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Readers say Jane Austen’s *Persuasion* is beautifully written, blending subtle social commentary with memorable characters and emotional depth. Many a...
What can I say? It's Jane Austen at her finest. Beside Elizabeth Bennet, Anne Eliot is my favorite Austen heroine. This is one of her shorter novels but it is a gem. So many reviews have been written about Jane Austen's novels, that I can't have much to add, except that it is one of her most satisfying novels.
I thought to myself - it's been a long time since I read any Austen. I should do that. I knew that it was going to be about class, marriage, fortunes, gender roles. But I also expected some wit and irony to make up for my lack of interest in marriage plots.
But wow was this boring. I enjoyed the process of getting used to the sentence structure again. And there were some funny moments satirizing class obsession. But then there are just pages and pages of nothing even remotely interesting or important to the plot happening.
Just absolute garbage to the point I ended up skimming probably about 50-60% of the book. Not as good as Pride and Prejudice by a long shot.
But wow was this boring. I enjoyed the process of getting used to the sentence structure again. And there were some funny moments satirizing class obsession. But then there are just pages and pages of nothing even remotely interesting or important to the plot happening.
Just absolute garbage to the point I ended up skimming probably about 50-60% of the book. Not as good as Pride and Prejudice by a long shot.
This was such an interesting read.
When I was first reading this book, I couldn’t help but feel very lost and confused for a little bit. This might have been because there was a lot of slow progression at the beginning of the book. That blurred the lines between which day was which, so it was a little bit of a struggle for me to keep up with the feeling staying throughout the whole read. I just felt like there was always something I was missing, and then it got to that one part, which was like a subsection written by one of the characters, and it was so beautiful. It almost felt surprised when it happened, like omg some plot. I immediately tuned back in acutely and found that this was basically the end of the book when this was happening, talk about a slow burn! I didn’t realize is that this was a slow burn until basically the last 10% of the book. I finish reading the book and I felt like there was something I was still missing so I went ahead and looked at some analysis of it a.k.a. spark notes to go over some parts that were still up in the air for me and it turned this 2.75/3-star review into a 3.75/4.
I understand the connecting themes and what Austen was saying about these themes. At first, I only noticed that specific themes and motifs were being brought about, and I was acknowledging them, but I wasn’t connecting it to the story and in that I failed to connect the story to what Austen was trying to say. Now that I’ve been able to understand the context of this book a bit better, I can appreciate what Austen was trying to say. It bored me a little bit because of the consistent talk of society (but I understand that’s the central theme to the book, but society back then is something that I’m so disconnected from) in any degree that it reads a bit dull for me, but I understand the setting of the novel.
Austen’s take on the dynamics between partners have a balance that is their own, not that of the scales as a society as a whole. But that goes beyond just relationships, rather on the relationship between individuals and the society that take part in. Does is contribute to the monotony of what is, or realize its potential to change the status quo?
When I was first reading this book, I couldn’t help but feel very lost and confused for a little bit. This might have been because there was a lot of slow progression at the beginning of the book. That blurred the lines between which day was which, so it was a little bit of a struggle for me to keep up with the feeling staying throughout the whole read. I just felt like there was always something I was missing, and then it got to that one part, which was like a subsection written by one of the characters, and it was so beautiful. It almost felt surprised when it happened, like omg some plot. I immediately tuned back in acutely and found that this was basically the end of the book when this was happening, talk about a slow burn! I didn’t realize is that this was a slow burn until basically the last 10% of the book. I finish reading the book and I felt like there was something I was still missing so I went ahead and looked at some analysis of it a.k.a. spark notes to go over some parts that were still up in the air for me and it turned this 2.75/3-star review into a 3.75/4.
I understand the connecting themes and what Austen was saying about these themes. At first, I only noticed that specific themes and motifs were being brought about, and I was acknowledging them, but I wasn’t connecting it to the story and in that I failed to connect the story to what Austen was trying to say. Now that I’ve been able to understand the context of this book a bit better, I can appreciate what Austen was trying to say. It bored me a little bit because of the consistent talk of society (but I understand that’s the central theme to the book, but society back then is something that I’m so disconnected from) in any degree that it reads a bit dull for me, but I understand the setting of the novel.
Austen’s take on the dynamics between partners have a balance that is their own, not that of the scales as a society as a whole. But that goes beyond just relationships, rather on the relationship between individuals and the society that take part in. Does is contribute to the monotony of what is, or realize its potential to change the status quo?
Persuasion is Jane Austen's most autumnal and melancholic novel, a masterpiece of psychological characterization and subtle social criticism. The three stars are a tribute to its thoughtful beauty and its unconventional heroine. It is a book to be admired for its intelligence and delicacy, more than loved for its narrative momentum. The perfect read for those seeking not the fireworks of Pride and Prejudice, but the silent, persistent warmth of an ember rekindling.
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