artemistics 's review for:

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

4.0

sad slow-paced

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the most painful to read through austen, not because of the usual criticisms (that it's boring, that it's overdramatic, that it's not romantic), but because throughout mansfield park, i felt so much for fanny, unloved and shy and small. the most heartbreaking heroine by far, a cinderella story where she never gets to go to the ball, because she can't even believe herself deserving of a night off. far form finding it boring, i thought it was the most fascinating austen; for once not as focused on the characters, but the place they inhabit and the environment's relationship to the characters. very layered, very unreliable, with a lot of things to keep looking back on and reconsidering, and i continue thinking about it even weeks later.