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A review by jjjreads
Persuasion by Jane Austen
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
If I could give this book a rating higher than 5 stars I would. Absolute favorite. Seven years ago the main character (Anne Elliot, my beloved) dumped her then-fiance. Now he's back, and he is unquestionably winning the breakup. Everyone around her bar the family friend who pressured her into dumping him in the first place and the ex himself either doesn't know they were engaged or cared so little they have since forgotten, so there are a lot of unkind, unfortunate, and uncomfortable things said right in front of her. It's so awkward.
The writing is quite clever (Anne fades into the background of any room she's in, everyone in her life ignores her unless they want something from her - and though the beginning of the story is engaging, she's nowhere in it. She doesn't even speak aloud until the third chapter. The reader is led to her the same way the other characters are). However, a note on the writing: to us, reading more than two hundred years after this was written, the viewpoint can be jarring. It's somewhere between omniscient and head-jumping. Normally I cannot bear head-jumping (it's one of the few things that can make me put down a story I otherwise enjoy), but this story is so delightful that I don't even care.
Questions regarding character development and character flaws are complicated to answer, as the Anne of seven years ago had some major flaws and has since done a lot of work to fix them, so there is a lot of character growth and development but a lot of it happened prior to the start of the book.And this is Austen, so we know there's going to be a "happy" ending, so the real question is: will the ending be satisfactory? The answer is a resounding yes. The only problem is that (like the overwhelming majority of romance stories, in my opinion) it ends too soon.
The writing is quite clever (Anne fades into the background of any room she's in, everyone in her life ignores her unless they want something from her - and though the beginning of the story is engaging, she's nowhere in it. She doesn't even speak aloud until the third chapter. The reader is led to her the same way the other characters are). However, a note on the writing: to us, reading more than two hundred years after this was written, the viewpoint can be jarring. It's somewhere between omniscient and head-jumping. Normally I cannot bear head-jumping (it's one of the few things that can make me put down a story I otherwise enjoy), but this story is so delightful that I don't even care.
Questions regarding character development and character flaws are complicated to answer, as the Anne of seven years ago had some major flaws and has since done a lot of work to fix them, so there is a lot of character growth and development but a lot of it happened prior to the start of the book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny
As this is written by a lower-middle-class woman in Georgian England, there are instances of misogyny and classism.