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guiltlesspleasures 's review for:
Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm going to give this three stars, mostly because of Juliet Stevenson's narration, which was impeccable as always.
But the story--ugh. I once worked with a very loud, outspoken Enneagram 8 type who, when she was first introduced to a new, sickly sweet, softly spoken employee, told me, "I just want to SH!T on her!" Which made me laugh because I kind of knew what she meant. And friends, I just wanted to sh!t on Fanny Price.
Look, I know she's basically suffered emotional abuse, first by her parents barely batting an eyelash when she was sent away to live with her aunt and uncle, and second by the truly evil Mrs. Norris, her other aunt (I think?). It's not surprising that she flinches anytime anyone even blinks loudly, and that she practically collapses with nerves when she has to decide which of two necklaces she's going to wear to a ball. But she's also priggish and judgy, even though she hides that behind her timid and obliging demeanor.
And then there's Edmund. Edmund is boring and patronizing, and he friendzones Fanny until about the last 5 pages, as he should, because she is his FIRST COUSIN. He instead chases after Mary Crawford, who is about 10 times as interesting as Fanny, until Mary defends her brother, the deliciously catty Henry Crawford, after he elopes with Fanny's married cousin. Naturally, Edmund and Fanny have a good ol' bitch sesh about Mary, withholding their approbation with grave countenances. They also bitch about Henry, and Fanny's cousin Mrs. Rushworth, even though she didn't even want to marry Mr. Rushworth in the first place. But instead of thinking, "Hey, you know what? Maybe we shouldn't have encouraged that match when she was clearly in love with someone else and couldn't stand her betrothed!", they get to feel superior and smug about it.
I also hated being in Fanny's head when she went to stay with her parents for two months. She was just awful about everything: her siblings' behavior (they acted like KIDS, gasp!), the cleanliness of the house, her father's louche behavior, the smelly sea air, etc. etc. She is such a snob.
Oh and also it's gross, if realistic to the time, that her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram travels to his plantation in the West Indies, where we are invited to presume that he enjoys the spoils of enslaved people doing all the work while he gets paid.
So, I hope Fanny and Edmund had a very happy marriage and enjoy being superior about the parishioners after Sunday service and having boring sex.
But the story--ugh. I once worked with a very loud, outspoken Enneagram 8 type who, when she was first introduced to a new, sickly sweet, softly spoken employee, told me, "I just want to SH!T on her!" Which made me laugh because I kind of knew what she meant. And friends, I just wanted to sh!t on Fanny Price.
Look, I know she's basically suffered emotional abuse, first by her parents barely batting an eyelash when she was sent away to live with her aunt and uncle, and second by the truly evil Mrs. Norris, her other aunt (I think?). It's not surprising that she flinches anytime anyone even blinks loudly, and that she practically collapses with nerves when she has to decide which of two necklaces she's going to wear to a ball. But she's also priggish and judgy, even though she hides that behind her timid and obliging demeanor.
And then there's Edmund. Edmund is boring and patronizing, and he friendzones Fanny until about the last 5 pages, as he should, because she is his FIRST COUSIN. He instead chases after Mary Crawford, who is about 10 times as interesting as Fanny, until Mary defends her brother, the deliciously catty Henry Crawford, after he elopes with Fanny's married cousin. Naturally, Edmund and Fanny have a good ol' bitch sesh about Mary, withholding their approbation with grave countenances. They also bitch about Henry, and Fanny's cousin Mrs. Rushworth, even though she didn't even want to marry Mr. Rushworth in the first place. But instead of thinking, "Hey, you know what? Maybe we shouldn't have encouraged that match when she was clearly in love with someone else and couldn't stand her betrothed!", they get to feel superior and smug about it.
I also hated being in Fanny's head when she went to stay with her parents for two months. She was just awful about everything: her siblings' behavior (they acted like KIDS, gasp!), the cleanliness of the house, her father's louche behavior, the smelly sea air, etc. etc. She is such a snob.
Oh and also it's gross, if realistic to the time, that her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram travels to his plantation in the West Indies, where we are invited to presume that he enjoys the spoils of enslaved people doing all the work while he gets paid.
So, I hope Fanny and Edmund had a very happy marriage and enjoy being superior about the parishioners after Sunday service and having boring sex.