is that, even at the time, I perfectly knew I was. But I gave myself up to it; it was an antidote to any pain, and I had more pains than one.”

The story is primarily written in epistolary form by the governess. And it is extremely text heavy. The paragraphs go on and on with little break. This might be one that would be better in audio format. And yet, this drawn-out stream of consciousness builds the story. It demonstrates the frantic state of mind of the narrator and adds to the questions looming in the story. What is real or unreal? Is she going insane?


  ““The summer had turned, the summer had gone; the autumn had dropped upon Bly and had blown out half our lights. The place, with its gray sky and withered garlands, its bared spaces and scattered dead leaves, was like a theater after the performance--all strewn with crumpled playbills.” 

I’ll admit, I had to look up some theories about the book before certain things made sense. But once I realized that this is more than some gothic ghost story, I had a total lightbulb moment. It is important to remember the time in which this was written. It was completely taboo to discuss so many things. Even today, people sweep things under the rug rather than admit those things do occur. James was quite crafty in sneaking something so controversial out.
 
The story is purposefully left teetering between two possibilities, and apparently the author refused to ever confirm which was “right.” This is a case where ambiguity worked well, although I certainly have my own theory. This book will probably seem tame compared to modern, gory horror stories. But despite the writing being dense at times, I did greatly enjoy The Turn of the Screw. It’s the kind of book that’s great to discuss, so if you’ve read it let me know!
 

RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

Henry James really said gaslight gatekeep girlboss 

Molly Lewis

Unreliable narrators? A story within a story? An ambiguous ending? Welcome to The Turn of the Screw.

A story, untrusted to a man, is told of a woman who became a governess for two children. The governess begins seeing apparitions and is convinced they're coming for the children. But what does she see? 

This story is tense and full of dread. And you don't know what happens or why. I think your interpretation of the story reveals a lot about the reader. It's unsettling and shows the genius of James as a writer.

Cheri McElroy

Unreliable narrators? A story within a story? An ambiguous ending? Welcome to The Turn of the Screw.

A story, untrusted to a man, is told of a woman who became a governess for two children. The governess begins seeing apparitions and is convinced they're coming for the children. But what does she see? 

This story is tense and full of dread. And you don't know what happens or why. I think your interpretation of the story reveals a lot about the reader. It's unsettling and shows the genius of James as a writer.

Kelsey Lynn

This is a book that should be read in one sitting. Maybe two. Regardless, time should not be taken when reading this story as I took. 

 I immediately had the desire to reread it in one sitting when I finished the book. It's classical writing and pacing caused me to lose myself and the story between sittings and have to get back in the groove. It's far to short to waste time getting back into the groove.

As a whole I enjoyed this novelette. It was well written and had an interesting plot. However I think I had been hoping for something eerier, more spooky, more jumps. Even though this is quiet in that department it does a great job at an unreliable narrator. It was a great example of the 'is the house haunted or is the person going crazy' idea.

A quick, interesting read that definetly deserves a reread when I have a day off.

Probably one of the best classics I’ve read as well as one of the best ghost stories. How James weaved this tale is incredible; he knew how to create the atmosphere of dread/eeriness while also giving beautifully in-depth descriptions of the setting and characters. A beautiful, terrifying ghost story. The only thing that keeps this from a 5-star review is the lengthiness of some of the paragraphs that tended to be a bit long-winded. 

Floofyflower

Dee B. 

Ashlyn

Are the ghosts real??? Or is the nanny a crazy lady??? The world may never know, but it's a super interesting read trying to figure it out!

Eliana Mor

I love that queer and gay mean different things now because that allows us to have that's wonderful lines: '“I doubt if I looked as queer as you!” she retorted with homely force.'
"the autumn air, bright and sharp, made the church-bells almost gay."

Stefano Gaudiano

Guido Crepax

This volume presents the text of the New York Edition of James's classic 1898 short novel along with critical essays that read "The Turn of the Screw" from contemporary reader-response, psychoanalytic, gender, and Marxist perspectives. An additional essay demonstrates how several critical perspectives can be combined. As in the first edition, the text and essays are complemented by biographical and critical introductions, bibliographies, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms. Two of the six essays are new to the second edition, as is a selection of cultural documents and illustrations.

Celeste Richardson

This is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. The only thing in its favor is its brevity. It’s opaque to the point of nonsensical, and so overly melodramatic that every single character was wholly unbelievable and unsympathetic. And don’t even get me started on that ending. I’d have been insanely pissed had I actually cared. If someone held a gun to my head and forced me to reread either this or Wuthering Heights, I wouldn’t even hesitate to pick Wuthering Heights despite its far greater page count. I still hate Joyce’s Ulysses more, but I’m not sure any book on the planet can usurp that one.

A spooky buddy read with my book twin, the lovely TS!

Anna Berg

3.5
Not great, but enjoyable. I had a hard time adapting to James’ writing style in the beginning, but I still found it more and more interesting as I flew through chapters.

Zoe Smolen

I’ll stick to reimaginings and adaptations.

The Turn of the Screw (Penguin Popular Classics)

Reviews

Highlights