Montag, 23. April 2012

The Woman in White Part II&III

First off: I didn't post last Monday because I did not read the part of the book we were required to read. Yes, shame on me. The only excuse I can produce for not following the schedule of the in all likelihood most hilarious Readathon ever is that I was so busy I hardly had time to breathe.
But if I had know how thrilling this book would become I might have neglected that horrendously overestimated activity in order to read.
Anyway, since I didn't do that this post is going to consist of my thoughts for both parts, wildly mingled of course.

Remember how I said that I couldn't quite warm towards Marian? Delete that without replacement.
Marian is awesome! I am probably the last person in the world to have this revelation, but I have to announce it  nonetheless: Whenever she is moaning about how weak and useless women in general are, she isn't talking about real women at all but about the Victorian ideal of women, which is weak and useless.
There is no obstacle for my belated Marian-Love anymore!

On the whole I am amazed how the characters have changed for the better. I even (shock ahead...please don't faint!) missed Walter Hartright when he was not the narrator anymore and now that he's back I find him neither naive nor annoying anymore. As usual a good, old, potentially deadly expedition to Central America works miracles for the character.
I am also amazed at Laura's amount of own, free thinking and in the (priceless) scene where she refused to sign Sir Percival's secret document she even proved to have a backbone.
To sum it up, Marian is no sexist monster, Walter Hartright no harmless pet and Laura no puppet anymore.
So far so good, but does anyone else miss Professor Pesca?

My favourite scenes were those which sent a shiver down my spine: reading the last entry in Marian's diary, written in Fosco's hand and discovering, in Mrs. Michelson's narrative that Marian had never left Blackwater Park and Laura had been trapped. Wilkie certainly has a talent for creepy writing, even if Laura's "death" was not so impressive for me. There had already been so much delusion and the death of a very important character was described so unemotional that I didn't believe her to be dead for one second.
Thank God I was right, I would have felt endlessly stupid otherwise!

I am rather sad that Anne Catherick has died, I had so many hopes of getting better acquainted with her. I won't admit say that I would have prefered Laura's death, but I am certainly disappointed that we will see no more of The Woman in White. She was so interesting! And completely sane. I will stick to that unless someone can prove me otherwise.

Don't look so innocent, I saw through you all the time!

Oh, and Count Fosco is a matter all of its own. While I found him highly amusing in the beginning, I am now thoroughly afraid of him. Seriously. He is unpredictable and therefore terrifies me.
Good, I only have Marian's feelings to guide me, so perhaps it is natural that he is scaring me, but the extent to which this goes is rather extraordinary:
I had a nightmare in which he hunted me down with his birds and wanted to kill me, all the time praising his cockatoo for being such a 'sweety-sweety-sweet, clever little thing!'.

8 Kommentare:

  1. Delighted to have you back in. ;)

    I have it on good authority Professor Pesca will be back, thank God. I have missed him.

    I wonder if no one really thought Anne was dead because it's a convention we've seen before, or if the Victorians would've known too. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

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    1. Hallelujah! What would we do without Pesca? Perhaps in the end he will be the hero and defeat Fosco, steal Walter the show and fall madly in love with Marian? That's how I would write it!

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  2. Welcome to Team Marian! She's lovely, isn't she? And such a badass.

    I want more Pesca too! More Pesca, more Marian and more Mr. Fairlie.

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    1. Oh yeah. Marian rocks!
      I'm wondering what would happen if we put Marian, Pesca and Mr. Fairlie into the Big Brother house? That would be the most hilarious TV show ever!

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  3. Since Pesca is Italian, do you think it will turn out that he knows something about Fosco's past? Because all Italians know each other, obviously.

    I wonder if it will turn out that Anne Catherick left behind some narrative so we'll get to hear a little straight from her perspective. Probably wishful thinking on my part. She seems to have had a short shrift, for all that she is the character for whom the book is named.

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    1. This idea is BRILLIANT. Seriously, that's the best theory I've ever heard (far better than my own which includes Fosco falling in love with Marian, kidnapping her and killing his wife so that he can live with her....

      So Pesca will be the hero and save everyone in the end?! I so hope you're right!!!

      Oh, I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks so. I was hoping for more Woman in White madness! But if there is no narrative we could join together and write a fanfiction entirely about how awesome she is ;)

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  4. Oh no your last comment is creeping me out! I can't stop thinking of Fosco coming after me with a bird on his shoulder and his little mice running around my legs... arghhhhhhhhh!

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    1. I am sorry I infected you with my nightmare! His love of pastry usually keeps people from being afraid of him, but I see you are immune to that too!

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