3 stars; it was okay
Didn’t capture my attention like the others had, though I would like to read it again.
Read: Nov 19 – Nov 21, 2024
Genre: Classic, Romance
Audience: General
Book contains: classism, sexism, period-typical behaviours
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This parody follows protagonist Catherine Morland during an eventful season in Bath, in which she is first introduced to fashionable society, and creates a greater understanding of the world around her through more than just the gothic romances she loves.
I suppose I was a little more distracted than usual while reading this book, but it just didn’t catch my focus like the ones before. Catherine was a bit bland in my opinion because I didn’t really get to know her.
Austen once again uses third person to tell the story of her main character, this time Catherine Morland. The story is told in interconnecting scenes, though the main plot of the story isn’t always obvious.
For this novel, I had no trouble with the audiobook from the Classic Audiobook Collection on Spotify. The voices actually changed for the different characters, which was a bit jarring at first, but I got used to it after a while.
Catherine was, as I mentioned earlier, a bit bland for a main character. She liked gothic books, sure, but I didn’t get much else from her—likes and dislikes. She made a few friends, but she got easily hung up on a man she met once, and she got a bit swept away because of her own naivety. I do appreciate her strong morals, though, and how she stood against things she thought were wrong.
Catherine made friends with Isabella, and at first it seems like this is one of those long-lasting friendships, but as the story goes on, I start liking Isabella less and less. Other people Catherine interacts with all have some annoyance, some flaw, that is revealed—like John’s narcissism, for example; every time he spoke I was rolling my eyes.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the style of the writing, and when I was tuned in, I could easily picture the rooms and gardens and corridors Austen described. Her characters kind of blended together in this book, though, or maybe they blended with the characters of her other books—I’m not entirely sure. Either way, it was well-written but a little repetitive.
One of Austen’s shorter books, so the pace as a bit faster than her other novels. Still, it follows the style of the period, and a lot of time is spent on describing the surroundings and settling into the story. My one complaint was that it took far too long for the actual Abbey to be mentioned, so I was left waiting for that.
Again, not my favourite of Jane Austen’s books, but I liked it enough to want to read it again. I’d recommend this to lovers of Victorian Romance and those who like poking a little bit of fun of typical gothic romances.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
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