We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(8) Snow Line
Sure, it has a very young protagonist. But that doesn't make What Maisie Knew kid stuff. It's not even young adult stuff; it's the anti-YA novel. Not to diss Disney, but Maisie is no Disney princess, even if she and Aurora may have a few things in common.
That's because James writes chapters, paragraphs, and sentences that pose challenges to even the savviest and most sophisticated readers. So slow down, take your time, and reread that paragraph that seemed to mean nothing the first time you read it. We promise that with enough patience, your rereading will pay off, even if it sometimes feels like a slog.
A slog because, as in James's other books, characters in Maisie often intuit more than they express. So, on the one hand, a lot is left unsaid, and precious little happens—but, on the other hand, James devotes unthinkable amounts of space to the little that does happen. He magnifies the most micro of his characters' thoughts, feelings, gestures, and facial expressions.
"The litigation had seemed interminable" (Preface.1) is how James's novel begins, and as a result of James's microscopic attention to and passion for psychological description, the book itself sometimes seems interminable. (James himself called it his "interminable little Maisie.") It's well worth wading through, though, and sorting out its complexities, which are there for a very good reason.
The difficulties we have mirror those that Maisie faces as she, too, tries to make sense of a senseless world. So we owe it to her to keep at it. If she can do it, so can you!