Rating: 
Summary: Complex ghost story
Review: This book is clearly a classic, but as many of the reviews reflect, it is not for every audience. Many of the reviewers here are in high school...when I went to high school I had several friends who read this book and were equally unimpressed with it. I read it in my late twenties and was blown away with the combination of elaborate language, complex psychological thrills, and genuine scares. The book must have been quite shocking to its initial audience, and within this context, it still is a shocker. Read this book and focus on the psychological aspects, and you'll likely have a good time. Incidentally, the book was made into a brilliant movie, "The Innocents," starring Deborah Kerr.
Rating:
Summary: Subtle and thought-provoking
Review: Those looking for horror of the slasher sort will not find it here. "The Turn of the Screw" is a complex exploration of human psychology and the nature of perception. The central question is, are the heroine's perceptions "real" or the product of hysterical imagination? James does not tell us definitively, but leaves us to ponder which we believe to be true - and whether there's ever a clear difference. The Victorian language only adds to the atmosphere of a tale redolent with Freudian possibility. Those who enjoy this novel should also try two modern novels that explore similar territory, John Fowles' "The Magus" and Rand Johnson's "Arcadia Falls".
Rating: 
Summary: Turn of the what????
Review: Reading is a pasttime, and I believe it is to be enjoyed, yet I have an extremely hard time enjoying a book with such mixed meanings. When finished with James' Turn of the Screw, I was utterly dissappointed with it in whole. Because it was a required reading for me in a class, I loved the fact that it's so short. But, as many other customers have expressed, it was indescribably dull and the plot was very hard to follow. James obviously tried his best to mix a potentially good ghost story with one of intellect and meaning. Sorry James, the two just weren't meant to be combined. Filling the novel with froofy words and irrelevent sentences is not going to help it get better reviews, it only prolongs the anguish of the reader. I found the sexual connotations expressed by both the children and the governess to be insanely odd and not at all a good plot basis for a book. I mean, come on now, who honestly cares about a governess and her sexual frustrations??? When I had finally finished the book I had absolutely no idea what Henry was trying to get at, what was the point??? It made me so angry that I had to go get the Cliff notes for it just to read the commentaries to make some sense of it all. I'm sorry but if you really have to go out and buy Cliff notes in order to obtain the true value of a book, it's probabaly not worth reading in the first place. In short, James is a very unique and wonderful writer of his time, but this book definitely did not mirror his talent.
Rating: 
Summary: New Hampton School Review
Review: When I began to read The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James, I made the assumption this book would be different from all other books which I have read. I thought it would be different because it is considered an American literature classic. Although Henry James is among many great authors, he is without a doubt, a one of a kind.
In this book his unique writing style has me wondering why such thoughts went through his mind. His wordy and elaborate writing style presented his strange subject matter in a style that could be accepted in his time. While it is sometimes difficult to follow the story it allowed James to express what would have been a controversial topic.
At times in this story you become anxious and excited, while at other times you are left picking and choosing what you think is going on, and when you least expect something to happen you become surprised, and become more interested in the book.
The ending surprised me. What I thought was going to be a happy ending turned into a perverse finale and a total tragedy. From beginning to end, Henry James wrote a book that is different from all other books.
Rating:
Summary: New Hampton School Review
Review: When I began to read "The Turn Of The Screw" by Henry James, I made the assumption this book would be different from all other books which I have read. I thought it would be different because it is considered an American literature classic. Although Henry James is among many great authors, he is without a doubt, a one of a kind.
In this book his unique writing style has me wondering why such thoughts went through his mind. His wordy and elaborate writing style presented his strange subject matter in a style that could be accepted in his time. While it is sometimes difficult to follow the story it allowed James to express what would have been a controversial topic.
At times in this story you become anxious and excited, while at other times you are left picking and choosing what you think is going on, and when you least expect something to happen you become surprised, and become more interested in the book.
The ending surprised me. What I thought was going to be a happy ending turned into a perverse finale and a total tragedy. From beginning to end, Henry James wrote a book that is different from all other books.
Rating:
Summary: Terror on every page
Review: In the beginning of "The Turn of The Screw", the narrator Douglas describes the tale he is about to tell as, "dreadfully dreadful." I agree. It was so boring to read that I nearly forgot that it was supposed to be a horror story. Henry James over uses the English language with an onslaught of fluffy words that waters down the text, diminishing any hint of fright or suspense. He uses words excessively, saying close to nothing. Nearly all of the writing was very vague and foggy. Nothing in the text was clearly stated. The story consisted mainly of obvious and childish metaphors about sex. Such a metaphor for example was when Flora was grinding the long piece of wood into the board with a whole in it. The "ghosts" in the story were not the least bit frightening. By the time I had waded through one of James's painfully long sentences, I could have carried less what was going to happen to the characters. The idea that the absence of a male authority figure in the house would lead to such a sexually charged atmosphere seems a bit absurd to me. Was James trying to say that without sex people become delusional and paranoid?
"The Turn of The Screw" is an example of nineteenth century writing at its worst. The narrator considered this story to be a "horrible" one, in my opinion it was horribly dull. I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for an enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: brilliant ghost story
Review: As aforementioned in the title of this review, this is a brilliant ghost story. It is fairly hard to get into (people swapping ghost stories, then one of them begins to relate this tale), and at times I felt the writing was tedious and the characters unrealistic. It wasn't until I'd finished the book (and it's a short book) that its mysteries revealed themselves. That may sound peculiar, but it's the truth. The tale doesn't really seem bizarre until you look back over it. Thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: Horror without a single scare.
Review: This is the most bland and boring book I believe I've ever read. The only reason I finished the book was because it was required for one of my college English classes. I was not terrified by any of the passages and through the flowery use of the English language, I realized the only terror was the fact I still had X number of pages to finish. The "sexual" tension in this novel was comperable to that of a Disney movie like Mary Poppins or Bambi. The unanswered questions were quickly answered by my own brain saying, "I don't care". This book is incredibly boring and I would rather be subjected to 24 hours of Barney and Friends than re-read it.
Rating:
Summary: Spine-tingling Excitement
Review: I had been informed, before reading The Turn of the Screw, that it would not provide many answers to the questions it provoked. After finishing the novel, I would pass this along to future readers as well. The Turn of the Screw is an excellent story with wonderful details and an extremely creative plot. It is the first book I have ever read that has caused me to be frightened. Many times while reading the story late at night, I would find myself with my hand on my chest, holding my breath because I was so intrigued with the story line. Although it had a wonderful plot, Henry James does leave many questions unanswered. This allows the reader to interpret the events in whatever manner they choose. The complexity of the story depends on the complexity of the thought the reader puts into it. The Turn of the Screw is an excellent book and I would strongly recommend it to anyone. It is a clever novel for a clever reader.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm?
Review: For a century this story has kept literary critics busy trying to extract its meaning and kept readers awake in their beds, but I can'tundersatnd how that's possible. The Turn of the Screw is one the most boring stories I have read in quite a while, not to mention boring. This novel is supposed to be a horror story, but I can confidently say thatI was not remotely frightened, my spine not at all tingled, by any one of James's tortuous sentences. James wrote this story to have a lot of suppresed sexual meaning. I thought, because of this, that sometimes, the story was sickening. I undersatnd that this type of story may have been popular years ago, but I didn't care for it at all in the least bit. Not only was the story boring, but it was extremely difficult to understand.
The story is indeed ambiguous, but I was too bored to bother seeking its deeper meaning. Even James didn't care much for Turn of the Screw. If you want to read a good story by James, try one of his other works. You'll still get all the repressed Victorian allusions to sexuality and children, and you won't hate James when you're through. The bottom line is: STAY AWAY FROM THIS AT ALL COSTS!
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