We Bury the Woman in White

Hello, my dears!  I think the occasion calls for a drumroll. 

And perhaps some cymbals would be handy to show that the drumroll finished.

The grand news is... I have finished reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins!  Alas, it has certainly been a long and arduous journey, and I guess that you've been a bit starved for quotes in bygone times - I admit it's not a terribly quotable book.  But anyhow, I sat in bed this morning and devoured the last few chapters.

It starts beautifully, and in the opening chapters, the characters are vibrant and endearing, Pesca, especially, bouncing off the pages in a refreshingly tangible fashion.  But somewhere in the following 400 pages, the tension drops so drastically that although the reader is aware of a mystery, the pace isn't quick enough to tighten the slackening thread.  It's tolerable reading, every now and again peaking into a spike of renewed suspense, but overall not hugely exciting. 

It gradually picks up, and in the last 200 pages or so, the narrative grows back to its original intrigue, until in the last 50 pages etcetera, it's frustratingly suspenseful.  And the ending!  Well, I think that ending is perfect, and left me with a sense that the whole trudging journey was completely worth while.  I suppose it takes a great ending like that to sting you with how deeply you have connected with the characters without even knowing!

I think that the highlight of the book, though, is, pretty well without rival, the character of Count Fosco.  I could not possibly describe him to you without snatching the words straight out of the book.  Meeting him is really an experience that needs to be lived personally to be fully understood.  I certainly don't have time to throw together even a revoltingly crude idea of him!  He is horrible but so real, nearly nightmarishly real.  Sickly sweet and intense, he is.  Wow.  I am really biting down the realisation of how incredible the experience was. 

Alright, in a nut shell, the book as a whole was amazing, parts of the book were boring, the characters were brilliant, and The Moonstone, Wilkie's second book, is so much better. 

Hm.  Kind of contradictory. 

Uuggh!  I don't have the time to explain better!  I'm going to get out Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy tomorrow after my exam block so that's obviously exciting.  I just hope that even though it's iconic and sounds quirky, it doesn't end up as a face-plant into modern-literature vomit.  I can't be bothered!  On the bright side, though, the guy who plays Andrew Dent (the main character) in the movie, is Martin Freeman, the guy who plays Watson in the BBC series, Sherlock, and oh how I loved his portrayal of my favourite character!  Anyway!  Rambling!  Time to go.  Take care!