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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
3.5
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Anne Eliot. She is the coolest. But who tf is this Wentworth guy? His main personality traits are wife-finding and boats.
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Anne Eliot. She is the coolest. But who tf is this Wentworth guy? His main personality traits are wife-finding and boats.
Still not my favorite Austen book, but I'm glad I read it. I think the pining just didn't hit me right.
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Last year, I read my first Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice, which I still think may be objectively-speaking the best novel I have ever read but am still not sure if it is my personal favorite. I started the review of that novel by stating, "In the words of our unesteemed, insane, and idiotic former US President and future US Dictator, Jane Austen is 'an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.'" Well, it's almost a year later, and we are a few months into that dictatorship sadly. But in good news, Jane Austen still rocks.
Persuasion is Jane Austen's last complete novel, having died before completed Sanditon. Persuasion was published posthumously and takes a far more somber and reflective tone than Pride and Prejudice, focusing on the aftermath of the protagonist Anne Elliot having turned down a marriage proposal from Captain Frederick Wentworth, only for him to go off and become a naval war hero, return rich, and eight years later running into him again. Talk about missing the boat (pun intended).
Austen's prose matched the heights of her prior work I have read with excellent use of free indirect discourse, superb word choice, and even better wordplay. She also places this novel in a similar historic context, taking place during the Regency Era, during the Napoleonic Wars, amongst a family of lower aristocracy but not nobility. Even given the relatively "boring" setting, the novel thrives due to Austen wonderfully crafting the main characters and some of the secondary ones, assisting the reader in getting to know them in what is a relatively short novel.
While this novel is justifiably considered one of her masterpieces, I do believe it falls below the heights of Pride and Prejudice. Persuasion is a pure character study with very little plot. Pride and Prejudice manages to be both a character study but also plot driven, keeping the reader engaged in the many potential marriage matches at play throughout. Also, several of the secondary characters in Persuasion are not multifaceted like P&P. Notably, Sir Walter, Elizabeth, Mary (to an extent), and some of the Musgroves are very one-sided with Sir Walter and Elizabeth offering nothing except just being horrible human beings.
I think these weaknesses are borne out of the short length of the novel. Austen left meat on the bone. I think an additional 10k to 20k words would've allowed her to, not only make all of the characters more complex, but also have a more gradual ending. The ending (expected) felt rushed, almost like Austen was fearful that she would die before finishing the work (nearly occurred). And so, she had to tie up the loose ends before she met her maker.
All in all, this is a still a great work of literature, and I think everyone would be well served to read it. But if I had to pick one to read, I would go with Pride and Prejudice (hot take, I know).
Persuasion is Jane Austen's last complete novel, having died before completed Sanditon. Persuasion was published posthumously and takes a far more somber and reflective tone than Pride and Prejudice, focusing on the aftermath of the protagonist Anne Elliot having turned down a marriage proposal from Captain Frederick Wentworth, only for him to go off and become a naval war hero, return rich, and eight years later running into him again. Talk about missing the boat (pun intended).
Austen's prose matched the heights of her prior work I have read with excellent use of free indirect discourse, superb word choice, and even better wordplay. She also places this novel in a similar historic context, taking place during the Regency Era, during the Napoleonic Wars, amongst a family of lower aristocracy but not nobility. Even given the relatively "boring" setting, the novel thrives due to Austen wonderfully crafting the main characters and some of the secondary ones, assisting the reader in getting to know them in what is a relatively short novel.
While this novel is justifiably considered one of her masterpieces, I do believe it falls below the heights of Pride and Prejudice. Persuasion is a pure character study with very little plot. Pride and Prejudice manages to be both a character study but also plot driven, keeping the reader engaged in the many potential marriage matches at play throughout. Also, several of the secondary characters in Persuasion are not multifaceted like P&P. Notably, Sir Walter, Elizabeth, Mary (to an extent), and some of the Musgroves are very one-sided with Sir Walter and Elizabeth offering nothing except just being horrible human beings.
I think these weaknesses are borne out of the short length of the novel. Austen left meat on the bone. I think an additional 10k to 20k words would've allowed her to, not only make all of the characters more complex, but also have a more gradual ending. The ending (expected) felt rushed, almost like Austen was fearful that she would die before finishing the work (nearly occurred). And so, she had to tie up the loose ends before she met her maker.
All in all, this is a still a great work of literature, and I think everyone would be well served to read it. But if I had to pick one to read, I would go with Pride and Prejudice (hot take, I know).
emotional
reflective
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
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Chapter 23 is where the drama was at its altime high and Anne Elliot was spitting quoteable thigs left and right. But the rest of the book, or rather, everything else was kind of stale to read in comparison.
NetGalley's new app was a bit glitchy, so it took 4 tries to download this book. I am glad I did, as it was enjoyable to listen to while doing other tasks. Of course, I have read the book several times and have seen every adaptation I can get my hands on, so the story wasn't exactly new.
I wasn't entirely happy to hear a male narrator at first, since this is a story with such strong female characters. The narrator grew on me, though--he voiced characters differently, but not to the point of caricature. I was puzzled that the narrator, the felicitously named Mike Read, opted for some modern and/or not very British pronunciations, such as "chase" for "chaise" and "Captain Ben-wick" instead of "Bennick." But those nitpicks don't get in the way of this masterpiece.
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.
I wasn't entirely happy to hear a male narrator at first, since this is a story with such strong female characters. The narrator grew on me, though--he voiced characters differently, but not to the point of caricature. I was puzzled that the narrator, the felicitously named Mike Read, opted for some modern and/or not very British pronunciations, such as "chase" for "chaise" and "Captain Ben-wick" instead of "Bennick." But those nitpicks don't get in the way of this masterpiece.
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
funny
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
The YEARNING!!!!! I very much understand why this is such a favourite of so many Austenheads but I still think I like her more sharply satirical works better. Don't get me wrong, the menippean barbs about vanity are fun, but this book is a lot more focused on Anne Elliot picking apart the meaning of infinitesimally short glances between her and Wentworth across a party. The level of dissection she gives to a single look? Practically a woman in STEM. She needs a group chat.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes