My Quick Takes:
- 3.75/5 stars
- Genre 📚 Action Thriller
- Language 🤐 mild, God's name in vain
- Spice ❤️🔥 none
- Content 🤔 death
Book Info
Title: The Woman in White
Author: Wilkie Collins
Publication: 1859
Genre: Gothic Sensation
Series: N/A
Told in an epistolary style format from multiple points of view, the reader is taken on a journey that all begins when a man helps a woman (dressed in white) safely make her way to London.
My Thoughts
This was a classic “its not you its me” situation. My personal expectations of this book had a direct impact on my reading experience and enjoyment of this novel. I think this book will be an amazing read for a lot of readers, and while I ended up really enjoying the final 15-20% of the book, it was too late at that point to make up for the rest of it. I was expecting a haunting, spooky type situation to be happening in this book, was fully expecting the woman in white to be a ghost or something of the sort. That could not be further from what was happening.
Sensitive readers will be happy to know that there is no haunting happening here. It reads like a victorian domestic drama with intrigue. I personally love a good plot and that is where this book fell flat to me. The areas with plot and where I thought had good pacing were few and far between. At around 50% and 85% is where there was some plot action, otherwise it felt a bit slow and drawn out and maybe 150 pages too long. Again, this is just my personal reading experience. When I shared that this book was on my fall TBR I had so much positive feedback, and its one I would absolutely recommend to a sensitive reader who wants to try out a different genre of classics.
I listened to this completely on audio. I was planning to tandem read it with my eyes in the physical copy because I anticipated it being a highly rated classic. I very quickly realized it wasn’t heading in that direction for me and stuck strictly with the audio. I think this boiled down to the fact that I thought this would read like Jane Eyre and it just didn’t. It actually finally tipped the scales to make me want to re-read Jane Eyre, which I am about to start! I read Jane Eyre in middle school and haven’t read it since. I could be totally wrong in how I remember the vibes of that book, but I do think its a touch more suspenseful and psychological than The Woman in White, with a good dose of eerie? Time will tell.
Biblical Worldview & Themes
There wasn’t much to speak on in this book, like I said, great for sensitive readers. It read like a murder mystery but without the murder.
Who I’d recommend this to
Honestly anyone. I think its an underrated classic. I also think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I hadn’t had some preconceived notion that it was going to be super spooky and haunting. It is a very tame and intriguing plot. If you’ve wanted to try gothic classics but they’ve felt too heavy in themes, this is the perfect option for you!
Similar Reads
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: If you want a gothic classic with a bit more psychological intrigue
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