Reading 1001 discussion

Read 2009: I enjoyed this Jane Austen book a lot. It is a simple romance with everything turning out perfectly and in that regard probably not Ms Austen's best story. Warning, Emma can be quite annoying.

Emma, the heroine of Austen’s book of the same name, is a wonderful example of a Main Character who is irritating, self involved, and manipulative and still I found myself happily reading along with her journey toward a touch of self knowledge. I found this to be not one of Austen’s best books in regards the balance of a woman’s perspective within the upper class circumstances of the time. Our Emma ultimately learns that her man knows best which didn’t sit all that well with me. However, she was able to flag how women are caught in a system where without their own money they are quite trapped. One of the characters, Jane, is horrified at having to be a governess yet she really had no other options. Also, all the characters display the class prejudices inherent in the social structures of the time. The father, typical of Austen, appears to do nothing and has invalided himself with hypochondria. For that matter, few of the characters do anything on stage except walk, talk, dance, play cards, have tea etc. There is some real work being done off stage (the law, running an estate, parenting) but we never engage any of the characters during those moments.
In contrast to Persuasion, I found the architecture of the book to be quite satisfying. Persuasion seemed to take forever to get going while with Emma the reader leaps right in. Also, how Emma makes impressions and decisions, adjusts those impressions and decisions and then adjusts again is done very well. Persuasion, in the balance I found to be a better book, but at no time did I want to put Emma down.

Pride & Prejudice will always have a special place in my heart, but it now has to share the gold medal of Austen novels with Emma.
First of all, there are so many amazing characters in this. I loved just about every one of them, but of course Mr. Woodhouse is, and will always be, my king. I just see so much of myself in his anxious, comfort-loving self.
Also, the romance is surprisingly mature. The way that Emma and Mr. Knightley's romance advances feels very natural and realistic, and I love how they are able to point when the other is behaving wrongly (though that would be Emma most of the time).
Lastly, it's funny as hell.

*** 1/2

Emma, probably bored with her uneventful life with her father, is a bit of a busybody and has some tries at matchmaking with her connections, though not very successfully. Things get even more complicated when Frank Churchill enters the picture; no one could reasonably predict how wrong were Emma's couple predictions, even for her own sake. Luckily, all ended well for everyone, as it generally does with Jane Austen. It's cute and somewhat astute.