The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
This is my second Henry James and I didn’t like The Wings of the Dove any better than I liked the first one (Golden Bowl). James writes narrative with so many commas and qualifications that you need a road map to follow it, e.g:
She felt, consideringly, and with great emotion, but not withstanding her other, deeper, feelings, that she, but not he, might, perhaps, feel the same.
He writes dialogue intentionally to be vague. Apparently this is art. People aren’t always clear and honest. True. But they do tend to actually say things and not just hint at them. Typical Jamesian dialogue:
“You mean?”
“Exactly.”
“I can’t help but feel that she’s . . . “
“Extraordinary?”
“Extraordinary.”
“And so it’s obvious that . . . “
“I know.”
Who? What? Somewhere in all this meandering narrative and dialogue, a plot emerges. It’s helpful to read the synopsis on the back of the book so that you’ll recognize it when you see it. The plot was a little sick – this girl is dying (of what we’ll never know) and she’s extraordinary (because she’s rich, as near as I can figure) and her best friend, who’s also extraordinary (for her ability to read minds and communicate by telepathy apparently) gets her secret fiancee (who takes order by telepathy as long as she ponies up the sex) to make up to the rich, dying girl so they (the two poor lovers) can get her money. What makes it sick is that they’re all so marvelously sure that everyone is marvelous and acting marvelously. I nearly expected them to get away with it and live happily ever after, content with how marvelously they had acted to such an extraordinary girl. I’m glad to say that didn’t happen.
At the very end you find out that perhaps all this hinting and not saying what you mean may have meant something, in that things weren’t as rosy as they were all pretending. Or maybe you don’t find that out. Even when they’re having it out they do it vaguely:
“So then you don’t?”
“I couldn’t.”
“But what about?”
“Exactly.”
I’m sad to say that there’s still one more James to go.
FYI, all examples were made up, but only because I’m too lazy to quote from the actual book. I swear it’s just like that.