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rinku's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Northanger Abbey is actually the first Austen book I’ve read, and I quite enjoyed it. It was just nice to read a book that isn’t too exiting or nerve-wrecking for once lmao.
This book follows Catherine who, after spending some time in Bath, falls in love with Henry but many stones are laid in their way in the course of the story. This novel was overall just relaxing to read which isn’t a bad thing inherently. In the conservations between Henry and Catherine that were really fun to read and made me chuckle a few times, they talk a bit about how non-fiction and fiction are viewed differently. It’s interesting how there are still people today thinking non-fiction is better/more intelligent than fiction.
The second part of the book was more interesting though where the finally go to the name giving Northanger Abbey that played a smaller part that I thought it would be. It was so fun to see how different the Abbey was from Catherine’s expectations. Everything is too normal for her taste that she even starts to imagine a murder that never happened . I read in one review that the book shows that the “real” monsters are the ones living among us aka people like the Thorpes. With this interpretation, I could enjoy the last part of the story even more.
Of course, you can see that the book is a child of its time. There’s a lot of misogyny and one instance of antisemitism. In general though, it was nice to read a book in this time period and thus learn what life for women was back then. Catherina was an interesting main character and towards the end, I really started feeling for her. Besides her, it was first a bit hard to keep up with all the characters introduced because many of them share the same surname. Furthermore, I find it really funny that even in books from 200 years ago, there are love triangles.
Northanger Abbey won’t be the last book by Austen that I’ll read. I of course have to read Pride and Prejudice one day, and I also want to watch the movie for Northanger Abbey since I can imagine the adaptation to be quite fun as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic friendship
Minor: Antisemitism, Classism, and Murder
alida_'s review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Antisemitism
stryfe's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
after reading so many gothic classics this year, this satire was such a breath of fresh air. henry tilney is a great austen hero and catherine is so imaginative.
Content Warnings
Minor: Antisemitism
Wealthy characters are described to be as rich as "a jew" by John Thorpe.laurenjane's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, and Antisemitism
Minor: Murder
gabriellesimpson's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Classism and Antisemitism
bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is my second Austen and I can’t wait to read more from her! It was quite slow and could be hard to focus sometimes. It could partly be due to my trying to read this while on vacation and it’s not much of a holiday vibes read 😅 I enjoyed the second half more than the first because it was a little more fast paced.
I liked the characters especially Catherine, a fellow bookworm! I definitely prefer Persuasion over this one but I’ll have to read the rest of Austen’s work before ranking them of course.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Classism and Death of parent
Minor: Antisemitism and Infidelity
sofipitch's review against another edition
adventurous
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
This book was a reread and I remember liking it but god I forgot how charming and endearing it is. I picked it up bc I needed something lighthearted after I had to end a friendship after realizing they were manipulative and maybe never cared about me, and then lo and behold we have the character of Isabella who does that exact same thing to Catherine. This is why Austen is so timeless, her characters are SO realistic it doesn't matter that the kind of society she describes doesn't exist anymore, it feels like you have met the exact kinds of ppl that her characters are.
Minor trigger warning for antisemitic language used twice and the n-word causally dropped once (amazing to see how widespread racism is that a book only about white ppl and white society in England still manages to remind you how deeply ingrained racism is in their culture) 🙄
Minor trigger warning for antisemitic language used twice and the n-word causally dropped once (amazing to see how widespread racism is that a book only about white ppl and white society in England still manages to remind you how deeply ingrained racism is in their culture) 🙄
Content Warnings
Minor: Antisemitism and Racial slurs
anna_m_k's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
A surprisingly meta book that is constantly taking asides to discuss its predecessors and contemporaries, this coming of age tale feels surprisingly modern and focuses heavily on Catherine growing out of childish naïveté.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Infidelity, Death of parent, and Antisemitism
mme_carton's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Sexism
Moderate: Antisemitism, Xenophobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Cursing