Wilkie Collins spun a dashing tale, while also showing off his adroit handling of memorable characters. A Victorian novel, The Woman In White was long, but the pages absolutely flew by. Intricately weaved, I enjoyed the different narrative styles, and how they came together to tell a story- and considering the presence of a mystery and a conspiracy, the multi pronged narrative added to the layers of this narrative.
When it comes to characters my favorite, of course, was Marian Halcombe, the incredibly courageous and resourceful young woman who at one point passionately said to her half-sister Laura that "our endurance must end, and our resistance begin" (seems like such a great feminist mantra!). A powerful female whom all kinds of men feared and admired throughout the novel, including the machiavellian Count Fosco, who time and again expressed an admiration for her spunk and wit. Praise from your enemy is the most genuine kind, and I believe Fosco's praise told heaps about Marian. I also couldn't help but be amused (not struck by admiration, mind you) by Frederick Fairlie, the hypochondriac uncle, despite his glaringly inexcusable selfishness which wreaked havoc after havoc throughout the novel. His narration was the absolute height of melodrama. He was the ultimate 'woman-in-swoon' which was a fun change in the novels of the time, because he had the makings of being just the opposite, considering his title, lands, position in society, and of course, him simply being a man. Count Fosco was scary, with his underhanded, conniving ways, it made me realise how wary one should be around people who are particularly ingratiating in their speech. I quite literally held my breath everytime Fosco slithered into the narrative. The levelheaded housekeeper, Eliza Michelson actually vouched for the integrity of Fosco which was alarming because it showed how Fosco's brand of a covert evil was more threatening than Percival's overt kind.
I give this book 4.5 stars. It was a fun read, highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good adventure-mystery-thriller rendezvous. But I docked half a star because I couldn't help but feel that Collins could have made Marian do more in the novel. She was completely overshadowed and rather domesticated in the second half of the book and I just felt like he was wasting the character. Also, she deserved her own story, and not to be a side character by the end of the novel. The role of the ever present doting aunt did not become her. She deserved a life of adventure and exploration across the continent....t
