review of Emma
Sep. 25th, 2004 05:59 pmWrote more "Secrets" and more Ekanufic. Am not anywhere near the end of either the chapter or the story, respectively. *sigh*
Also put my mad hand-sewing skillz to use and repaired a bra, because I am a) unemployed and b) a cheapskate -- and bras are too expensive in the first place. (Well, actually this one I got at a dollar store -- I love dollar stores to pieces. I buy all my shampoo and socks there, if possible. Because I am a cheapskate.)
I finished Emma last night, which means that I've read 5 of Austen's 6 finished works. (I'm a little leery of starting Mansfield Park, as I've heard some very conflicting things about its quality.) I like Emma best of the novels I've read, mostly because I think it shows a deeper picture of society, and a more interesting flawed main character, than Pride and Prejudice. One reason I enjoy Jane Austen so much is her gift for precise, subtle irony, brought out through exacting observation of social mores and personalities. This means that her books give a very good picture of what it was like to live in a certain level of English society at a certain time -- rather like sociological studies, in a way. And Emma gives a broader picture than her other books, dipping down to mention servants, and various strata of the gentry and their hangers-on.
I like it better than Persuasion because that's a quieter book in general, and leaves me feeling very subdued rather than entertained. And while Northanger Abbey is a brilliant send-up of Gothic romances, and Sense and Sensibility is loads of fun, they're just slighter works in general, I think.
So I like Emma best.
Also put my mad hand-sewing skillz to use and repaired a bra, because I am a) unemployed and b) a cheapskate -- and bras are too expensive in the first place. (Well, actually this one I got at a dollar store -- I love dollar stores to pieces. I buy all my shampoo and socks there, if possible. Because I am a cheapskate.)
I finished Emma last night, which means that I've read 5 of Austen's 6 finished works. (I'm a little leery of starting Mansfield Park, as I've heard some very conflicting things about its quality.) I like Emma best of the novels I've read, mostly because I think it shows a deeper picture of society, and a more interesting flawed main character, than Pride and Prejudice. One reason I enjoy Jane Austen so much is her gift for precise, subtle irony, brought out through exacting observation of social mores and personalities. This means that her books give a very good picture of what it was like to live in a certain level of English society at a certain time -- rather like sociological studies, in a way. And Emma gives a broader picture than her other books, dipping down to mention servants, and various strata of the gentry and their hangers-on.
I like it better than Persuasion because that's a quieter book in general, and leaves me feeling very subdued rather than entertained. And while Northanger Abbey is a brilliant send-up of Gothic romances, and Sense and Sensibility is loads of fun, they're just slighter works in general, I think.
So I like Emma best.