The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

The Turn of the Screw

By Henry James

  • Release Date: 1916-01-01
  • Genre: Classics
Score: 3.5
3.5
From 677 Ratings

Description

In this blood-curdling story, that imagination weaves the lives of two children, a governess in love with her employer, and a sprawling country house into a flawless story, still unsurpassed as the prototype of modern horror fiction.

Reviews

  • My Wife and I Read This to Each Other While Sick in Bed

    5
    By decrevco
    My wife was seriously ill and recovering from surgery and I was convalescing from having two strokes. We lay in bed and took turns reading this to each other over two or three nights. It was the last book my wife read before she passed. It’s a great ghost story that we both enjoyed. It holds a special place in my heart, not only because of its sentimental value but also because it was a much needed respite/escape from being sick and anxious.
  • “Turn Of The Screw”

    5
    By Female Marine Combat Veteran
    I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I had read this in college and had mostly forgotten it. When I had the opportunity I watched one of the films based upon the book. I was curious to know how much had been changed, altered, and/or omitted. This was the impetus for me to re~read the book. I highly recommend this story.
  • Fantastic writing.

    5
    By ábacocacao
    A must.
  • confused and disappointed

    1
    By jesus_freak_22
    I had to read this book for a literature class and I have to say that I am a person who loves books and has a very high reading level but I can not for the life of me understand the plot. The writing is all over the place and the characters are vague and not introduced very well. Not to mention the 19th century vocabulary which is a battle all on its own.
  • Confused

    2
    By kayla tate
    This book had a couple of great details , but I was more so confused with the plot of the book. I felt that some parts were all over the place. They never really introduce certain characters , they simply speak about them and you as the reader have to figure out who they are and what the connection is. I also felt it was much unnecessary detail and took too long to get to the actual story line. I just wanted a little bit more from this “horror fiction”.
  • Turn of the Screw

    4
    By Sloswimmer
    It is difficult to read the prose style of Henry James. Long, windy sentences with many parenthetical phrases. But the plot is so engaging that I read through to the tragic end.
  • The turn of the screw

    3
    By trees360
    Sloppy sloppy
  • Fell Asleep Reading It

    3
    By Emma8432
    It's not as good as Daisy Miller. I think Henry James should have elaborated more on Quint and Jessel. They were supposedly evil but why? There were subtle hints but nothing really concrete. Kind of confusing because of that.
  • Interesting, but...

    3
    By Spacelover17
    The plot was quite intriguing, and kept me on my toes the whole time. The writing could get long-winded sometimes, and it was a bit difficult to understand sometimes (Dickens-esque), but if you get past that (rereading or skimming and skipping), the plot keeps you going and wondering. However, there were too many loose ends for my liking, and the characters remained a mystery. I know that the author purposely did that, that it was his style for the novel, but I just don't like that personally. I would've liked to know at least the children better and had a bit more of a conclusive ending. All in all, it's worth a read, but if you like everything to be neatly tied up, this isn't the book for you.
  • Good read

    4
    By Leonidas4444:-)
    I read this book for an author assignment as a Junior, and I have to say there were times when it gave me goosebumps, but for the most part, it was kind of hard to get through, especially at parts where there was not a lot going on. James's extensive vocabulary makes busy use of the "define" feature on my iPad, and the ending has you looking up a summary of what the heck just happened. Despite all this, it was a good book to indulge in, and had the perfect feel of a classic ghost story.

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