" I must first report that this is the type of book that you finish and feel a sense of accomplishment. I had attempted to read this book once before about 8 months ago and after about 50 pages, gave it up, promising that I would read it someday. It is not a light read that you pick up when you only have a few minutes to delve in; nor is it one that you read when there are distractions around. It is dense. It's density comes not necessarily from the plot, characterization, or themes and ideas expressed, rather from James's style. This book is comprised of what seems to be the stream of consciousness style of writing where thoughts are long and winding. It is common for a thought to be interrupted by side details and descriptions and then returned to. Thus as the reader I frequently had to will myself to come back and focus. Paragraphs often go longer than just one page providing you with little chance to stop and regroup. I found myself having to re-read pages two or three times to figure out what was the super important thing James was even trying to get at. Thus while his style causes problems for the reader (or at least for me) it is also his strength as it is uniquely him.
The story had a little of the Cruel Intentions vibe (although that movie is based off of Dangerous Liaisons) in that certain characters while maintaining the appearance of being moral and good are working together against the true goodness and innocence that is Milly Theale.
The book exudes strong statements about innocence (and the needed protection of it) and the difference between actual goodness and the appearance of it. Milly Theale is goodness through and through (though somewhat irritating to me, I dunno why). Merton Densher is the character who appears to be in crisis and cannot commit to be wholly bad and submissive to the woman he loves, nor can he be wholly good and earn her scorn. At last there is Kate Croy who at once is a victim of her circumstances and yet the masterful manipulator of them.
All this to say that this is a book that everyone probably should read because James is a masterful writer, but everyone probably won't read because of the slow moving plot and his verbose style. I doubt I would ever exude the effort to re-read this book. Thus I really felt like I couldn't give this more than three stars, if only it were possible to give half a star. "
— Kathryn, 2/1/2014