Diagnosed by her physician husband with a “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency” after the birth of her child, a woman is urged to rest for the summer in an old colonial mansion. Forbidden from doing work of any kind, she spends her days in the house’s former nursery, with its barred windows, scratched floor, and peeling yellow wallpaper.
In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid” wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness.
A condemnation of the patriarchy, The Yellow Wallpaper explores with terrifying economy the oppression, grave misunderstanding, and willful dismissal of women in late nineteenth-century society
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
(1892)
Narrated by: Cynthia Erivo
THE YELLOW WALPAPER is only 40 minutes long and its length is not honest.
It is much more impactful than the short duration would imply.
A woman who has just given birth is made to rest over the course of a summer in the nursery which has horrid yellow wallpaper. It is an accounting of climaxing madness.
She feels trapped both physically and mentally. Its descriptions are explicit and terrifying.
I’m currently reading a book about the perils of postpartum depression (THE NURSERY BY Szilvia Molnar) and it drew me to this book. Look for that review coming out early next week. It is amazing the parallels between the two novels and the length of time between them being published are both sad and astonishing.
The only difference is that THE YELLOW WALLPAPER is speaking in metaphors whereas THE NURSERY it is much more descriptive and declarative.
There is a dynamic between the narrator and her husband in THE YELLOW WALLPAPER that adds to her perilous situation and a similarly frightening dynamic exists in the book BEHIND HER EYES by Sarah Pinborough so check that book out if these themes interest you.
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER is short but efficient and I recommend you check it out.
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Madame Bovary is the debut novel of French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. When the novel was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, public prosecutors attacked the novel for obscenity. The resulting trial in January 1857 made the story notorious. After Flaubert’s acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller in April 1857 when it was published in two volumes. A seminal work of literary realism, the novel is now considered Flaubert’s masterpiece, and one of the most influential literary works in history.
The Therapist
B.A. Paris
This is B.A. Paris’s fifth book and the fifth one I’ve read. BRING ME BACK was a disaster as far as I was concerned, so I was curious where Paris would go with this one. Psychological thrillers are my absolute favorite books to read. When the storyline involves an actual mental health professional, it piques my curiosity even more. There are so many dark avenues to navigate when talking about characters who explore other people’s minds.
In This book, however, there was a bit of mirror play. Overall, I believe Paris was really expressing the narrative of boundaries and that came through in different plot lines and in several of the dynamics of the characters. I found this book to be extremely consumable, with enough going on that I was continuously interested and relatively satisfied with the book as a whole.
The biggest problem that I have with the writing is that I really felt Paris was again over-explaining, re-hashing too much, Internal dialogue mimicking external dialogue. It creates unnecessary lulls and times where I’m rolling my eyes screaming, “get on with it already.”
Paranoia is often an annoying personality trait to play out with a character while reading a book. And on the opposite side of the spectrum, avoidance of red flags and general apathetic regard for the truth and obvious signs are even more annoying. Paris possibly pushed it to the limit from time to time during this book.
Overall, super entertaining!
Four Stars
So glad I was able to get my hands on an early copy thanks to @netgalley and #macmillanaudio
Check out #netgalley for your advanced copy; request today!
The Turn of the Screw is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James that first appeared in serial format in Collier’s Weekly magazine (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898 it appeared in The Two Magics, a book published by Macmillan in New York City and Heinemann in London.
A very young woman’s first job: governess for two weirdly beautiful, strangely distant, oddly silent children, Miles and Flora, at a forlorn estate… An estate haunted by a beckoning evil. Half-seen figures who glare from dark towers and dusty windows- silent, foul phantoms who, day by day, night by night, come closer, ever closer. With growing horror, the helpless governess realizes the fiendish creatures want the children, seeking to corrupt their bodies, possess their minds, own their souls. But worse-much worse- the governess discovers that Miles and Flora have no terror of the lurking evil. For they want the walking dead as badly as the dead want them.
THE TURN OF THE SCREW
Henry James
(1898)
Narrator: Emma Thompson
If I said that I understood 75% of this book I would be exaggerating. It seems to be written in a different language. It was more that I felt what was going on than knew. The author seemed focused on certain details pertaining to one of her hires’ experiences at school, exhaustively so, and I didn’t understand the context or know why that was so important and highly focused on.
I’d love it in the comments if we could start a discussion. Have you read this book? Do you know why this is focused on?
This book is probably the most prototypically gothic book I’ve ever read. The threat and horror are more implied, and emotions are high in regard to actual risk.
I listened to this in audiobook format and the narrator’s performance was superb and contributed to my enjoyment of the book. The dialogue between the two main characters was extra special.
I did not know that The House of Bly Manor was based on THE TURN OF THE SCREW and when it finally dawned on me I regretted not paying attention more to the show.
I’m planning on watching a different version of the adaption, hopefully, one I haven’t seen, to see how it compares against the book.
If you are looking for a modern take on THE TURN OF THE SCREW Ruth Ware did a great retelling of sorts called THE TURN OF THE KEY, which I recommend as well.
Classics reading tip #2: Slow down your narration speed on your audiobook if any material you are listening to is harder to understand than usual. You can always speed it up over the course of time.
