Northanger Abbey
Jane Austen
Category: Fiction:
Classics
Date finished: 29
June 2013
Rating: ****½
Comments:
This is only my third Jane Austen novel, so I’m halfway
through her repertoire. There’s really no way to critique this novel. You’ll
notice that I didn’t provide a plot synopsis above. Either you’ve read it, and
you know the plot, or you’ve not read it and, in my opinion, the plot should be
revealed to you as you read. I make it a point to not know what an Austen novel
is about before beginning it. I like to savor the journey.
This is my big brother’s favorite Austen novel, so I put it
next on my list. It’s not my favorite of her novels, though. I can’t imagine a
book surpassing Pride and Prejudice
or Sense and Sensibility. But I did
enjoy this book of course. How could I not, it’s Austen.
What did I enjoy most? Other than Austen’s humor (I love
when she talks directly to the reader), I enjoyed how this book evolved. Her
books are about romance and mystery, and perhaps the mystery of romance; of
fortune and good fortune; of pride and propriety. There’s always the ninny
woman, the dull and boastful bore of a man. Characters and plots intertwine and
come undone but all get tied in a big bow in the end. I love it all.
Some luminous quotes:
Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant.
To come with a well-informed mind, is to come with an inability of
administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always
wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing
anything, should conceal it as well as she can.
***
But now you love a hyacinth. So much the better. You have
gained a new source of enjoyment, and it is well to have as many holds upon
happiness as possible.
…If Wednesday should ever come!
It did come, and exactly when it might be reasonably looked
for. It came – it was fine – and Catherine trod on air.
Would you recommend
this to a friend?
Yes.You might also enjoy:
Austen’s other novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion.
Thanks for linking up with the Fellowship of the Worms! I really enjoyed this novel- I felt like Austen played to my funny bone a bit more in this one than those I've read in the past. I also really, really wanted to punch John Thorpe, but that's just a side note. Being incensed by fictional characters is one of my favorite feelings :).
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