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    The Turn Of Screw
    The Turn Of Screw
    The Turn Of Screw
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    The Turn Of Screw

    Written by Henry James

    Narrated by Carole Boyd

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    In this chillingly memorable tale, Henry James employed his trademark subtlety and ambiguity to create a masterpiece of double meanings. The novel is written in a strangely complex form; a narrative by a governess, which is introduced by another narrator, who recounts the story to a party of house guests. Through all the twists and turns of the plot, the brooding sense of ghostly evil and menace deepens until the final crisis point is reached. Even then, the difference between truth and illusion is impossible to discern.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Copyright Group
    Release dateJan 1, 2014
    ISBN9781780003689
    Author

    Henry James

    Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.

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    Reviews for The Turn Of Screw

    3.5/5

    2,177 ratings121 reviews

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    • 4/5
      An incredible blend of Gothic and Realism, "Turn of the Screw" sends the reader into a tailspin, questioning what is real and what is moral.
    • 4/5
      Read with Shutter Island.
    • 5/5
      The story held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till someone happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion - an appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him.Woah! Steady on Henry! That's 143 words in 2 sentences! Call me Ishmael! 3 words and Mr Melville had done with his first sentence and he'd only reached 40 by the end of quite a substantial second sentence. Henry James clearly takes some reading. It's no good drifting off into a shopping list half-way through one of these leviathans. So I'm sure it's a good idea to tackle first this slim volume rather than The Bostonians or The Golden Bowl.The effort is worth it, but it is an effort. You've got to pay full attention and have all your analytical skills on the alert to follow what is going on and to pick up on the nuances. Henry James is not verbose to no effect. This verbiage is full of meaning and significance. The authorial voice is not necessarily trustworthy and there is a lot going on between characters that is hidden in the somewhat clipped exchanges of speech.A classic novella that is well worth reading. Could I tackle one of his full length novels now?
    • 2/5
      A ghost story with a horrific overtone.Victorian obscurity in expression, so not to say anything that could be objectionable. Took me a while to figure out what was worrying the governess.220
    • 4/5
      Euphemania: Our Love Affair With Euphemisms by Ralph KeyesPublished by Little, Brown and CompanyISBN 978-0-316-05656-4At the request of The Hachette Book Group, a TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion. Synopsis (from back of book): An entertaining look at euphemisms-where they come from, why we need them, and what they tell us about who we are. How did "die" become kick the bucket, "underwear" become unmentionables, and "having an affair" become hiking the Appalachian Trail? Originally used to avoid blasphemy and taboos and to make nice, euphemisms have become embedded in the fabric of our language. Euphemania traces the evolution of euphemisms from tools of the church to expressions of gentility to today's instrument of commercial, political, and postmodern doublespeak. As much social commentary as a book for word lovers, Euphemania is a lively and thought-provoking look at the power of words and our power over them. My Thoughts and Opinion: Just in time for the holidays. This book is informative, filled with trivia and a fun read. I found it to be quite interesting as to where and how certain terms came in to being such as "a loose cannon" (pg 193), "bookworm"(pg 228) "under the weather"(pg 124) and so many more. This book is perfect for those that enjoy trivia, history of the English language and the origin of certain phrases. I will never look at a chocolate chip cookie the same way again (page 111). Just in time for the holidays, this book should be on one's Christmas list, for yourself or someone you know. My Rating: 4
    • 3/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is billed as a psychological thriller. It is the story of an unnamed governess who agrees to care for two children at their uncle's estate, Bly. Her story is told through her journal entries. Her charges are "darlings" until one day while walking she meets menacing apparitions. I wanted to love this book as I do the classics. However, the writing was convoluted and this reader was very much distanced from the characters and felt like a passive bystander. It's saving grace was that is was only 131 pages. 2 1/2 stars
    • 1/5
      I suppose it's because of how old the story is, that I found the mystery/ story unsuspenseful. I've never seen so many unnecessary words used to describe the simplest of things! My mind was left strained and uncaring towards the end.
    • 2/5
      Nogal moeilijk verhaal over verschijningen; de lezer wordt op het verkeerde been gezet. Thema's: onschuld kinderen, overbescherming door volwassenen.
    • 4/5
      Any writer can make a cemetery or haunted house scary, but a good writer can make terrifying the absolutely ordinary. Henry James does this in Turn of the Screw, which is a ghost story about a governess who finds herself stuck with loving but haunted charges.This mini-novel is densely written, so if you're fresh off Stephen King and want blood, gore, and one-liners, you're not going to find it here. Turn of the Screw is an old-fashioned gothic story, full of expensive manors and apparitions in the study. But if you can get through the dense language, you'll find a terrific atmosphere. At first everything will seem normal, but a sense of unease will creep up on you. You'll realize that there's something not quite right with the children or the governess. You'll feel the macabre before you can even put a name to it, and you'll start to question what is real and what is psychological. This is horror the way it used to be, and the way it should be again.
    • 3/5
      It was better than I thought it'd be.
    • 2/5
      I just didn't get it? It didn't get me? It literally did not pull me into the story or hold my true interest. Perhaps a second reading/listening in the future.
    • 3/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is billed as a psychological thriller. It is the story of an unnamed governess who agrees to care for two children at their uncle's estate, Bly. Her story is told through her journal entries. Her charges are "darlings" until one day while walking she meets menacing apparitions. I wanted to love this book as I do the classics. However, the writing was convoluted and this reader was very much distanced from the characters and felt like a passive bystander. It's saving grace was that is was only 131 pages. 2 1/2 stars
    • 4/5
      I chose this chilling short story by Henry James as the 2nd of my three annual Halloween choices. It is the story of a young governess who is hired to take care of two orphaned children, Miles and Flora, at a large manor house in the Essex countryside. The children have been handed over to their estranged uncle, who wants little to do with them or any contact with them. The governess whom he hires is more than happy to adopt the two innocent youngsters as her own, and grows to love them dearly. However, she begins to see strange things happening about the house where she now lives, and continually sees a mysterious man and woman lingering about the estate. Both the man and woman have a horrifying, terrible expression and atmosphere to them, and when she describes them to her friend Mrs. Grose, the woman recognizes them instantly. They were lovers who once lived at the house, but they both died a few years ago, even though no one knows how. The governess becomes convinced that the ghost couple is after little Flora and Miles, though she can't understand why. The children insist that they do not to see the ghosts, but the governess is convinced that they are lying due to how frightened they appear whenever she questions they about it. The harder that the governess tries to protect her charges, the farther distanced from her they become.I very much enjoyed this brief, chilly tale, and I loved the antiquated way that it was written, which really gave it a cold, "ghost story" air that more modern writing simply cannot capture.In the beginning of the story, it didn't occur to me that the governess' ghosts may not be real, but by the middle of the book, I was convinced that they were simply figments of her imagination. However, at the very end, I didn't know what to think.I love stories that end just when the plot isn't quite closed out yet, leaving the reader to wonder - what happened? This story was certainly one of those, and I still can't decide if the heroine was crazy, or if the "horrors," as she called them, were really there. Perhaps they were, only they were real flesh and blood people who she wanted to think of as ghosts. Miles and Flora play their part well as the innocent, helpless little children who are very in need of protection as they drift obliviously toward horrific danger.Nowadays, every horror movie seems to cast an obligatory child, but when Henry James wrote "The Turn of the Screw," such themes weren't yet common.I especially loved Miles, who is a more filled out character than his younger sister Flora. He is a charming boy, who wants very badly to be "bad," in spite of how good he is. He even stages an event where he goes outdoors at night, and schemes at how to get the governess to witness his little crime, in an attempt to show her how "bad" he is.However, Miles is also a very wise character. Even though he never exactly tells his governess anything - he is always frustratingly vague - his little hints at deep, perceptive topics make him even more interesting.The unnamed main character was a bit annoying, and I felt that she was at times contradictory. She is normally terrified of the ghosts she is seeing (which is understandable), while at other times she speaks of them lightly and does things that make it seem as if she doesn't fear them at all.Her fierce protection of Miles and Flora was touching, and I couldn't help but wonder what made her care for them so much and so quickly, as if they really are her own family. Was she abandoned as a child? Did she always want children, but never got married? Speaking of speculation - there is much of it to be done within James' short story. There is, of course, the matter of the alleged ghosts. Are they imaginary? Real people mistaken as spirits? Or are they ghosts, after all? I think that everyone will ask these questions, but there are so many more to wondered about, if you look deeper.For instance, it seems apparent by the end that Miles and Flora are extremely afraid of (or even hateful toward) the governess herself. The governess seems to think that this is because the ghosts are controlling the children's minds, while Mrs. Grose hints that it is because the children have been influenced by an evil presence. But what if the evil presence is actually the governess, and she simply doesn't know it? Perhaps this is a bit too M. Night Shyalman, but could the governess have been a ghost herself?All of Miles' vague speeches, in which he is always saying things to the governess such as "you know what I mean..." could also be hints of this. Maybe she doesn't know what he means, and they are both talking about completely different things. In the middle of the story, I even thought that Miles had a schoolboy crush on his guardian, which was what he kept referring to, even though the governess assumed he was speaking about ghosts. If you read their conversation with this possibility in mind, it would actually fit quite well, though toward the end I had mostly dismissed this idea.All in all, I believe that I will keep wondering about "The Turn of the Screw" for a long while, and being so short, maybe I will re-read it again in hopes of unlocking further clues that may help me solve the mysteries I found there.This was a great Halloween read, though I would recommend it for anytime of the year.
    • 3/5
      It's time for another classic and this time it's the gothic ghost story by Henry James, The Turn of the Screw. Referred to here and there, I've always wanted to read it and find out if it's still scary by today's measures.BackgroundHenry James wrote too many novels and short stories to mention, most notably The Portrait of a Lady in 1881. Published in 1898, The Turn of the Screw has an ambiguous ending, but of course in my arrogance I believed I would finish the last page with a firm idea of what had happened and little room for any doubt. You see, I dislike ambiguous endings and I always have an opinion, so if a book requires the reader to decide the ending then I make a decision and get on with it. If the author doesn't tell me the ending of the book then I decide for myself, but in The Turn of the Screw, it wasn't as easy as all that.Plot SummaryA governess is hired to look after a young boy Miles and his younger sister Flora in a large gothic house (pictured above) after the death of their parents. The children are charming, well behaved and a pleasure to teach and look after. It comes as a shock then when the governess is notified that Miles has been expelled from boarding school, although the letter is vague regarding the reason for his expulsion. This was the most intriguing part of the novella for me and a great cause for discussion amongst academics and students alike.While this has been happening the governess has been seeing a female and male presence on the estate and begins to suspect they are ghosts and that the children are aware of their presence but won't admit it. With the help of the housekeeper, the female ghost is identified as Miss Jessel - the previous governess - and the male ghost as Quint - also a previous employee - both who mysteriously died.The governess tries to protect the children from their evil presence while Miles seems to know more than he is letting on. Late in the story, Miles says he was expelled from school for telling something to those he liked, who then told those they liked. Some argue this is evidence Miles was expelled for homosexual behaviour but discovering this hypothesis after finishing the book was such a shock that I just find it difficult to believe.I won't spoil the ending, but here are the possibilities I came up with: - Miles could have told his classmates that he killed Miss Jessel and Quint; the classmates then going on to tell their friends and so on, resulting in his expulsion. - Another possibility is that Miles could have told his friends that he was seeing ghosts; his friends could have spread the gossip, laughed and teased him, leading to his expulsion for being of unsound mind.- Miles was incredibly manipulative and his expulsion could have been related to his devious and manipulative behaviour.So, was The Turn of the Screw scary? Well, it was certainly creepy, I'll give it that much! Miles was a manipulative character and a believable one. I enjoyed the gothic evocation of place, and the conversations Miles had with the governess made me squirm. Immediately after finishing the novella (it's a short read) I went online to seek out discussions related to The Turn of the Screw and the ending in particular. I'm still not satisfied and I just wish the author had organised for the answers to be printed upside down at the back of the book.
    • 3/5
      This was my first Henry James story and I really enjoyed it. It was a short novel that can be characterized as a classic psychological thriller or ghost story from the 19th century. The story itself was not particularly scary, but I really enjoyed James' writing style and how he got inside the head of the main character as she starts to lose it later in the story. I will certainly read more of Henry James.
    • 2/5
      I had a college professor who issued a threat to our class via an anecdote about a prof from his own undergrad days. If a paper ran past the prescribed length, his professor would put a red line through anything remaining and write "ends abruptly" in the margin. I can only assume that's what happened to Henry James when he wrote this novel. I was listening to this on audiobook, and, even though the lady with the British accent said the recording had concluded, I just sat there thinking that there had to be a hidden track or something and if I sat in silence long enough, it would reveal itself.I've not looked in a while, but I'm pretty sure it says on my English degree that I'm supposed to give at least four stars to everything British, and especially everything written in the 19th century, so it's possible that rating this book poorly will result in my being stripped of my bachelor's degree. Meh. I wasn't using it much anyway except for a little blogging, a few book reviews, and some obscure references with which I pepper conversations to discourage others from engaging me in small talk.But really, what the heck did I just read? I get that the narrator is unreliable, I get why the references to (sexual?) misconduct are mostly communicated through significant facial expressions, and I get that I'm probably supposed to be confused. Sometimes these things make me enjoy a book and sometimes they don't. My experience with The Turn of the Screw is closer to the latter.Now, one thing I like is how the narrator always wants to face things directly in a household of people who are tiptoeing around issues and an employer who expressly directs her not to talk to him about anything. It demonstrates how crazy-making it is to want to have straightforward answers when everyone around you is either silent or speaks obliquely. It's difficult to know where one stands when the best one can hope for in the way of explanation is an arched eyebrow or perhaps, if one is lucky, a wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Would it kill them to just come out with it? (spoiler alert...(view spoiler))
    • 4/5
      Read with Shutter Island.
    • 3/5
      A group of friends are amusing themselves with tales of ghost when the host admits he has a personal account from a woman friend about an event concerning two children. The gathering is unanimous that he must at once recount it to them. Instead, he sends for the manuscript written in her own hand and reads it out.After being hired to be the governess of the young niece of a rich man, the protagonist journeys to his remote country estate. There she makes fast friends with one of the servants and the young girl, Flora. It seems that this house holds a secret however, as the previous governess died in mysterious and shameful circumstances. When the young nephew suddenly returns from boarding school and is forbidden by his educators to return, the plot thickens. The narrator begins noticing the presence of a strange and threatening man on the property. He appears to be a stranger, but when she describes him to her friend he is immediately identified as the previous man-servant to the master. However, this man also died in the same incident as the governess. It seems the house and more particularly the children are being haunted by both these dead people. Moreover, their sinister influence is acting upon the children to have the protagonist fired. She is however, much more concerned with rescuing the children from these infernal persons.
    • 4/5
      Like most novels with ambiguous endings, this one has had me thinking over the past few days. It's a haunted house story, in the sense that the narrative follows a young governess as she moves into a country estate to be faced with the pair of ghosts that haunt the two children in her care, but it's by no means the typical "chills & thrills"-type horror novel. There's little scary about these supernatural beings but the fact that they seem bent on corrupting the children in some way, continuing the negative influence they'd had while alive. An influence towards what, one wonders, as there are implications but it's never made explicit. In fact, the majority of the novel is concerned with this sense of taboo - wrongs so unspeakable but titillating the characters can only speak around them in innuendo, trying to force each other into revelation first. I'd definitely recommend giving this a read, but expect (and embrace!) the loose ends.
    • 3/5
      I thought I would never make it through the first chapter, but I did and enjoyed finishing it. I made it through 2 books that were 400 pages + during the same time it took me to finish this 120 page book. Tedious, very difficult to read but enjoyable once I got into it. It has since made any semi-difficult read a breeze.
    • 3/5
      Having read this, I stared at the last page on my Kindle, trying to decide how I felt about it. And I'm not sure. I enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed the slow unfurling of the menace of it. I liked the ambiguity, being unable to ensure if the governess were going mad or whether there really were ghosts. And I loved the starkness of the ending.

      At the same time, I don't know, there was something lacking. I got to the end and felt -- is that it? Is that all the pay off we're going to get? And yet, at the same time, I didn't think there was anything more that needed to be added. A strange, strange feeling.
    • 4/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; (4*)I certainly enjoyed this mildly spooky Victorian gothic tale. And I found that I quite like the writing style of Henry James.The story is about an orphaned brother & sister taken in by an uncle or some such male relation. He is a very minor player withing the scheme of the book as he hires a governess/tutor to care for the children at his country manse. The one stipulation upon her hiring is that she not bother him with anything to do with the children.When the governess arrives she finds that the male child is away at boarding school so she just has the girl child at first. She finds the little girl beautiful & angelic in every way. She is bright and quick to learn, has lovely manners, is obedient and the governess enjoys her very much.But soon the little boy is returned to the home, having been quitted from the school never to return and the governess & housekeeper (who have become friends) are never to know specifically why. The child never speaks of it so all they can do is wonder. He has the same positive traits as his sister and in the beginning all is well and everyone appears to be happy. "Appears to be" are the key words here.For we find that the owner of the manse & their employer had a houseman who has died and that the previous governess has died as well. There begin to appear apparitions of both of these persons: The governess to the little girl albeit the new governess can also see her and the houseman to the little boy with the governess able to see his apparition as well.Thus begins the tug of war between the governess & the housekeeper against the two apparitions who want the children.I thought this a very good though short novella & I can highly recommend it. It is my first Henry James and I found myself seeking out others of his work immediately upon finishing this one.
    • 3/5
      I really struggled to stay engaged in this one. Emma Thompson did a great job narrating but the language made it difficult for me. There were some intense parts and I did mostly enjoy the tale.

      2.5 rounded up for Goodreads.
    • 4/5
      A true classic, creepy and enthralling and elegant. I find the lush old language to be almost comforting.
    • 4/5
      I reread this one for my library book discussion group. I found this classic to be a bit more risqué than my first read of it several years ago. A good discussion was had about the children and the ghosts and their influence on their young lives. Just what did they do to these children?!Briefly discussed the governess and her imagination but we agreed the ghosts were real. The author’s excessive use of punctuation aside, it’s a pretty good ghost story.
    • 4/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is a 2012 Duke Classics publication. (Originally published in 1898)I’ve been reading classic ‘horror’ novels during the month of October for the past couple of years, and it was so fun, I decided to make it a tradition. I have watched several movie versions based on this short story, but, of course, movies tend to take liberties, so I wanted to read the book this year and see it through a fresh lens…I was surprised to see this classic has only earned a tepid rating average on Goodreads, though. I understand why someone today would find it rather bland if they are expecting modern day theatrics, though. That’s unfortunate because the atmosphere, nuances, allegory, and subtlety are what made the ambiguous tale the fodder for so much debate- which continues on even today. I doubt anyone, one hundred years from now, will still be debating ANYTHING written today. So, there’s that. That said, the writing is hard to follow. It is too wordy- and the capitalization of nearly every pronoun was annoying. Even so, I still managed to read the book in one sitting-as it is a short story. Despite its age, I did find it effective, as I prefer this slow build up over the cheap thrills so prominent today. I could see where readers would experience some chills and thrills back in 1898- and to be honest, I felt a few shivers here and there, too. Does the story live up to the hype, though? Well, if I had entered the book with overblown expectations, I might have felt disappointed, or at the very least, confused by all the fuss surrounding this book, which has garnered so much attention in movies, television, and even on the stage. But because I was somewhat familiar with the premise, and knew it was meant to be a psychological exercise, I was fine with it. It’s a book that one might want to read multiple times before one could settle on an opinion about the validity of the ghosts, or any other message one might find buried in the text. It did not, when first published, come without its criticisms either- but some of that seems ridiculous to me. Maybe the book was simply meant to be unsettling- meant to challenge one’s own perception of the events described- which is what I think. The only debate I’ll step into is the one that argues the ‘Gothic’ category the book often falls into. Yes, it has some ‘Bronte-esque’ Gothic tones- but in my opinion, it is not a pure Gothic novel, therefore I would not categorize it as such. Overall, I thought the story was thought-provoking- though the atmosphere was tainted a bit by my struggles with the writing. Someday I might read it again, and maybe take a closer look at some of the suggested allegory of the story when I have more time to study it.I think a book that has this kind of staying power, is still popping up on television, and is still the topic of much debate says a lot about the impact of what might have been a simple ghost story. For that reason alone, it deserves at least a four-star rating.
    • 3/5
      I found nothing to appeal in this famous story and quite a lot of it's artistry was of itself and to an end for which I was largely indifferent if not hostile. The governess's certainties about her charges were particularly repulsive as was the 3rd handed really 4th - taking no responsibility presentation of the narration. The drawn out, undeciphered causality and the classism and rigid but relativistic moralism inherent as the basis for the situation are additional turnoffs.
    • 3/5
      A very strange story of a governess that accepts a post taking care of two children who are in the care of their Uncle. He tells her he wants her to take charge of them and not bother him about anything. She arrives at his estate and immediately begins seeing strange ghostly visions and hearing strange tales about the previous valet and governess from the housekeepers. She becomes convinced that the ghosts of the deceased governess and valet are bent on harming the children, who may be consenting to their "possessing" them. Or is this just a tale told by a crazy woman who was making it all up? I had a hard time processing the language it was written in and finding a connection to any of the characters.
    • 4/5
      I can understand the fear this story engendered when it came out. My daughter had to read this for Lit class & hated it. The language, the pacing, the lack of real fear. I thought it was much better & can see how, at the time it was quite a scary story. Of course, I took it as its base level & didn’t have to dissect the text.
    • 1/5
      I am going to just be immature here and say it was stupid.