Having finished the novel I attempt here to give my impressions of what I read.
One thing that stands out is what the characters are and what they’ve become.
Olive is dim in her perception of progressivism and Basil is equally so in his view of conservatism. In the end both have ultimately failed. Of course Ransom gets Verena but he fails himself and his chivalrous notions in his dogged pursuit of her. Olive implodes over the loss of Verena exactly as Mrs. Luna said she would, “mark my words…she will give Olive the greatest cut she has ever had in her life.”
Olive, the close-lipped woman who Verena describes “has got such an open mind, it’s as wide as the sea.”; destroys her standing with the progressives all for an infatuation with Verena Tarrant. Basil runs slipshod over his ideals also. What a conception Mr. James must’ve had putting together Ms. Tarrant. A beautiful impressionable young girl who can be made suitable for mass consumption through Olive or honed into a submissive housewife through Basil.
Our first impression of Basil is one of a meek Southerner. With Olive it is of a woman who can barely control her rage at the opposite sex. Which begs the question, why did she ever invite him up to her abode in Boston? Why intitiate a relationship with a man from a perceived backwards part of the country?
When last we see Miss Chancellor she is nothing but a shell of her former self. WIth Ransom he is on top of the world at having beaten his kinswoman in a quite seriously life or death match.
James spurs the reader on to pick a progressive or reactionary. I can’t stand either characters’ railleries at each others ideals. Nor can I stand Verena Tarrant’s innocence. Though I did find it amusing that Ms. Chancellor would throw money at Selah and Mrs. Tarrant in order to gain sole influence over the precious girl. You see Verena is torn, she hasn’t conviction or willpower to hang on with either one though there are scenes when she vociferously sides with Olive. The Bostonians seems to have taken something from me rather than gifting me.
The dark humor and irony of the novel are superb though. For instance “There were so many things that she hadn’t yet learned to dislike, in spite of her friend’s earnest efforts to teach her.” Verena is incapable of holding her own thoughts, she is merely a vessel for any crew that wants to man her.
