Reviews

Emma: 200th-Anniversary Annotated Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Jane Austen

sg22's review against another edition

relaxing 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

linneak2002's review against another edition

5.0

After trying and failing to read this book twice, I finally read the whole thing, and I loved it!! Emma's growth during the course of the book is amazing.

basbleu_dans_labiblioteque's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.75

This is my favorite Austen book apart from pride and prejudice. It is absolutely the funniest in my opinion, and has some of her best characters in Mr Knightley and Emma herself.

welltobefair's review against another edition

funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

brenna_s's review against another edition

funny lighthearted tense slow-paced

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

4.25

daizie's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

2.75

My English teachers can keep trying to get me into Austen, but I don't think they'll ever succeed. I think it's worth noting that I didn't really dislike Emma as a character or find myself annoyed by her antics - my entire class and my teacher both complained about how unlikeable she is, for some reason. I don't think that likeable characters have to be good people, necessarily, and Emma is definitely the former and not the latter!

It was more interesting than Pride and Prejudice, but still almost entirely a slog to get through. Will always enjoy how it inspires me to watch the various movie adaptations, though!

keelinreads's review against another edition

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? No

3.0

elizabethwillett's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-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

bennysbooks's review against another edition

 2024 re-read: 

 

I liked Emma better on a re-read, but it’s decidedly not my favourite Austen novel. I originally read it when I was in high school and hated it back then, but with such distance have always had a difficult time explaining why. I think, as ever, that Austen pulls off some remarkable things in this book. It’s much more a character study than a romance, and an impressively proficient one at that. The way that Austen hounds us with Emma’s perspectives and delusions, while providing insight into how those delusions are being crafted, and where the truth might lie, is truly remarkable storytelling. It feels strange to even review Austen, as I have said before, because her understanding of people (of a certain time/place/class/race) and storytelling ability are just so impressive that it’s impossible to feel like you’re saying anything useful when you praise her work. But I did go into this wanting to understand my dislike for this book, and I have to say Austen’s skill is partly to blame. There are so many fallibly human characters, written so effectively and so believably, that if you’re not someone who can tolerate too much of that sort of thing, it can be an exhausting read. The way that my whole body would tense when I saw PAGES of dialogue from Miss Bates… And Miss Bates isn’t even unlikeable! Just gabby. A Miss Bates-style character, in a book where there either fewer characters or more neutral characters, would be a comic delight! But toss her in with Emma, Harriet, the Eltons, and basically everyone else? Mr. Woodhouse’s love for gruel brings me joy, sure, but did I want to read him worrying about other people’s health one more time? I did not. At the end of the day, I always enjoy reading Austen to some degree, but Emma will never by my go-to. 

 

(Side note: I had completely forgotten about the confusingly abrupt, Mrs. Weston-having-a-baby plotline and how much it bothered me as a teen. Well, this time, it led me to a deep-dive online that culminated in the world of Arnie Purlstein’s frantic blogging about Austen’s shadow plots, and woah. What a trip. Don’t recommend.) 

persephone0000's review against another edition

lighthearted relaxing 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

4.0