Teaser Tuesday: 'The Italian'

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should Be Reading. 


• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


'The Italian' by Ann Racliffe is a book I am severely struggling with at the moment. So much that I am wondering why I ever chose to read it. So I thought perhaps picking out two teasers and seeing your reaction would remind me why I chose it and perhaps push me into starting it again. So, here we go!

• 'On looking from the lattice, she perceives a person perched on a point of the cliff below, whither it appeared almost impracticable for any human step to have climbed, and preserved from the pre-twilight did not permit her immediately to ascertain whether it was Vivaldi, and the situation was so dangerous that she hoped it was not he.'
  
  Ok, this might be the perfect example of why this book is difficult to read. This sentence is very log, stretching multiple lines, yet the subject matter is simply that Ellena sees someone on a cliff and hopes it's not the man she loves. This could be explained in a much more straight forward way, yet that is not the Victorian Gothic style.
• 'Vivaldi understood all the delicacy of her scruples, and though they afflicted him, he honored the good sense and just pride that suggested them.'
  
  And I achieved in immediately found another quote that explains the difficulty I am having with this book. We are told about her perfect morals and values over and over again and it leads all of her actions and decisions. She refuses to give into her love for Vivaldi and just acts unrealistically!

So, what do you guys think? Are these simply the features of a Victorian Gothic novel and should I stop complaining or this writing style really as extravagant as it comes across to me?