Rating: 
Summary: 529 pages of a irritating story
Review: Lets begin with analysing the book by its mail character.First ther is Isabel Archer. She is the snobbish type. She is not in love with anyone but herself. Actually she is in love with the image of herself. She thinks very highly of herself and had some prejudiced notions of liberty and love and moral character. The only good aspect I believe is her firm tendency of sticking to her notions. Although she doesn't know that she owes her fortune to Ralph, the way she treats him and her aunt and almost everybody is high-handed to say the least. In Ralph, we have a person who really is likeable and its sad that he has to die in the end. The only flaw in his portrayal is his falling in love with her beautiful but little proud cousin. In all other aspects he is what a man should be. Madame Merle is one very good character. But the way she has been accused of forcing Isabel's match is little unfair. Osmond did want to marry her for money and Isabel did want to marry him to justify her image of noble girl to herself. Osmond is definitely a villain and a typical one too. Almost perfect picture. Then there is Casper. He is what a young man should be minus his slight selfishnesh. One would have expected him to pursuade Isabel to not to go back to Osmond even if she didn't want to turn to her. Then comes Henrietta who is supposed to be typical US girl. Well if that is the case, one gets the impression that US girls are very prejudiced and extremely self-righteous. It just convey the widespread image of America as a HOLIER THAN THOU country. But all in all she is a lovely , caring woman though a bit interferin. About Isabel's aunt nothing much can be said. She never was more than a side-character and is a typical some good-some bad lady like the Countess Ralph's friend, the English peer is somewhat of a casanova. The way he falls for the little girl of Osmond is disgusting. On the whole, it leaves much to be desired and the author does not look very sure as to what he wants to convey and what kind of virtues does he want in an ideal person.
Rating: 
Summary: Lush, Excellent, Rich, Sad Novel!!
Review: This novel is like a fine, gorgeous old brocaded tapestry: so many themes, levels of meaning, complex characters w/ complex relationships to one another are woven through it by James that it will be a different novel each time you read it. It begins very slowly -- I gave up on it about Ch. 2 for years -- but if you keep reading it will be like coming out of a dark path into a meadow colored with the most lush & exotic blooms. The central character is both maddening and pitiful, the minor characters are all worthy of Dickens in their complexity, and it boasts one of the most Iagoish "villains" you will find in literature, a really evil fellow! It is my favorite novel, for its lyrical tragedy & sad romanticism, and one of the best by any definition I have ever read!!
Rating:
Summary: Never judge a book by its movie
Review: About a year before deciding to read James' Portait of a Lady, I watched the movie version of the the novel. At the time, I thought the movie was sort of slow, but fairly decent. However, after reading the novel and realizing what a truly amazing work of art it was, I was completely disgusted by the novel. while the movie dragged over its two-hour time span, the novel was magnificent. I stayed up and read the entire thing in one night. With this novel, James proves that he is a master of the psychological novel. (Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl are even better!) It appalls me that some movie directors think they know better than geniuses like Henry James, and they change the scripts to sensationalize them for Hollywood. James is amazing enough on his own, he doesn't need any help!
Rating:
Summary: Dazzling Psychodrama
Review: The great power of Henry James's work is that he is intensely compassionate and unwaveringly tough-minded; he creates complex and dimensional characters and allows them to make the worst choices possible. Best of all, he doesn't lapse into melodrama or let his characters off the hook for their lapses in character or judgement. That's the beauty of his work; instead of a cheap redemptive payoff, he shows the range of human experience, woven into a tantalizing and totally involving narrative. Isabel Archer is charming, irritating, self involved, charismatic, and tragically shortsighted. Her fate is all the more tragic because James allows us to travel the entire, rapturous distance with her, signalling the bloom of every camellia, kiss, or withering blow to the spirit.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic Snob
Review: This book came highly recommended towards me so I was willing and happily ready to read, just when I saw it's size: the book was massive! But the title was original and unusual so I attempted this read. THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY is a fiction about Ms. Isabel Archer, a young American woman who moves to Europe to inherite a large amount of money from a late and distant relative. Isabel meets men who fall head-over-heels in love with her...or her money, your call. Isabel Archer marries one of them, comes to recognize him for the ussy he is, and resigns herself to a lifetime of unhappiness in their dead marriage. I found this snob of a woman so hard to deal with that I hated her. I hate her, not this book, that's what makes a great book. When you have a deep opinion about a particular character with reasons on why...THAT is what makes a great piece of literature.
Rating:
Summary: awesome depiction of a psychological warfare called love
Review: All the hype you may have heard about Henry James is all true. I'm a male fan of adventure novels, but after being devastated by Edith Wharton's "Age of Innocence" (a novel of incredible power), I followed up with this novel, which was simply awesome in the development of its characters and the titanic struggles for power and love that rage underneath their exteriors. I didn't like this novel as much as 'Age of Innocence', probably because of the dearth of sympathetic characters. James is a rare genius who has my admiration but somehow not my affection.
Rating: 
Summary: A complex transformation of a girl to a woman betrayed.
Review: Isabel Archer arrives in Europe as a confident girl who revels in independence of thought and looks forward to her discovery of the world. Her unexpected inheritance causes her to be the target of clever and seductive fortune seekers. Once trapped in their world, she is torn in many directions. In the end, she is educated by the discovery of how she has been betrayed, but is also freed by that knowledge. This is a complex book about people with complex motives, but is a very satisfying read. END
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece, yet something is missing
Review: Henry James told us how Isabel Archer roughed up Caspar Goodwood, but he did so from a very lopsided angle. Don't you think its time to do justice to poor Caspar by giving him a trusted shoulder to cry out his side of the story, especially his emotions? For despite his strong and resolute character, I am convinced that the man did have emotions. Nevertheless, I think the story is a timeless classic and, the way things go between sexes in America, with romance having degenerated into needless games of power, its message is even more applicable in our era. It is a book for every man and woman in this country to read and heed its message which is relevant even in the late 20th century when the United States has replaced Great Britain as the leading power and the meaning of the expression 'to make love' could have Henry James shuddering in his grave.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting.
Review: I simply adore Jane Austen, therefore when I read everything she ever wrote, I had to move on to another author and tried desperately to find someone that at least wrote in a similar manner/time period. I turned to Henry James and began with "Portrait of a Lady". I found Isabel Archer, the main character very frustrating. I thought she conveyed much snobbishness to her childhood friend by not assisting him when he desperately pleaded with her for her step daughter's hand. He was madly in love and she rather turned her back on him. Isabel was also a very, very poor judge of character, much due to her young age and falling into oodles of money left to her by her uncle. She could have had anything in the world, including her freedom or the love a good hearted man. Through her poor choices, she ended up miserable. She would have been much better off staying poor. I also disliked the way the book ended. I like leaving something to my imagination and building my own ending but I wanted a little more than what I got.
Rating:
Summary: Innocence, love, vulnerability, manipulation, morals.
Review: A haunting, complex story of love and hope, manipulation and meddling. Who can one trust? What is friendship? The price of manipulating, of vulnerability, of innocence and idealism, of the lust for money? The terrible consequences on Isabel Archer, who trusted them, of decisions by schemers.
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