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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
challenging
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:
No
this took me a ridiculously long time to read. The theatre is immoral, it’s astounding a woman would turn down a rich man, and you can marry your cousin that you grew up with as a brother. the scandalous turn of events at the ending was short lived. Moments of laughter and surprise throughout, lovely cast of characters.
While I liked this more than I did when I read it in college, I still find Fanny to be a boring protagonist. She's pretty hard to root for, and just about everyone else in the book is more entertaining, but they're also pretty awful people.
funny
hopeful
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:
Yes
This is the third Austen I've read (after Pride & Prejudice, and Persuasion), and I enjoyed it a lot. Fanny is a bit insipid as a heroine, but I actually found her quite believable and, as quite a shy person myself, relatable. She's constantly put in awkward situations, she has no power over anything in her life, she's neither a servant nor a daughter at Mansfield Park. The conversation the men have about whether or not she is "out" is indicative of how strange her position is. I have a lot of time for characters who other people probably find preachy and Pollyannaish, so I liked both Fanny and Edmund. They are just trying to be good people.
It's quite strangely paced, as a book, in that it felt like there were long descriptive stretches with little plot, and then almost the whole plot is crammed into the last 40 pages. The ending feels really rushed - Fanny doesn't get any kind of "I love you" scene, which is a shame.
My favourite parts of the book were the strangest, most un-Austenlike bits to me: the time they spent putting on a play, and the time spent in Portsmouth with Fanny's parents and siblings. I love amateur theatre myself, so it's always fun to read novels from hundreds of years ago which still capture the same feelings and foibles of people trying to do theatre. The difficulties choosing a play (half wanting a comedy, half a tragedy), the intrigues of playing love scenes across from someone you like, the people who can't learn their lines, the people who can't learn their blocking, the quiet satisfaction of being a prompt or an assistant (a role I also like taking), the people obsessed with the size of their role, or the number of costumes. Nothing much has changed since 1816.
Whereas the parts in Portsmouth felt more like Dickens than Austen to me (not a criticism, I like Dickens). They were very well described, the chaos of living in a house with too many children, not really enough money, but definitely not enough time or care. The noise, the dirt, the horrible food, the shouting, the complaining! I found it very easy to picture, like something out of Bleak House. My copy had a little biography of Austen and she had a whole mob of siblings (some of whom went into the Navy), so perhaps it was drawn particularly from life.
Apparently the thing to mention about Mansfield Park in undergraduate essays is that it is the only Austen to explicitly mention the slave trade (Sir Thomas goes to Antigua to manage his business there). I think there is only one actual use of the word slavery (when Fanny is asking him to tell all his interesting stories about his travels), and I would probably have missed its importance if people hadn't pointed it out to me. But it is there.
Audiobook notes: I listened to quite a lot of the unabridged audiobook read by Pippa Bennett-Warner, who I also heard read Swing Time. She is a really excellent narrator, I thoroughly recommend her audiobooks. I find I really like listening to Austen over reading it, as long as the narration is very clear (the sentences get very long!) The pace of hearing it aloud means I actually take the time to figure out what is being said and meant, whereas when I read it myself I'm always galloping along and half a page later I realise that I don't know who anyone is or what they're doing. My only tiny complaint is that she pronounces lieutenant the American way (lyewtenant) rather than the British way (leftenant) which would surely have been how Austen said it. There seem to be A LOT of audiobook versions of this book (probably because it's out of copyright, so anyone can publish a recording?) and I imagine they vary a lot in quality. I saw one was available by Juliet Stevenson, though, and she is one of my absolute favourite narrators, so I'm sure that's also fantastic.
It's quite strangely paced, as a book, in that it felt like there were long descriptive stretches with little plot, and then almost the whole plot is crammed into the last 40 pages. The ending feels really rushed - Fanny doesn't get any kind of "I love you" scene, which is a shame.
My favourite parts of the book were the strangest, most un-Austenlike bits to me: the time they spent putting on a play, and the time spent in Portsmouth with Fanny's parents and siblings. I love amateur theatre myself, so it's always fun to read novels from hundreds of years ago which still capture the same feelings and foibles of people trying to do theatre. The difficulties choosing a play (half wanting a comedy, half a tragedy), the intrigues of playing love scenes across from someone you like, the people who can't learn their lines, the people who can't learn their blocking, the quiet satisfaction of being a prompt or an assistant (a role I also like taking), the people obsessed with the size of their role, or the number of costumes. Nothing much has changed since 1816.
Whereas the parts in Portsmouth felt more like Dickens than Austen to me (not a criticism, I like Dickens). They were very well described, the chaos of living in a house with too many children, not really enough money, but definitely not enough time or care. The noise, the dirt, the horrible food, the shouting, the complaining! I found it very easy to picture, like something out of Bleak House. My copy had a little biography of Austen and she had a whole mob of siblings (some of whom went into the Navy), so perhaps it was drawn particularly from life.
Apparently the thing to mention about Mansfield Park in undergraduate essays is that it is the only Austen to explicitly mention the slave trade (Sir Thomas goes to Antigua to manage his business there). I think there is only one actual use of the word slavery (when Fanny is asking him to tell all his interesting stories about his travels), and I would probably have missed its importance if people hadn't pointed it out to me. But it is there.
Audiobook notes: I listened to quite a lot of the unabridged audiobook read by Pippa Bennett-Warner, who I also heard read Swing Time. She is a really excellent narrator, I thoroughly recommend her audiobooks. I find I really like listening to Austen over reading it, as long as the narration is very clear (the sentences get very long!) The pace of hearing it aloud means I actually take the time to figure out what is being said and meant, whereas when I read it myself I'm always galloping along and half a page later I realise that I don't know who anyone is or what they're doing. My only tiny complaint is that she pronounces lieutenant the American way (lyewtenant) rather than the British way (leftenant) which would surely have been how Austen said it. There seem to be A LOT of audiobook versions of this book (probably because it's out of copyright, so anyone can publish a recording?) and I imagine they vary a lot in quality. I saw one was available by Juliet Stevenson, though, and she is one of my absolute favourite narrators, so I'm sure that's also fantastic.
This was great to read aloud with my partner and discuss the various idiosyncrasies and differences between the various movie adaptations.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Many things can be true at the same time. Jane Austen writes absolutely deliciously, for instance, with sentences dripping in humor and style and meaning. She also has a keen eye for societal scrutiny and commentary. Mansfield Park, in this manner, is perhaps her most accomplished work.
However, it's ALSO true that these characters are all awful and deserve each other. The protagonists, such as they are, are very difficult to root for or connect with, and the quick ending to such a prolonged story just doesn't work for me. Shame.
However, it's ALSO true that these characters are all awful and deserve each other. The protagonists, such as they are, are very difficult to root for or connect with, and the quick ending to such a prolonged story just doesn't work for me. Shame.
Good characters although I tire of some plot machinations to get one character here or elsewhere.
Found this a little slow to get going but enjoyed it immensely from the play onwards.
The main fault I found with this book is that I just couldn't love the main character. I like her as a person and she's lovely but she is just so dull and submissive at times! Although, in contrast my favourite Austen novel is 'Persuasion' in which the heroine Anne is also very quiet and 'good'. I did love the ups and downs of the relationships and the pursuits from Mr Crawford I found most entertaining, I just couldn't empathise with lots of the characters enough.
A great story and a very enjoyable read, but not my favourite Austen novel.
Going to watch the film which I got as a Christmas present and see how they portray Fanny, looking forward to it!
The main fault I found with this book is that I just couldn't love the main character. I like her as a person and she's lovely but she is just so dull and submissive at times! Although, in contrast my favourite Austen novel is 'Persuasion' in which the heroine Anne is also very quiet and 'good'. I did love the ups and downs of the relationships and the pursuits from Mr Crawford I found most entertaining, I just couldn't empathise with lots of the characters enough.
A great story and a very enjoyable read, but not my favourite Austen novel.
Going to watch the film which I got as a Christmas present and see how they portray Fanny, looking forward to it!
Jane Austen je stále aktuální spisovatelka, kterou je možné i ve 21. století číst s velkou chutí a napětím. Její texty se čtou úplně samy, dávají čtenáři mnoho podnětů o způsobu života v dané době, ale hlavně bojují za opravdovou lásku, což mi připadá hrozně krásný. A možná by její texty někteří lidé měli číst záměrně, aby se pár důležitých věcí o vztazích a lásce naučili.
Mansfield Park je pochopitelně trochu podobný jako Pýcha a předsudek, ale zároveň jiný, máme tady úplně jiné postavy, které se jinak chovají i rozhodují. Moc se mi líbí charakteristika všech postav a způsob, jak je Austen pěstuje a nechává samovolně růst od začátku knihy do konce.
Mansfield Park je pochopitelně trochu podobný jako Pýcha a předsudek, ale zároveň jiný, máme tady úplně jiné postavy, které se jinak chovají i rozhodují. Moc se mi líbí charakteristika všech postav a způsob, jak je Austen pěstuje a nechává samovolně růst od začátku knihy do konce.
Not a favorite. The plot was slow and most of the characters were insufferable.