The Observations

Critics

• Book Review: The Observations by Jane Harris Share

  After reading and reviewing Jane Harris’ latest novel, Gillespie and I, I became interested in Harris’ fresh writing style that I also learned that she came to the literary limelight via a critically acclaimed debut novel, The Observations. I read th ... (read full critics)

  blogcritics published on Sat, 10 Mar 2012

• Dear God, it was a gobaloon!

  The Observations by Jane Harris 415pp, Faber, £12.99 Literary fashions enjoy a longer shelf life than one would imagine in a culture so versed in instant gratification. Eight years after the publication of Sarah Waters's Tipping the Velvet, contempor ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

3 Reviews

• 2 people find this helpful

  *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

  Scotland, 1863. The Observations is the story of 15 year old Bessy Buckley who takes a job as a maid in a big house. She is puzzled by her employer's increasingly strange requests and her insistence that Bessy keep a journal. Although it is a fairly tragic story (with a relatively happy ending consi ... (continue)

  Scotland, 1863. The Observations is the story of 15 year old Bessy Buckley who takes a job as a maid in a big house. She is puzzled by her employer's increasingly strange requests and her insistence that Bessy keep a journal. Although it is a fairly tragic story (with a relatively happy ending considering), I thoroughly enjoyed the writing which reflects a number of different language and style registers.

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  wgeddert said on Dec 24, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  This book was OK, but didn't live up to the hype and I'm afraid I struggled to finish its hefty 521 pages. I found that the writer, much in the style of Dickens, never used one word when she could use twenty-five. For instance when there was a turn in the plot, the plot just didn't justify it's long ... (continue)

  This book was OK, but didn't live up to the hype and I'm afraid I struggled to finish its hefty 521 pages. I found that the writer, much in the style of Dickens, never used one word when she could use twenty-five. For instance when there was a turn in the plot, the plot just didn't justify it's long drawn out explanations. She told us something, then she told us again, and just in case we didn't understand the significance of the happening she told us yet again.

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  Lunarossa said on Jul 22, 2009 about the Paperback edition | 1 feedback

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  Reminded me of Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters. But where Fingersmith is a bit of a gothic fairytale, this was written in a much more tongue-in-cheek way. Thoroughly enjoyable.

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  annemarie said on May 9, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (35)
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• English Books
• Others 544 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0571275613
• ISBN-13: 9780571275618
• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Pub date: Jan 01, 2012
• Also available as: Paperback, Hardcover and eBook

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