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Good book but look out for translation
This book is a classic.I decided to order it to add to my library.When I received the book, I realized it was unabridged meaning everything is a literal translation.I would recommend getting a version that makes sense of the sentences.Otherwise, a good book to read - one that everyone must read at least once in their lifetime. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Courtship    3. Fiction    4. General    5. Large type books    6. Literature - Classics / Criticism    7. Literature: Classics    8. Romance - Historical    9. Social classes    10. Young women    11. 19th century fiction    12. Classic fiction    13. Literary Collections / General   

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

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"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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Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Large Print    3. Large type books    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. 19th century fiction   

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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

Subjects:  1. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Literary Collections    5. Literature: Classics   

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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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An Unfinished Masterpiece, Such a Tragedy That Jane is Dead!
Every loyal Janeite must read Sanditon.It was destined to be her greatest work, but unfortunately she stopped working on it and died shortly after doing so.Sanditon is unique in its setting,a small seaside resort,and its characters.Jane Austen continued in her sucession of"deficient" men by the name of Edward (those who have read Senseand Sensibility or Love and Friendship know the other two)but, this Edwardis perhaps the worst man that she ever created because he "considersit his duty" to seduce women.Do not be repelled by the villany ofEdward though because there are many wonderful and deep characters to befound.The Parkers are very amusing.Who could fail to be amused with atrio of Hypochondriacs?There is also the visting Charlotte, theunfortunate cousin Clara, a wealthy young heiress of mixed racialbackground, and several other characters.You will yearn for an ending (ofcourse as a fragment it does not have one)and if you are like me you willwant to know more about Sydney, Mr.Parker's brother who is quite frequentlymentioned and praised by the Parkers. Sadly none of the continuations ofSanditon are perfect or seamless as some may claim, however, I believe thatthe ending by Anna Lefroy is the closest to the intent of the author.

Nice completion of an Austen remnant
Only 11 of the 30 chapters of this book were actually written by Jane Austen.However, the completion made, though somewhat livelier than I am used to from Austen, fits in quite well with the start that had beenmade. Excellent carry-through of Austen style
The book I read was published in 1986 and I have not been able to find another copy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classics    2. England    3. Fiction    4. General    5. Large print books    6. Large type books    7. Literature - Classics / Criticism    8. Short Stories (single author)   

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QVP's Large Print Sense & Sensibility is a mass of errors
In May of 2003 I purchased the Quiet Vision Large Print Classic Edition of Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen, and looked forward to the pleasure of reading my favorite author's words without having to strain my eyes looking at ordinary-sized print. Unfortunately, reading this edition of Sense & Sensibility proved to be anything but a pleasure: never before I have I read a book which contained so many typographical errors.
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Misress of Artifice
LADY SUSAN: First of Three Austen Novellas
Lady Susan - Better as an Audiobook
I have just recently discovered Jane Austen's writings via the local library's audiobook section.I've loved what I've 'heard' thus far so when I saw a unabridged copy of 'Lady Susan' on CD for less then 15 dollars, I grabbed it.
Impressions and deceptions.
Our capacity to form first impressions is a tendency Jane Austen examines in all her fiction.Her characters sometimes are shown to form incorrect impressions.Her characters often strive to give false impressions.None of her fictional characters is so preoccupied with setting up a public image in order to gain her own ends as is the Lady Susan who gives this novella its name.Lady Susan is the archetypal coquette, the skilled deceiver.She is Thackeray's Becky Sharp, fifty years before her time. Read more

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Able to read - but many misspelled words
Large print is great.But the book was not edited well for spelling errors.Examples: Sophas(sofas), chuse(choose), teaze(tease), shew(show), croud(crowd), staid(stayed), shewing(showing), any thing(anything), any body(anybody), every thing(everything), uncontrouled(uncontrolled). These errors occured over and over again.It was pretty annoying. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Courtship    3. England    4. Fiction    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. Literature: Classics    7. Social classes    8. Young women   

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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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a grown-up's bath book
The madcap stories and parodies in this collection will have you sputtering with laughter. Any fan of Jane Austen will be guaranteed to adore this book.
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Subjects:  1. Austen, Jane, 1775-1817    2. Classics    3. English Literature - Individual Core Authors    4. Fiction    5. Literature: Classics   

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