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alannaj 's review for:
Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park is about a young girl named Fanny Price, who at the age of 9 is removed from her poor family and sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle and their four children. It focuses on what happens to Fanny when she is around the age of 18, when the Crawfords, a young and fashionable brother and sister from London, come to stay with their married sister (who lives on Mansfield Park estate) and bring with them a new social dynamic. Austen shows Fanny dealing with her feelings for her cousin Edmund, and the jealousy of having him favour Mary Crawford. She also writes of the effect that Mary’s brother, Henry, has on Fanny’s two female cousins, as well as the effect that Fanny seems to have on Henry. The story culminates with what happens between the protagonists, and how temptations and social pride can ruin the lives of many.
Jane Austen generally writes very accessible, and easily likeable, heroines in her stories, and while I could understand Fanny Price’s history and the reasons for her personality and behaviour, I just couldn’t involve myself in her story in the way I have done with other Austen heroines. Fanny came across as very timid and weak as a character, with no real characteristic to interest me in her happy ending. While her inner monologue suggests some element of conviction in her beliefs and pain (that I feel could have been much better explored by Austen), she is shown to spend most of the novel worrying about what her peers and family think of her; not something which should be promoted as a way of life. I had moments of feeling sorry for Fanny as a character, particularly when she was put under pressure to accept Mr Crawford’s proposal by her uncle, Sir Thomas, but overall I didn’t find anything that gave me cause to follow her story with enthusiasm.
Aside from Fanny’s character, I found the relationship between her and Edmund to be slightly unrealistic. In the movie/TV adaptations I have watched of Mansfield Park over the years, the closeness of their relationship has always been portrayed well, in that they come across as people who have been raised together and have a lot in common, but the feeling of them being like brother and sister hasn’t been overplayed or over-emphasised to the point where the ending feels uncomfortable. In the book, there is constant reference to how Edmund treats Fanny like a sister, making the romantic ending between the two feel slightly inappropriate. It seemed odd, as the reader, to see the two become romantically entangled, after having experienced their fraternal relationship for 99% of the book.
The ending in itself is another of my criticisms – it was too abrupt. The book was very long (48 chapters in total), and drawn-out, with the pace quickening incredibly in the last two chapters to bring all the characters plot-lines to a close. There was a very slow build-up in the relationship between Crawford and Maria, with a waning in the middle of the book and then a very sudden re-emergence of their flirtation with no fore-warning. Edmund spends most of the book trying to reconcile his relationship with Mary Crawford, only to fall out of love with her and in love with Fanny in the space of the last two chapters. All in all, things seemed to alter very quickly after what was generally a very slow-paced story; almost as if Austen realised that she couldn’t write forever and she had to give the story an ending.
I’m an avid fan of Jane Austen and generally I love reading her work, but I can honestly say that reading Mansfield Park wasn’t an experience I really enjoyed and I probably won’t ever read the book again. I found myself bored at several points and was eager for the book to draw to a close, as you can probably tell by the fact that my review is quite short and I’m struggling to find things to say about the book. I understand that Austen was going through a difficult time when she wrote this novel, but it’s most definitely not her best work. I’m hoping that Emma and Northanger Abbey will restore my faith when I get around to reading those!
Jane Austen generally writes very accessible, and easily likeable, heroines in her stories, and while I could understand Fanny Price’s history and the reasons for her personality and behaviour, I just couldn’t involve myself in her story in the way I have done with other Austen heroines. Fanny came across as very timid and weak as a character, with no real characteristic to interest me in her happy ending. While her inner monologue suggests some element of conviction in her beliefs and pain (that I feel could have been much better explored by Austen), she is shown to spend most of the novel worrying about what her peers and family think of her; not something which should be promoted as a way of life. I had moments of feeling sorry for Fanny as a character, particularly when she was put under pressure to accept Mr Crawford’s proposal by her uncle, Sir Thomas, but overall I didn’t find anything that gave me cause to follow her story with enthusiasm.
Aside from Fanny’s character, I found the relationship between her and Edmund to be slightly unrealistic. In the movie/TV adaptations I have watched of Mansfield Park over the years, the closeness of their relationship has always been portrayed well, in that they come across as people who have been raised together and have a lot in common, but the feeling of them being like brother and sister hasn’t been overplayed or over-emphasised to the point where the ending feels uncomfortable. In the book, there is constant reference to how Edmund treats Fanny like a sister, making the romantic ending between the two feel slightly inappropriate. It seemed odd, as the reader, to see the two become romantically entangled, after having experienced their fraternal relationship for 99% of the book.
The ending in itself is another of my criticisms – it was too abrupt. The book was very long (48 chapters in total), and drawn-out, with the pace quickening incredibly in the last two chapters to bring all the characters plot-lines to a close. There was a very slow build-up in the relationship between Crawford and Maria, with a waning in the middle of the book and then a very sudden re-emergence of their flirtation with no fore-warning. Edmund spends most of the book trying to reconcile his relationship with Mary Crawford, only to fall out of love with her and in love with Fanny in the space of the last two chapters. All in all, things seemed to alter very quickly after what was generally a very slow-paced story; almost as if Austen realised that she couldn’t write forever and she had to give the story an ending.
I’m an avid fan of Jane Austen and generally I love reading her work, but I can honestly say that reading Mansfield Park wasn’t an experience I really enjoyed and I probably won’t ever read the book again. I found myself bored at several points and was eager for the book to draw to a close, as you can probably tell by the fact that my review is quite short and I’m struggling to find things to say about the book. I understand that Austen was going through a difficult time when she wrote this novel, but it’s most definitely not her best work. I’m hoping that Emma and Northanger Abbey will restore my faith when I get around to reading those!