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I feel that he's a bit empty.
It's not just his distance, it's his reticence. Some of this would be related to his sexual disposition, but I don't think that's it. Neither is he self-contained. In fact, quite the opposite. He desperately needs and craves people around him because his life's work demands it. Each gesture, each scene, each secret, becomes part of a recipe for him - but he's not willing to give anything to the world in return other than his writing.
I'm not yet half-way at this stage. I listen to the audio-book as I walk to the train station in the morning which takes 20 minutes. The book has 12 hours of audio. So far, I'm loving it. I couldn't say whether I'd love reading the novel as the experience is possibly quite different.
I've only read one Henry James book, which was Turn of the Screw and I didn't really like it. However, I like how its creation, along with others, is woven through the story. It makes me like to novel more in retrospect although I doubt I would get a thrill from a re-read.
One thing I have noticed so far is that it's not a story that follows a particular path. It's a bit all over the place, like a collection of small stories about Henry James told in no particular order. That's probably the only criticism I can think of at the moment.
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