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A review by colleengeedrumm
Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith
4.0
What a wonderful writer! I keep meaning to get to his Ladies #1 Detective Agency series, and now I see he has a whole lot of titles and series to his name! There was a certain sweetness to this novel that's an updated version of Austen's original, which I am sad to say I haven't read yet either, so I'm now curious to see how it compares. I so enjoyed the story of Emma and how she matures into her life with such insightfulness. I'm a fan now of Smith - he's truly accomplished.
Thanks to Goodreads giveaways for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. A wonderful, light read that makes one think and reflect on one's own life and meaning of. (I definitely wish I had the money hand leisure time of the Woodhouse's!)
Companionate
Cadit quaestio - the question falls away. Sed quaestio manet - but the question still remains.
Not having to have to (deal w/another)
Some people were just worriers, and there were worse things for a parent to be.
That is all one can hope for in life: that one's parents are harmless.
You need to see people to get in touch with them.
the reassurance of those around us that we have done the right thing almost always helps, although it may not, as in this case, remove the underlying anxiety that we have acted selfishly or foolishly, or even perversely.
that he should do two things: one was to enjoy Frank's good fortune - thereby validating his own, earlier choice - and the other was to envisage a sense of future for himself.
He felt nothing: there was no pang, not the slightest one, and that confirmed his feeling that he was ready to find somebody who would not think him unexciting, as she clearly had.
You can be very uncharitable, Emma.
I know, she said. I shall try to do better. She smiled at her father.
Delicious thought: the absurd is always so tasty. But then, if one comes to think of it, any announcement of that sort is bound to seem sudden. It involves, you see, a transition. At one moment one is not engaged, and then the next moment one is. That, I think, is largely inevitable, given the nature of engagement.
I'm going to miss you so much, she said. I just am.
And I'm going to miss you too, said Miss Taylor. I'm going to miss you, even if I see you every day. Does that sound odd to you?
No, said Emma. It doesn't sound odd, because I think that's exactly what I'm going to feel.
And as far as her manner was concerned, there was a reserve about her, she felt; a slightly distant air. Was that the yearning that Miss Taylor mentioned?
I love clocks that sound like clocks. Tick-tock. That's what clocks should say, don't you think? You can believe a clock that goes tick-tock.
Weaknesses of character or personality issues-such as insecurity-are hardly a matter of choice.
She hates me. It had never occurred to her that she might be disliked.
"He had no enemies." - It could not be said of me, she thought, I have enemies to spare - all of my own making.
It had been an important summer for Emma, as it had been the summer during which moral insight came to her-something that may happen to all of us, if it happens at all, at very different stages of our lives. this had happened because she had been able to make that sudden imaginative leap that lies at the heart of our moral lives: the ability to see, even for a brief moment, the world as it is seen by another person. It is this understanding that lies behind all kindness to others, all attempts to ameliorate the situation of those who suffer, all those acts of charity by which we make our lives something more than the pursuit of the goals of the unruly ego.
for none of us is perfect, except, of course, the ones we love, the things of home, our much appreciated dogs and cats, our favourites of one sort or another.
She realised that happiness is something that springs from the generous treatment of others, and that until one makes that connection, happiness may prove elusive.
The eyes of the young woman are not on the young man, nor upon the hand she holds, but fixed on the one who views the painting, and they convey, as do so many of the figures in art that would say anything to us, this message: You do it too.
Thanks to Goodreads giveaways for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. A wonderful, light read that makes one think and reflect on one's own life and meaning of. (I definitely wish I had the money hand leisure time of the Woodhouse's!)
Companionate
Cadit quaestio - the question falls away. Sed quaestio manet - but the question still remains.
Not having to have to (deal w/another)
Some people were just worriers, and there were worse things for a parent to be.
That is all one can hope for in life: that one's parents are harmless.
You need to see people to get in touch with them.
the reassurance of those around us that we have done the right thing almost always helps, although it may not, as in this case, remove the underlying anxiety that we have acted selfishly or foolishly, or even perversely.
that he should do two things: one was to enjoy Frank's good fortune - thereby validating his own, earlier choice - and the other was to envisage a sense of future for himself.
He felt nothing: there was no pang, not the slightest one, and that confirmed his feeling that he was ready to find somebody who would not think him unexciting, as she clearly had.
You can be very uncharitable, Emma.
I know, she said. I shall try to do better. She smiled at her father.
Delicious thought: the absurd is always so tasty. But then, if one comes to think of it, any announcement of that sort is bound to seem sudden. It involves, you see, a transition. At one moment one is not engaged, and then the next moment one is. That, I think, is largely inevitable, given the nature of engagement.
I'm going to miss you so much, she said. I just am.
And I'm going to miss you too, said Miss Taylor. I'm going to miss you, even if I see you every day. Does that sound odd to you?
No, said Emma. It doesn't sound odd, because I think that's exactly what I'm going to feel.
And as far as her manner was concerned, there was a reserve about her, she felt; a slightly distant air. Was that the yearning that Miss Taylor mentioned?
I love clocks that sound like clocks. Tick-tock. That's what clocks should say, don't you think? You can believe a clock that goes tick-tock.
Weaknesses of character or personality issues-such as insecurity-are hardly a matter of choice.
She hates me. It had never occurred to her that she might be disliked.
"He had no enemies." - It could not be said of me, she thought, I have enemies to spare - all of my own making.
It had been an important summer for Emma, as it had been the summer during which moral insight came to her-something that may happen to all of us, if it happens at all, at very different stages of our lives. this had happened because she had been able to make that sudden imaginative leap that lies at the heart of our moral lives: the ability to see, even for a brief moment, the world as it is seen by another person. It is this understanding that lies behind all kindness to others, all attempts to ameliorate the situation of those who suffer, all those acts of charity by which we make our lives something more than the pursuit of the goals of the unruly ego.
for none of us is perfect, except, of course, the ones we love, the things of home, our much appreciated dogs and cats, our favourites of one sort or another.
She realised that happiness is something that springs from the generous treatment of others, and that until one makes that connection, happiness may prove elusive.
The eyes of the young woman are not on the young man, nor upon the hand she holds, but fixed on the one who views the painting, and they convey, as do so many of the figures in art that would say anything to us, this message: You do it too.