The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The basis for Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor: One of the most disturbing ghost stories ever written, a tale of imagined danger and real dread. A young governess arrives at a secluded country estate, hired by the manor’s often-absent master to look after his orphaned niece and nephew. The young woman, a parson’s daughter, is immediately charmed by eight-year-old Flora—and Miles, two years older, seems like a perfect little gentleman when he is unexpectedly sent home from his boarding school. But Miles’s steadfast refusal to reveal the cause of his expulsion is troubling, as are the staff’s whispered stories about the previous governess, Miss Jessel, and her lover, the mysterious valet, Peter Quint, both of whom are now dead. Most disturbing of all are the spectral figures wandering the grounds of Bly that only the new governess can see: a woman and a dark man who seem to take a special interest in Miles and Flora. No longer sure of what is real and whom she can trust, the governess desperately tries to hold on to her sanity and protect the innocent children from forces too sinister to name. A literary masterpiece whose mysteries are open to endless interpretation, The Turn of the Screw has been haunting readers for more than a century. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

An expertly crafted novella where James makes you put in a good deal of work to figure out what exactly is going on, but is highly rewarding. It is the story's ambiguity – most the the scenes can be interpreted in more than one way – that makes it so powerful. Read it slowly and take the time to let your imagination run wild.

The ambiguity kept me interested, but disappointing overall.

Honestly, I'm so confused by this book that I barely even know how to write a review about it. I remember being properly creeped out by an abridged version of this book that I read when I was much, much younger, so I was looking forward to reading the unabridged version this time now that I'm older and much more attuned to 19th C writing than I used to be.But, boy, has Henry James stumped me.This is my third book with an unnamed narrator in a row and I still have a few more coming up. But anyway, an unnamed narrator answers an advertisement to apply for the position as a governess to two young children at Bly Manor. She starts to see two apparitions on the grounds around the place, and then what follows is so... hard to understand that I literally had to Wikipedia the book after finishing it to get an idea of what on earth just happened. It isn't that the plot got convoluted, it's just that James's writing style is so dense and murky - and this is coming from someone who loves, loves, loves 19th C writing!!Are the children evil? Are they not evil? Are they possessed? I have no idea.Who are the ghosts? Was Peter Quint paedophilic? What were their relationships with the children before their deaths? How did they die? Why are they still haunting the manor? I have no idea.And then, the ending. THE ENDING. It was so abrupt and even at that point, I had no idea whether Miles was in cahoots with the ghost of Peter Quint to try and kill the governess - or something?! Why did Miles die??? What did the ghosts have on the children???? Why did she send away Flora for and why didn't she allow children see each other before that? I HAVE NO IDEA. Honestly, it's so hard to write this review because I only had a very thin idea of what was going on as the plot progressed through this book. Suffice it to say that I respect it as a horror classic that it supposedly is, and I'm envious of people that enjoyed and appreciated it a lot more than I did because I really wanted to, but I'm probably not going to revisit this one and I didn't get much of the horror fix I had been hoping for.If you want more haunted houses, I'd recommend Edgar Allan Poe's [b:The Fall of the House of Usher 175516 The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387708966l/175516.SY75.jpg 15570703] and I'm also currently reading Shirley Jackson's [b:The Haunting of Hill House 89717 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871336l/89717.SY75.jpg 3627], both of which would probably be much easier to understand and would have more horror elements than this one did.