Daisy Miller Paperback – May 8, 2017

This was included in "Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters," and since I'd never read it and didn't know anything about Daisy Miller (and since I found a free Kindle book), I thought I'd check it out. It is short, but the language is rather flowery (it first appeared in 1878), so I couldn't read the whole thing in one sitting.I always find it interesting how times have changed when I read "period pieces" like "Daisy Miller". It's not a spoiler to say that Daisy Miller is a flirt and "flouts social conventions", but it's remarkable just what causes lips to flap. Walking around outside with a gentleman with no chaperone? Scandalous! Nowadays, no one would blink an eye at that.I will say I was shocked at what becomes of Miss Miller and her free-wheeling ways. Definitely was worth the read, and it made me appreciate the many sections in "Texts from Jane Eyre" about this character!

Daisy Miller is a 100-page book that is deceivingly full of ideas that will leave the reader pondering it for a long time. Henry James wrote many stories that brought the question of class, mores', manners and etiquette. Worlds where men have every freedom and women that have few. James styles a vivacious curious young American heiress and places her into the stuffy class centric world of the established European aristocracy. While men find Daisy refreshing, eccentric, and dangerous, women find her bold, gauche and quite unacceptable. A point that more or less points to their fears. Daisy herself is curious about the world and doesn't want to miss a single experience due to someone else's sense of propriety. It's a wonderful collision of values in just 100 pages!

"Daisy Miller" captures emerging transatlantic cultural differences, as well as a general societal change from traditional european stufffiness towards a new more open liberalism and sense of personal freedom. It succeeds though mainly in terms of atmosphere, as a tragic romance. What I love is how the author idolises women and presents them as encapsulating the spirit of their time.James's formula is based on challenging, liberal, and unattainable women who present an enigma to their starchy suitors. Love is never more than an emotion, never consummated, and the protagonists live wasted lives in the grip of illusions. His women are strong, carefree Goddesses perched on pedestals.This is a very nice annotated edition.

I read this during a trip to the grand hotels along the Lake Geneva waterfront in Vevey and Montreux, Switzerland, where Henry James set this work. He is an exquisite portraitist, able to conjure up just the right collection of details, internal and external, to make the characters come alive, even though the world of manners, money, and rigid sexual morals has since become almost unrecognizable. The cruelty of social condemnation, especially of those trying to make it into the circle of the accepted wealthy, the urge to marry and marry well, has been the theme of so many works that it's amazing there is anything much at all original left to say. But James repeatedly surprises in this arena.

Now that I have read a handful of Henry James tomes I am beginning to believe that he is not the author for me. He writes well, and the story is interesting, but I am just getting tired of never having a satisfying ending to one of his stories. Perhaps he took a perverse pleasure in twists and turns of plot, especially at the end. If you want the standard formulaic happy ending, Henry James is not your author. I dont have a problem with an unexpected ending, but I get tired of never feeling satisfied by the "turn" of the story. Just my 2 cents. I'm not saying I will never read another Henry James novel, but probably not for a long time.

While I don't feel this work represents James at his best (or maybe it just doesn't resonate very well with my particular tastes), some people like it a great deal. And I don't really feel as if I can explain why it leaves me a bit cold. So I'm going to just review the Kindle version of this book.Many free Kindle classes feature problematic formatting -- errors of various types that tend to reflect the volunteer nature of the groups bringing these editions together. I'm not complaining -- I'd rather read a free book than pay for one (even if I do have to endure a couple of typos). This edition, however, is very well done.The only thing for you to figure out is if you're likely to enjoy this or not (and there are a few dozen reviews already existing that will help you figure that out).

Reading this for a class, I at first found the story a bit boring. As it developed, though, I began to really enjoy the author's writing style. He is Henry James, after all. Modern readers will find little excitement and not much going on, but for a simple novella it was a wonderful piece that briefly explores the difference between American and European courtship of that era.

there is something critically wrong with the text. i read henry james and know his work stylistically.this is an early example in the book of what is wrong. "The young lady gave no heed to this announcement, but seemed immediately at her brother. 'Well, I wager you had higher be quiet' she actually determined."what is the world is that about???? i asked for a refund.