A review by ceallaighsbooks
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

challenging funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“‘Oh! it is only a novel!’ replies the young lady… or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.”

TITLE—Northanger Abbey 
AUTHOR—Jane Austen
PUBLISHED—1817 (posthumously)
PUBLISHER—John Murray (original); Penguin Classics (edition read)

GENRE—English gothic/romance/satire novel
SETTING—late Georgian England
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—gothic literature tropes & atmosphere, hilarious & witty dialogue, the Georgian Bath season, m/f English courtship drama, f/f friendships, imagination, historic architecture & ruins, sight-seeing & travel in Georgian England, youthful naïveté, being too uncritical of one’s perceptions and too quick to judge

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—The um the scene where Henry is telling Catherine the story about what she was going to find at the abbey while they were driving together was um…. hawttttt. 😆

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PREMISE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EXECUTION—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Her passion for ancient edifices was next in degree to her passion for Henry Tilney—and castles and abbies made usually the charm of those reveries which his image did not fill.”

My thoughts:
This was my third time reading this book and probably my favorite experience of it so far. Now that I’ve actually read more gothic literature (especially THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO) I feel like I was finally really able to appreciate what Austen was doing with this absolute tribute to that genre.

I also laughed myself *sore* reading this book this time around. At the end of Part II, Chapter 8, I literally started to laugh so hard while reading in bed that I got in trouble. 😂 Still my favorite of her works and it just keeps getting better with every reading!

A few of my favorite parts/observations this time around were:
  • How hilarious the introduction to Catherine’s character was. 🤣
  • The driving scene with *loosens collar* Henry and Catherine going to the abbey. *drinks water*
  • How disappointed Catherine was when she saw how new and fancy and expensive the abbey really was compared to the ruin she was hoping for. 🤣🤣
  • The ending of Part II Chapter 8.
  • And just how completely out of control Catherine gets as the book goes on and how Austen uses the same kind of language as the authors whose heroines do go mad in their gothic novels and how absolutely, hilariously ridiculous Catherine’s situation was in comparison to theirs. 🤣 I could not. stop. laughing.

Final note: I feel like someone needs to make/write a holiday romcom retelling of this book… 👀

“Till midnight, she supposed it would be in vain to watch; but then, when the clock had struck twelve, and all was quiet, she would, if not quite appalled by darkness, steal out and look once more. The clock struck twelve—and Catherine had been half an hour asleep.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Further Reading—
  • THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO, by Ann Radcliffe
  • THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO, by Horace Walpole—TBR
  • PERSUASION, by Jane Austen—This is the next one of hers that I want to reread.