A review by firerosearien
Jane Austen: Seven Novels, by Jane Austen
4.0
Copy/pasting my post from Reddit because I am lazy:
7.Emma - the protagonist is so vapid, and the novel so empty, I just can't appreciate it. I know that's the point, that it's about the emptiness of lives of upper middle class women, and I do really like Mr. Knightley, but I just can't make myself like Emma. And I've seen Clueless a bunch of times, too, and the movie, I think, is an upgrade.
6: Sense and Sensibility - Not bad, just not particularly great, either. It's a good way to start reading Austen as the plot is easy to follow and the characters are relatively few, but having read it once I have no real desire to read it again. Also I think Colonel Brandon would have been a better partner for Elinor, but that's just me.
5: Mansfield Park - here is your Jane Eyre/Cinderella story (which I'm a total sucker for), and though Fanny isn't strong in an extroverted sense, like Elizabeth Bennet, she is still able to keep to her morals, which says something amid many of the other horrid characters, refusing a marriage that almost any other female character in that novel would have taken without a second thought.
4: Persuasion - being honest, this was the last of the novels I read, and at this point it was super easy to predict the plot, so it didn't hold my attention very long. I'll need to reread it at some point to give it its due.
3: Northanger Abbey: A very strong start—actually laughed out loud, and the time that actually takes place AT the Abbey is fantastic, but the rest has some awkward pacing issues (they spend more time at Bath) and the ending feels forced. I kind of wish the Admiral had done a Rochester with his wife, but then I guess Jane Eyre wouldn't have been as successful...Earliest known reference to baseball, however, which is cool as a baseball fan/writer.
2: Lady Susan - As a diehard Game of Thrones/aSoIaF fan, you might imagine I loooove the complexity that a multiple P.O.V narration brings to a story, and I love the way the story unfolds unexpectedly. The only question here is whether LS actually counts as a novel, or if it's a novella.
1: Pride and Prejudice - The pacing is fantastic, the plot has twists that DON'T feel forced, as though the author needed something to happen to move events along, and while Elizabeth Bennet is an awesome heroine if ever there was one and Darcy epitomizes the brooding hero, some of the other supporting characters - Mr. Bennet, Jane Bennet, Mr. Bingley - are extremely likable as well. I finished P&P wishing I could go visit Regency England.
7.Emma - the protagonist is so vapid, and the novel so empty, I just can't appreciate it. I know that's the point, that it's about the emptiness of lives of upper middle class women, and I do really like Mr. Knightley, but I just can't make myself like Emma. And I've seen Clueless a bunch of times, too, and the movie, I think, is an upgrade.
6: Sense and Sensibility - Not bad, just not particularly great, either. It's a good way to start reading Austen as the plot is easy to follow and the characters are relatively few, but having read it once I have no real desire to read it again. Also I think Colonel Brandon would have been a better partner for Elinor, but that's just me.
5: Mansfield Park - here is your Jane Eyre/Cinderella story (which I'm a total sucker for), and though Fanny isn't strong in an extroverted sense, like Elizabeth Bennet, she is still able to keep to her morals, which says something amid many of the other horrid characters, refusing a marriage that almost any other female character in that novel would have taken without a second thought.
4: Persuasion - being honest, this was the last of the novels I read, and at this point it was super easy to predict the plot, so it didn't hold my attention very long. I'll need to reread it at some point to give it its due.
3: Northanger Abbey: A very strong start—actually laughed out loud, and the time that actually takes place AT the Abbey is fantastic, but the rest has some awkward pacing issues (they spend more time at Bath) and the ending feels forced. I kind of wish the Admiral had done a Rochester with his wife, but then I guess Jane Eyre wouldn't have been as successful...Earliest known reference to baseball, however, which is cool as a baseball fan/writer.
2: Lady Susan - As a diehard Game of Thrones/aSoIaF fan, you might imagine I loooove the complexity that a multiple P.O.V narration brings to a story, and I love the way the story unfolds unexpectedly. The only question here is whether LS actually counts as a novel, or if it's a novella.
1: Pride and Prejudice - The pacing is fantastic, the plot has twists that DON'T feel forced, as though the author needed something to happen to move events along, and while Elizabeth Bennet is an awesome heroine if ever there was one and Darcy epitomizes the brooding hero, some of the other supporting characters - Mr. Bennet, Jane Bennet, Mr. Bingley - are extremely likable as well. I finished P&P wishing I could go visit Regency England.