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A review by joanybaloney
Emma by Jane Austen
4.0
Another beloved classic by Jane Austen, Emma's strength is the remarkable cast of characters who bring the story to life. From the titular character and her worrywart, invalid father to the morally upright Mr. Knightley, Emma's brother-in-law, to the talkative Miss Bates and the steadfast and cheerful Westons, more so than in any of her other books, save for the Bennetts in Pride and Prejudice the characters really dominate and make this novel memorable.
Though Emma herself is silly, often mistaken, classist, and overly imaginative, and it takes her almost the full length of the novel to understand her faults and prevent further misunderstandings that arise from her presumptions, her growth is genuine and her positive characteristics generally outweigh her faults.
One glaring annoyance in this particular novel was how Austen constructed the dialogue. In some places it is constructed more as a summary, with dashes to separate different thoughts or different perspectives, which was tedious to slough through. And one particularly frustrating instance was anything spoken of in real time by Miss Bates, who, talkative to the extreme, would have two or three consecutive pages of pure, uninterrupted dialogue - I understand the necessity for emphasizing how chatty she is with an actual example, but to do this every time she speaks? Is that really necessary?
Other than the aforementioned inconsistencies in dialogue, Emma is a worthwhile read.
Though Emma herself is silly, often mistaken, classist, and overly imaginative, and it takes her almost the full length of the novel to understand her faults and prevent further misunderstandings that arise from her presumptions, her growth is genuine and her positive characteristics generally outweigh her faults.
One glaring annoyance in this particular novel was how Austen constructed the dialogue. In some places it is constructed more as a summary, with dashes to separate different thoughts or different perspectives, which was tedious to slough through. And one particularly frustrating instance was anything spoken of in real time by Miss Bates, who, talkative to the extreme, would have two or three consecutive pages of pure, uninterrupted dialogue - I understand the necessity for emphasizing how chatty she is with an actual example, but to do this every time she speaks? Is that really necessary?
Other than the aforementioned inconsistencies in dialogue, Emma is a worthwhile read.