mossflower_bibliophile 's review for:

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

3.0

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I am an introverted person and had hoped to relate to Fanny Price, but found that I did not and frankly she quite frustrated me. But I embraced that fact and found the book still interesting and engaging even when I didn't relate to, or particularly feel a fondness for, almost any of the characters. Fanny certainly stayed true to herself and never waivered. But I did wish that her character would have grown and developed a bit more. She was like a bird with clipped wings and Austen had the chance to let her grow her feathers back and flutter a bit into the world, but instead she kept her in her nest. I was disappointed with the ending. But ultimately, if I can allow myself to be okay with all the complacency and close-mindedness of Fanny, I suppose the ending makes sense for the characters. This novel certainly made me feel: feelings of frustration, hope, and irritation! But as I said, it is not necessary for us to love or relate to all book protagonists and this was quite an unusual journey in character exploration. But why spend so much time developing a character like Henry and have it seem like both characters are learning and growing towards making each other better people only to completely toss him out into the trash in such a careless way! It vexed me a bit.