The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Review by Katie Rose

                The Turn of the Screw by Henry James takes you into the realm of horror. This is not like most modern day horrors, however. It lacks all the blood, gore, and cheap frights that characterize most horror stories. It is more old-fashioned.  Well it should be! It was, after all, published in 1898. Usually I hate horror stories. I scare really easy and my over active imagination can keep me up for weeks with images inspired by whatever horror story I have foolishly allowed myself to intake. There was none of that with this story. This is perhaps because this novella is more psychological than murderous.

Note: I would not recommend this book for children. There are a lot of adult themes in it that I would not consider appropriate.

                The main character is a young governess who has just taken up a new position at an estate which has recently become open due to the mysterious death of her predecessor. Her young wards, a girl named Flora and a boy named Miles, are seemingly delightful and innocent children. This is the governess’ first job, and she is determined to be the hero of these children’s lives.

                The great villains of the story are ghosts….maybe. This is one of those horror stories where the reader is constantly wondering, is this really happening? There is a very real possibility that the governess is insane. With stories like these, it is important for the reader to question everything. The story is told through the perspective of the governess, who is an unreliable narrator. Everything is never as it seems in this story, or is it? Another piece of advice for reading this story is to see sex everywhere. I know that sounds weird, and trust me I am not one of those people who reads sexually undertones into everything, but this is how the story is meant to be read. Because of the era it was written in, James had to use euphemisms and innuendo to tell this story. He could never actually come right out and say what he meant. What Henry does with these social limitations, though, is genius. He uses this constraint to let the reader’s imagination run wild. Are things as awful as they appear? I don’t know. I have read this book three times and I still don’t know what I believe happened.

                As I said before, there is no pointless gore or scream-out-loud moments. It is a deeply psychological story that mostly takes place within the mind of a woman on the edge of sanity. The governess, although she is never given a name, is complicated and deeply flawed. Both her motivation and mental stability can be questioned throughout the book. Out of the six characters in this story four are female. There are no scenes of brutal murder or sexual violence against any of them, although the reader can read those elements into the story if they chose, (although I think it is a bit of a stretch to do so).

                In the end, I would say this book is not for everyone. If psychological horrors are not your thing, then you can skip it. If you enjoy that genre, however, then I would say this is a great book that is deliciously complicated and layered. It features a mostly female cast of characters, and it is very readable at only 155 pages (in the version I own at least). The language, being written in the late 1800’s, can take a chapter or two to get used to, but it is not difficult. As I stated before, I am not a fan of horror but I enjoyed this book immensely. Final recommendation? Give it a chance! It may surprise you!