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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Even though these are all unfinished, they are well worth reading for any Austen fan!
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fascinating fragments of Jane Austen’s writing from different points of her career. Written when Austen was about 20, Lady Susan features a manipulative widow, charming but a two-faced bitch, who wreaks havoc on her extended family including her poor daughter. Dating from a little later, The Watsons was put aside and never finished but, with the equivalent of only a few chapters, presents independent proto-feminist heroine Emma Watson drawn into the familiar romantic intrigues of a small town. Sanditon, which Austen was writing before she died, is a tempting glimpse of the author moving into a wider exploration of a community, albeit with familiar concerns with romantic liaisons. A must-read for any Austen fan. The Penguin edition also features a lengthy introduction and notes by another great novelist, Margaret Drabble.
(3.5) the way i will never read a new jane austen story again …
What I would give to read The Westons in its completeness.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"I hope you will eat some of this toast, said he, I reckon myself a very good toaster; I never burn my toasts - I never put them too near the fire at first - and yet, you see, there is not a corner but what is well browned. - I hope you like dry toast.
With a reasonable quantity of butter spread over it, very much -' said Charlotte - 'but not otherwise. -'
No more do I' - said he exceedingly pleased. - We think quite alike there. - So far from dry toast being wholesome, I think it a very bad thing for the stomach.'"
If I could only go back in time once I would only so I could get the rest of Sanditon because I need more of this silly group of imaginary rich people.
With a reasonable quantity of butter spread over it, very much -' said Charlotte - 'but not otherwise. -'
No more do I' - said he exceedingly pleased. - We think quite alike there. - So far from dry toast being wholesome, I think it a very bad thing for the stomach.'"
If I could only go back in time once I would only so I could get the rest of Sanditon because I need more of this silly group of imaginary rich people.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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:
No
I have been meaning to read this book for a while. I have read all of Jane Austen's novels so these were the next logical step into exploring the world of Jane Austen. I can happily say, I was not disappointed.
Lady Susan is a very interesting short story that follows the life of a rather flirtatious yet hypocritical widowed woman through a series of letters to and from numerous characters that happen to meet the aforementioned Lady Susan and the coquettish Lady herself. I thought the letters were really able to play up the 'subtle stiletto' that is so present in Austen's novels. Instead of having an omniscient narrator, each character was given their own opinions and the opinions of others about them, told in the rather personal and gossip-y form of a letter. I thought it did a wonderfully good job at creating interesting characters and interactions. But while it did a wonderful job at being cutting, I couldn't help but feel like the letter form led to many disadvantages. It is already hard to keep people straight in Austen novels ('Ah, Miss Bennett, Miss Bennett, and Miss Bennett are all here to visit Mr. Darcy') and the letters made it even more confusing cause it tended to take me a little while to figure which character was writing or receiving the letter. But over all, the short story was very entertaining and the change in prose was a nice exploration.
The Watsons was, by far, my favorite of the free; probably because it felt the most like the Austen work I had already read. Emma was a delightful character whose introduction into the society of balls and suitors reminded me about of Catherine Morland's experience in Northanger Abbey. Emma is a lower-class individual who is invited to a ball by a fellow friend and finds herself the object of attention among many of the men in attendance. There is not much else to say about it other than it falls under the same vein as Austen's other novels except much shorter and unfinished.
Sanditon was another interesting change for Austen. It is a bit hard to judge the book since it is also unfinished (but unlike the Austen's there is no summary of what was supposed to happen by the end). I liked that the main character, Charlotte, took more of an observational role in the intrigue and romance going on, rather than a main player. The story follows the occurences of Charlotte Heywood as she stays in the shore town of Sanditon with a family called the Parkers. The book was obviously meant to be full length. While both Lady Susan and the Watsons established characters and plots rather quickly, most of Sanditon that has been written has been character development so the plot is really only just beginning when the story stops. If there is an afterlife, I am definitely going to find Miss Austen and ask her what happens in the rest of the story because I am incredibly curious.
Lady Susan is a very interesting short story that follows the life of a rather flirtatious yet hypocritical widowed woman through a series of letters to and from numerous characters that happen to meet the aforementioned Lady Susan and the coquettish Lady herself. I thought the letters were really able to play up the 'subtle stiletto' that is so present in Austen's novels. Instead of having an omniscient narrator, each character was given their own opinions and the opinions of others about them, told in the rather personal and gossip-y form of a letter. I thought it did a wonderfully good job at creating interesting characters and interactions. But while it did a wonderful job at being cutting, I couldn't help but feel like the letter form led to many disadvantages. It is already hard to keep people straight in Austen novels ('Ah, Miss Bennett, Miss Bennett, and Miss Bennett are all here to visit Mr. Darcy') and the letters made it even more confusing cause it tended to take me a little while to figure which character was writing or receiving the letter. But over all, the short story was very entertaining and the change in prose was a nice exploration.
The Watsons was, by far, my favorite of the free; probably because it felt the most like the Austen work I had already read. Emma was a delightful character whose introduction into the society of balls and suitors reminded me about of Catherine Morland's experience in Northanger Abbey. Emma is a lower-class individual who is invited to a ball by a fellow friend and finds herself the object of attention among many of the men in attendance. There is not much else to say about it other than it falls under the same vein as Austen's other novels except much shorter and unfinished.
Sanditon was another interesting change for Austen. It is a bit hard to judge the book since it is also unfinished (but unlike the Austen's there is no summary of what was supposed to happen by the end). I liked that the main character, Charlotte, took more of an observational role in the intrigue and romance going on, rather than a main player. The story follows the occurences of Charlotte Heywood as she stays in the shore town of Sanditon with a family called the Parkers. The book was obviously meant to be full length. While both Lady Susan and the Watsons established characters and plots rather quickly, most of Sanditon that has been written has been character development so the plot is really only just beginning when the story stops. If there is an afterlife, I am definitely going to find Miss Austen and ask her what happens in the rest of the story because I am incredibly curious.