Henry James - Daisy Miller

"As Michael Crichton said about Henry James, 'I can't stand Henry James. His stuff reads like a first draft.'"


"The dialect consistently switches European languages, making reading difficult. The author also on a consistent basis lapses into descriptions of Daisy which, if anything, detract from the intentions of Henry James. Also, the characters switch languages in the middle of sentences."


"The fact that it's a 'classic' should only be taken to mean that the language 'sounds' 'classic' in the most dull, stereotypical sense."


"O dearest Henry James. Why art thou so wordy?!"


"This Giovanelli fellow comes across to me as a homosexual, I can't simply understand him. Even though during the 19th century there was never any exposed human contact between an unmarried couple per se but still I cannot see them marrying each other. Thank God they never did. No, Giovanelli to me would be Daisy's unhired stylist and gay acquaintance there by the reason for them spending so much time together but still no engagement. End of story."


"This book made me depressed while reading it because most people know the emptiness inside how it feels to be lead on. All i could do while reading is to sympathize for Winterborne who had strong feelings for Daisy but she teased him. I can understand that if you realling want someone, then you will have to fight for their heart, but knowing Daisy's personality, it's sick. I learned to respect other peoples emotions and be honest with them instead of torturing them inside for the possibility for love."


"I shiver when I hear 'Henry James', convulse at the book cover, and gag at the prospect of ever touching the cursed pages again."


"The underlying message is she got what she deserved because she was not a good girl."


"I didn't like Daisy at all, she was an attention-seeker and she deserved to be criticized."


"There is no protagonist I wished harm on MORE than Daisy Miller. I hated her from the moment I met her and then continually hated her throughout the whole book. She's stubborn, stuck up, flirtatious but in that annoying way that just makes her a frilly childish nuisance, she's uneducated, rude, culturally insensitive and honestly boring ... SHE'S AN IMMATURE EMPTY-HEADED COQUETTE (one of the terms from the class that forced me to read this book). I felt like her stupidity wins her EXACTLY what she deserved at the end of this book. I actually felt relief knowing that the narrator is saved from his own idiotic attraction to this woman."


"DAISY MILLER is part of my 'appetizer' book series for my pre-IB kids in 2011 ... it is the kind of 'girl book' I am loathe to teach...."