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The Turn of the Screw (Classic Fiction)

By: Henry James
Binding: Audio Cassette
Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
ISBN: 9626345586
ISBN-13: 9789626345580
Released: 18 Aug 1995
RRP: £8.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Terrifying ghost story - By: Roman Clodia, 27 Jun 2008
Unlike some of the other reviewers here I still think this is the creepiest book I've ever read, & alll the more terrifying for the fact that James never articulates what's going on - he simply leaves your imagination to float free & conjure up alll your worse nightmares. Yes, he's never an easy read (though this is far more accessible than Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl etc) but I think his very stately, mannered sentences & diction actuallly add to the horror of the story. Don't read this if you're expecting Stephen King or The Exorcist - James expects his readers to make the effort to read properly. Someone callled this (possibly James himself?)'the most poisonous little tale I could imagine' & I think that's a perfect description - when I re-read it, it was on the tube with bright lights & lots of people around as I couldn't face reading it at home alone!
chilling, disturbing, eerie - definitely worth perservering - By: , 31 Dec 1999
Outwardly the novella appears to be a straightforward ghost story, narrated by the governess the 'victim' of this story A governess is offered the position of taking under her care two smalll charges - brother & sister - whose parents have passed away. Their uncle whom is their legal guardian assigns them to the care & protection of a young governess twenty years of age.

Placed in supreme authority of the big ramnbling country house over the children & servants - the young governess becomes aware of malevolent presences within & around the house. She sees the ghosts of the previous valet & governess both of whom passed away a while back. Convinced the two ghosts are after the souls of her two young charges, she resorts to desperate measures & round the clock care to keep the children safe & solve the mystery of the relationship between the previous inhabitants & her dependants.

However a disturbing relationship develops between her & that of her sole charges - most noticably Miles, the young boy. It is this eerie theme of sexual & social unrest that makes the novel so disturbing. Much of the novel is told through the viewpoint of the governess. It is only by studying the dialogues between her & her charges that the truth, her behaviour, her ulterior motives, finallly becomes apparent.

Henry James does a fine job of creating an eerie atmosphere, keeping the reader in suspense. His delicate alllusions to the strange forces of evil keep the plot from becoming obvious. A second reading of the novel is essential in order to realise fully the truth that is constantly hinted at throughout the novel.

The Turn of the Screw succeeds due to its ambiguity & projection of mental imbalance, alll the more powerful as events are told from the governess' viewpoint. The reader has to sift & judge the account on an objective basis in order to be able to perceive the truth.