Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen Review

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A little background on my relationship with Miss Austen.

I knew of Pride and Prejudice. It is like practically required to have read if you read romance particularly historical romance.

But see I hadn't at least not up until 2010

In 2010 I set out to read it. So I started it. I started. Then I stopped. I started. Then I stopped. I was about 100 pages in when I gave up.

Then I decided to pick up the Penguin Classics version of War and Peace. I had previously tried to read it but again I dropped it. But surprisingly with this edition the prose was clear. It didn't seem so dense and antiquated that I didn't understand it.

So then I thought: Aha! I shall try it with Austen. So I went out and bought all six books...again in the Penguin edition.

And I finished it in about a day. It was nice but I wasn't sure about how I felt about Miss Austen.

So then I tried Persuasion. I liked it but I still didn't love it. It didn't grab me. It was a lovely book to be sure but I wasn't obsessed with the book or the author like I became after I read Jane Eyre.

Fast forward to 2014. For some reason I wanted to read the book of extra stuff I had bought by Austen but I could not for the life of me find that book. So I looked over and I decided I would read one of her mature works. I chose the shortest because I wanted something light.

So I started Northanger Abbey and the most curious thing happened. I liked it. I kept thinking about it. I had recently picked up Vilette but I kept returning to this one.

What I liked the most about this book was that it showed me that teenage girls have not changed much in the past two hundred years though a lot about the world has. I felt I could empathize with Catherine.

What particularly stuck out to me was the peer pressure. Any teen knows that is a big issue. I felt myself getting angry about how much John, James, and Isabella were pushing Catherine. But I understood how she felt.

What also stuck out to me was false friends. I had thought Isabella was a good friend but once I saw how she tried to manipulate Catherine and then her subsequent behavior I realized she wasn't the best friend. I mean I know I have dealt with "friends" like that.

I only give this book four stars because of something I think is specific to Austen's work or perhaps to all the authors writing in that time period. She does a lot of telling and I wanted more showing! The end was nice but I actually wanted to see it. I am after all a reader of this time but the ending left me feeling nice but unsatisfied. But reading this book gave me a new view of Miss Austen's work. She's really funny and I like her insight. I definitely won't dread reading her books anymore.



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In The Past Week...

I finished my eleventh book and my first classic of the new year.

I chose Persuasion by Jane Austen as my book for January. I initially took reading it slower than I usually do. I usually read classics slower than I do contemporary books because of the language but this doesn't bother me as much as it used to. But on to the story.

I had originally watched the 1995 adaptation and fell in love with that. I wanted to see if the makers of the film translated the book onto the screen well. I think they did it justice. One thing that I did notice was when Louisa (I believe that's her name. I kept getting her mixed up with her sister.) fell from the steps. It was lot more dramatic on the screen than in the book. I actually had to backtrack for a minute to realize that she had actually fell.

I've only read one other Austen work and that's Pride and Prejudice which I just adore (Darcy owns my heart!), but I've noticed that she tells more than she shows. I felt that there were moments in the book where she could have let the characters speak for themselves instead of telling the reader what happened. It was for this that I rated the book four stars.

Today I finished a short little romance called By Royal Demand by Robyn Donald that has been sitting on my shelf for months waiting to be read. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I hadn't been cleaning my shelves. But I read the blurb on the back and I decided why not?

It was enjoyable and quick read. I did think the hero Gabe, was just a much a jerk for my taste. The mystery with the Queen's Blood was resolved a little too quick for my taste, but the author is confined to see limit, so I could understand that. I did like the glimpses of Illriya and Sara's home island. I wish that I could have heard what Illriyan sounded like, but maybe that will be in the future books. I gave it three stars.

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