Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Woman in White and The Thirteenth Tale: Twin Peril Reviews

This was a doppelganger kind of peril week, reading-wise.

I finally finished Wilkie Collins’ Gothic novel classic, The Woman in White. And since Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale is actually an homage to Wilkie Collins –the text mentions The Woman in White more than once – I thought it would be fun to put my reviews of these two Gothic novels together. (Get it? Twin reviews? Doppelgangers? Nice device for catching up on the reviewing, right?)

Let’s start at the beginning, because Collins’ novel is seminal to the Gothic literature genre. The Woman in White uses multiple narrators – akin to “witnesses” at a trial – to tell the strange story of the wealthy and beautiful Laura Fairlie of Limmeridge House. She and her “body double,” Anne Catherick, both have the unfortunate luck to wind up in the path of the handsome but evil Sir Percival Glyde, who somehow extracted a promise for Laura’s hand in marriage from her dying father. Walter Hartright (no subtlety there, as he is the one with the “true heart”), Laura’s drawing master and would-be lover, leaves Limmeridge at her half-sister Marian’s urging when the unwanted engagement takes place. When Laura Fairlie’s death is announced, and Anne Catherick is “returned” to the private insane asylum from which Hartright unwittingly helped her escape at the beginning of the novel, Hartright and Marian must use all their intellect and resources to untangle the web of lies and blackmails that have put Limmeridge in Glyde’s grubby paws.

There is a reason that The Woman in White has become a Gothic archetype: it’s a great mystery. But it suffers, over time, like so many Victorian novels, from both its sheer length and the bland, intellectually unfettered beauty of the main character. (The smart girl in the novel, half-sister Marian Holcombe, is described as having a great figure, but an ugly, “dark” face, apparently just so the reader won’t be confused as to who the actual "golden girl" love interest will eventually be.)

On the other hand, Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale is Gothic novel for the 21st century, far more sexual, far more brutal than Collins’ Victorian offering. The novel tells the story of the peculiar inhabitants of Angelfield, including the eerily connected identical twins (there are those doppelgangers again), Adeline and Emmeline, who live in squalor despite their wealth in order to keep the world from encroaching on their bizarre existence. Minor biographer Margaret Lea is commissioned by the famous author Vida Winter – who was once known as Adeline March – to tell “the truth” about Angelfield, finally. But it turns out that “the truth” is the hardest thing for Vida to reveal – or even understand.

What makes this novel so very different is the strength and ingenuity of the female characters. Vida is a force of nature, bombastic and opinionated, but ultimately still vulnerable:

Politeness, now there’s a poor man’s virtue if ever there was one. What’s so admirable about inoffensiveness, I should like to know. After all, it’s easily achieved. One needs no particular talent to be polite. On the contrary, being nice is what’s left when you’ve failed at everything else.” (pg. 45)


Not exactly Laura Fairlie, even in her dotage, is she?

The Thirteenth Tale has a wonderful and wicked set of characters, from biographer Margaret Lea, the narrator, to The Missus, the housekeeper who holds the Angelfield family together by a thread, to the twins, the mild, nurturing Emmeline and selfish, impulsive Adeline. Vida reveals her story in fits and starts, violently twisting her way toward “the truth.” It gives the reader a good, creepy, modern day dose of peril, while staying true to its Gothic roots. Even though I’m usually a purist, I actually preferred the homage in this case. I would recommend either novel to readers looking for a sensationalist, suspense-filled diversion. But for readers who get antsy with the weight of serialized Victorian novels, I say head directly for The Thirteenth Tale . You're far more likely to stick with it, and the goosebumps will be worth it!

12 comments:

  1. I really have to read the Women in White! There's really no excuse for me not having read it yet. I am one of the few people who hated the Thirteenth Tale & can't believe she got a million dollar advance on that crap. I love gothic books, but I thought that one was boring with a capital B! :)

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  2. Buckeye Girl -- I couldn't actually decide if I was liking it at first, but once I got into it I really enjoyed it. My husband didn't like it much, though, and he shared your opinion :-) I think the Vida Winter character sealed it for me. I love battle-axes!

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  3. How interesting, and wise, to compare the two novels! I loved The Woman In White, have read it several times, in fact, but The Thirteenth Tale was a disappointment to me. It could have been one of those "everyone loved it why didn't I?" things (like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for me); I just remember thinking the ending to Setterfield's novel was anti-climatic...contrived...something I didn't like.

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  4. Bellezza -- I can see that. I wasn't disappointed, but I agree it didn't quite live up to the original hype either. Maybe because I had read mixed reviews, and read it after the initial flurry of interest, it was better than I thought. And as I said, what I didn't like about The Woman in White was the Laura Fairlie character (but hey, I wrote a 10-page essay vivisecting Lucy Manette in 11th grade, so no surprise there!). Vida Winter was so colorful in comparison.

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  5. I've read both of these books and loved them both.. but... the Thirteen Tale I have read 3 times (so far) so guess which I like the most! Both excellent books! I'm glad you enjoyed them and reviewed them!

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  6. I love putting the reviews together - I actually didn't know The Thirteenth Tale was connected to The Woman in White. I have both of them on my shelf to read, it might be cool to read them close together and compare.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog to cheer during the Read-a-Thon - I appreciated it!

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  7. I loved The Thirteenth Tale but I still haven't read The Woman in White. I really must do so soon!

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  8. Sounds like I'd love both but especially The Thirteenth Tale. I've seen it around a lot- next time I'll have ot pick it up!

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  9. Kim, Kailana and Marie -- The Thirteenth Tale owes so much to The Woman in White that I'm glad I read them in that order. I bet there are other books that would fit into that "homage to Woman in White" category -- if anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

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  10. I can imagine it's fun to read them both close to each other. Marian Holcombe and the count were my favorites in The Woman in White, the narrator and Laura were so bland and boring :)

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  11. I didn't realize those two stories were connected. The Thirteenth Tale is one of my favorite books. I will definitely try The Woman in White. I've seen it several times for these RIP reviews. :)

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  12. I'm in the middle of The Thirteenth Tale and I haven't seen any connection between it and The Woman in White so far. The Woman in White is one of my favourite books and now that you mention Laura being the only drawback, I realize you're right, but Marian compensates her weakness. But apart from this, to me this book is perfect, it's balanced. It has its darkness, but light and love prevail over it. I like The Thirteenth Tale so far, but I feel it's missing something. There's too much atmosphere, there are too many secrets in too little space. I'd rather compare it to Wuthering Heights. It contains almost the same amount of hatred and violence.

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