NORTH AND SOUTH 2

Now that I 've had a week to digest and contemplate the novel as a whole, I thought the story a tad unsubstantial
inasmuch that it was a silly
romance concerning
Margaret Hale 's move north
and the perhaps amusing
misunderstandings between
herself and cotton mill owner
John Thornton .

There were good things in
the story which highlighted
the differences in the classes;
and the factory conditions
under which the poor were
expected to work . For me the
vivid description of the
workplace was the best part
of the book . Unfortunately I
think it may have been better
expressed if Gaskell had
created a more educated
character to explain it to the
reader alongside Bessie's
description, which was full of
pathos given her dying ,
consumptive condition .
Although much was made of
the "riot " that too was very
slight and passed over
almost as soon as the
chapter ended .

When I began reading 'North
And South ', I was expecting a
grittier 'Libbie Marsh's Three
Eras', instead I got a middle -
class comedy of manners
wrapped up as a romance .
It was a high standard of
writing as one expects of
Gaskell, it fell in nicely with
the 'condition of England '
novels of the Victorian era,
and silly romance aside , it
gave adequate food for
thought. I 'd give it 7 out of
10 rating or 3 stars out of 5 .