Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the yearning! i am half agony half hope??? no one does love confessions like jane austen she simply has the men saying the most romantic things ever spoken and i am obsessed. honestly didn’t connect with the characters as much as her other books but i still thoroughly enjoyed the journey.
Of both of the books by Jane Austen I have reread as an adult, both I enjoyed less (Emma being the other). In this story you have a girl, Anne Elliot, who is in her late twenties and unmarried. She was in love with a Fredrick Wentworth when she was young but was persuaded not to marry him by her friend Lady Russell. Anne and Fredrick meet again years later, but he is obviously still wounded from her rejection and she is too timid to say anything about her feelings, which she has hung onto for all these years. Obviously the book is filled with no one saying what they mean and social stupidity. If only people would be blunt!
Continuing on, finally unable to stand it anymore and filled with unwarranted jealously for Anne's cousin Mr. Elliot, Fredrick writes Anne a letter declaring his passion. It is really the only passion in the whole book, and everyone's favorite part as Wentworth writes: "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope... I have loved none but you." Yes, it's dramatic, but can you blame anyone for grabbing hold of such words after such a dull narrative? Then, they marry.
Now that the recap is over with we may delve deeper. Let's start with Anne. Anne herself is not beautiful, but certainly not ugly. As the book goes on Austen returns her glow and her beauty with her happiness and hope. Her personality is one easily persuadable; she is very quiet, very timid, a bit pathetic. She is also kind, and a bit of a doormat. She is very one dimensional. The one thought that is on her mind the whole book is "Does he like me?" Every little kind thing he does sends her into dithers about her feelings.
"Captain Wentworth, without saying a word, turned to her, and quietly obliged her to be assisted into the carriage... it was a remainder of former sentiment; it was an impulse of pure, though unacknowledged friendship; it was a proof of his own warm and amiable heart, which she could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain, that she knew not which prevailed."
The book is full of passages like the one above. I got tired of reading about Anne's heart thumps and head flutters every time he got near her. She felt very one dimensional. Compare her with Lucy Snowe of Villette who could love and still be an intricate person and Persuasion feels very hollow. The other characters are very Austen-esque. Annoying characters in plenty (Mary the worrywart, Elizabeth the classist, her father to whom looks are all), then Lady Russell, who is the author of persuasion but hardly shows any persuasive qualities beyond the book telling us how influential she is.
All in all, I found the book a bit wordy and boring, despite how short it is. Anne I find irritating, and while the subject of renewed love has promise, I don't love the execution. I don't hate the book; I enjoyed the last half, but how much of that is because I'm romantic and "I am half agony, half hope" just killed me like it kills everyone? Well done on that letter, miss Austen.
Continuing on, finally unable to stand it anymore and filled with unwarranted jealously for Anne's cousin Mr. Elliot, Fredrick writes Anne a letter declaring his passion. It is really the only passion in the whole book, and everyone's favorite part as Wentworth writes: "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope... I have loved none but you." Yes, it's dramatic, but can you blame anyone for grabbing hold of such words after such a dull narrative? Then, they marry.
Now that the recap is over with we may delve deeper. Let's start with Anne. Anne herself is not beautiful, but certainly not ugly. As the book goes on Austen returns her glow and her beauty with her happiness and hope. Her personality is one easily persuadable; she is very quiet, very timid, a bit pathetic. She is also kind, and a bit of a doormat. She is very one dimensional. The one thought that is on her mind the whole book is "Does he like me?" Every little kind thing he does sends her into dithers about her feelings.
"Captain Wentworth, without saying a word, turned to her, and quietly obliged her to be assisted into the carriage... it was a remainder of former sentiment; it was an impulse of pure, though unacknowledged friendship; it was a proof of his own warm and amiable heart, which she could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain, that she knew not which prevailed."
The book is full of passages like the one above. I got tired of reading about Anne's heart thumps and head flutters every time he got near her. She felt very one dimensional. Compare her with Lucy Snowe of Villette who could love and still be an intricate person and Persuasion feels very hollow. The other characters are very Austen-esque. Annoying characters in plenty (Mary the worrywart, Elizabeth the classist, her father to whom looks are all), then Lady Russell, who is the author of persuasion but hardly shows any persuasive qualities beyond the book telling us how influential she is.
All in all, I found the book a bit wordy and boring, despite how short it is. Anne I find irritating, and while the subject of renewed love has promise, I don't love the execution. I don't hate the book; I enjoyed the last half, but how much of that is because I'm romantic and "I am half agony, half hope" just killed me like it kills everyone? Well done on that letter, miss Austen.
funny
hopeful
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:
No
*2.5 stars*
I don't mind this.
However,
The entire time I was reading, I thought that surely just as Anne had been persuaded to give up Wentworth, she would have to persuade him to love her again.
So, wanting to see how Austen would pull that off, I sat through what I thought was filler content, alleviated only by Mary being ridiculous, Louisa falling off a stile, and a cheesy nut metaphor, until I came to.
Oops.
I like Austen's narrator but found most of the plot padding dull and man was that "big finish" underwhelming.
I don't mind this.
However,
The entire time I was reading, I thought that surely just as Anne had been persuaded to give up Wentworth, she would have to persuade him to love her again.
So, wanting to see how Austen would pull that off, I sat through what I thought was filler content, alleviated only by Mary being ridiculous, Louisa falling off a stile, and a cheesy nut metaphor, until I came to
Spoiler
The Letter and realized that the plot twist is there is no plot twist, and I was meant to enjoy what I had thought was filler contentOops.
I like Austen's narrator but found most of the plot padding dull and man was that "big finish" underwhelming.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
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:
No
hopeful
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