Reviews

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

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laur_astor's review against another edition

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I’m just not a Jane Austen girlie.

danielles_reads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Maybe a slightly unpopular opinion, but I really enjoyed this! I think this is one of the funniest Austen's I've read yet, especially as someone who enjoys a good Gothic horror. It's also a wonderful coming-of-age story with a side of romance.

I really enjoyed seeing Catherine come into her own and really start to understand other people (

she was honestly reading a bit autistic from a modern lens, but regardless I'm glad the narrative was respectful of her naïveté.

) Plus, all the absolute drama with the Thorpes and Tilneys was so damn entertaining lol. And I love that all these characters all felt so believable, doing things that that people still do today. And seeing Catherine

finally realize Isabella's true nature was so rewarding.

The romance with Henry Tilney was quite adorable. He did overexplain a bit at times, but it was obvious that he really valued hearing Catherine's opinions and liked arguing with her a bit. Plus, Catherine's relationship with his sister Eleanor was really cute as well. I really loved Catherine's true earnestness in being so honest with her feelings (seeing her say "there's no one else I would have rather spent time with than you!" without guile is so sweet).

Plus, all the Gothic parody was truly hilarious. I laughed so hard when the items in the spooky cabinet

ended up being regular old BILLS lmao. And then Eleanor's husband being connected to the bills randomly at the end because the narrator said it's too late to introduce a character with no connection to anything previously mentioned had me howlinggg lmao.

And then Catherine's honestly had me feeling real secondhand embarrassment when

she actually admitted to Henry that she thought his dad murdered his mom! He actually took it pretty well considering lol.

I just watched the 2007 movie adaptation and I think their version of that scene felt a lot more natural and real.

Austen has a tendency to omit proposal scenes from her books (looking at you Persuasion, where it was the worst!!), and that was the same here, but I didn't mind it as much since the romance felt so secondary to Catherine's personal journey. And her journey was so rewarding and satisfying that Henry (and Eleanor!) really just felt like the cherry on top.

Looking forward to finishing the rest of Austen's oeuvre.

mford86's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

naomi_e_'s review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

saanatoade's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lonelyday's review against another edition

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4.0

Si bien esta obra no me ha gustado tanto como las otras dos que he leído de Austen hasta el momento, me es imposible ponerle menos de cuatro estrellitas.