I was going back through my reading spreadsheets and my Goodreads review of the book and discovered some interesting things:
I first read it in 2010 as part of the Mobile Read Book Club. I gave it three stars and the following review:
Quote:
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I can tell that Collins got paid by the word, and I can also tell which chapters were more heavily influenced by his own drug use. But I did enjoy the story on the whole. I still think that both Collins and Dickens were better when they wrote together, but I am glad to have read this.
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I read it again in 2013 (and I have no idea why) and again gave it three stars but with no review. I read Dan Simmons work Drood, which loosely connects both Edwin Drood and The Woman in White in a half-baked fanfiction narrative, but still does not explain to me why I revisited the title in 2013. At any rate, I enjoyed it both times. My spreadsheet indicates that I gave this 3.5 stars, but as Goodreads still forces me into whole stars, it ended up with a 3 there.
My favorite quotes are still those below about women. They amuse me as Collins split most of his adult life between two different women concurrently. I wonder if he felt himself doubly trodden upon by two women or if his sentiments are genuine.
Quote:
“Any woman who is sure of her own wits, is a match, at any time, for a man who is not sure of his own temper.”
“No sensible man ever engages, unprepared, in a fencing match of words with a woman.”
“Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's personal appearance, and a man's money, but they cannot resist a man's tongue when he knows how to talk to them.”
“There are three things that none of the young men of the present generation can do. They can't sit over their wine; they can't play at wist; and they can't pay a lady a compliment.”
"No man under heaven deserves these sacrifices from us women. Men! They are the enemies of our innocence and our peace - they drag us away from our parents' love and our sisters' friendship - they take us body and soul to themselves, and fasten our helpless lives to theirs as they chain up a dog to his kennel. And what does the best of them give us in return?”
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