Play Book Tag discussion

Opening thread for the Trim buddy read for Mansfield Park by Jane Austen...hope that's ok!

I can start whenever you guys are ready, just let me know how you want to do it

Thanks for starting the thread, Pam! I couldn't find time to do it.

I've already started reading but this month I read very slowly. So I think I will finish reading this novel closer to the end of the month.

So far I'm on chapter 10, still struggling to keep all the names in my mind.

This is an unusual Austen and my least favorite. It does take a while to get into the actual plot. I read it almost 50 years ago and didn’t reread it, unlike all the other Austens, till recently, when I figured out why I disliked it. So I won’t reread but once you get into the discussion, I may chime in since I have OPINIONS on this book!

Robin P wrote: "I may chime in since I have OPINIONS on this book"

Ha, good to know, Robin!

I've been wanting to read it since I saw the movie with Jonny Lee Miller maybe eight years ago. It's not one of the ones I've read yet. So far, Sense and Sensibility is my least favorite.

Diana wrote: "So far I'm on chapter 10, still struggling to keep all the names in my mind."

I usually read straight through a book within a few days, so hopefully that will help me with the names!

I'll probably wait a few days to start since I'm on a bit of a fantasy/scifi kick right now. I just read an interesting but slightly frustrating Pride and Prejudice re-telling that finally came through my library holds from the beginning of the year (Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal). I was trying to use it to bridge from hard, fast-paced sci-fi into a slow-moving historical but it didn't really work!

Pam wrote: "Diana wrote: "So far I'm on chapter 10, still struggling to keep all the names in my mind."

I usually read straight through a book within a few days, so hopefully that will help me with the names!..."

I think I have a similar problem. After reading tense, fast-paced thrillers in August, it's hard to switch to the never-ending visits and walks around the park.

I’ve been having this problem too. I really like literary fiction, but after all the easy genre fiction this year, my mind is really out of shape. I had to pause Sense and Sensibility last month, but I’m going to pick it up again soon (and listen on faster speed.) My mind kept wandering.

I liked this book when I read it a couple years ago during our favorite author challenge. I saw the miniseries too, which helped me understand a lot. I pictured the actors and the house when I read the book, which was nice.

I was struck by how difficult Fanny’s mother’s life was. I think her sister blamed her for marrying for love, and thought poverty was a just punishment. Did anyone read that part yet? I could be way off.

I understood why she sent Fanny away, but I don’t remember if she explained it to her. I hated how the rich relatives treated her as a child. The poor girl was always cold.

I really admired the adult Fanny’s character and values, compared to the people around her. When I was reading S &S, I found their judgments overly harsh and sometimes hypocritical when they were young. Austen’s book are often about moral character, and I think Mansfield Park is the only one to address the issue of slavery. It was probably shocking in its day.

Finally got to start this today! I haven't been able to read anything for a couple of weeks without getting bad headaches, unfortunately. But I read a couple of trashy romances yesterday and have now transitioned to Jane Austen :)

I was really liking it before the Crawfords showed up, but now I'm on the fence. (I think I'm on Chapter 10, a little over 100 pages in)

For one, I'm not sure how I feel about Edmund. Or rather, I'm not sure how I feel about Edmund as a love interest, which I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be.

For another, the utter nonsense of these people's conversations gets a bit tiring at times. I'm ready for something to balance that out a little here and there... is it coming?? Luckily, I'm finding it a pretty fast read so far.

NancyJ wrote: "I was struck by how difficult Fanny’s mother’s life was. I think her sister blamed her for marrying for love, and thought poverty was a just punishment. Did anyone read that part yet? I could be way off."

I'm not sure if we're going to get more context later on, but from the setup it seemed like the "tone" Fanny's mother took in her letter that caused the breach. I think she was offended by the initial disapproval she received to her marriage and lashed out in response. I was actually surprised by how much help they immediately gave her once she asked for it a decade later. (Not because she didn't deserve it, I just didn't think they'd give it.)


NancyJ wrote: "I understood why she sent Fanny away, but I don’t remember if she explained it to her."

It didn't seem like it. Everybody involved just seemed to think it was obvious that Fanny must be better off with the rich relatives and it never seemed to occur to anyone that she might not instantaneously see it that way herself. At age 10. (Yeah, I really need someone/anyone to get more likable very soon!)

Pam wrote: "I'm not sure how I feel about Edmund. Or rather, I'm not sure how I feel about Edmund as a love interest, which I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be."

I surely felt similar, it was obvious that Edmund was supposed to be Fanny's soulmate and maybe even more right from the beginning. And even though I didn't have anything against him as a person, it was hard to accept the love interest because of their close family relationship.

“I am very much obliged to you, my dear Miss Crawford, for your kind congratulations, as far as they relate to my dearest William. The rest of your note I know means nothing; but I am so unequal to anything of the sort, that I hope you will excuse my begging you to take no farther notice. I have seen too much of Mr. Crawford not to understand his manners; if he understood me as well, he would, I dare say, behave differently. I do not know what I write, but it would be a great favour of you never to mention the subject again. With thanks for the honour of your note, I remain, dear Miss Crawford, etc., etc.”

I think I just fell in love with Fanny Price!

Y'all. That book was batshit crazy!!! Please tell me I am not the only who thinks this.