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THE TURN OF THE SCREW

THE TURN OF THE SCREW - Henry James                                            (by Eric) 

              

A young baby-sitter called Miss Giddens goes to work in a rich man’s house in London. She has to take care of the man’s grandchildren. They are a boy, Miles, who’s 11 years old, and Flora, an 8 year old girl. Their parents are dead and so they are living with their uncle. Before her, there was Bly, another baby-sitter…. Strangely she died for unknown circumstances. However, Miss Giddens accepts the job.

When she arrives at the house, she immediately meets Flora, and some days later also her brother Miles, who came back from school because of an expulsion. Miles and Flora are very smart and educated.

One day, out of the kitchen window, Miss Giddens sees a man with red hair and mustaches, and a woman, with a white face and dressed up for a funeral.

She asks for an opinion from her only friend, Miss Grose, she discovers that those people are Miss Jessel and Peter Quint… She is  the last baby-sitter of Miles and Flora and he is her secret lover, the gardener. Both died mysteriously.

Initially she ignores these people, and she tries to protect the kids, but later she realizes that they are not the target of these ghosts… They are accomplices of them!

They have always denied it, but one day Flora says something that Miss Giddens understands as a confession about the complicity.

I liked it because it is not a bad yellow-book. The story is intriguing. It is also quite easy to read so I would recommend it to all the yellow-books lovers.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

“THE PANTHOM OF THE OPERA” REVIEW
by Massimiliano

The author of this novel is the French Gaston Leroux born in Paris the sixth May 1868.

In this opera he tells the story of a lonely unlucky creature called Erik the phantom of the Opera who lived in the cellar of the Opera. Here lives and works Christina Daae, too, a young and talented singer secretly loved by Erik. Christine has never seen him but she considers him his angel of  music sent by his father when he died many years before, when she was a child. Erik taught her to sing without appearing to her, in fact he talks to her with a system of secret passages and games of mirrors and riflections.

Christine has an admirer,  the viscount of Chagny that she had met long before when they were children. Now Raul is in love with her but she is devoted to her angel of music.

Erik is jealous because of this love, so he kidnaps Christine and Raul who tries to save her. Although she is terrified by Erik's appearance, whose face is loathsome and scary, Christine accepts his proposal to stay with him forever.

Touched by the unexpected choice Erik frees her.

Christine and Raul live together  while the Opera House is burning  for a fire caused by Erik. He leaves the place where he lived all his life without leaving his traces.

The novel is a romantic and gothic story with its gloomy characters and dark atmosphere. The happy ending leaves the reader unsatisfied because of the fate reserved to Erik, the characters who captures our human sympathy.

I think Christine is a not brilliant heroine to the modern reader’s eyes, she looks fretful and weak.

The time of narration is full of action and accurate description of places and people. I really like it and I want to see the film, as well, that is as interesting as the novel.

THE BOOKS WE DIDN'T LIKE

THE BOOKS WE DIDN'T LIKE






I didn't like "The Elephant Man". Simone had already told me that he hadn't liked the book but I didn't believe him and so I read it. He was right, the book was boring, nothing interesting happened and the story was incredibly sad.    Patrizia









I didn't like the book "London", because it talks a lot about customs and traditions, but there is nothing about the geography and history of London.     Giammarco





I didn't like "Ghost Stories" because it wasn't a horror book. There weren't scary things, just lots of boring stories.           Eric









I didn't like the book "New York", it was boring and it wasn't interesting. It was only a guide of the city.   Mirko


I didn't like "London" because, at the beginning, I thought it was a novel,but instead it was a guide of the city. The book wasn't  interesting but  it will be useful if , in the future, I decide to go to London.     Mattia


The book that I didn't like is "London" , because it is boring and too long. The reading can be interesting too, but I don't remember anything about it.      Claudio





I didn't like "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens because the story is not happy, not funny at all and absolutely not amusing ; it's boring and predictable.            Marina







I didn't like the book called " Mary, Queen of Scots" . It's  boring and complicate to understand, although I like historic facts. I didn't like it also because it was badly written and the narration is very slow.   Patryk


The story could also be interesting but it's not very well written and it's difficult to understand. It's slow and boring and I don't recommend it.  Virginia










The book " The Turn of the Screw " is a boring book with an annoying plot. I expected the final part to be better but I was wrong. I do not recommend it to anyone.      Isabella

FRANKENSTEIN

Frankenstein - by Mary Shelley

a review by Marina

Best-seller of horror- gothic literature, it's a very well-known story about a huge, terrible ugly creature, made by a scientist who wanted to give birth to a kind of super human being started from dead body parts.
Instead of the movie, in the book the monster is "human", he can feel and the only thing he wants is love, which no one, neither his creator, wants to give to the creature, because of his appearance, and this is touching.
I liked this story and I recommend this book to everyone.

FRANKENSTEIN

Frankenstein by Luigi

Frankestein is a bestseller book written by Mary Shelley in 1817. It is an horror novel that contains a lot of emotion: love, revenge, destruction, failure and desperation. The main characters of the story are Frankestein and Frankestein's monster, the first wants to create life, so he collects some pieces from dead bodies and other pieces of machine and finally, with electricity the monster starts to live. Then the scientist runs away because he is afraid. The monster searches his creator but it doesn't find him, so for revenge it kills his dears. Frankestein follows it to kill it up to the North Pole and...

 Frankestein's monster isn't evil because he only wants to find its creator, to have a woman  to love, infact it suffers for a lonely life.

The book places between reality and fiction, but however the story teaches us more important things, so it has also a moral.

it's adapted for all readers and I advise to read because it's exciting.