Rikki’s Reviews > Emma > Status Update

Look forward to reading your thoughts. Emma is my least favourite JA and I do adore S&S altho, if the truth be told I adore all JA with the exception of Emma.

I think I might be having the same experience as you—it is SO HARD to get into Emma! I'm several chapters in now and it's just...yeesh, so boring. There are times when I think, "ah, maybe this is Austen's most cynical work, a particularly sarcastic representation of her society of the time, so maybe that's why this is such drudgery to get through so far" based on a biting and hilarious section here and there. But it's so difficult for me to get invested in these characters and Emma herself is starting to annoy me. Is there a bit of a slowburn aspect to this or can I expect the rest of the novel to be the same? 😂

Reading this is like reliving my own initial (& frustrating) reading of Emma! Desperately trying to find something redeemable. Ultimately it is a book I have very little sympathy with and no tolerance for. Every few years I reread my three favourite JAs (Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Persuasion) and, albeit less frequently, Sense and Sensibility. The lovely thing about JA books is most ppl I know (readers) have a JA they are totally devoted too and even if it isn't the same as my own personal devotion...at its heart...the love that we all share for JA is reassuring connection

Lol! Agh, I think we're in the same boat about Emma. I might as well shift it to my "abandoned" shelf; I haven't gone back to it in weeks and actually feel reluctant about continuing at all. I love what you said about that JA connection; she really is a force in her writing, and it's such a different experience. Reassuring is a great word for it. I already find myself wanting to reread P&P again! Haha. I'll definitely have to give the others a go.