38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Difficult prose, but comic and moving, August 15, 1999
The prose is certainly difficult, but the extra attention it requires from the reader yields benefits: the slightest nuance in the narrative registers. And, as in all late James, these subtle hints and nuances are of the essence.
I was rather surprised as to how funny it often was. But, as with many great comedies - "Twelfth Night", "Don Quixote" - there is a profound sadness under the surface. There is a passage near the beginning where Strether looks back on the disappointments of his life, and, in particular, his failure to communicate with or understand his son, who is now dead. This passage affected me so deeply, that I had to read it a few times before progressing with the rest of the novel.
Strether becomes increasingly aware that life has passed him by, and that in the course of it all, he has missed something: but what it is he has missed he can not specify. He urges the young people around him to live, but his instructions on how to do so are necessarily vague. Eventually, he has to to reject the narrow puritanical code which has fettered his life, but remains to the end a quixotic figure, clinging on to his moral integrity even when all around him appear to lose theirs. The closing episodes of this novel are as moving as anything I have read.
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For serious readers only., February 21, 2010
This review is from: The Ambassadors (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
High school students, and perhaps college students, should not be assigned to read some authors. Henry James is a case in point.
Henry James is an exquisite writer and perhaps serious college students should be exposed to Henry James' life, the subjects of his books, and his style of writing. But no one, not until they have had life experiences, should read Henry James.
I have read very little of Henry James; I have just completed four of his shorter works (I loved "The Beast in the Jungle"; and appreciated "Four Meetings," "The Pupil," and "The Turn of the Screw").
Today, I can say that I am very, very happy to have completed "The Ambassadors," the first Henry James novel I have read. One can read about the story line, the publishing history and analysis of this novel at wikipedia.
I group James Joyce (Irish), Virginia Woolf (English), and Henry James (American) in the same group, writing at the same time, and about similar subjects.
Some first impressions of "The Ambassadors":
1. It is autobiographical.
2. Henry James had moved (psychologically) from the US to Europe.
3. Henry James wondered if life had passed him by.
4. "The Ambassadors" has much in common with "The Beast in the Jungle"; both explore inner feelings about relationships and missed relationships.
5. Serious readers who have not read Henry James, but are interested, should read three works in this order: a) Leon Edel's biography of Henry James; b) "The Beast in the Jungle"; and, c) "The Ambassadors."
6. The more time one has spent in Paris, the more enjoyable is "The Ambassadors."
7. Henry James writing style is perfect for learning to diagram sentences (which I doubt anyone does any more). His sentences are very, very long. Likewise, his passages are very long. James can take two pages to say that two people look alike.
8. I have found at least one occasion in which James uses a word that doesn't exist in the English language, but looks like it should. In context, one can almost figure out what James was saying but who knows for sure.
I am 58 years old. The protagonist in "The Ambassadors" is 55 years old. He and I are asking the same questions.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My jury is out on this complex opus, June 16, 2000
Reading "The Ambassadors," I was awed by the subtletly of emotion and social gesture James was able to describe. Clearly here was a crafted that had been years in the honing, and I appreciate the book's liberation from the plot-heavy mechanics of earlier books like "The Portrait of a Lady" and "The American." Everything is only subtly insinuated; whole lives can hinge upon half-meant gestures or long-buried social prejudices. In this way, the book has some of the wistful tone of "The Age of Innocence," but more depth if less elegant prose.
The prose is the thing -- James was dictating by this time (how on Earth does one dictate a novel?), and it shows. His chewy ruminations and meandering, endlessly parenthetical sentences are hard to digest. I think James went too far in his late style, and "The Ambassadors" might have benefited from a sterner editor. Still, this is an important book, absolutely worth the read.
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