Barry Pierce's Reviews > North and South

Have not come across a better description for this book!

Haha so true :D

fact!

totally agree.

Nicely said. Still, though, Gaskell is socially aware and sympathetic, but she's not quite a socialist. There's more of a paternalist vibe going on in N & S.

Gaskell is advocating mutual respect of the working & 'master' classes. Mutual respect, codependency, and cross class discourse does not a socialist make. This is definitely a political Pride & Prejudice dealing with social issues that are still relevant.

Gaskell is advocating mutual respect of the working & 'master' classes. Mutual respect, codependency, and cross class discourse does not a socialist make. This is definitely a political Pride & Prejudice dealing with social issues that are still relevant.

I'm reading. This is beautiful.

Omg lol

Interesting...I haven't read the book but I've seen the TV adaptation and I actually felt that it was very pro-business. It painted many of the unionists as unreasonable, ignorant, and unworthy of sympathy. John and his mother seemed to be the voices of reason whereas Margaret was governed solely by emotion. Can anyone who's consumed both versions elaborate on the similarities/differences?

This is the best description of a book ever!!!

My favorite review on GR

Quite accurate.

I know it is sooooo boring!!, its basecly for girls… girls like that sort of thing

I couldn't disagree more. Thornton is a hero, a true Randian capitalist. He's the farthest thing from an altruist or a socialist. He works because that's what it takes to built and sustain a business. He doesn't "sacrifice," he produces, it's just that socialists don't seem to get how hard it is to produce consistently. He talks repeatedly about how the seemingly "good" things he does are just good business, and he's right. Rational self-interest is just that: rational. The other masters are irrational, greedy for its own sake, shortsighted and disdainful of their workers. They truly see them as inherently lesser. Thornton doesn't. He sees them as worth as much as they produce, as good as they deliver on their promises. That's a capitalist.

I don't think Margaret is a hero, but Thornton definitely is.

EJ I don’t agree with you. Although it’s ‘romance’ that didn’t stand out a lot to me. What was more intriguing was that the book was very successful in pointing out both sides of the story (the working class and the ’master’ class). It really makes you sympathise with the other side which you would usually stand against in real life. This is what Gaskell likes to deal with (and a very worthy topic to deal with, very relevant even today). It’s a total insult to think that ‘it’s basically the kind of thing girls like’. Either you can’t see its facade of being a romance novel (and even guys do like romance novels according to the guys on goodreads), or the last I checked there’s a huge number of guys in the political scene.

Vera, I think that adaptation did the opposite of what this book really shows then. This book really shows both sides of the stories (the working class and the ‘master’/employer class) and makes you sympathise with both sides, unlike that adaptation which according to you seems very one-sided. However, although this book is very successful in dealing with this topic, Gaskell’s other works aren’t, such as Mary Burton which seems very biased (I think she tried and failed miserably, that’s all - it just wasn’t convincing.)

*Either you can’t see past its facade

God, that's a terrible description.

Oh my god that sounds awesome actually. Now I'm curious

Disagree. No way socialist at all. Mrs Gaskell wrote this to show tradesmen in a better light. She was criticised for making them the big bad wolf in her previous books.

You nailed it!

lmaooooo

Lol—No it isn’t.

It’s not!I agree that there are some similarities between them but this is because of that the story happens in both P&P and north and south.

I mean because the stories both happens in19th century and both of them try to explain the society in that time but in many parts there are big differences that makes north & south even better than P&P

I disagree, Barry. This story shows a balanced, empathetic, and honest view of both the good and the bad of both the ‘worker’ and the ‘master’ classes. It advocates for people to honestly see the truth, misunderstandings, virtues, and distortions coming from both sides and not ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ when dealing with the difficulties presented by the conflict between the two.

Best review ever

This is the review that made me want to read this book

I disagree. Far more Christian themes than socialist themes.

LOL

HAHAHAHA.

facts

I read the book with this in mind and I am disappointed. It's good, but very tame in its criticism.

This means that I will love it!