Reviews

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen

Only show reviews with written explanations

beedew's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

3.75 stars

linesiunderline's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective slow-paced

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

I cannot give Jane Austen a “meh” star rating. I just can’t. However, “meh” is my feeling about Mansfield Park. I read it for the first time in university and didn’t get it. I went in with reasonably high expectations because I enjoyed the 1999 film adaptation and then I felt cheated. This reread does not do much to shift my feelings about this one.

It’s Fanny people, she’s the centre of my struggles with MP. I want her to be more, and she just isn’t. I get that this is sort of the point of Fanny, and yet she disappoints me.

So, I put down this book glad it is over, which sort of breaks my heart as an Austenite. I have decided to seek out the opinions and insights of Austen scholars on MP, so that I might shift my view before the next time I decide to reread all of Austen.

In the meantime, there are still some lovely lines to savor, thank goodness…

Lines I underlined:

“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.”

“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”

“But indeed I would rather have nothing but tea.”

“I have no talent for certainty.”

evan_jakob's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

mmhj's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

I have a confession. I don't like Jane Austen. *hides behind chair* Wait, let me clarify. I don't like Jane Austen as much as I feel I should like her. She is a wonderful wordsmith. Despite hating the book Emma due to the character Emma, Emma is one of the most well-written books I have ever read. Yes her grammar is horrible, but so is mine, and the way she uses the language is almost on par with Shakespeare at times. But there is so much hype around Jane Austen. She is THE female author to like, and love and there is so much talk about her and honestly I have never been that smittend by her. My favourite of her books is Persuasion, and I laughed at Northanger Abbey, but when I read P&P and S&S I thought they were just okay.

Now lets get on to Fanny and Mansfield Park.

People don't seem to like her very much, and I don't really get it. Fanny, in the way I read her, is very similar to Jane from P&P and Elinor from S&S. Introverted, kind, duty before self, rocks that other people lean on and depend on, and to some degree misuse. So why isn't Fanny liked the same way Jane and Elinor? I think it has to do with Lizzie and Marianne. By having sisters who are so much more outgoing and in a lot of ways different from them, Jane and Elinor get to really shine as complex characters. We see how Elinor and Marianne need one another, by contrasting Lizzie and Jane we see better the positive and negative sides with each sister. By having no character that we are supposed to like to bounce off of, it's much harder to see hos complex a character she actually is. How she stands up for what she believes in, but at the same time is very limited due to her lot in life so when people ask for her advice she can't really give any. She actually says at one point, that the person knows better what is due and just. She can be someone you can lean on, but not someone you can fight alongside with.

I don't think it's just for people to not like Fanny, but she does show that you can't just write a complex character. It's just as important to write good characters she can bounce off of, and there Fanny doesn't have any. Which, surprisingly enough, happens to be her motivation for the book.

I don't love Jane Austen, and I can't really say why, but this book really makes me want to.

hornborra's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

cassiealexandra's review

Go to review page

4.0

To start, I read this in a combination of print and Allison Larkin narrating—highly recommend Larkin on audio for this. Loved her voices and intonation. I’ll probably go through more Austen novels this way soon. Okay, back to the review:

It has been said that Mansfield Park is Jane Austen’s most complex and least likeable novel. I wouldn’t disagree. It looks at family dynamics among the privileged and wealthy, includes a bit of romance, and lots of cringe-worthy moments with lots of unfair mistreatment of its leading gal. I wanted to slap/wring the neck of Mrs. Norris on MANY occasions and Maria and Julia Bertram, and the Crawford siblings a handful of times as well. I’ve also heard this is less funny than other Austen reads, but I laughed out loud multiple times. I enjoyed this immensely for about ¾ of the book, and then I felt like I was waiting forever for Fanny’s vindication, only to find it in the very last chapter. Let’s do something fun—here are my one word descriptions of a few characters:

Fanny—honorable

Lady Bertram—hilarious

Mrs. Norris—infuriating

Maria and Julia—haughty

Tom—foolhardy

Edmund—clueless

Henry and Mary Crawford—trouble

Spoilery final thoughts, so stop here if you don’t already know or want to know: do we forgive the cousin thing in the romance, here? I mean it is from 1814 and apparently 1 in 50 marriages in England at the time were between 1st cousins, so I don’t know.