All's well that ends well
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This is a novel in superlative style: 'heroic, magnanimous, exalted, brightly, caressingly, exquisite, fascinating, wonderful, sublime, radiant, delightful ...'
It confronts and mingles very superficially two impoverished Europeans with members of a wealthy Boston bourgeoisie family in a play of misunderstood sentiments and love.
There is absolutely not a shade of a discussion of the social/mental difference between Europe and the US at the end of the 19th century.
This book doesn't 'say nothing' (Thomas Hardy, quoted in the introduction), but nearly nothing. It hardly surpasses the level of a three-penny stationary novel, compared with the works of a Dostoevsky or a Flaubert.
It is terribly sentimental and the tears flow easily.
Only for Henry James fans.
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Like A Whispered Gossip Behind A Cotton Gloved Hand
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There has long been a comparison perceived between the works of Henry James and Edith Wharton. However this likeness is not particularly evident when it comes to The Europeans, for this is a novella that seems more like an American Jane Austen, written on a three inch by two inch square of ivory with a exuberant whirl of young people all seeming to be lovesick for another member of their circle in this tight microcosm of 19th C society. In those days of course, it was quite normal to be madly in love with and marrying your first cousin - in this modern age, we wouldn't dream of it! The two Europeans of the title, Felix and Eugenia come to the US looking for their relations and as luck would have it, find them. There is certainly something satisfyingly delicious about the chase for true love, but just when I was expecting everything to fall into place, and each to get their man/woman... there was a little twist at the end, where one does not get their man/woman, souring the cake a little but giving an unexpected dose of a little more interest to this work. In short - a nice swift enjoyable read, ideal for a long journey.
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A pleasant and quick read, but little more
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This is one of James's early works, and shows an indebtedness to Jane Austen. It is the story of a European brother and sister (of American parentage) who come to Boston on a surprise visit to their American cousins. Like Austen's works, it is an exploration of human attitudes and assumptions, the somewhat flambouyant Europeans set against their puritanically repressed American cousins. In this respect it is occasionally successful, and there are a few comic moments here, but as a whole it feels rather lightweight and inconsequential. As I read this book, I kept imagining how appropriate it would be for a Merchant Ivory film. So I was not surprised to discover subsequently that one already exists.
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