I won't repeat all the rave reviews except to say that the last 200 pages are unputdownable and I read them in one day.

At the end I am struck by some thoughts about "the enduring treatment of the mentally ill" as represented by the Sanatorium. Take it from someone with firsthand experience, the failed methods of curing "mental illness" with potions, tinctures and removing any possible thing that could distress the nerves (toxic compassion) -- is no different than it was 200 years ago -- when you think about tne metabolically disordered, zombie-like, dependent existence which psychiatry and therapy work in lockstep to offer as the only solution.

DNF at 22%

Supposedly this book has an excellent female villain in it. But after 22% of this horrendously long and overwrought melodrama I ran out of patience waiting for her to show up.

Such a wonderful book! Wilkie Collins' craft is in full display here. He makes us love and hate his characters by turn and literally manipulates our emotions. A very intelligent villainess, who shows her softer side as well. Lydia Gwilt is easily one of Collins' best creations.

reviews.metaphorosis.com

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My knowledge of Wilkie Collins comes almost entirely from The Moonstone and The Woman in White. I enjoyed those when I was young, and re-read them several years back. With the advent of e-books and free books, I picked up a lot of Mr. Collins' work (and that of his friend Mr. Dickens). Armadale was my first venture into this unknown territory.

Armadale is a long, convoluted mystery about two men named Allan Armadale, their sons, also conveniently named Allan Armadale, and the woman who links them all together. The first two end badly, and a core query is whether the sons much necessarily end badly - fate, predestination, etc.

The book is long, but I enjoyed almost all of it. I contrast the 600 pages of Armadale with the 600 pages I had remaining in Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet when I picked up Collins' book. Armadale is certainly less self-consciously 'literary', but it's no shallower, and it's a lot more fun to read.

Collins starts with a fairly defensive foreword warning of experimentation, and leaving judgment to history. I read the book 150 years later, so I guess he wins. At the same time, I'm not quite sure what he was so defensive about. The story is told using all sorts of narrative devices - multiple points of view, letters, journal entries, you name it. Mostly, it works very well. The book also has a number of rants about one or another aspect of society. A number of them are funny, and none of them really get in the way of the story. In fact, the only narrative tic that bothered me was the number of references to "If only this were fiction!"

In terms of story, there's a good range of characters, most of them likeable (the lead Armadale himself is a bit whiny). The plot is not surprising, but Collins sustains the interest well despite the story's length. The question of predestination failed to interest me, but otherwise the story was fun.

All in all, a fun, light story well worth reading.

It was OK, but after The Woman in White, The Moonstone, and No Name, I weary of Wilkie.

A melodrama typical of the Victorian Age when this was written, but especially enjoyable because of Collins's skill at telling a story. The characters are well-defined with each exhibiting at least some redeemable quality (even those with deliciously villainous intentions).
I fluctuated between rating this a 4 or a 5. I decided to be more intentional about saving my 5-star ratings for books that really blow me away.

The master writing a master work. By turns engrossing, funny and thrilling.