Emma by Jane Austen

Summary:
Emma Woodhouse is a wealthy, exquisite, and thoroughly self-deluded young woman who has "lived in the world with very little to distress or vex her." Jane Austen exercises her taste for gently satiric social observation and her talent for investing seemingly trival events with profound moral significance as Emma tries to arrange a wealthy marriage for her poor friend Harriet, but refuses to recognize her own feelings for the gallant Mr. Knightley. Though Austen found her heroine to be a person whom "no one but myself will much like," Emma is her most cleverly woven, riotously comedic, and pleasing novel of manners. (from back cover)

Review:
I really enjoyed reading Pride and Prejudice last year, so I thought I would give Emma a try. I was glad that I did, because Emma was a great novel.

Obviously Emma is a classic, and I'm happy to report it's one of the classics that I like. The writing is a little bit harder to read than modern English, but it's really not that bad. One thing I've noticed about older writing is that they tend to have really long sentences, but that's about the only thing that's different. It's funny, because in terms of plot not that much happens in Emma (even though it's over 400 pages) but the book is still interesting to read. The narration is very well-written and even though a lot of the book is Emma's thoughts, I still liked to read about them.

Emma paints a very accurate picture of the life of gentry in 19th century England, and even moreso because it's actually written during that time. I could actually get a feel of the lives of these people which mostly was sitting around chatting with friends, but it all seemed very leisurely.

One of the plot points in Emma is that she is constantly matchmaking her friends and neighbors. This goes badly as she is usually wrong and then someone's feelings end up getting hurt. Even though I already knew who was getting together (I was spoiled sometime in the past, not sure where) it was still interesting to see how everything happened.

If you enjoyed any of Jane Austen's previous novels, I would definitely recommend Emma. Even if you haven't read any of Austen's other books, Emma is still a great place to begin.

Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from library

1815/Barnes and Noble Classic/462 pages.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Few have failed to be charmed by the witty and independent spirit of Elizabeth Bennet. Her early determination to dislike Mr. Darcy is a prejudice only matched by the folly of his arrogant pride. Their first impressions give way to true feelings in a comedy profoundly concerned with happiness and how it might be achieved. (A short and sweet summary taken from Amazon)

I've been wanting to read Pride and Prejudice for awhile, because I feel like I don't read any real literature. But I was a little afraid that I wouldn't be able to understand anything, since it was written in 1813. That was not the case at all, though. I have to admit, the book was slow-going, and you have to have a lot of patience to get through it. But I understood everything, and I was proud of myself for reading a literary masterpiece. I actually thought it was pretty funny. There was sarcasm and wit and it was a very good story. I liked Elizabeth and the transformation of her feelings for Mr. Darcy. At first, she thinks he's rude and arrogant and she doesn't like him at all. But then she discovers things about him that she doesn't know, and starts to fall in love with him. There are also a wide array of character types that make the story interesting: there's the comedic characters, like Mrs. Bennet or Mr. Collins, and then there's the characters that are sweet, like Jane and Mr. Bingley. Jane Austen wrote her novels to represent the lives of the gentry in England, and I could definitely tell that her characters were inspired by real people. I thought Pride and Prejudice was a great look into the lives of the people of the time, and even more accurate since it was actually written in the nineteenth century.

By the way, isn't the cover pretty? Unfortunately, it wasn't the cover of the book I was reading, but I just decided to pick the one I liked best for the picture.

8 out of 10.