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drdearest's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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
5.0
susannah_n's review against another edition
4.0
I finished Pride and Prejudice for my Dead Writers' Society Literary Birthday challenge author for December, Jane Austen. I feel like I know exactly what I'm going to get with Austen, knowing her novels so well without even having read many of them. And I mean that in a positive way: great comfort comes with reading Austen's novels, knowing that everything is going to work out in the end….
One thing I did not like about this novel was the cartoonishness of pretty much everyone but Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane, Bingley, and maybe Charlotte Lucas. In spite of this fairly large number of more serious characters, there do seem to be a lot of silly characters. I'm sorry that Austen doesn't give dimension to the characters who work against her protagonists (so to speak). It makes it easy to dislike the secondary characters (Mrs. Bennet and Lydia Bennet specifically), but it also means they have zero depth. But, without question, the comfort outweights the irritation. Four stars.
One thing I did not like about this novel was the cartoonishness of pretty much everyone but Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane, Bingley, and maybe Charlotte Lucas. In spite of this fairly large number of more serious characters, there do seem to be a lot of silly characters. I'm sorry that Austen doesn't give dimension to the characters who work against her protagonists (so to speak). It makes it easy to dislike the secondary characters (Mrs. Bennet and Lydia Bennet specifically), but it also means they have zero depth. But, without question, the comfort outweights the irritation. Four stars.
grocerybird's review against another edition
5.0
Really wonderful. So much fun.
Maybe sometimes the language gets a little verbose and before the climax the story is a little slow but dare I say it may be a 5/5
Maybe sometimes the language gets a little verbose and before the climax the story is a little slow but dare I say it may be a 5/5
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
4.0
Frederick Douglass is best known as an orator and an abolitionist. A former slave, he knew first hand the suffering that not owning yourself can be. I've been told many times that this auto-biography is one that should be read, so, when presented with the chance to listen to it on audiobook, I did. The narrator had a calm, steady voice and it was quickly captivating.
This autobiography covers from childhood until ten years after Douglass gained his freedom. He describes thte time he spent with different slave owners, his treatment while working for different people, and a little about what he did once he escaped. A big part of this book was about his desire to read and how he taught himself to do so.
Douglass encounters a lot of people in his life and unsurprisingly many were cruel and harsh. What did surprise me was that he did say some of the slave owners were decent in their treatment of him. I couldn't ever imagine calling a slave owner decent and it shows that Douglass was definitely a bigger person than me. To be so mild after having been a slave is astonishing. He also describes the people that slavery made cruel, like the woman who started to teach him to read only to become the biggest opponent of slaves learning to read. I do confess that there were so many people he mentioned, it was hard to keep track of them sometimes.
Douglass has a remarkable way with words and this autobiography is as interesting as it is sad. But I wish there was more of it! With the amount of detail that he put into describing how he learned to read and the beatings he got (which are sections of the book not for the faint of heart), I wish he had put just as much detail into other things, like his marriage and his speeches after slavery. I realize he wrote several other books, but since this one covered his time right out of slavery, I expected there to be more description of that eventful time in his life. It would have provided a big contrast to his time spent as a slave. Even so, I did find the book extremely informative and it was definitely more than what I learned in school. And I'm glad for having read such a personal account of slavery. It is a reminder that such evil shouldn't be permitted in the world.
A great man and one can see why he was so influential. His autobiography was quick, but moving.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
Read by Jonathan Reese
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
This autobiography covers from childhood until ten years after Douglass gained his freedom. He describes thte time he spent with different slave owners, his treatment while working for different people, and a little about what he did once he escaped. A big part of this book was about his desire to read and how he taught himself to do so.
Douglass encounters a lot of people in his life and unsurprisingly many were cruel and harsh. What did surprise me was that he did say some of the slave owners were decent in their treatment of him. I couldn't ever imagine calling a slave owner decent and it shows that Douglass was definitely a bigger person than me. To be so mild after having been a slave is astonishing. He also describes the people that slavery made cruel, like the woman who started to teach him to read only to become the biggest opponent of slaves learning to read. I do confess that there were so many people he mentioned, it was hard to keep track of them sometimes.
Douglass has a remarkable way with words and this autobiography is as interesting as it is sad. But I wish there was more of it! With the amount of detail that he put into describing how he learned to read and the beatings he got (which are sections of the book not for the faint of heart), I wish he had put just as much detail into other things, like his marriage and his speeches after slavery. I realize he wrote several other books, but since this one covered his time right out of slavery, I expected there to be more description of that eventful time in his life. It would have provided a big contrast to his time spent as a slave. Even so, I did find the book extremely informative and it was definitely more than what I learned in school. And I'm glad for having read such a personal account of slavery. It is a reminder that such evil shouldn't be permitted in the world.
A great man and one can see why he was so influential. His autobiography was quick, but moving.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
Read by Jonathan Reese
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
keepingupwiththepenguins's review against another edition
5.0
My full review of Pride And Prejudice can be found on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
Based on her reputation, I’d kind of expected Lizzie Bennet to be a bit more like Emma: disinterested in boys and marriage, bookish, strong-willed, self-determining. She is all of those things, I suppose, or almost, but not to the degree that I’d expected. I think my favourite Bennet was actually Lydia: the young, loud-mouthed, boy-crazy one. I feel like she would have been a dynamite sex-positive feminist on Twitter these days.
I’m also coming to think that Austen was the master of hiding really heavy themes in plain sight, cloaking them in the social mores of her time. For instance, she presented all the parents as symbolically powerful but ultimately ineffectual (Emma’s Dad was a whiny hypochondriac, and Mr & Mrs Bennet were messy drama queens who played favourites with their offspring). She also poked holes in the idea that wealth and social standing were desirable qualities (Emma’s kindest and most wonderful friends were the poorest social outcasts; Collins and Wickham, despite their good reputations and prospects, were both revealed to be pretty rotten in the end). Plus, she carefully breaks down the social/economic complexities of courtship and marriage in a way that really impresses me. There’s very little in her books about romantic love, really, but a lot about politics, power, class, and community.
Based on her reputation, I’d kind of expected Lizzie Bennet to be a bit more like Emma: disinterested in boys and marriage, bookish, strong-willed, self-determining. She is all of those things, I suppose, or almost, but not to the degree that I’d expected. I think my favourite Bennet was actually Lydia: the young, loud-mouthed, boy-crazy one. I feel like she would have been a dynamite sex-positive feminist on Twitter these days.
I’m also coming to think that Austen was the master of hiding really heavy themes in plain sight, cloaking them in the social mores of her time. For instance, she presented all the parents as symbolically powerful but ultimately ineffectual (Emma’s Dad was a whiny hypochondriac, and Mr & Mrs Bennet were messy drama queens who played favourites with their offspring). She also poked holes in the idea that wealth and social standing were desirable qualities (Emma’s kindest and most wonderful friends were the poorest social outcasts; Collins and Wickham, despite their good reputations and prospects, were both revealed to be pretty rotten in the end). Plus, she carefully breaks down the social/economic complexities of courtship and marriage in a way that really impresses me. There’s very little in her books about romantic love, really, but a lot about politics, power, class, and community.
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