Wilkie Collins

[historybuff234]

Hey everybody, this summer I have decided to order a bunch of books and read them over the summer. Some of them are by Wilkie Collins, I am for sure reading The Moonstone. I am debating about reading The Woman in White, I am wondering if anyone here can tell me if it is a book. It sounds very good, but I want to know what your opinions are. Also what is The Woman in White about?

[Melissa_W Moderator]

The Woman in White is considered a mid-Victorian forerunner to the modern mystery/thriller novel, as is The Moonstone. The title refers to the character of Anne Catherick who has a strange preference for dressing entirely in white. The main storyline concerns the drawing teacher Walter Hartwright, who is engaged to teach Laura Fairlie (and by extension her half-sister Marian Halcombe) at Limmeridge House. Walter and Laura fall in love, but as it happens in Victorian novels, things go awry and badly, too. It's tough to give a concise picture of the book because plot elements are very easily given away.

TWIW was originally published in installments, much like Dickens, and the novel's true fascination lies in the fact that the point-of-view of the novel shifts depending on who is telling the story - Walter, Marian, the housekeeper, the family lawyer, Mr. Fairlie, Count Fosco, etc. Any one of them can be complicit in the rather shady turns of the plot, so the reader must decide which character is truthful and which is lying.

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historybuff234 wrote:
Hey everybody, this summer I have decided to order a bunch of books and read them over the summer. Some of them are by Wilkie Collins, I am for sure reading The Moonstone. I am debating about reading The Woman in White, I am wondering if anyone here can tell me if it is a book. It sounds very good, but I want to know what your opinions are. Also what is The Woman in White about?

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[katknit]

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historybuff234 wrote:
Hey everybody, this summer I have decided to order a bunch of books and read them over the summer. Some of them are by Wilkie Collins, I am for sure reading The Moonstone. I am debating about reading The Woman in White, I am wondering if anyone here can tell me if it is a book. It sounds very good, but I want to know what your opinions are. Also what is The Woman in White about?

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Collins is considered the originator of the English murder mystery genre. Moonstone and Woman in White are both very good. I think you'll like them.

[CathieG]

Hi,

     I have just stumbled on to Wilkie Collins myself.  I read The Woman in White and immediately picked up seven more of his novels and short stories.  Who is the woman in white? Well, you will have to read it to find out.  I can tell you this was the best historically dated mystery I have ever read.  The characters and stories he creates are absolutely amazing.  I'd be interested to hear how you your opinion is once you finish it.

-CathieG

[Everyman]

I read TWIW a few years ago in serial form, as it was published, having to wait a week for each episode just as the original readers had to. It was a fascinating reading experience, very different from being able to read the story straight through in a few days.

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CathieG wrote:

Hi,

I have just stumbled on to Wilkie Collins myself. I read The Woman in White and immediately picked up seven more of his novels and short stories. Who is the woman in white? Well, you will have to read it to find out. I can tell you this was the best historically dated mystery I have ever read. The characters and stories he creates are absolutely amazing. I'd be interested to hear how you your opinion is once you finish it.

-CathieG

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[butterfly30]

I just read the Woman In White.  It was really a great read.  As I was reading it, some parts I thought there wasn't any point to and I thought it kinda went on  and on at some points but in the end, you needed to know everything to understand the story.

[basson_mommy12]

I just bought "Woman in White" myself. Well, actually, I bought it with a gift card after Christmas, but I haven't had a chance to get to it yet. I read "The Moonstone" in high school. Dickens and Collins were contemporaries. Writers of the time were paid by the page, so if it was possible to draw something out, they would. No lacking for detail, this was not an age of minimalism in the craft of writing. I will probably approach it in the serial way: perhaps read two or three chapters and read something else for a week, until I'm done. Sounds like fun! I tend to read 2 or 3 books at a time, anyway, not including audio books.

[CousinMary]

I started Woman in White and I have to admit I didn't care for it much.  The Marian character seemed very down on women and I was a little irked by a lot of what came out of her mouth.  The story other than that was good, but sometimes when something bothers you enough it ruins the whole experience.