madsreadstheclassics 's review for:

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

4.0

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"Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself."

One of the most metal quotes in all of Austen.... and it came from the book about the meekest, most passive, most widely derided as a wet blanket heroine, Fanny Price? Bro. Brooooooo.

I'll admit in the first half I was a little exasperated with her and the dragging plot in general, but when Henry Crawford really comes into play and Fanny

Spoiler

trusted her instincts and refused him

I was hooked. Anyone who calls her meek or passive is ignoring how massively radical that move is in the face of a woman's expectations and the advice of everyone around her. The power!!!! Her principles!!!! And I'm even more skeptical than she was – but as a reader, at some point in all that wooing I would have been close to giving in and trusting that the cad was reformed or whatever. (But that might be because unlike Fanny I was not pining after

Spoiler

cousin Edmund

. Ever. Most wet blanket man of all time.

So I could have been perfectly content without that final chapter, but hey.