Daisy Miller (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels)

I thought it was sad how Daisy died in the end

I only read this as it was one of the books assigned to my daughter to read over the summer. It was a short book and she challenged me to read it. It was quite different than my usual selection of light romance books, but I did manage to finish it. There were quite a few descriptive words that are no longer used everyday which caused me to highlight the word and look it up on google- this got annoying at times. I enjoyed how he described the countryside however and it was interesting to read about society norms in this time period. It's so different from the "anything goes" society we have today. All that being said, would I have selected this book had it not been an assignment for my daughter? No I wouldn't have, but am I glad I read it? Yes, because we can discuss the book together, and we both learned from it. This was actually my first "historical" book and all in all it wasn't bad.

This is yet another of those classics that feature a vain, "charming", rather hollow female character acting coquette and fluttering her parasols about while playing the usual class and status game when it comes to love interests. .. stunningly gorgeous, of course., who is about as likable and charming as a nail file. Let's see: will she go for Bachelor #! who is a well to do counsel to royalty, #2 who is a handsome but dull accountant, or #3, who picks pears for a living but is a coarse and unrefined sex god? We know that she is BEAUTIFUL because the writer exhausts all of his impressive writing skills to make sure we know that at least ten times in the course of this short work. It doesn't take much for a woman to have an "edge" in those times so she is also portrayed as a rebel of sorts, a liberated gal before women's lib was a thing, but mostly a somewhat tacky American tourist. Unfortunately, she becomes less and less attractive the more she opens her mouth. Naturally, there is a distinguished and successful man chasing her skirt. Will she go for the stability and money he has to offer or rebel against convention and choose the "bad boy" as if she is one of The Shangri-Las with a boy from the bad part of town? Such suspense! And naturally there is.... well, it's a really short story so I will say no more so as not to spoil it . Is it well written? Very, and occasionally funny. Is it entertaining? Mildly. Is it predictable? Yes, unfortunately it adheres to the dreary formula of romantic drama popular in its time. If you find the whole Jane Austen thing entertaining you will enjoy it. If not, it will be better than Melatonin.

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!

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.

“Daisy Miller” is an early novella authored by Henry James. While not a scintillating story it is an interesting well written work of a very noteworthy author. Other reviewers have correctly pointed out the dated social standards. The novella could be seen as simply a slow moving story if all one is interested in is a reading experience. That of course, is up to the reader and completely valid. Viewed as study material it proved interesting to me. Therefore I believe it depends on what you are looking for.Note: I am uncredentialed in regard to a formal education in literature.Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was the beginning of an evolution of literature as well as other arts into an era known as Modernism. I think this novella is early modernist. There is symbolism. Daisy is the title character. Her name evokes the image of a pretty spring flower. She has a friend Winterbourne, also symbolic I believe. He is more conservative. They are both Americans visiting Europe. There are issues about different cultures. These differences may include emerging feminist issues, and their differ within the various cultures.While I personally prefer the voice of women authors describing to me the nuances of feminist issues, I am always interested in hearing a male attempt to give voice to such issues. Therefore the opportunity to read what I believe is one an early modernist novella, by a then newly emerging American author, giving voice to changing and sometimes clashing social issues, including feminist social issues, is what intrigues me about this novella.I prefer an eclectic mixture of reading. This is not a novella I would choose for light entertainment. I enjoy this novella more for study purposes. It is all in what one is looking for. Thank You for taking the time to read this review.

El libro viene en inglés tal y como se esperaba, la portada está súper bonita pero podría mejorar la calidad de impresión. Solo por eso le dí 4 de 5 estrellas.

Nicht mehr als etwa 110 Seiten brauchte Henry James um ein Portrait über ein junges Mädchens zu schreiben. Daisy Miller, die mit ihrer Mutter und ihrem altklugen Bruder Europa erkundet, weil das in dieser Zeit eben modern war, ist eine Person, die sich der Konventionen nicht anpassen will/möchte. Die einfach etwas sehen und erleben will, bevor sie zurück in die prüde Heimat fährt. Wie es so üblich war, engagierte die Familie einen Reisemarschal, der bei der Sprache und anderen Sachen helfen sollte.Aber, Daisy Miller sieht in ihm einen Reisegefährten, einen Freund und widersetzt sich der Gesellschaft. Es gibt zwar einen jungen Amerikaner, der ihr wenigstens zum Teil hilft, aber seine Liebe (oder, was er darunter versteht) ist nicht gross genug.Daisy eilt durch Länder und Städten Europa, möchte nicht das "Übliche" sehen. Sie will leben, leben...Rom mit seinem Charme hat sie angesteckt.Im doppelten Sinne. Sie will die einfachen Leute kennenlernen, sie möchte frei sein.Die Gesellschaft, die noch steifer ist als zuhause (man muss ja ALTE WERTE verteidigen) will nichts mit ihr zu tun haben. Möchte Daisy in so einer Gesellschaft leben?H. James setzt mit JEDEM Wort eine Homage an eine sehr mutige junge Frau. Und das im Jahre 1879!Die Erzählung berührt mich noch nach mehr als 30 Jahren tief. Jedesmal. Bitte, lesen!

Una lectura que no te deja indiferente, un paseo por la hipocresía latente en todas las épocas. Su autor no juzga a nadie, solo muestra los hechos de una forma objetiva, pero será el lector capaz de no juzgar a sus protagonistas? Una pena el final...

Not worth even one, or a half star! The version I downloaded to my kindle is absolute junk. Instead of saying “dear old lady” it says “expensive vintage female” . This ridiculous substitution of words make the book unreadable. I resent having paid anything for it. Now I have to search through the various versions available to find one I can read. Clean up your act Amazon!

このCDは2枚組である。朗読しているのはPenelope Rawlinsという女性の声優。アニメや英語教材の吹込みもしているらしいから、明瞭なきれいな発音である。また登場人物ごとの声色の使い分けが素晴らしい。英語はアメリカ英語風に発音してあるから、アメリカ英語の特徴がよくわかる。ヘンリー・ジェームズの小品、デイジー・ミラーの魅力が十分に堪能できる朗読である。