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nicki_in_nz's review against another edition
2.0
Hmm. Well, there were some clever bits in here. I liked the back story of Mr Woodhouse, but after that it went downhill.
My main problem was that it was so like the original Emma that I kept forgetting it wasn't set in the nineteenth century. And then I'd get thrown by a modern bit. There really wasn't much attempt at a modern adaptation, it was just a plain rewrite.
It also seemed as if the writer ran out of words or time. The story limped along and then suddenly galloped to the end. Harriet Smith and Emma got together with their respective partners very rapidly in the last chapter or two.
Often my problem with these rewrites is that there is no sign of the original book, or that the original story has been changed too much. In this one, it hadn't been changed enough.
My main problem was that it was so like the original Emma that I kept forgetting it wasn't set in the nineteenth century. And then I'd get thrown by a modern bit. There really wasn't much attempt at a modern adaptation, it was just a plain rewrite.
It also seemed as if the writer ran out of words or time. The story limped along and then suddenly galloped to the end. Harriet Smith and Emma got together with their respective partners very rapidly in the last chapter or two.
Often my problem with these rewrites is that there is no sign of the original book, or that the original story has been changed too much. In this one, it hadn't been changed enough.
sakaloar's review against another edition
3.0
This would have been a 4-star book for me until the last 25%. It was a relaxed, easy page-turner, and while it was perhaps overly faithful to the original, provided a fun read. Unfortunately, there were a few aspects that just didn’t work. The questioning of Emma’s sexuality didn’t really go anywhere, George and Emma’s chemistry hastily thrown in at the end wasn’t very believable, and Jane Fairfax was somehow mopier and more obnoxious than in Austen’s novel. I enjoyed much of the banter and dialogue, but felt the plot was paused and then hastily tied up at the end. This is also somewhat true in the original, but it’s not done as craftily in this case.
emjay2021's review against another edition
3.0
Light and fluffy, good holiday reading. A fine modern retelling of Austen's Emma, but not particularly challenging. I liked it.
lmfm's review against another edition
1.0
This is another modernization from The Austen Project, and let's just say I wasn't a fan. I ended up skimming the last 1/3 or so. It took all the mystery and intrigue of "Emma" and made it distant and, frankly, boring. Some modernizations are harmless but I felt like he got some very fundamental things wrong about the characters and I was bothered by it. Emma is one of my favorite Austen heroines because she is both likeable and deeply flawed. I felt like we never really got to know this Emma. And the character of George Knightly is almost absent from much of this book. I love their interactions in Austen's novel: how they work as a team (especially as relates to Emma's father), how they fundamentally understand each other ("his eyes received the truth from hers", etc). I never got the sense of this Mr. Knightley as much of a person. I love how Austen's novel is like a puzzle to be solved/unlocked. This was just a collection of characters with not-very-realistic interactions.
lilydefender's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 STARS - Not what I expected
It took some up and downs on several back roads, but this book ended up mostly enjoyable in the end.
All of the characters could have had more emotion, and it felt somewhat impersonal, perhaps because of that absence. And Emma, who never shied away from lying or being mean the rest of the book, could have said or done more to earn Mr Knightley's iconic "badly done" speech. And the end felt rather rushed.
It wasn't as perfect as I would have wanted, but fairly decent as far as modern retelling of classics go.
And the author's humour was a fun addition.
It took some up and downs on several back roads, but this book ended up mostly enjoyable in the end.
All of the characters could have had more emotion, and it felt somewhat impersonal, perhaps because of that absence. And Emma, who never shied away from lying or being mean the rest of the book, could have said or done more to earn Mr Knightley's iconic "badly done" speech. And the end felt rather rushed.
It wasn't as perfect as I would have wanted, but fairly decent as far as modern retelling of classics go.
And the author's humour was a fun addition.
upbgirl's review against another edition
1.0
Oh this was hard to read. 60% in it was still assembling the cast. I loved the original, and this didn’t do it any justice. Ugh.
mkcannon21's review against another edition
2.0
While I tried to enjoy the story -- this retelling went too far off script for me and i was left disappointed with the storyline and characters. Not something i would recommend to a fellow Jane Austen fan.
sccubed's review against another edition
3.0
I can't stand Emma. I really can never stand her. Or any of these characters. But I guess that's the point. And by the end I was glad that we'd all grown a little bit and changed a little bit and blah blah blah. It was a fun adaptation.