Emma by Jane Austen


finished 5/1 ........ classic early 19th century English ......... rating 8

Well, I enjoyed it thanks largely to an Audible recording by Prunella Scales. I also read the book on the side but Scales made all that Victorian prose come alive for me.

Emma is 21 and a spoiled manipulative (b-word). She plots the marriages of her governess and a "friend" who don't have the landed wealth she and her father have, so are therefore not "quality." Emma is attractive and charming but she has a little mean streak and she's incredibly snobbish in some ways.

Nevertheless, Austen has created a likable character because Emma's charm comes through and I just accepted her as a person with some flaws. The very predictable plot revolves around the tangled arrangement of several marriages but everything finally falls into place.

The thing that makes this book such a classic is the social satire which feels like cutting edge. I laughed out loud in several places and found myself realizing that I knew people in just like the ones in the novel.
Bekah

Posted: Wed - May 2, 2007 at 07:44 PM        

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