Rating: 
Summary: The burning of the letter is symbolic of this book's style
Review: At an important juncture, our heroine throws a key letter into the fire. We, dear readers, never get to know what it contains. This is symbolic because it is really how James has written the whole book; he seems to think it crass to come right out and write anything key to the plot. The result is an opaque style that frustrates rather than engages the reader. I have been a fan in the past and could not put Portrait of a Lady down, but this book was enervating and aggravating. Edith Wharton, a friend of James's and a fan of his, recounts in her autobiography an instance when she was questioning James on a technique that he had used, placing a character in such isolation from the world, so out of touch of others. She elaborated for some time on his technique, then asked him what it was conveying, that he had done this. He replied, hurt, "My dear, I didn't know I had." This book, perhaps, then is the result of James not knowing that he so obscures events and emotions by his unending examination of the least little thing at the expense of clearly articulating what is actually happening. I don't recommend it if you're a fan of his. Pass this one by and stick to those books that he is known for, Daisy Miller and the Turn of the Screw.
Rating: 
Summary: Complex and Hard to follow, but still good
Review: First things first, it is a very nice novel, but very hard to follow. Personally speaking, sometimes I couldn't get very exactly what Henry James was trying to say, but I could understand the situation as a whole and be able to move on. As everybody knows, Hery James is not an easy writer. His appeal is very difficult and complex although it doesn't read very old-fashioned. The story is very interesting and timeless, because it deals with passion, money and betrayal. The books follows Kate Croy and her beloved Merton Densher when then both get involved - in different degrees and with different interests- with the beautiful rich and sick American heiress Milly Theale. Most of the time, the book kept me wondering what would come next and its result and the grand finale. But, that doesn't mean I was fully understand its words. As I said, I was just feeling what was going on. As a result, i don't think I was able to get all the complexity of Henry James. Maybe, if I read this book again in the futures, it will be clearer. There is a film version of this novel made in 1997, and starring Helena Bonham Carter, Allison Elliot and Linus Roach, directed by Iain Softley. Carter is amazing as always! Kate is a bit different from the book, she is not only a manipulative soul, but, actually, she is a woman trying to find happiness. One character says of Kate, "There's something going on behind those beautiful lashes", and that's true for most female leads created by James. Watching this movie helped me a lot, after finishing reading the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Complex and Hard to follow, but still good
Review: First things first, it is a very nice novel, but very hard to follow. Personally speaking, sometimes I couldn't get very exactly what Henry James was trying to say, but I could understand the situation as a whole and be able to move on. As everybody knows, Hery James is not an easy writer. His appeal is very difficult and complex although it doesn't read very old-fashioned. The story is very interesting and timeless, because it deals with passion, money and betrayal. The books follows Kate Croy and her beloved Merton Densher when then both get involved - in different degrees and with different interests- with the beautiful rich and sick American heiress Milly Theale. Most of the time, the book kept me wondering what would come next and its result and the grand finale. But, that doesn't mean I was fully understand its words. As I said, I was just feeling what was going on. As a result, i don't think I was able to get all the complexity of Henry James. Maybe, if I read this book again in the futures, it will be clearer. There is a film version of this novel made in 1997, and starring Helena Bonham Carter, Allison Elliot and Linus Roach, directed by Iain Softley. Carter is amazing as always! Kate is a bit different from the book, she is not only a manipulative soul, but, actually, she is a woman trying to find happiness. One character says of Kate, "There's something going on behind those beautiful lashes", and that's true for most female leads created by James. Watching this movie helped me a lot, after finishing reading the novel.
Rating:
Summary: James - an intellectual writer
Review: I read Wings of the Dove several years ago, then watched the movie. My first, quick impression of "The Dove" was that the long narrative is both tedious and mentally exhausting. But a determination to stick it out to the end is rewarding if only in the knowledge that the reader has overcome James's Victorian verbiage, his intellectual bent for words, his superfluous sentences seldom coming to a direct point, but generally dancing around with hints, inferences and intimations directing the reader, at long last, to a point. Thus, finally, in the end, the reader is left with something to think about. To this reader, the point is the failure of Victorian mores over morals and principles. Perhaps, as in "The Dove," Victorian mores encourage moral failures. Later, after further study of James's writings, I am convinced of his genius and his ability to portray the human character in ways no one else has been able. Briefly comparing the movie with the book: James's metaphoric phrase, "wings of the dove," is in reference to Milly. Milly's friend, Kate, compares her to a dove whose wings spread and surround all those she loves. In the movie, Densher attends Milly's funeral and, in his grief, says he wishes he were like a dove whose wings would carry him away. With this intentional misinterpretation (in my opinion), the movie misrepresents an important character description in James's novel: Milly is the "heroine" who loves, is loved, is good, loves life and wants to live and spread her wings during the last days of her life. The movie does present the quandary of Kate's position: practically penniless and at the mercy of her rich aunt Maud, who, in her determination not to let Kate marry "poor" and lose her rightful place in society, has engaged her to Lord Mark. Kate thoroughly dislikes Lord Mark. Kate's love for Densher overshadows her moral senses and, indelicately, she encourages Densher to accept Milly's love for him, and to engage in an affair for the sole purpose of inheriting a great sum of money. Kate KNOWS that Milly has no family, is seriously ill, will soon die, is in love with Densher and would leave him an inheritance.
But, after Milly dies, both Densher and Kate realize that Densher's memories of Milly are, remorsefully, of love. He will marry Kate only on the condition that he not be pressed to accept Milly's money. Kate will marry Densher only on the condition that he not carry Milly's memory in his heart. They face the truth and separate. I give Wings of the Dove 4 stars rather than 5 because some of my initial reactions to the book still linger.
Rating: 
Summary: A Highly Complex and Beautiful Character Study
Review: I very recently read Colm Toibin's masterful book, THE MASTER, a novel of Henry James and that fueled my desire to reread some of my favorite James works. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is, I think, my second favorite James book, coming in only a smidgen behind THE GOLDEN BOWL. I reread most of THE WINGS OF THE DOVE on a long flight from Lima, Peru to Madrid, Spain, then finished it on a much shorter flight from Madrid to Nice (with a change of planes in Paris). Even with all that traveling, I was still mesmerized by James' elegant and formal prose and the way he has of folding a sentence back on itself and then folding it yet again. James' stylized prose has been a favorite of mine since my teenaged years. I can't get enough of it and doubt I ever will. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE opens around the year 1900 in London and focuses on Kate Croy, who, shortly after the death of her mother, goes to live with her very wealthy Aunt Maud. Aunt Maud, of course, will do the "right" thing for Kate and marry her off to a very socially acceptable and wealthy young man, Lord Mark. If love enters into the picture, fine. If it doesn't, that is equally fine and Kate should be grateful and manage as best she can. There is one huge problem, however. Kate is very much in love with the journalist, Merton Densher, a man with little money and no social status and, as such, totally unsuitable to Aunt Maud. When Aunt Maud threatens to disinherit Kate, Kate thinks she's come up with the perfect solution. Like many perfect solutions, however, this one goes terribly awry. Milly Theale is a wealthy, young American woman who has come to Europe because she is seriously, even fatally, ill. In Europe, Milly hopes to find a "cure" for her disease. Kate befriends Milly and introduces her to Densher. When all three take a holiday to Venice, it is Kate who, without Densher's knowledge or blessing, suggests that Milly charm her way into Densher's heart. Kate, of course, is hoping that Milly will die sooner rather than later and that she and Densher will then be free to marry each other and be the beneficiaries of Milly considerable wealth. But a few things happen that Kate didn't count on. James was nothing if not the master of complex characters. Although he presents the character of Kate Croy in a very harsh light, she isn't completely without redeeming qualities. Either is Densher. And Milly isn't quite as gullible as one might initially expect. All of this complexity, of course, simply adds to the richness of this already rich and complex novel. Unlike many, I don't think Henry James, in general, or THE WINGS OF THE DOVE, in particular, is a particularly "difficult" read and English is my third language, not my first. His sentences are long and convoluted and his paragraphs run for pages, but this doesn't make him "difficult," it only means that you can't speed read your way through one of James' books. And who, in their right mind, would want to speed read through James anyway? His writing is so rich, so insightful, so elegant, that it's writing to be savored, not hurried through. James is slow-paced. This is something I really enjoy about his writing, but others might want a faster, crisper read. If you're a rabid fan if Hemingway (I'm not), you probably won't like James. If, on the other hand, you admire Faulkner's prose, you just might like James' equally as well. If you decide to begin THE WINGS OF THE DOVE and fine it simply too slow going for your taste, I would suggest renting the film. It is slightly different from the book, but not in any substantive way and it's better than not experiencing James at all. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is one of my all time favorite books. I would recommend it highly to everyone who loves highly intelligent, highly literary writing and who can tolerate a slow-paced novel. Believe me, the payoffs will certainly be worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Much to my surprise...
Review: I was certain, in the first 100 or so pages of this book, that I was going to hate it. I nearly gave up on it a half-dozen times. James' thick, sometimes impenetrable prose took a great deal of getting used to; in fact I never really did get completely used to it. However, much to my surprise, I wound up engrossed in this novel. I must admit that the very same writing style that had me talking to myself at first, drew me in to the story at a level I hadn't previously experienced. The plot is fairly uncomplicated on the surface (it has been explained sufficiently elsewhere in these reviews), but the depth to which James' characters respond to their situation is anything but uncomplicated. So, if you are looking for a literary challenge, one that will reward you if you stick with it, this is a good choice. If, however, you're looking for a light, easy read... this ain't it.
Rating:
Summary: difficult, but worth it
Review: James' style is indeed difficult. I found that reading some sections of the novel aloud helped me keep my focus and enhanced my enjoyment of James' language. Also, I read the Norton Critical Edition and the critical essays that accompanied the text help me get a lot more out of the story than I would have been able to on my own - Milly, the American innocent vs. the mercenary and dehumanized Kate Croy; Densher as typical Jamesian hero, charming, goodwilled but morally indecisive; self-consciousness or self-knowledge as characteristic of James' greatest heroes and heroines.
Rating:
Summary: tough but worthwhile
Review: One of the great reads of Western literature is a beautiful love story of deceit and social requirements, containing James' most demanding narration. Travel carefully. A pure exercise in literary trickery becomes quite clear over time, even if, not every sentence will make sense. Amazing that such thick prose finally reveals a truly heartfelt story. The characters all speak like James writes: with commas in between their words. Good thing they're all fascinating enough to hold your attention.
Rating:
Summary: The novel could never be the same again.
Review: The title is a Jamesian euphemism for 'Pulling The Wings Off Flies'. In a book that is a vortex of ironies, the most fundamental is that a novel written at the highest pitch of literary sophistication, full of high-minded exchanges and a character repeatedly compared to an angel, is really about the body, one dying, the other brimming with sexual attraction and desire (for money, status and sex). Kate Croy, impoverished with a disgraced father, is in love with Merton Densher, an impoverished journalist. Her wealthy aunt, Maud Lowder, offers to take her in, provide all the advantages of wealth and groom her for the marriage market, on the condition she abandons both her family and her marriage plans with Densher. Genuinely passionate for Densher, but reluctant to return to the degradations of comparative poverty, Kate has an idea. When she meets the dying American heiress Milly Theale, who coincidentally made the acquaintance of Densher in New York on a newspaper trip, Kate propses her fiance make love to her and so become a beneficiary in her imminent will, freeing the two lovers to get married. Among the most difficult books in the English language, 'The Wings Of The Dove' is one of the three late novels in which James pushed the novel to a stylistic and intellectual limit, but which many readers have found awkward to read. The difficulty doesn't lie in the verbal extrvagance of a Joyce or the dictionary-defiance of a Pynchon - the individual words in these novels are familiar and accessible. It's what James does with them, the lengthy, elaborate sentences distended by clauses and sub-clauses, and compounded by a narration that emphasises qualification, euphemism, ellipis and ambivalence. It's not, however, as if James had reached the peak of his art and decided, 'Right, I've done what I can with the conventional novel, I'm going to be virtuosically mandarin for the sake of it.' After all, the subject matter is familiar from his more accessible work - the naive American in corrupt Europe; the decline of the aristocracy; the social manoeuvring needed by women to survive a rigidly unjust system etc. The difficulty of 'Dove' is an intrinsic part of the novel's meaning, which is not just an acknowledgement of the unfathomable density of human psychology and motivation, but the difficulty in gauging and interpreting other people full stop. The conflict between witholding novelist and baffled reader is played out throughout the book, with characters creating awesomely complex and allusive plots and counter-plots, staging tableaux and theatrical stand-offs, and other characters struggling to comprehend them. Our attempts to interpret match those of the characters, with related dangers of misreading. A more aggravating difficulty might arise from the story itself. The reading of 'Dove' demands a monastic dedication, a concentrated devotion of months to unravelling its many mysteries and ambiguities. A reader likes to feel that there will be a worthy character or two who will help carry him/her over the many stumbling blocks. But all this intricately wrought language is expended on a horrid little tale of greed and lust in which the protagonists expend fearsome intelligence on concealing unpleasantness and spinning justifications. It might be helpful to think of the novel as an inverse 'Mansfield park', with Kate and Merton as resourceful but poor Crawfords manipulating rich outsider Fanny Price (it's significant that moral decency translates into money from Austen's to James' world). There is little nobility or spiritual refinement here (although many readers prefer the wit and energy of the lovers to sickly 'magnificence' of Milly, her very humanity reduced baldly to its material value). For which we can only give thanks, because there should be more to literature than that; the creation of real, believable, exposed characters, and their endlessly shifting psychologies being one of them, and for which the conventions and compromises of the traditional novel must be abandoned. The great reward for patient reading is that our own perception becomes monre minutely alert; we learn to hear, beneath the dense verbal grid, something that 'for the spiritual ear, might have been audible as a faint far wail', something we miss if we get stuck moaning about the superficial problems of James' style. Such is the exhaustiveness with which James tracks down the elusive convolutions of individual psychology and social interaction, it's easy to overlook his mastery of description. The ratio between the two is probably 10:1, but in brief sketches, James is able to conjure whole worlds weighed down with all sorts of meanings, from the furniture-heavy mansions, dismal garrets and maze-like streets of London to the dangerous precipitations of Switzerland to the decadent beauty of Venice, all working their unnoticed influence on characters who think they arrange everything. These descriptions are essential to the effect of a work which, if you'll let it, is dramatic, tense, atmospheric, sinister, suspenseful, exciting, funny (yes!), and emotionally convulsive. If, as James' friend William Dean Howells suggested, it gives you a headache, well, from the books I love, I expect nothing less.
Rating: 
Summary: The Wings of the Dove
Review: There is no disputing the artistry of this novel but it is without question extremely difficultt to read. The rich Victorian language, the complicated sentence structure, and the unending paragraphs are just a few of the problems that the reader encounters. The story is very well conceived and contains the same moral dellimas that are characteristic of other James' novels. The plot turns around a rich and naive American girl,( James seems to portray most Americans as either naive ar crude) who is dying and the schemeing couple who want to make the most of the situation. The story is further complicated by the love and respect that the deceivers have for the dying girl. Good luck because The Wings of the Dove is both long and complicated.
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