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A review by mollyrourke
Persuasion by Jane Austen
3.0
As always, I have so much to say about a Jane Austen Novel.
!! SPOILER ALERT !!!
Hot take: I am not a huge fan. The first 3/4 of the book were s l o w and unbearable. Don't get me wrong I LOVE Jane Austen's style of writing but there are only so many dramatically narrated dinner parties I can take. Why does every character talk to each other in a monologue? Why did victorian women keep passing out over love being confessed to them? How did Jane Austen make Anne and Captain Wentworth's brief moment of eye contact feel like a sex scene? How did Captain Wentworth not have any beef with Anne after she cut off their engagement because he "wasn't rich enough?" So many unanswered questions, and not necessarily the good ones. I did not feel like I was reading a story about Anne. I felt like I was reading a story about everyone else in her life and she was just the one whose reactions we witnessed to all this.
The plot twist where Captain Wentworth accidentally almost killed Louisa really got me. That was a much-needed side quest (though incredibly unrelated to the plot as a whole).
Side note: Anne is a badass for correcting Captain Harville over his opinion of a woman's fickleness in love being based solely off of a number of books written by men. Feminist queen. I love Jane Austin's subtle incorporations of microfeminism.
Oh how I hate Mary. What a conceited, annoying, stuck-up bitch. She contributed nothing to the book other than annoying the hell out of me.
As for the plot: It was very dry. The book only started to pick up in the last 1/4, but I feel like it shouldn't take that long for me to get into it. Some of the characters were so surface-level. I wish we had gotten to know Captain Wentworth more- after all, he is one of the main characters. I feel like I hardly knew anything about him. I appreciate the complexities in Sir Elliot's character and the plot-twist over Mr. Elliot (side note I'm glad she did not marry her cousin for reasons other than him being an asshole). The familial connections and emotional relations felt more complex here than her other books (or maybe I am just reading into it more). I do love, however, how Jane Austen's main character here differs in that she is nearly 30. She is not the "blossoming" young girl we see in her other novels.
Now for my main reason for disliking the book: IT WAS SO PREDICTABLE. I could sense the end of the story from the first chapter. Did not keep me on my toes. At all.
Favorite Quotes:
- "Surely, if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts must understand each other ere long. We are not boy and girl, to be captiously irritable, misled by every moment’s inadvertence, and wantonly playing with our own happiness."
- "When pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure."
- "Family connexions were always worth preserving ; good company always worth seeking."
!! SPOILER ALERT !!!
Hot take: I am not a huge fan. The first 3/4 of the book were s l o w and unbearable. Don't get me wrong I LOVE Jane Austen's style of writing but there are only so many dramatically narrated dinner parties I can take. Why does every character talk to each other in a monologue? Why did victorian women keep passing out over love being confessed to them? How did Jane Austen make Anne and Captain Wentworth's brief moment of eye contact feel like a sex scene? How did Captain Wentworth not have any beef with Anne after she cut off their engagement because he "wasn't rich enough?" So many unanswered questions, and not necessarily the good ones. I did not feel like I was reading a story about Anne. I felt like I was reading a story about everyone else in her life and she was just the one whose reactions we witnessed to all this.
The plot twist where Captain Wentworth accidentally almost killed Louisa really got me. That was a much-needed side quest (though incredibly unrelated to the plot as a whole).
Side note: Anne is a badass for correcting Captain Harville over his opinion of a woman's fickleness in love being based solely off of a number of books written by men. Feminist queen. I love Jane Austin's subtle incorporations of microfeminism.
Oh how I hate Mary. What a conceited, annoying, stuck-up bitch. She contributed nothing to the book other than annoying the hell out of me.
As for the plot: It was very dry. The book only started to pick up in the last 1/4, but I feel like it shouldn't take that long for me to get into it. Some of the characters were so surface-level. I wish we had gotten to know Captain Wentworth more- after all, he is one of the main characters. I feel like I hardly knew anything about him. I appreciate the complexities in Sir Elliot's character and the plot-twist over Mr. Elliot (side note I'm glad she did not marry her cousin for reasons other than him being an asshole). The familial connections and emotional relations felt more complex here than her other books (or maybe I am just reading into it more). I do love, however, how Jane Austen's main character here differs in that she is nearly 30. She is not the "blossoming" young girl we see in her other novels.
Now for my main reason for disliking the book: IT WAS SO PREDICTABLE. I could sense the end of the story from the first chapter. Did not keep me on my toes. At all.
Favorite Quotes:
- "Surely, if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts must understand each other ere long. We are not boy and girl, to be captiously irritable, misled by every moment’s inadvertence, and wantonly playing with our own happiness."
- "When pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure."
- "Family connexions were always worth preserving ; good company always worth seeking."