Joseph > Recent Status Updates

You're losing points with the Mark hate, Tennyson.

I get that you're aiming for "positive spin, a la Joshua and Caleb," but it's coming off a lot like you're just planning to lie by omission.

The first two quotes seemed to confirm my suspicion that Austen's appeal is probably just divided along gender lines, but apparently Charlotte Bronte had a lot of the same problems with her that I do. Makes me want to get around to Jane Eyre faster.

"...have been in love with you ever since you were thirteen at least."

At which time he would have been 29. *retches*

"I shall be able to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan't I?"

Kudos for self-awareness, at least.

Oh no, she had to talk to poor people!!!

Okay! Took a while, but actual flirting between the main couple.

I don't think I can five this more than three stars at this point. I have endured too many of Miss Bates' text blocks.

We're supposed to be seeing Mrs. Elton as a foil for Emma, right? Seeing herself as superior to everyone else in town, and now choosing to be a patron for Jane Fairfax like Emma is for Henrietta...she bugs Emma because she has the same flaws, except, ostensibly, at least, without the nuances that we see in Emma's head.

"But she is so amusing, so extremely amusing! I am very fond of hearing Miss Bates talk."

There is something wrong with this man.

I'm not sure anything in that chapter was actually necessary.

Also, I get that "annoyingly garrulous" is Miss Bates' gimmick, but you don't need to tell us EVERYTHING that she says. Going on for MULTIPLE PAGES to tell us that Mr. Knightley gave her apples. You can give us the first hundred words or so and then say, "Emma's mind wandered as Miss Bates continued until they got to the house," or something.

At least 50% of this chapter should have been cut.

"I was sixteen years old when you were born."

Don't tell us that!

Harriet would have loved Gravity Falls, apparently.
(Her favorite character is Mabel, probably.)

It occurs to me that this is basically the Jane-Bingley situation from P&P, but reversed. Emma and Knightley are the Bizarro World versions of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

Uhhh, it's already weird that he's this much older than her, please don't draw attention to the fact that he knew her when she was still a kid.

I must admit, if I didn't know that Emma's elitism was an intentional character flaw to be corrected, I would find her quite easy to hate right now.

Typo: "hates his wasted his life" should be either "hates his wasted life" or similar.

I figured out a general problem in this book: emotions are often too intense, too sudden. Like yeah, this situation should be bothering Reuven, but no so much that he basically can't function.

Typo: "Orthodox jews" should be "Jews."

Did people really react like this when Roosevelt died? Because if so...damn, politics have changed.

Typo: "it, abominations" is apparently supposed to be "its abominations."

This chapter uses the word "naked" six times, for some reason. This is the only time it refers to literal nudity.

"And now, Reuven, you will begin to have the answer to your question. I am sorry I am taking so long."

This is the second time you say this. Get to the point already, I'm pretty sure we don't need an entire lecture about the history of Polish Jewry up to and including the founding of Chassidism to understand that Danny has daddy issues.

Typo, because two of Reuven's lines are in separate paragraphs, giving the impression that Danny was saying the latter.

"She's not a boy! What does a woman want with brains?"

UGH. Is this gonna be one of those books?

"Oh! How perfectly pomiferous!"

???

Are these pearls...apple-like, in some way?

Typo: missing quotation mark before "I once had..."

Ozma finally shows up in a story that theoretically revolves around her, and it's just to tell us that she's currently useless.

Well, still better than when she's in Deus Ex Machina Mode.

You know, they don't need to spend so long repeating things we already know. You can just say something like "And then the two groups exchanged stories" and save us a lot of time.