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A review by clevermird
Persuasion by Jane Austen
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Jane Austin is kind of my classical literary nemesis. I really like the plots of her books and I find her ability to draw engaging characters in just a few sentences amazing. But somehow I never find myself quite loving the result.
Anne Elliot is the middle child of minor British nobility and still unmarried in her late 20s. Her whiny younger sister has been married for years, but calls on her whenever she feels short on attention, while her father and older sister are both too concerned with their own shallow flaunting of their petty title to pay much attention to her. Her only companion is her late mother's closest friend, who many years ago talked her out of an engagement due to fears that the man's dangerous profession and lack of familial wealth would leave her a penniless widow. But now the Elliots are in dire financial straits, their estate is being rented out, and who should come to visit the new tenants than her ex-fiance, still single and looking?
As I mentioned in the intro, the prose is typically nice, with witty commentary and really amusing characterization. I really enjoyed seeing a romantic story with an older (relatively speaking) protagonist and the premise was great. Anne was a nice girl and I found myself genuinely rooting for her to succeed.
However, the book is quite slow and definitely drags in places. Not that I was expecting the end of the world, but even compared to Pride and Prejudice, there's relatively little that happens. I feel like for as much as the relationship between Anne and her ex-fiance is the focus of the book, we see comparatively little of them together until (spoiler alert) they decide that they are okay with each other again at the end - there was buildup there, for sure, but it would have been more satisfying if we'd seen more of them together. Similarly, the antagonist is solved by a sudden revelation from a character introduced in the third act, and while again, it all makes sense and fits with what we know, it would have worked better if we'd seen more of said character before that moment.
I don't know, this one just didn't quite work for me despite me really wanting it to.
Anne Elliot is the middle child of minor British nobility and still unmarried in her late 20s. Her whiny younger sister has been married for years, but calls on her whenever she feels short on attention, while her father and older sister are both too concerned with their own shallow flaunting of their petty title to pay much attention to her. Her only companion is her late mother's closest friend, who many years ago talked her out of an engagement due to fears that the man's dangerous profession and lack of familial wealth would leave her a penniless widow. But now the Elliots are in dire financial straits, their estate is being rented out, and who should come to visit the new tenants than her ex-fiance, still single and looking?
As I mentioned in the intro, the prose is typically nice, with witty commentary and really amusing characterization. I really enjoyed seeing a romantic story with an older (relatively speaking) protagonist and the premise was great. Anne was a nice girl and I found myself genuinely rooting for her to succeed.
However, the book is quite slow and definitely drags in places. Not that I was expecting the end of the world, but even compared to Pride and Prejudice, there's relatively little that happens. I feel like for as much as the relationship between Anne and her ex-fiance is the focus of the book, we see comparatively little of them together until (spoiler alert) they decide that they are okay with each other again at the end - there was buildup there, for sure, but it would have been more satisfying if we'd seen more of them together. Similarly, the antagonist is solved by a sudden revelation from a character introduced in the third act, and while again, it all makes sense and fits with what we know, it would have worked better if we'd seen more of said character before that moment.
I don't know, this one just didn't quite work for me despite me really wanting it to.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Chronic illness