Customer Reviews

The Figure in the Carpet (Dodo Press)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, I think this Kindle edition is cleaned up--there isn't any introduction and there aren't any misplaced pages. Also use of the dictionary is necessary to understand the story.

That said, I'm glad I didn't stop reading when I first became irritated with the writing, because the irritation was intentional on the part of Mr. James. This is a very well-written piece about critics and how they must have irritated Henry James to no end. I read it through a second time to thoroughly understand the main character and how he related to others. It also has me stop to think about writing reviews myself and what biases I might be bringing to what I'm reading. If you take this one on, listen to the narrator's voice and hear how he may sound to his friends and acquaintances, those he criticizes, and how he perceives himself. A worthwhile read.

The Kindle version of this Penguin book mixes up pages near the beginning, so that we get two or three pages of James's introduction to "The Death of the Lion" interrupted by Frank Kermode's Note on the Texts, which is itself printed with its second half first and first half buried in James's introduction's second half.

It's easy to figure out what's happening and live with it, but oh when will Kindle publishers start taking even the most elementary care of their products? Penguin has a reputation to consider, after all.

The selection is good and Kermode's introduction is thorough and intelligent. The stories are all about writers and their problems with the public, with editors, and with their own works. It's ironic that such a collection should be partly ruined by sloppy commercial publishing.