A review by rey_reads
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“How was I to have an attachment at his service, as soon as it was asked for?”

More interesting if you consider it as a reflection on how men treat women as objects, and the small continual acts of violence they commit in expecting them to remain that way. 
Perhaps this wasn’t intentional. Considering a large proportion of the plot revolves around edmund’s admittedly accidental grooming of fanny, something Austen touches on at the end, and that this is portrayed positively - sentiments along the lines of how lucky for him that she had been moulded to suit him and to be happiest when she behaved as he liked, it seems less likely the whole book was intended this way, but large sections still read as intentional observations, if not explicit critiques, on men’s unjust expectations of, and lack of true compassion for, women.

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