Second part of my review of Ann Radcliffe's most well-known novel. Yes, I do recommend it, by the way.This book can be confusing at times, but I'm having a great time reading it. To help you through it, you could listen to the audiobook while you read. That certainly helps carry you over the flowery descriptions of scenery.
However, to me, the main character - Emily - seems a bit naive on this whole affair. I wish she would have thought to escape from the castle Udolpho. But that's not something women do in these novels, they are rescued. If an escape is planned, they are not the planners but the weak, simpering participants. They put all their faith and hope in some man. In this case it was the servant Ludovico, the servant Annette's romantic attachment, along with another prisoner who happens to be in love with Emily and lived near her (wonderful melodramatic coincidence). Of the four of them, it won't be Annette or Emily that plan or execute the escape. Another weak point is that this new character, Du Pont, is introduced late in the novel. It's the sort of thing you see in serialized novels that are written as the story progresses in a monthly publication.
