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A review by haleypetcher
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
3.0
3 1/2 Stars
It was difficult for me to get into this story. I know people have criticized Fanny's character--she's closer to Anne Elliot or even Elinor Dashwood, though perhaps without her humor, than to Elizabeth Bennet or Emma Woodhouse--and blamed her for the story being less interesting than Austen's more famous novels. However, it wasn't really her that bothered me. Austen's novels are more than romances; they're social commentary. Still, the Fanny's love of Edmund feels, as other reviewers have said, like a schoolgirl crush on a tutor. By the end of the story, I don't feel like their relationship makes sense. In Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasian, the characters in the main relationships seemed to develop together and, if they needed it, go through a period of redemption. In Mansfield Park, you don't get to see much of that part. The ending feels a bit rushed.
Still, Austen always writes interesting characters, and toward the end, I was definitely interested. If you haven't read Austen before, I don't suggest starting with Mansfield Park, but if you love her writing, it's still worth a read.
It was difficult for me to get into this story. I know people have criticized Fanny's character--she's closer to Anne Elliot or even Elinor Dashwood, though perhaps without her humor, than to Elizabeth Bennet or Emma Woodhouse--and blamed her for the story being less interesting than Austen's more famous novels. However, it wasn't really her that bothered me. Austen's novels are more than romances; they're social commentary. Still, the Fanny's love of Edmund feels, as other reviewers have said, like a schoolgirl crush on a tutor. By the end of the story, I don't feel like their relationship makes sense. In Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasian, the characters in the main relationships seemed to develop together and, if they needed it, go through a period of redemption. In Mansfield Park, you don't get to see much of that part. The ending feels a bit rushed.
Still, Austen always writes interesting characters, and toward the end, I was definitely interested. If you haven't read Austen before, I don't suggest starting with Mansfield Park, but if you love her writing, it's still worth a read.