North and South

An excellent reading of a most wonderful book. One 9f the few I wish didn't end and wondered what would follow.

Very good.

Beautiful book. Couldn’t stop listening must read morbid Elizabeth-Gaskell

I grew up in Yorkshire in a town where mills stood empty and were repurposed into trendy dwelling places for the young and wealthy. I was born in 1973 and never fully understood the rivalry and opposition between North and South England. Elizabeth Gaskell has drawn that out beautifully in this book along with a masterfully weaved story of intrigue and suspense. Characters with whom I can relate and love. Superbly narrated, I intend to listen to it again immediately and enjoy from a different perspective the characters. God knows the end from the beginning and now I shall see the tale from that perspective.

This narrator was exceptional - author so eloquent... A very engaging book.

I found the beginning horrendously slow and tedious. (This, after all, is why it took me three months to finish the damn thing.) Despite that, I really enjoyed the latter two-thirds of the book.

I do so love me some schadenfreude. Nothing like, y'know, killing off the protagonist's mother, exiling the charming brother to Spain, then killing off her father, and finally killing off her godfather. The preachiness? Not so much, but this is definitely not the worst I've seen in nineteenth-century fiction, so I don't hold it too much against the book. Or I tried not to, anyhow.

4 / 5 because it became ridiculously engrossing after I slogged through the initial exposition that leads to the Hales setting up house in Milton.

Simply the best. Oh my I didn’t expect to love it some much!

A very sweet historical romance! I highly recommend this novel to any Austen or Brontë fans.

Why has it taken me so long to read an Elizabeth Gaskell novel? North and South is an excellent book with well-drawn characters, themes of class and religion, and a love story, too. I was initially reminded of Jane Austen (always a favorite), but as the novel progressed these themes were explored on a broader, more worldly scale. Also, although Gaskell was writing only several decades later than Austen, I was surprised to find her language much more accessible.

This was a combination read/listen for me. Juliet Stevenson's narration was nothing short of perfection.
Very highly recommended
4.5/5 stars

Love it! It's Pride and Prejudice with a serious labor politics twist.

Brilliantly strong characters and strong social commentary. I admit that watching the BBC adaptation of it book has significantly contributed to my increased enjoyment, appreciation and love for the book the 2nd time around. (Having Richard Armitage's Mr. Thornton in mind...mmmm...)I'm continually amazed at Elizabeth Gaskell's realistic and deep portrayal of each main character. Even though I love them, each character has flaws which force me to pause and reflect that, despite those flaws, I still love, respect, or at least empathize with them.Aside from Margaret and Mr. Thornton, I'm particularly struck with Mrs. Thornton, in her fierce love for her son and her strength of character. What a mother! (And what a mother-in-law she would make!!) I must say that Mrs. Gaskell is now one of my favourite authors, on par with Jane Austen!

This is one of the novels you should read twice: once to lose yourself in the romance, the second time to focus on the social dimension: the contrast between the rural, traditional south and the newly industrialised north of England; the plight of the working class, the role of women...

Sometimes the old writers remind me of modern ones--Charles Dickens in particular shares many spiritual descendants, none of whom live up to his standard. This book gave me the strong impression of a Victorian Maeve Binchey. I'd been avoiding it until now because the title evokes the American Civil War, and I don't like war, and it's enough to colour my vague impression of this non-war-related book until now. I also knew it had something to do with unions or industrialism, and it does, but it only seems a bit didactic in one chapter, and just local colour in the others, so that wasn't so bad.

I enjoyed it immensely, but it wasn't as fun as I'd want it to be, to be honest. Still, a beautifully-crafted Victorian novel, unread by me until now, is still a treat.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

I was compelled to read this novel after seeing the excellent miniseries, and I loved the book even more. Pretty much every scene with John Thornton set my heart aflutter in some way or other--he is an irresistible character. The only thing I didn't like very much was the chapter epigraphs.

North and South is the story of Northern England during the Industrialization. The book centers around the Hale family--Rev., Margaret, and the Missus. Because Rev. Hale wouldn't agree to support the Book of Common Prayer he was let go from his parish and moves his family north where he takes up teaching. They meet Mr. Thornton, a misunderstood factory owner? Margaret and her family become sympathetic to the factory workers and the union. This is a very bleak book, much like those of Thomas Hardy's . There is the requisite happy ending, but it is not satisfying.There is just something "missing" from this book when compared to Hardy and Trollope who write of the same time period. 521 pages 3 1/2 stars

This is not the Civil War North and South that most people are familiar with. This is North and South of England. I like Gaskell's books because they include romance and social commentary. Is the plight of the factory worker similar to that of the poor farmer in the country? Do the mill master's have a duty to take care of their workers or is paying them sufficient? And as in Pride and Prejudice, will Mr. Thornton ever get together with Margaret? In truth this book is basically Pride and Prejudiced rehashed except for a little more depth of character for the two main players. There is a BBC mini-series of this book which is also amazing.

I've seen the miniseries version of this multiple times, so I figured I should probably read the actual book. Though many of the secondary characters are flawed through singular characteristic traits, I took the "big picture" route and viewed them as part of the whole story and focused on how they aided Margaret's evolution throughout. The miniseries version was pretty true to the book--the biggest change I can think of was the ending, but each version works for the story. The book version was a softer, more private finish (as befits Mr. Thornton & Margaret) but the film version was just as romantic. I read reviews that compared this story to Jane Austen, only more political, and I do agree to an extent. However, I'm pretty sure Mr. Thornton has trumped Mr. Darcy on my list of handsome brooding fictional men. :p

I’m sitting here making an undecided facial expression and smacking my lips somewhat like after I do make when I’ve eaten something that doesn’t taste bad exactly, but it’s certainly nothing I would try again and I feel like my tongue has been coated unpleasantly so that I get to continue to taste it until I brush my teeth. Yeah, that’s how I feel about this book.

In fairness, I should disclose that I went into this reading adventure with some fairly high expectations because so many Jane Austen fans recommended her so whole heartedly. In fact, they were well nigh as intrigued with Ms. Gaskell’s characterizations as they were with Ms. Austen’s. It has stellar ratings on Goodreads. And I feel beyond let down.

A word about Ms. Gaskell: I was told she was a contemporary of Austen, perhaps on the later end of Austen’s writings. She is not. Elizabeth Gaskell was actually a contemporary of Dickens and contributed many short stories to a circular that Dickens published. And there’s the rub. I hate Dickens. I do. Just. Simply. Hate. Dickens. She also wrote a biography of Charlotte Bronte. I hate Bronte. Either one. Simply. Hate. Bronte. It’s all so dismal and dreary. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good “humanity sucks and should be wiped out” story as much as the next person, but I’ve always felt that Dickens-esque novels were too heavy-handed and ended up focusing on part of a story that I never found that interesting.

North and South was long: 400 some-odd small print, larger pages. It was extra hefty on description and meticulously written dialogue with Northern Englanders accent. I actually almost gave up on it out of sheer boredom at around 40 pages. As it was the only book I had with me on the train to and from work, I kept reading another 5 or so pages, and to its credit, it did become more interesting. But for a book that is about social class divisions and the struggles within each group to understand the lot of the other, it was decisively shallow. I felt like many of the “key” scenes were simply too contrived. There is no reason for Mr. Thornton, the male protagonist, to fall head over heals with Miss Hale, the female protagonist. They meet and instantly dislike one another, but, in my opinion, Glaskell is never able to convince me why their feelings change for one another. The author’s contrivance to move Mr. Thornton’s heart is really only a moment where Miss Hale (bravely but mostly stupidly) puts her body between Mr. Thornton and a bunch of rioters to protect him. Really? Hunh? At some point she throws herself at him still to “protect” him and the author has Thornton reflecting much on the feel of her against him. So his hatred for her “superior” ways all vanish in a cloud of smoke over a little lust? Isn’t there a town harlot for that?

Much later, of course only after making Miss Hale an heiress, and conveniently, an heiress over the very property upon which Mr. Thornton works and lives, Miss Hale realizes that he is all that is good in a man. I’m not certain why this change of heart because the author never tells us. It is true that Mr. Thornton does make great personal strides as a human being learning to understand the plight of others. But that she should decide she loves him on that alone seems, well, wholly unconvincing.

I actually had to re-read the last couple of chapters to make sure that I didn’t miss anything because one moment they are without any contact for a few years and the next he sees her in London and kisses her. I was convinced that my book must have been missing a few pages, but no, it just ended quickly. And that is one of my greatest pet peeves: rambling on and on and freaking on only to end the story without properly tying up your loose ends or making the tying up believable. I feel betrayed as a reader who invested my time to slog through your unnecessary detail.

The long and the short of it is that I ought to have stopped 40 pages in when I originally thought to give up. Why do people like this story? Two thumbs down.

I very much enjoyed this novel about the rising and falling fortunes of the manufacturing and educated classes. This novel struck me as quite progressive in certain ways as the manufacturer has a number of classically 'noble' traits such as self-sacrifice for honour. Highly recommend if you are partial to Victorian romances that are conscious of class.

This title is a truly beautifully read truly beautiful book!

This is an excellent novel. I try not to read too much about a book before I read it because I want to be surprised by everything. So, if you're like me and reading this I'll tell you this: Just read it. Don't expect action packed and mysterious. If you enjoy a nice leisurely stroll through a story of love developing out of nowhere, a girl growing up and changing, then you'll enjoy this.

Reading this was sort of like discovering another Jane Austen, but Gaskell is more political. In this novel, first published in 1855, the heroine, Margaret Hale, must move from the rural south of England to the Industrial north. There, she is exposed to the tension between owners and workers, as she meets and befriends people on both sides of this divide. There is a strike, and it is clear that Gaskell is not much in favor of this tactic. But she doesn’t shrink from the novelist’s task of understanding what drives each of her characters.

I also enjoyed the love story at the heart of this novel. It’s a bit like Pride and Prejudice, with Margaret Hale first sitting in judgment of those who are involved in trade. Then the situation is reversed, when the hero learns something that appears to sully Margaret’s reputation.

One thing that hadn’t changed since Austen was writing: Margaret Hale has very little power to move her love affair forward. In order to preserve their dignity, women had to be passive in the face of love. In this situation, the Fates have a field day, throwing the lovers far apart before finally bringing them together.

Classics are always good and so was this. The female protagonist Margret Hales was the one I liked the most she was strong, stubborn and yet sensitive. I had already seen the BBC TV adaptation of it and it was as good as this book.

I had relatively low expectations for this book, as I'd attempted to watch the BBC special before and found it pretty dull. But the the book itself (actually the audiobook) was a very different experience. While I found myself feeling a bit impatient with the heroine and perhaps sympathising a bit more with Mrs. Thornton than the author probably intended, the characters and their stories were so finely drawn that I fell right into this book. I was continuously impatient to know what would happen next, even though the outcome of the story (typical romance in its plot) was a given. Juliet Stevenson gives an excellent performance in reading the story. Highly recommend.

Excellent in all senses. Elizabeth Gaskill is a true literary artist. The reader was amazing!

When her father has a crisis of faith and leaves his position as a parish priest in the lush community of Helstone in southern England, Margaret Hale finds herself transplanted to the strangely foreign community of Milton in northern England. In this bustling, industrial town, Margaret encounters the rough and striving John Thornton, a local mill owner, with whom she regularly clashes. In Milton, Margaret develops a greater awareness of the social injustices between the owners of industry and their workers and also discovers that there may be more to her relationship with Mr. Thornton than either of them ever expected.Gaskell's novel is a fascinating combination of Victorian romance and a contemporary exploration of the social upheavals that came along with the Industrial Revolution. Margaret and Mr. Thornton are both well-drawn characters each with a realistic combination of virtues and flaws. Watching their clashes and growing realization of their feelings is a delight. Interspersed is a narrative exploring the conflict, so associated with the Industrial Revolution, between the labourers and their employers. While Gaskell's views are unlikely to gibe with modern sensibilities, in Nicholas Higgins she creates a character that moves beyond caricature of the lower class and imbues him with emotion, intelligence, and ultimately makes him a sympathetic figure. A great read whether the politics, the romance, or both are of most interest.

One of my favorite reads of the new year! I really enjoyed the love story between Margaret and Mr. Thorton but also enjoyed reading about the industrialization of northern England.

In Gaskell’s novel, Margaret Hale is uprooted from the home she loves after her father leaves the Church following a crisis of conscience. Upon settling in Milton, she becomes acquainted with industry and poverty in a way she never anticipated. Self-made man, John Thornton is at the heart of Milton and as time goes on, Margaret and John develop tenuous relationship that masks an unexpected deeper attraction.Elizabeth Gaskell has penned an amazing story with an original and heroic heroine in Margaret Hale.

This was not my favorite book to read and I was sadly disappointed as I really loved the movie. The author's style just clashed with my preference. It did not draw me in very well. The characters were well developed and the plot itself was fine, but I think the flow was lacking. I also hated the bits of poetry that began with each chapter on my Kindle.

As I said before, the plot is good, but I think that the author just needed to tweak her writing style a bit.

Audio book performed by Clare Wille
3.5***

Richard Hale, a vicar at a country parish in southern England, has had a crisis of faith, and decides to leave the church to become a tutor in an industrial city in northern England. This might be fine, except that he is married and has waited until two weeks before they are to move to let his daughter and wife know that their lives are about to be turned upside down. His daughter, Margaret, has had a clearly defined role as the clergyman’s only daughter in the rural surroundings of Helstone, and now struggles to find a place in the very different society of Milton. Accompanying her father in the hunt for a suitable dwelling, she meets Mr John Thornton, the wealthy mill-owner who has engaged Mr Hale as a tutor in the classics. Thornton is immediately smitten with the lovely Margaret, though she does not return the feelings. Can opposites attract? Can the self-made Thornton woo and win the refined Margaret?

Gaskell’s book is more than just a romance. She spends considerable time exploring the changes wrought on England’s economy and her people by industrialization. We learn of the difficulties of the laborers vs the excesses of some owners. For a short time I thought Gaskell was going to completely discount Milton as a dirty, factory town, but she balances this with a warning Margaret gives about the harsh conditions of the agricultural workers in the South – toiling in all kinds of weather for low wages, and dependent on the squire for their living.

I loved how Gaskell gave us so much insight into the thoughts and feelings of Thornton, Mr Hale and Higgins (one of the labor leaders). We really come to learn about them and, therefore, care for them. I wish she had spent more time expounding on Margaret’s thoughts; to me, she was rather one-dimensional. Yes, she was kind and also spoke her mind when pushed too far by Mrs Thornton, but she was so passive! I realize that women in her situation at that time had few choices but to sit and wait for a suitable man to come along and propose marriage, but I think Margaret did too much “waiting.”

Still, right up to the ending I was ready to give it four stars. But that ending – abrupt hardly covers it. I actually exclaimed aloud, “Is that it!?”

Clare Wille does a superb job performing the audio book (produced by Naxos AudioBooks). Her facility with accents and skill as a voice-over actress breathed life into the work for me.