Share Organize Explore

has ALL you need!

A community for book lovers to create their own bookshelves, share and explore books.

Blog this item

The Portrait of a Lady

(Penguin modern classics)

By Henry James

(91)

| Paperback | 9780140019216

Google Preview

Book Description

When Isabel Archer, a young American with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as "a place of brightness," full of possibility. Rejecting suitors who offer her wealth and devotion, she follows her own path and finds it leads to a dark and constricted future. The PortrContinue

7 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

Where I fell in love with Henry James. Isabel Archer is drawn in such loving detail, such complexity, set against such a wonderfully vivid setting. This book is a joy to read.

Is this helpful?

― Martinbenedick said on Jun 1, 2007 | Add your feedback

I loved it when I read so many years ago I still have fond memories of James's prose here...

Is this helpful?

― Inaeugenia said on Dec 17, 2009 | Add your feedback

E riproviamoci, mio caro James.

Terzo che leggo di H.J., al momento il migliore (costui era un genio della sceneggiatura!), però per carità, vado un capitolo alla volta, anche meno.

Is this helpful?

― Vera Matta said on Nov 21, 2009 | Add your feedback

La capacità di analisi di James raggiunge una delle sue vette più alte, in un libro che riesce a catturare anche le pieghe del femminino dell'epoca... cosa che non è riuscito al film, rozzo e banale.

Is this helpful?

― Omar Martini said on Sep 4, 2009 | Add your feedback

un capolavoro

Is this helpful?

― Mocama said on Aug 12, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Wonderful character studies, smart dialogue, and an in depth look at human feeling. The imagery was gorgeous and the writing poetic. I liked Isabel Archer at first, but her cold manner of treating 2 men who were in love with her was a bit upsetting. She started off as a strong character, but she foo ... (continue)

Wonderful character studies, smart dialogue, and an in depth look at human feeling. The imagery was gorgeous and the writing poetic. I liked Isabel Archer at first, but her cold manner of treating 2 men who were in love with her was a bit upsetting. She started off as a strong character, but she foolishly let herself get manipulated. Isabel chose her husband mostly because her relatives opposed it (never a good idea). The examination of her married life and her husband’s cold personality was horrible. Ralph was my favorite character because of his wit. His conversations with Isabel towards the end of the book were very emotional.
ISABEL QUOTES:
“I have always been intensely determined to be happy, and I have often believed I should be…but it comes over me every now and then that I can never be happy in any extraordinary way; not by turning away, by separating myself from life. From the usual chances and dangers, from what most people know and suffer.”
“No I don’t wish to touch the cup of experience. It’s a poisoned drink! I only want to see for myself.”
“I try to judge things for myself; to judge wrong, I think, is more honorable than not to judge at all. I don’t wish to be a mere sheep in the flock; I wish to choose my fate and know something of human affairs beyond what other people think it compatible with propriety to tell me.”

Is this helpful?

― MoirneStark said on Jul 19, 2009 | Add your feedback

See all 7 comments

Book Details

Rating:
(91)
- 4 stars
- 3 stars
- 2 stars
- 1 star
English Books
Paperback 592 Pages
ISBN-10: 0140019219
ISBN-13: 9780140019216
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Pub date: Sep 30, 1975
Dimensions: 18 cm x 13 cm x 3 cm Just how big is that?
Also available as: Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, Library Binding and Others
In other languages:
- Ritratto di signora
  (Libri Italiani)