Reviews - Emma | The StoryGraph

17.8k reviews for:

Emma

Jane Austen

4.0 AVERAGE

orourkeyreads's review against another edition

3.0

thank god. that literally took half a year for me to finish

sundaereads's review against another edition

5.0

Classic Austen. Had to read it before I see the new movie version.

lollykatie's review against another edition

5.0

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Funny and witty. It was as fun as when I first read it in highschool.

districtshelves's review against another edition

3.75

funny lighthearted slow-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

sharondc's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

wuthrinheights's review against another edition

2.0

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is my fourth attempt at picking up this book. The first three times, I didn't get past Chapter 3, I believe. And so with a buddy read, I could finally get through it. I was excited for this. Truly, I wanted to like it. I loved the movies (2020 and Clueless), which made me want to pick this up in the first place. And I finished Pride and Prejudice and enjoyed it, so I thought I could finally get into Austen unlike all those years before. Wrong.

For a book named Emma, I felt like she wasn't in it as much as I wanted it to be. The first chapter started off well and then my interest descended further and further. I was bombarded with side characters who were not interesting enough for me to want to read up on. Who are all these people? Why did Austen bring up the whole village (and the next village as well) into this book? I do not care enough about these people.

With each finished chapter, my thoughts remain the same: "whatever, whatever." Thankfully the chapters were short. 55 chapters. Thank God they were each very short, which made me read this with a better speed. And every day I get a headache from the summer heat, this book wasn't helping it either. I was suffering.

I didn't hate it, really, I was just bored! I was uninterested in these characters and they took up like 97% of the book. The storyline was predictable, I didn't care for the characters, and the only two people I liked weren't there as much as I wanted them to. However, shoutout to Chapter 49!! The only good scene in this entire novel. I literally let out a scream when I came to that part.

2 stars. Even that's quite generous (I must be fair. I did like some quotes and I am a huge sucker for such sweet love confessions). Once again, I think Jane Austen's works are great on screen. The books? Not so much. If you need me, I will be walking through the Brontë moors, the cold wind whipping my hair around. I am simply not fit for Austen's world.