6.36k reviews for:

Mansfield Park

Jane Austen

3.69 AVERAGE

emotional relaxing
emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced
hopeful mysterious relaxing 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
challenging emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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: Complicated
emotional sad 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

Of every classic that got the teen movie treatment in the late 90's/early aughts, why wasn't this one of them?

It's ripe for it. There's unrequited crushes, someone trying to make a girl fall in love with him as a bet but then actually falling in love with her, love triangles (corners), and enough interpersonal drama to absolutely ruin prom.
emotional reflective medium-paced
emotional hopeful reflective 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: No

Edmund should have been written out
slow-paced

Oh Austen, you’ve done it again.

This book whispered to me the whole way through.
It didn’t rush. It didn’t perform.
It simply… held.

Fanny Price is a masterclass in grace under pressure. She doesn’t posture. 
She doesn’t beg to be chosen. 
She just is.
Grounded. 
Quiet. 
Whole.

The world around her flutters with ego and status, charm and distraction. 

But she remains, still, aware, tuned to what’s true.
And I deeply loved it.

I love a woman who stays rooted when the world spins in chaos.
Who doesn’t sell out to be adored.
Who honors her values even when it costs her comfort, love, approval.
That’s Fanny. 
That’s soul integrity.

This is not a love story in the usual sense.
It’s a story about seeing clearly. 
About remembering what matters.
About being faithful to yourself, even when no one else understands.

And when Edmund finally wakes up, when he sees Fanny for who she’s always been, it’s not a climax. 
It’s a homecoming.

The kind of love that’s earned. Quiet. Clean. Real.

I closed this book feeling calm.
Like I’d just sat with a woman who knows who she is and doesn’t need to prove it.

And that kind of presence? 
Just the nourishment I was looking for.