Finished: The Portrait of a Lady (James). Beautifully written, but a disappointing ending. I have been looking forward to reading another James novel since reading Washington Square, which I enjoyed, and it took me a while to settle on this one. I gave the first 30 pages of The Wings of the Dove a try and felt as if Henry James was trying to out-Joyce James Joyce in his extremely confusing, winding, prose in that book. I settled on The Portrait of a Lady, and I'm certainly not disappointed in the beautiful writing. I think James is wonderful when he's more direct. I love the deep descriptions of the characters, their motivations, and their feelings. Their dialogues are also natural and witty when called for. His descriptions of each location also take the reader directly to that spot...especially if you've been there, like I have to Florence, Rome, and London. It was nice to "go back there" again. :-)

However, I'm truly disappointed in the ending of the book. After spending 600 pages wanting the heroine, Isabel Archer, to finally realize the mistake she made in her marriage to Gilbert Osmond, instead the ending is very confusing and ambiguous. I can't tell if Isabel ran back to Rome to be with the unloving Osmond, or if she went back to Rome to confront Osmond and end her marriage, or if her friend Henrietta was lying and she didn't go back at all. And that kiss with Caspar?? What the heck was that? I wanted so much for Isabel to realize that she truly loved Lord Warburton, not Caspar!! It was heartbreaking when Isabel turned down the marriage proposal of Lord Warbutron, but she was right to do so at the time because they had just met and she still wanted to experience the world. It wasn't so heartbreaking (to me) when she turned down Caspar's proposal in America, before traveling to Europe, because again, she was young and wanted to experience the world. Caspar chased her all over the world, though, and until the end, still pressured her. Lord Warburton, though he persisted a bit in the beginning, loved her more from afar...but still loved her, I'm pretty sure. He was always right there, willing to pick the pieces if only she had let him. What's more...I'm more than certain that she loved him all those years as well. Alas, a very disappointing ending.

And...of course...a disappointing middle, when Isabel actually gave up her directive against marriage so young and ended up marrying the deceitful Gilbert Osmond, who married her only for her money! I wanted so much to love the character of Isabel Archer, and I did at first. But, when she threw everything away to marry Gilbert and then to stay in the loveless marriage because it was her obligation to live out whatever plight she'd gotten herself into, then her character deteriorated. She lost her spark, her ingenuity, her spirit for adventure, and her spirit as a character. I did love her cousin Ralph Touchett. He was a young, interesting man who spent the entire novel dying of consumption. He adored Isabel and insisted his father leave half of his fortune to Isabel when his father died so that Isabel could travel the world as she desired and take in all the experiences she could. Giving her the wealth, however, is what attracted the lecherous Gilbert Osmond (and his equally deceptive friend Madame Merle) to the unsuspecting Isabel. Soon, Ralph regretted his decision since the wealth had the opposite affect of what he intended, trapping Isabel in a controlling, prison-like marriage. The scene between Ralph and Isabel towards the end of the book, on Ralph's deathbed was heartbreaking, but I hoped it would finally open Isabel's eyes that she needed to escape her marriage and find happiness with Lord Warburton. Then...blah....the dumb, ambiguous ending. Sigh. Oh well, I'll just have to imagine what I felt happened. I guess everyone can't write a Jane Austen ending. :-)

A few of my favorite phrases:

   Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. There are circumstances in which, whether you partake of the teat or not--some people of course never do,--the situation is in itself delightful. 

When Isabel first meets Lord Warburton and wants to stay in the room and chat with him and her cousin Ralph without Ralph's mother being the room. Mrs. Touchett finds this inappropriate and lets the innocent Isabel know this. I love Isabel's answer at the end:

   "Of course you're vexed at my interfering with you," said Mrs. Touchett.
   Isabel considered. "I'm not vexed, but I'm surprised--and a good deal mystified. Wasn't it proper I should remain in the drawing room?"
   "Not in the least. Young girls here---in decent houses--don't sit alone with gentlemen late at night."
   "You were very right to tell me then," said Isabel. "I don't understand it, but I'm very glad to know it."
   "I shall always tell you," her aunt answered, "whenever I see you taking what seems to me too much liberty."
   "Pray do; but I don't say I shall always think your remonstrance just."
   "Very likely not. You're too fond of your own ways."
   "Yes, I think I'm very fond of them. But I always want to know the things one shouldn't do."
   "So as to do them?" asked her aunt.
   "So as to choose," said Isabel.

When Isabel is first introduced to Gilbert Osmond by Madame Merle, Madame Merle wants so much for Isabel to impress him. Isabel is aware of this fact, and bristles at the idea. I wish she'd kept this independence and spunk throughout the book!

   There was something in the visitor that checked her and held her in suspense--made it more important she should get an impression of him than that she should produce one herself. Besides, she had little skill in producing an impression which she knew to be expected: nothing could be happier, in general, than to seem dazzling, but she had a perverse unwillingness to glitter by arrangement.