Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Emma

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Emma by Jane Austen

17 reviews

lovelyannalee's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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cornustella's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book took me a tremendous amount of time to read (I go to a german gymnasium I hope it's understandable) but Jane Austen has not failed to impress me once again (I'm from her hometown!). I found Emma way easier to read than Pride and Prejudice, it's just well, it's a longer story and I've been really busy so it took me quite a while. It was still worth the read and a really good book!

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anna_wa's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Jo: She says the whole book that she doesn't want to marry. It's consistent.
Dashwood: Who cares? Girls want to see women MARRIED. Not CONSISTENT.
[...] Jo: Fine.
(Little Women 2019)

Out of all the Jane Austen books I read this semester, this one was my favorite. Why? It's hard for me to say exactly. By all accounts it should be my least favorite, since it is the most conservative book she ever wrote: with everybody marrying in the same social class they were born into, and nobody rising above said social class (which is what Elizabeth Bennett, Marianne Dashwood, Fanny Price, and Catherine Morland all did), and also way less subtle political commentary than other books of hers.

A lot of that conservativism has to do with 1. the fact that she was begged into dedicating the book to the Prince (whom she did not like, but could also not refuse) and 2. the fact that this book was actually published by a big publishing company, as opposed to self published.

So yes, why /was/ Austen's most conservative novel my favorite of all her novels? I'm still trying to figure that out. If I had to guess though, it's because of the main character. When Austen was alive, she said of Emma: "I'm going to create a heroine whom nobody but myself will like". Yet, I and my classmates loved Emma.

Emma is just so amusing and I found it fun to laugh at how absolutely clueless she was in the beginning of the book, and yet how simultaneously endearing she was. I loved her desire to be a spinster (which, of course, got broken at the end, but whatever) and her love for her father/putting her father before anybody else in her life. I loved her character journey and how she learned to admit when she was wrong and make amends.

I loved the other characters too. I loved Mr. Woodhouse, who was also adorably clueless and reminded me a lot of my own grandmother. I loved Mr. Knightley

(even though I personally don't believe he should've been married to Emma - because I wish Emma had stayed a spinster)

and how he worked as someone to bring Emma back down to Earth and reality. I loved pretty much everyone except for Mrs. Elton (I could even feel slightly sorry for Mr. Elton, but I absolutely have 0 good things to say about Mrs. Elton).

It has been an honor to work my way through Jane Austen's bibliography this semester ~~(even though I never finished Mansfield Park and don't know if/when I will)~~ and this one, especially, was wonderful. Thank you Jane Austen!

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xphilphil's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-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

5.0

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water_violin's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Overall, I enjoyed the book. Emma is not a particularly likable main character, but she does demonstrate growth over the course of the book. I could definitely have done without the racism (in the writing) and racial slurs, which really broke the illusion for me. I found several of the side characters compelling enough that I’m curious if there are any retellings that focus on some of them. Hopefully rewrites would also fix the overt racism, which was completely unnecessary to the story.

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted 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

4.0

As someone who loves character development, it’s probably not surprising that Emma is my favourite Jane Austen novel, out of the ones I’ve read, anyway. ‘Character grows from selfish, spoiled child to empathetic woman’ is probably my absolute favourite development trope, and that’s certainly the broad outline of Emma Woodhouse’s arc, with some romance thrown in.

I find Emma’s faults particularly relatable. She lacks the consistency to devote herself to practice, and so her skills are never as good as she feels that they should be. Not only that, but what young woman hasn’t deceived herself as to the signs that somebody else is interested in the relationship she wishes that they were? In Emma Woodhouse’s case, it’s made even more cringe-worthy by the fact that all her incorrect assumptions about people’s behaviour end up making life more difficult for others far more than for herself.

Jane Austen’s comic characters in Emma are every bit as good as the inestimable Mrs Bennet, and I think definitely funnier than anything you’ll find in Sense & Sensibility. Humour is subjective, of course, but I laughed out loud a few times, which is pretty impressive for a book written over 200 years ago!

The obsession with people marrying within their social rank is a little troubling for a modern reader. It’s hard to get behind Mr Knightley’s objections to Harriet on the grounds that she’s 'too low’, and it’s especially galling that, although Emma argues against these at first, she ends up agreeing by the conclusion of the novel. That, and Mr Knightley’s having been in love with Emma since she was 13 (and he was 29), are truly the 'stuck in its time’ elements, to steal a phrase from the great All About Agatha. I can definitely see how readers would be put off by this, even if they can make it through Emma’s deliberately flawed personality.

Mr Knightley somewhat redeems himself in my eyes, however, by being the one person who’ll tell Emma hard truths about herself. In a novel that’s all about character development, it’s hard to imagine a more attractive suitor than the one who sees your faults, will help you overcome them, and love you for the efforts you’ve made! That’s true love right there, as I’m sure both he and Emma would agree.

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jessebosco's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of my classic literary favorites dur to the Clueless adaptation with Alicia Silverstone. The book is certainly dated in many ways, including a reference to the Roma community. There is also clear Classism due to the separation of "connexions" as labelled by the titular character.

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