A
Title: North and South
Author: Elizabeth Gaskell
Publication Info: Simon and Brown 1851
ISBN: 978-1613823439
Genre: Historical: European
Like many people, after seeing The Hobbit with it’s remarkably, disturbingly hot dwarves, I have found myself fascinated with the ouvre of one Richard Armitage, and Zoe Archer helped (as she always helps) with her constant, steady, delicious stream of “Hot Dude Pictures” she posts on Tumblr.
And then there are are the North and South gifs. And there’s the eyes, and the nose and the jaw line and the cheekbones and dude. The voice. THE VOICE. So I watched North and South. And I may (I’m not admitting to anything, mind) have watched it three times in two weeks and I MAY have been able to note when scenes were cut from the version posted on Netflix Instant that are on the DVDs.
Maybe.
I admit to NOTHING.
But I wanted to read the book and review it for the fine feathered flock at the Bitchery.
North and South is an 1851 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. It’s contemporary of Dickens’ work, but less annoying to slog through. (I believe my high school did Dickens a great disservice by assigning us Great Expectations. WHAT A FUCKING BORE THAT BOOK IS and turns everyone off of Dickens. Also being paid by the word results in… yeah). Anyway, it’s sort of like Pride and Prejudice only in the industrial revolution. You have conflicting manners, confusion in custom and idioms, class differences in a couple of different directions, people who just need to USE THEIR WORDS MY GOD, and some overblown melodrama.
Margaret Hale is the daughter of a vicar from a tiny village in the south of England. Her father has a crisis of conscience, and resigns his position in the clergy and removes his family to the (fictional) town of Milton in the North. His wife is none too pleased with this, and Margaret gamely goes along with the plan because what else are they going to do? They go to Milton because Mr. Hale has an old school friend who has connections ther that would get Mr. Hale some teaching and tutoring work, so off they go.
The main industry of Milton is cotton mills, and Mr. John Thornton owns one of the mills. He’s a self-made man, and played by Mr. Armitage, so he’s hot as HELL, and he basically is totally bowled over by Margaret the first time he sees her, walking regally like a goddess. Margaret is pretty convinced that he hates her because he is incapable of using his words.
Dude, you are totally gonna start a fire in your cotton mill with your face smoldering like THAT.
So Margaret’s family is gentry, but poor, and John is in trade, but really rich. So there’s that. They can’t understand each other’s mannerisms (a handshake in the North is expected, and to refuse is basically spitting in someone’s face- in the South a lady would never take a man’s hand because that’s practically third base). John is head over heels in love with her, and if she knew of the things he did for her, maybe she would realize it quicker (like he overheard her mother grumbling over the truly ugly wallpaper in their rented house, so he quietly had it repapered in a much more agreeable pattern, and none of them ever knew about it).
Margaret’s biggest flaw is that she just doesn’t realize that boys like her. The book starts off with her awkwardly rejecting a proposal (poor Henry) and it just never occurs to her that the reason John keeps making sure that her ailing mother gets fresh fruit all the time is because he likes her. Like, LIKES her likes her. So when he pulls a Darcy and awkwardly proposes (with less “your family is a total embarrassment, but I really like you anyway” –seriously Darcy, is it any wonder Elizabeth didn’t swoon at your feet? You have no game) she’s totally floored. And he, poor boy, is kind of broken by her rejection, because he never really dared think she’d have him anyway- just a man in trade. “Nobody loves me. Nobody but you, mother.”
MY COLD BLACK HEART.
(Seriously, you must watch the mini-series if nothing for his voice alone.)
There’s quite a lot of social commentary on strikes, unionization, workplace safety, what makes a man versus what makes a gentleman, and a couple instances of good old Victorian Novel Wasting Disease. Oh, and the ramifications of a mutiny on a Navy ship.
I sometimes have trouble slogging through old language (I finally actually read Pride and Prejudice last month for the first time ever) but this wasn’t too bad. Not quite as obviously paid-by-the-word as some novelists I could cite (Dickens). What she does with dialect is very interesting, though the lower-class Northern characters can be a bit hard to follow with unfamiliar slang (but in the miniseries, I’ve heard of some people needing to turn on the closed captions to follow Brendan Coyle’s dialogue.) The ending is rushed and then abrupt- the version I read started with an apology, because Gaskell found out at some point during the writing that she was only getting 20 chapters published, instead of the 22 she thought, so we get to the BIG EMOTIONAL CLIMAX and then it stops.
I really would be interested in how these two manage to work out their differences. By the end of the book, she's come to love the North, and sees the South more as a happy idylic dream-memory, and there's quite a lot to be said about the memory of things in your childhood not holding up when you go back as an adult. She's learned Northern manners, and he's learned how to translate her Southern manners into what she means by them.
I admit that if I hadn't watched the miniseries, I probably wouldn't have bothered to finish, but there were scenes that I really, really wanted to read!
Like this one: The proposal scene, read by the man himself, Mr. Richard Armitage:
I have only one thing to say, and that is UNF.
This book is in the public domain and available free at many locations such as Project Gutenberg. It's also available at Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo | iBooks | All Romance eBooks, and some versions are free.
I am an Austen superfan from way back, but I tend to agree. N&S has more heft to it, and I like the adaptation better than any of the Austen ones.
The score is just beautiful, especially the last 15 minutes or so.
I have liked Dickens adaptations because I think the actresses tend to flesh out the female characters a bit (Dickens didn’t usually “do” women well, IMO). Bleak House was fantastic, as was Our Mutual Friend. But I still don’t enjoy most of the novels themselves.
“I kept thinking Marian should dump that baby-faced “I’m in a boy band” looking Robin fellow and fall for Guy.”
Hahahaha!!! Me, too!
Oh, it’s awful as far as the Robin Hood legends go, but there are some fun performances. It’s a great guilty pleasure on a rainy afternoon.
Our Mutual Friend is the best! I am such a fan of Keely Hawes and Anna Friel who was also in Wives and Daughters.
Just to be clear, Hawes was in W&D, not Friel. She was in the excellent Pushing Daisies, though. 🙂
My absolute, total, favorite among the BBC / Masterpiece productions. Everytime I pop in the DVD I have to watch all episodes in one go. And that VOICE. Love Richard Armitage in this. I tried reading the book, but couldn’t do it because it’s so Victorian in language.
Yes, Richard Armitage! N&S is a repeat for him alone…as is this youtube montage of him playing Guy of Gisborne to the tune of Pink’s Oh My God! Enjoy.
yes! to the book, mini-series and Richard Armitage!
1) the beginning of the book is so very slow – we are unused to the novels taking several chapters to begin now.
2) The climax scene is amazing. Very Victorian hot, with feeling bursting through propriety and jabs at the future mother in law.
3) Richard Armitage… /sigh
From the novel, just had to post for a taste: “I shall claim you as my own in some strange presumptuous way.” What can one do but swoon?
LOVE the novel…and we did read it in my 12th grade English class. (Bless my English teacher for wanting to expand the canon to include more women. Just goes to show that people who look like staid middle-aged male high school teachers on the outside are sometimes the real radicals.) That said, I thought the tv series was…meh. Armitage is handsome, but they made him into a smoulder-clone. (I had the same problem with Firth’s Darcy, although to a lesser extent, because Darcy is genuinely less verbal.) But I don’t think John Thornton has trouble using his words in a general way at all. He argues about philosophy and theology and capitalism and some pretty heavy stuff quite happily…in fact, he PAYS Mr. Hale to “read” with him…in other words, to have discussions about big ideas. And he’s respected among other men because he talks well. A lot of what I love about the book is that you don’t just see him smouldering around Margaret, but they’re actually arguing. And it’s not “banter.” It’s real serious conversations and part of Margaret’s growth is learning about things that matter. I was totally turned off by Armitage’s first scene in the cotton mill in the series…the brutally beating a worker was out of character for a man who prided himself on being hard but fair, and the screaming at Margaret was stupid, when Thornton, who is nothing if not confident about his own areas of expertise, could have explained perfectly rationally and persuasively that fire in a cotton mill was a life-threatening danger to all present. The series made it about him being a “beast” tamed by beauty, whereas in the book he teaches Margaret at least as much as she teaches him. It seems a shame to take a man who’s handsome AND smart and make him just handsome. But “para gustos se hacen colores.”
Ah you’ve discovered Richard Armitage! I would watch Richard Armitage read the phone book. His voice. God his voice.
His John Thornton trumps Colin Firth’s Darcy in P&P, and I’ve currently watching MI-5 (from the beginning but cannot wait to get to his series). Supposedly the First Season of Strike Back in which he stars is also amazing – but you cannot get it in America. (Warning: Cinemax’s Season 1 is actually Season 2 in the BBC).
Super warning: Do not go on Tumblr and search the #richard armitage tag. You will never leave your computer.
Oh and to get really obscure search for Richard’s Cbeebies shorts on youtube, where he reads children’s books.
Here’s Winnie in Winter:
http://youtu.be/MO51JtbV6yc
OMG. He’s plays Harry in The Vicar of Dibley. I love his character. ::plans to rewatch the series::
I hit send too soon. I meant to add “Thank you for helping me know why his handsome face looks so familiar.”
Great review, RHG! I’ve ordered DVD from public library. Can’t wait for Mr. Armitage! Will read Ms. Gaskell too.
I have to go take a cold shower now…
Loved your review of the series and the novel. A friend who was obsessed with Richard Armitage told me to watch N&S. once I finally did, I was kicking myself for not listening to her earlier!
I have to give another hearty thumbs up for Richard Armitage reading the Heyer novels. I used them as enticement for me to take longer walks. (Just one more chapter….). OMG that voice!! He could read the phone book, and I’d swoon, but goodie for us it’s Heyer!
yay for N&S love! I discovered it last year when I was sick with a cold and took the opportunity of all that couch-time to watch things like British period TV that my DH won’t be in the same room with. Love Richard! had to then discover anything and everything he was in. I have tried to convince everyone I know of the greatness that is Richard Armitage… MI5 is also worth the watch. I am also glad that I wasn’t the only one loving the hot dwarf and then realizing he was a dwarf…
Awesome! More reviews of classics please! I discovered N&S shortly after a friend recommended Jane Eyre, and then when I found out that Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell were friends it basically made my day.
Wait, there’s more scenes on the DVDs than on Netflix!?! Where’s my freakin’ purse, I got to go to Barnes&Noble, like, NOW.
Been waiting for them to put that out here in the U.S. Is it finally available somewhere?
I have to say that I am sorry to hear that you do not like Great Expectations. I first read it when I was 12 (had to hide it under my bed as I was not allowed to read fiction). I found it then, and still find it now, to be quite romantic. It’s a good deal about love and being rejected and continuing to love. There are also several HEAs.
I have been obsessed with both the book and the movie for years… I don’t even want to say how many times I have watched that movie though!
Unlurking here. Oh holy God, this whole post and comments are almost WORD FOR WORD my IM/texts/emails with one of my friends who is ever-so-slightly obsessed with RA.
I thought nothing would top Pride and Prejudice . . . and then came North and South. So, yeah, add me to the Armitage swoonies. The voice. The smolder. The passion. “Look back at me.”
As for Robin Hood, I didn’t want to watch the whole thing so I settled for watching the video clips on a Armitage fan site because, really, he was the only part I was interested in. And, yes, I wanted that redemption plot line. Marion? Seriously? Robin Hood?
I’m with everyone who wishes—deeply—that Armitage was doing more romantic costume drama mini-series.
THANK YOU!!! I had this mini series on my watchlist on Amazon where you can watch for free if you have Prime. Due to some ongoing repairs, I could not watch TV last night, so I curled up with my Kindle Fire and watched it back to back. Armitage is the smolderingest man ever! I just downloaded the free version of the Kindle ebook, then got a deal over at Audible for the audiobook for $5.49. I will definitely watch again. It was an amazing find.
I am re-watching the N&S mini because of this post. Oh, sigh. I am not especially an Armitage fan in general, but my goodness, this series is so deeply romantic to my brain. All of the angst! And the labor relations! And class issues, and people dying, and secrets!
And the way he looks at Margaret’s plump white hands pouring him tea! So, so sexy. I think that’s part of what is so great about this series – the real sense you get of the sexual desire underpinning all of the sturm und drang, but it’s totally chaste and just about him admiring her throat or whatever. SO HOT YOU GUYS.
Oh, the score! I came across some MP3 score snippets awhile back and the music is just lovely.
I think I watched the movie years ago, but I don’t really remember much about it.
I ended up watching the ending on Youtube last night, but now I must see it again and try out the book!
N&S!! Love! The only thing wrong with the miniseries (if you can call it WRONG) is that it’s four hours long and I CANNOT watch the beginning without finishing it! I love Elizabeth Gaskell, but I saw the mini-series before reading the book on this one and I have to say I like the ending in the mini-series more than the book. The book ending feels way too rushed – I really wanted to see how the families would react to their engagement. Silly demanding publishers.
Since I haven’t seen anyone plug her yet, I’ll add that, in the realm of British classics, Fanny Burney’s novels are FABULOUS. Madness, mayhem, love, oh-noes… Plus, how can you do any better than the line “If I had an hundred hearts, ten thousand times would you have conquered them all”? swoon!!
OMG!!!!! I absolutely love N&S- cos of him. I first saw him when N&S first aired and so my first love started when I was 15! =D
btw we had a twitter marathon where people from different countries watched it together- IT WAS BRILLIANT!!!
He’s brooding mcbroody pants but HMMPH. SO FINE. I find though, that brooding heroes only work for me in fiction and fiction alone.
I had to read North and South for my lit class and I was … disappointed. I watched the mini-series while reading it and I found the actress who plays Margarette a little *too* forward – as compared to the book. But I found the book too subdued. And super melodramatic!
Though I will say, for pure textual analysis, the book is fantastic. I didn’t know a character in a 3rd person perspective book COULD deceive the narrator, but there you have it.
There’s a well-written fanfic that has Marian and Gisbourne get together after some fantastic angst and trauma. “Grant What I Wish” at Wattpad.com
The beating scene does Thornton a disservice, I agree. But I understand it was a better plot device for creating the instant antagonism for modern viewers. The book scene would have been a bit dry and hard to interpret for most.
N&S is my favorite book and film. Love them both to obsession. But prefer the book now if given a choice. C19 and WestofMilton.com are two places where people never tire of discussing this book/flim.
N&S is my favorite novel. It’s not an easy read if you’re not into Victorian culture, but the subtleties of the developing relationship, the intriguing real-life characters, and the passionate prose of a man desperately in love are engaging and worth savoring over and over again. There are so many gorgeous quotations from this book. And I loved how they gradually come to understand each other so that by the end of the book, you know they’ve reached a place in the middle of their ‘North’ and ‘South’ viewpoints. Their total admiration and respect for each other is beautiful.
Love the film, too. The most romantic ending and kiss ever. Ever.
Netflix cuts out scenes from their version?! That is so not okay. I’ve watched and loved North & South on Netflix for years…but now I will have to get the DVDs. If there is more Richard Armitage, I am THERE.
Also, I really loved the book, as well! I had never heard about her having fewer chapters than anticipated. The ending of the book makes a lot more sense now. I always thought it at least needed a few more pages. It does have one of my favorite last lines, though. It made me laugh.
Armitage is utterly delish in Strike Back. The audiobooks narrated by Armitage and the one by Tom Hiddleston are complete eargasms. If they ever did one together it would be total ovaryplosion. 🙂
1. Okay, I read it and watched it, and I loved both versions! Although, I think the movie would have been a little confusing to someone who had not read the book. Some of the scenes towards the end of the movie need more backstory.
2. The nose. I didn’t really get why people were obsessing over it until I watched the movie. Now I want to rub my face all over his face 🙂
3. “Nobody loves me. Nobody but you, mother.” = most heart-wrenching words ever uttered by a Mama’s boy! I think my heart sobbed.
4. Dear Mr. Thornton: Please send some of that smolder my way. Thanks!
Note: For those of you who don’t have netflix (like me), at least two people have the entire movie posted on youtube.