Editorial Review

Anne Elliot, heroine of Austen's last novel, did something we can all relate to: Long ago, she let the love of her life get away. In this case, she had allowed herself to be persuaded by a trusted family friend that the young man she loved wasn't an adequate match, social stationwise, and that Anne could do better. The novel opens some seven years after Anne sent her beau packing, and she's still alone. But then the guy she never stopped loving comes back from the sea. As always, Austen's storytelling is so confident, you can't help but allow yourself to be taken on the enjoyable journey. ... Read more

Reviews (100)

"Pesuasion" Can Refer To The Heart As Well As The Head
Those who read PERSUASION by Jane Austen tend to view it as a book primarily concerned with marriage in the typical Austen romantic comedy sense of young ladies seeking to marry upward and young men also seeking partners--but not necessarily to each other.While much of Austen's novel deals with precisely that, to view this solitary strand of thought as Austen's most telling point is surely to miss that point totally.In PERSUASION, Austen took her earlier PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and sought to show that her view on how single women relate to their families, their friends, their proposed husbands and to society at large underwent a significant change from the latter to the former.
If only she had lived and written more like this one!
Jane Austen's *Persuasion* was her last book before she suddenly, unfairly died, and it is profoundly different than her earlier works.
A Good Summer Read
I have read all of Austen's novels except Northanger Abbey, and I found this one to be in the top three, along with EMMA and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (my personal favorite).This book is very unique compared to her other masterpieces.
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Incredibly delightful reading
I bought the set of audiotapes with no particular expectations, and I am pleasantly surprised. Ms Sharon Williams's reading is amazingly smooth, natural, and she depicts the personalities of each character with the intonations of her voice so perfectly that it always sound like there's more than one person reading, even though she doesn't alter her voice. I am particularly amazed by her rendition of Mrs Bennet. I can almost see the woman when I hear the talk!
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Editorial Review

Of all Jane Austen's heroines, Emma Woodhouse is the most flawed, themost infuriating, and, in the end, the most endearing.Read more

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A Wonderful Novel
Siri Amster- Olszewski
EMMA: A Novel Of Growing Self-Awareness
In the constricted world of Jane Austen's EMMA, there is a general lack of a sense that anything exists beyond that which Emma can see or Austen can relate.Emma, her family, and friends live either in the small town of Hartfield or its equally miniscule environs. The action of the novel is more or less coterminous with the very real events of the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, or even just some whooping and hollering of some village bad boys.This smallness of space is matched by a smallness of psychological depth. Austen tacitly assumes that good is ubiquitous, and where good seems to be lacking, its normal contrary is not evil at all. Those who show a deficiency of good either are merely mischievous or are incapable of doing no more than sputtering about their evil. Further, those who sputter do so in isolation and do not seriously disrupt the social order. They are neither punished nor remorseful.In the interactions among the characters, Austen in EMMA makes a marked change in the basic makeup of her cast. In PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, for example, she shows only the landed gentry.But here, Austen presents a definite variation in character.It is this wider cast of type that allows Austen to play the magician and make the reader think that Austen's world is bigger than it is.And at the center of this static world is Emma herself, who, in the canon of Austen, is the heroine only in the broadest sense of the word.
Satisfying Romance
This book was a pretty funny societal review from Jane Austen's point of view, pointing out the hypocrisies of London at the time but not failing to do justice to the integretity of the characters. I loved the book...what more can I say? It's definitely geared towards females, obviously, but anyone can read it for lighthearted, enjoyable reading. It isn't that long of a book, and, after all, its a classic. So read it as soon as possible! ... Read more

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Editorial Review

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Wry & Insightful Romantic Writing
Considering 'pulp romance' is the top selling genre, one could do a lot worse than Pride & Prejudice. This perceptive classic of English society plays out like a 19th century "Sex In The City."Miscommunications abound. Just as you're about to scream, another dangle of hope transpires. Will the young lovers EVER end up on the same page?I'm not telling you if you've missed this classic.You'll have to read it.

girly chick lit
god forbid i be so bold as to trash a classic.and yes, maybe because of all the raving reviews from my friends and from the book's great reputation, i entered it with high expectations. - which the book however did not satisfy.yes, it is a good comedic parody of the upper class of the time, a lampoon of the courtship ritual, and of course oh so witty, blah blah blah, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.the main character was likeable, but that aside, i found it completely insufferable to read through, and absolutely painfully boring.every subsequent event from the very beginning could be predicted, let alone the ending.not that anything really ever happens - the entire book could be summed up with, "then they walked and talked and had tea and walked and talked and had tea, walked and talked and had more tea, then got married and lived happily ever after."the entire novel was a headache of girly gossip and mental drama.it would save more time just to watch a chick flick.so if you're interested in the relationship fiascos of fictious characters, witnessing the agony over who's going to marry who (even though the reader could already predict the happily-ever-after match-making light-years in advance), then this is the book for you!!if not, then i suggest picking up some dan brown.

A True Classic
There is no other story told and re-told as much as P&P.This book transcends many generations with a true and tested story.The characters and story line are so similiar to this day and age.Austen's poetic writing gives readers a sense of the social times as well as insight to each character's thoughts.I read this book every year and see all the movies based on it.Love it, love it, love it! ... Read more

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Editorial Review

Though Jane Austen was writing at a time when Gothic potboilers suchas Ann Ward Radcliffe's Read more

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Didacticism over Pleasure: A Rare Imbalance in Austen
In MANSFIELD PARK, Jane Austen expands her sphere of moral vision. In her earlier novels, she focused on the relationships between marriage partners that were framed in a comedic context of how the typical English society of the late 18th century might complicate the likelihood of a series of happy marriages. In this novel, however, she abandons the world of light and trifling romantic comedy for one in which she shows the unpleasant underside of the genteel society that was so noticeably lacking in say, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.This dark underside includes a number of troubling aspects, all of which are antithetical to the world of light comedy.
not as crazy about it, but still good
i'm not as in love with this story as i was about Pride and Prejudice, but it's still austen and it's still an excellent read.

An Under rated Jane Austen
This is Jane Austen forey into more serious literature, and many of her faithful fans dislike it because of Fanny's, the main character, lack of romance. I beleive it may be one of Jane Austen's best novels. It is a more clear and accurate portrayal of the sensibilities of the time. It goes more into human nature especially about the heart and why people fall in love.
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Though Read more

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Northanger Abbey: Biting Satire That Works
In NORTHANGER ABBEY, Jane Austen satirizes what for her and her late 18th century readers was the Gothic novel. Even before Ann Radcliffe published the enormously popular MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO in 1794, the novel of sentiment was all the rage.In such stories the heroine was likely to cry, swoon, and moan at the drop of a hat. Radcliffe in her book added the other Gothic ingredients of fear, ghosts, haunted houses, and other paranormal phenomena.Austen looked down on writers who had their heroines engage in such unseemly behavior even though she was later to treat seriously the same trait of sensibility in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY.
A Young Austen for Young(hearted) Readers
This first book of Jane Austen's doesn't have the same subtlety as her later works, but it is light-hearted and good writing.It's amazing how skillful she was at writing dialogue, even at a younger age.I mention her youth because it pervades Northanger Abbey; the character are youthful in spirit, and I think that of all her novels, this one might be the most accessible to the modern day younger reader.It was certainly one of my favorites as a teenager (though the pleasure of rereading it hasn't diminished as I've aged).The simple and natural emotions of the main character, Catherine Morland, would seem more real to many of today's teenagers than the repressed spirits seen in so many novels of this period.Catherine is perhaps the least 'civilised' of Austen's leads, in that she does little to conform her behavior to the decorous standard of the day, but she has an exuberance and sweetness that breath life into every scene, and I think this carries the book.Northanger Abbey is a delightful read for all ages and Austen fans, even the most serious.

Not her best, but very good
I was a little wary of reading this book since she was never able to get it published during her lifetime despite trying for many years. I assumed that if she couldn't get it published that it probably wasn't very good. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of this book. It is meant to be a satirical work mocking the Gothic romance popular during Jane Austin's lifetime. In such romances, there were fictional monsters and secret corridors and such, and in this book the main character, Catherine, keeps thinking that such things were going to pop up or had popped up, but they never really had. Towards the end, instead of some fantastic mythical monster, a real monster emerges as the culprit behing the pain Catherine experiences: pride in rank.The father of Henry Tilney, whom Catherine has fallen in love with, refuses to allow them to be married because Catherine is of a lower rank and has less money that his family does.Austin vilifies the wealth heriarchy of her day through both Henry's father and through her friend Isabella who tries to do anything that she can to marry someone wealthier than herself, leading Catherine to much pain.
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Editorial Review

Though not the first novel she wrote, Read more

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Austen's First: Limited in View But Still Entertaining
In SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, Jane Austen begins in her first novel what for her was to be her life long concern: what is the proper role that society should take in the relationship between men and women?In this novel at least, her response is that potential lovers must strike a balance between accepting the limitations upon romance imposed by a society that was ruled by a complex web of social, political, and legal restrictions and rejecting or at least tactfully ignoring those restrictions and thus incurring the wrath of an outraged society that does not easily suffer its laws flouted.In her later novels, Austen implies that wit may be a leavening agent (as in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) that may succeed where pure sense comes up short or raw emotion may be used (as in PERSUASION) for the same purpose. Sense and Sensibility
Perhaps one of my favorite Jane Austen books. It's perfect in every way!

An Excellent Introduction to Jane Austen
Although SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is not Jane Austen's best novel, it is nonetheless a major novel, with the author's then-young talent in full display. Its publication in 1811 marked Austen as a huge literary talent, and its significance reverberates even today as contemporary readers re-discover the works of this author so adept at uncovering the foibles of nineteenth century aristocracy.
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