Henry James - The Turn of the Screw

"It is supposed to be a 'ghost' 'story' but is neither a story nor is it about ghosts ... Apparently it's a must for the GRE, but do not be mistaken. It is the most un-literary thing I have ever listened to. And there is no screw."


"Henry James over uses the English language with an onslaught of fluffy words that waters down the text, diminishing any hint of fright or suspense. He uses words excessively, saying close to nothing. Nearly all of the writing was very vague and foggy."


"This book had an original plot, but was weird, in a strange way."


"Henry James, and many others from his generation, writes in such a way that I have to really think about each sentence to comprehend it. Not what I want from a book. Too many commas in each sentence."


"I've just finished reading this story and feel as if I've wasted 3 months of my life!"


"This book was like the movie The Others, but this was terrible."


"Spoiler alert: governess comes, master leaves, kids act weird, ghosts appear, no one knows what is happening or who to believe. You be the judge. That is the entire book and I wrote it in ONE sentence."


"Not worth wading through the archaic verse. Disappointing"


"Is all Henry James this hard to read? The sentences are so long with so many commas, I have to re-read sentences to get the meaning sometimes. I'm not a fan of books that make me feel dumb. I'll give it a little while longer.

Eh, couldn't finish. I started counting the commas, I got up to 9 in a single sentence! I find it hard to believe that that's correct grammer, but it must be I guess."


"OK, you see, the thing is, this was required reading for a Senior Writing Seminar. I was told that this was scary. Hmm, tlet me think... uh, no. Boring."


"Now maybe ghost sightings themselves were enough to give a shiver at the time TOTS was written, but in the age of Stephen King and Clive Barker, mere apparitions just aren't much of a challenge."


"So, I just finished The Turn of the Screw and found Henry James' writing to be agonizingly verbose bordering on pretentious. I think I'm officially out of the Brit Lit phase."


"This is the hardest book I've ever read."