Reviews

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

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maddynd06's review against another edition

3.0

3/5

Okay, here’s the deal. I highly doubt there could be a universe in which I didn’t love Miss Jane Austen’s writing. The cheeky, wittiness of her writing style is something I love dearly. Her ability to write such enjoyable novels is truly astounding.

First and foremost, I want to address the characters. Everyone in this story was delusional. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. It was so aggravating in the best way possible. My girl Catherine is the epitome of a silly goose. She is so ridiculously naïve that I laughed out loud multiple times. On to John Thorpe. This is one of the most disgusting fictional men ever crafted. Truly, he is a nauseating character. His persistence and inability to accept “no” as an answer was infuriating. Also, the god complex he has is crazy. I felt so sorry that Catherine had to deal with this man. Henry Tilney, however, is another story. While I can acknowledge he has some attractive traits, I would not put him in the same tier as the other Austenian love interests. At times it felt as if he was being celebrated for the most basic displays of human decency and respect. I do think that the only reason the reader ends up liking him so much is because of the constant comparison to John Thorpe, who again, is disgusting. In all honesty, I do no think I’m capable of discussing my feelings about Isabella further than that I do not like her, but I empathize with her.

On to the topic of satire. There was so much of it throughout the book that I genuinely struggled with figuring out what was meant to be satirical and what was not. I loved it at times but was so confused by it at other points.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel so much. It was fun, humorous, and interesting. The writing style is very true to the typical Austenian voice and style.