Book Review: A Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James

A Portrait of a Lady
Henry James
You can read it here:
(Volume I) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2833
(Volume II) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2834

Portrait is a rather sad moral tale. Basically it's about an American woman, Isabel, who was orphaned and thus goes over to live with her only living relatives in England. There, she has many suitors and refuses them all--as she tells her cousin, Ralph "I'm not ready to be tied down yet, I want to see things..." So, she sets out to do that at first, and travels because her uncle ... Read Moredies and leaves her a large fortune. Unbeknownest to her, that same cousin Ralph (who is dying of tuberculosis) convinced her uncle to give her that fortune. So...what does she do? She falls into the snare of a handsome, playboy nobleman. He becomes her husband-dictator; all her free-will and life is gone.
And at the end, when she recieves news that Ralph is dying, though her husband forbids her, she escapes and it is on Ralph deathbed that he tells her all as he dies in her arms. So sad! The best lines are these (said to Isabel on his deathbed):
Ralph : Remember this, Isabel. If you have been hated, you have also been loved.
[He pauses] No. No--adored.

Out of five stars, I give it a 3.