Review: Good Book Alert Review: Charming throwback to 19th-century novels of manners
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 12, 2011
Part family drama, part romance, and part social critique, The Gaslight Journal is a charming throwback to 19th-century novels of manners.Summary:Upon Isabella "Izzy" Audrey's return home from Radcliffe, she is stunned to learn that her family's wealth has disappeared. Now shunned by her former Society friends, she's ill-prepared for the even more shocking truth behind her family's suffering.Review:Written in conscious imitation of a style more common in the 19th century than the 21st, The Gaslight Journal clearly shows the author's love of the 19th-century novel of manners. This throwback style isn't confined to the plot's focus on social interactions and social conventions. Everything from the pacing to the dialog tag choice evokes an old-fashioned writing style. There is more than a little time spent in careful (but not excessive) description, the occasional use omniscient viewpoints, and a leisurely-paced plot focused  on psychological suffering, relationship states, and social status. While this may not be for every modern reader, I personally found it a rather pleasant change of pace.The Gaslight Journal succeeds rather well in creating and maintaining the atmosphere of the time. The character interactions, both in their positive and negative aspects, reflect the realities of the period. In addition, the scenes and descriptions clearly paint a picture of a different time. However, these details are never overwhelming.Izzy herself is a likable protagonist. Though she's still very much a product of her time and social station, she is just feisty enough to allow for plausible agency given the setting. The secondary characters all come across as realistic and interesting products of their age. Many of them are used to efficiently explore some of the cruel social realities of shallowness of late 19th-century American high society. While this novel is focused more on Izzy's travails then criticizing the hypocrisy of high society, there are still a number of scenes that highlight and examine such themes. However, the novel focuses entirely on a vary narrow social milieu, so it is not an indictment of all the socio-economic travesties that occurred during the time period.Given that the author doesn't confine herself to Izzy's POV, I thought there could have been more effective development of some of the antagonist characters. Their motivations weren't clear to the very end, and the value of the dramatic tension generated by the mystery surrounding their motives did not, in my opinion, quite outweigh the value that would have been gained from a deeper understanding of those characters.Though the story is more a novel of manners than a romance novel, there are romantic elements. However, the pacing of the relationship is a bit uneven. While there is a good argument to be made that it is fitting with some of the patterns seen in some of the older novels that inspired the novels, a bit more time developing those aspects and smoothing out the pacing would have made for a more satisfying romantic sub-plot overall.Although it is beyond the scope of this review to discuss them in detail, I will note that the author included several additional short stories in various period settings at the end of the novel. Those who enjoy the style will welcome the additional treat.Overall, The Gaslight Journal is a diverting and pleasant tale of a likable young woman striving against social circumstances beyond her control.