Scan barcode
josiahdegraaf's review against another edition
2.0
Right before reading this book, I read Experiment in Criticism where Lewis claimed that most works of literary criticism weren't terribly helpful and that you're normally better off just reading the book again. When I first read it, I thought he was rather harsh. After reading through this book, I'm a lot more prone to agree with him (although, to be fair, there are good works of literary criticism out there.)
This isn't really a bad book in the sense that I disagree with it or that it's making ridiculous arguments. But the essays here tended to be rather bland, boring, and neither informed my teaching nor my personal understanding of Austen. There's a couple tidbits in this book I plan on pulling out for my teaching. But they're rather few and far between and I think there are better works on Austen out there for fellow readers and teachers.
Rating: 1.5 Stars (Poor).
This isn't really a bad book in the sense that I disagree with it or that it's making ridiculous arguments. But the essays here tended to be rather bland, boring, and neither informed my teaching nor my personal understanding of Austen. There's a couple tidbits in this book I plan on pulling out for my teaching. But they're rather few and far between and I think there are better works on Austen out there for fellow readers and teachers.
Rating: 1.5 Stars (Poor).
princessleia4life's review against another edition
3.0
Was ok. Some essays were really good while others boring or discussed ideas you already knew.
melindamoor's review against another edition
5.0
Love this book of collected essays on Jane Austen, her novels and her world, giving us valuable insight and information on religion, politics, society, domestic economy & publishing of her times without being overbearing or condescending.
More...