Reviews

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Only show reviews with written explanations

anastasia_elise_w's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

My fav Jane Austen for sure. The plot is so amazing

happylilkt's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Wow -- I remember being kind of bored by this book when I first read it (perhaps at 14 or 15). What a difference this time! I'm not surprised I didn't care for it before (I hadn't cared for Persuasion either), I think Emma was a 'prime favourite' at the time. The delicate character of Fanny Price is one that today's society does not appreciate, although I do think that many readers who have qualities in common with the heroine probably appreciated her sooner than I did.

I only wish the conclusion hadn't been so hastily drawn.

alexcirce's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.0

ashction's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

More like 3.5 stars, but certainly not four. Definitely the worst work I've read so far, but even then it wasn't a truly terrible story or representation of social culture. What was particularly despicable about Mansfield Park was the characters, nearly all of whom didn't have a single, appealing quality; excluding Sir Thomas and Susan, who were perhaps the only people I found overall unproblematic and not boring despite their infrequent appearances. The twist at the end was nice, but otherwise... at least it's over now!

erinandbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This takes forever to get into but as soon as I got the hang of it, I loved it. So simple and sweet.

sashapasha's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

Thoroughly surprised by how much I disliked this one--it contains all of the moral superiority and narrow-mindedness characteristic of the time and none of the likability of Austen's other works.

~~Characters~~

Fanny
Fanny is a rather weak heroine, both figuratively and literally. Conditioned from an early age to shut up and make herself as small as possible, she’s quite happy to stay in that role because she fundamentally doesn’t believe she has any worth. She's got none of the spirited independence or self-confident intelligence of Elizabeth Bennet, who is by far the most likable and admirable of Austen's heroines imo.

Edmund
Edmund is equally unlikable, insufferably morally superior and completely ignorant of Fanny's suffering at the hands of his relatives and acquaintances. He prides himself on being perceptive and yet is singularly lacking in that department. He is in love with Mary Crawford for 99.9% of the novel, and, when that doesn't work out, he just up and thinks to himself, my first choice is out, who else is left...let's see, my cousin, whom I love like a sister, hmmm... yes why not. *ugh* The cousincest is made so much worse by the fact that he clearly doesn't think of Fanny in a romantic light at all during the entire course of the novel, which is evidenced on numerous occasions, e.g. when he spends quite a bit of effort trying to talk Fanny into marrying Henry Crawford. If he'd been even the slightest bit attracted to her he probably wouldn't have done that.

Mary Crawford
Occasionally awful, but also thoroughly demonized just because she doesn't want to be stuck in a small house with a self-righteous clergyman as a husband, for which I sympathize. Though to be fair, her objection isn't to Edmund but to his chosen profession, which really isn't admirable.

And the rest of the cast are equally flawed and unlikable. Just, meh.