A review by heidi_meredith
Emma by Jane Austen

funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.5

This was almost as satisfying to me as 'Pride and Prejudice', in its wit, characters and heroine. I am sure I've read it before but could remember so little of it, perhaps because the simplified plots of the films had usurped the book in my mind. The experience of reading it far exceeds any film of it though. My only discomfort was in the awful snobbery of the class system of that day. I largely relate to Emma as a character, with her blunders and regrets and 'open temper', yet when she thinks of the degradation in a potential marriage between two of the characters, and otherwise demonstrates her feelings of superiority to those around her,  I find it quite abhorrent. I admit this is probably due to my own hurt pride, as I know that, had I been born at that time, I would have been of a lower social status than even the farming Martins or privately-educated Miss Smith, whom she so disparages at times. Also, I wonder if Austen was using these thoughts to show the pride and inconsistency of Emma's youth and her blindness to her own ulterior motives. Indeed, Austen often allows a disparity in wealth in her happy-ending-marriages.