Product Description

This story of the alliance between Italian aristocracy and American millionaires is "a work unique among all [James's] novels: it is [his] only novel in which things come out right for his characters ...he had finally resolved the questions, curious and passionate, that had kept him at his desk on his inquiries into the process of living. He could now make his peace with America—and he could now collect and unify the work of a lifetime." —Leon Edel in The Life of Henry James

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444172 in Books
• Published on: 1985-06-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

About the Author
Henry James (1843-1916) was born in New York and settled in Europe in 1875. He was a regular contributor of reviews, critical essays, and short stories to American periodicals. He is best known for his many novels of American and European character.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant and challenging...
Definitely the most demanding read I've had in a long time, Henry James' THE GOLDEN BOWL is not to be missed. In James' final novel, he has created a true masterpiece. Not only must the reader concentrate, but he/she must also actually participate and think in order to take anything away from the book. It's basic plot is quite straightforward: Adam Verver and his daughter, Maggie, are affluent art collectors living in Europe. Maggie marries Amerigo, an Italian prince in reduced circumstances, and Adam marries Maggie's longtime friend Charlotte. What father and daughter don't know is that Charlotte and Amerigo were formerly lovers, and that they have rekindled their affair.

Written in a beautifully ambiguous style, BOWL is full of ingenious symbolism, and must be experienced to be fully appreciated. James has decided to tell a story with a very unique voice, and it is likely that most readers will be scared off by the decidedly difficult prose. However, it is an absolute must for any serious reader who wants to challenge him/herself with what is arguably Henry James' best novel. It may take months to trudge through (as it did for me), but it is worth it!

Not his best
As a Henry James lover, having read everything he's written, & waded through The Golden Bowl twice, I feel I've earnt the right to say it's not his best book.

The epicurean connoisseur at life's feast indulges himself in his last book with a fault he confessed himself prone: "to over-treat".

The writing is marred by endless empty sub-clauses, needless repetition, rhetorical flourishes, & very affected, stagey dialogue. The metaphors are over-blown, the description of characters hyperbolic, the drama suffocated by its own 'written-ness'. His late style marks a form of literary inflation: here he uses 50 words where in earlier work he would have used 5 to more powerful effect.

The 'Master' has, in short, run to fat.

Death by sub clause
If anyone had told me before I read this book that such a thing as death by sub clause existed I would have laughed in their face. I am not denying this book it's place in Literature, I am saying it is not an enjoyable read. I love beautiful prose as much as the next person, and i advise you to find it in D H Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. This novel tortures, wrapping an average plot in alot of flowery window dressing.