Reviews

Emma by Jane Austen

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emmeme's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

4.5

laurahappily's review against another edition

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5.0

This is my favorite Jane Austen book. I think Emma is the funnest Austen heroine, and painfully familiar. She is funny and witty and can be so cruel without realizing it. Emma is a fun read, and the heroine keeps a smile on my face. After all, how can the book that inspired Clueless be anything but wonderful?

chsahit's review against another edition

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4.0

What a charming group of characters! I liked Mr. Woodhouse's "head empty, no thoughts" vibes, I liked Ms. Bates's excessive prattling, I liked Frank Churchill's self-aggrandizing letters and trips to London for haircuts, and I liked Harriet's guilessness. Emma's internal monologues and schemes, while not necessarily as entertaining to me as the supporting cast, were also very chuckle-inducing.

I feel obligated to admit that this book took me nearly 7 months to get through. At times, I found that the plot moved a bit slowly and there were lots of characters I had trouble keeping straight in my head. For the first 2/3 of the book, George Knightley was "the Paul Rudd guy" and John Knightley was "the Paul Rudd guy's brother". I also felt that Harriet winding up with John Martin at the end was a little bit unearned; that being said the book is called "Emma", not "Harriet", after all.

What really bumped this book up from 3 stars to 4 stars for me was the scene where Mr. Knightley confesses to Emma. I don't really have the words to describe the emotions I felt during their little stroll where Emma slowly realizes that Knightley loves her, not Harriet - but the impact of those emotions was visceral.
"I cannot make speeches Emma...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more". Woah.