The Europeans: Library Edition

Rating:
Summary: Nice, but far from James's best
Review: Henry James is one of the best American writers, but "The Europeans" is far from being his best work -- or among them. It's a very strange novel that already shows some of his main themes, such as a clash between American and British -- or European -- culture and moral, but it lacks character development and in psychological analysis .

The main characters, the Europeans, Eugenia and Felix are weird, and I could never get them across. All acts of them seem to come out of the blue, and nothing they do seems to be justified. Maybe I was expecting a couple of sinical and looking-for-money people, but what I got was two boring people. All the time I had the feeling that they came to America in order to make profitable marriages, but it was never confirmed. Felix's marriage to Gertrudes is silly and I was not convinced that he loves her; he does nothing but laughing and painting all the time. And Eugenia affair with Robert is so quick and meaningless. Why does she not marry him? It's never really explained.

I see it could have been a better novel if it was writen by a more experienced Henry James. There are many points that want to be developed but -- I don't know why -- the writer just left them with an easy solution. Many events could have gone a bit further, such as Clifford's crush on Eugenia, or Brand's love for Gertrudes, or even the relationship between Eugenia and Robert Acton.

Please don't get me wrong! I like James's works very much, but I couldn't connect to this novel. It didn't make me care for the characters or what happens to them. Moreover, the marriages that happen in the very last pages of the book sounded very meaningless, or something like " let's give a happy end". Anyway, it is a nice book to start reading Henry James, but move on afterwards. I mean, no matter how hard "The Wings of the Dove", " The Portrait of a Lady" or "Golden Bowl" can be, read them, so that one can fully get James's style and greatness.

Rating:
Summary: NOT ONE OF JAMES BEST
Review: THE EUROPEANS IS NOT ONE OF HENRY JAMES BETTER NOVELS. NEVERTHELESS, FOR FANS OF JAMES, IT'S QUITE READABLE.
THE NOVEL IS ABOUT 2 EUROPEANS - A YOUNG MAN AND WOMAN, BROTHER AND SISTER, WHO TRAVEL TO AMERICA (BOSTON) TO VISIT THEIR LONG LOST AMERICAN COUSINS.
THE PLOT INVOLVES THE AMOROUS ENTANGLEMENTS OF THE COUSINS AND THEIR AMERICAN FRIENDS.
MUCH OF THE STORY DEALS WITH CONTRASTING THE EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN "WAYS" AND "LIFESTYLES" - A FAVORITE TOPIC OF JAMES.
THE BOOK IS NOT A COMPLEX READ LIKE SOME OF HIS LATER NOVELS. IT'S QUITE ACCESSIBLE AND MILDLY ENTERTAINING.