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A review by laurenjpegler
The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen
4.0
This will be my last book of 2017, and I couldn't have ended it with someone better. This is a lovely little collection of Jane Austen's juvenilia featuring drunks, poisoners and prison breaks, all written for her family's entertainment when she was a teenager.
One can definitely tell these were Austen's early works. They were just as witty and ridiculous as her mature work, but these felt childish and insolent. Not that that is a bad thing. Quite the opposite actually. I have always loved Austen for her ability to transport me away from my monotonous daily life, and these short stories definitely did that. I enjoyed how she ventured into different ballparks with these earlier works. She hardly ever talks so openly about murdering a family, poisoning someone or breaking out of prisoners in her later work, so these felt different yet exciting. I'd love to see more of this stuff in her later novels, but if not I always have this to fall back on (and I think I have another collection of her teenage work, so!!).
I just love that Austen loved writing so much that she'd compose these little, ridiculous stories to read to her family. It's just such a sweet and humble thing to know about one of your favourite authors, and getting to read them (seen as a lot of author's juvenilia hardly ever survives) is just so wonderful.
I'd definitely recommend this. It was just brilliant and fun to read. Austen always manages to astound and amaze me with every new book I read by her (I only have three left, but I wish there was more!!).
One can definitely tell these were Austen's early works. They were just as witty and ridiculous as her mature work, but these felt childish and insolent. Not that that is a bad thing. Quite the opposite actually. I have always loved Austen for her ability to transport me away from my monotonous daily life, and these short stories definitely did that. I enjoyed how she ventured into different ballparks with these earlier works. She hardly ever talks so openly about murdering a family, poisoning someone or breaking out of prisoners in her later work, so these felt different yet exciting. I'd love to see more of this stuff in her later novels, but if not I always have this to fall back on (and I think I have another collection of her teenage work, so!!).
I just love that Austen loved writing so much that she'd compose these little, ridiculous stories to read to her family. It's just such a sweet and humble thing to know about one of your favourite authors, and getting to read them (seen as a lot of author's juvenilia hardly ever survives) is just so wonderful.
I'd definitely recommend this. It was just brilliant and fun to read. Austen always manages to astound and amaze me with every new book I read by her (I only have three left, but I wish there was more!!).