Paperback, 104 pages
English language
Published March 28, 2007 by Dodo Press.
With a decaying Venetian villa as a backdrop, an anonymous narrator relates his obsessive quest for the personal documents of a deceased Romantic poet, one Jeffrey Aspern. Led by his mission into increasingly unscrupulous behavior, he is ultimately faced with relinquishing his heart's desire or attaining it at an overwhelming price.
A classic, gothic horror novella that makes use of ambiguity to build suspense and make the story intriguing.
3/5
I had a really tough time with this book and I am very glad it was not very long and I read it in one sitting. The prose is very difficult to get through but I was able to at least get the atmosphere and the general vibe of what was trying to be conveyed.
There were certainly many spooky parts to the book and I think there were some great passages in there as well but there were also large sections I just had no real idea of what was happening. The ending too was rather abrupt and I almost thought I had somehow missed a part of the book.
Overall I’m not entirely sure of the overall meaning behind the story but I do think that it was able to capture a certain dread and terror as the ghosts come and go haunting the woman and the …
3/5
I had a really tough time with this book and I am very glad it was not very long and I read it in one sitting. The prose is very difficult to get through but I was able to at least get the atmosphere and the general vibe of what was trying to be conveyed.
There were certainly many spooky parts to the book and I think there were some great passages in there as well but there were also large sections I just had no real idea of what was happening. The ending too was rather abrupt and I almost thought I had somehow missed a part of the book.
Overall I’m not entirely sure of the overall meaning behind the story but I do think that it was able to capture a certain dread and terror as the ghosts come and go haunting the woman and the eerie ignorance of the children.
A good old-fashioned ghost story.
Or is it?
Ghosts that the governess can see and that the children can't. Or can they?
As is his wont, James doesn't explicitly say. You have to read between the lines and guess at what was left unsaid. Compounded by being told third-hand and originating with a narrator who is young, naive and impressionable at best. And at worst the cause of all of the disorders of the household.
Despite all of James' typical tortured sentences, the conclusion of this book was simple, clear, and stunning. It left me breathless.
