I’m giving up just for now. I don’t think I’m quite ready for Jane Austen. Maybe in a few years, but not yet. I know it sounds silly, but I know I can learn to love it.

My friend chose this as our book of the month and so far, all of us have been having a hard time getting through it. I like it, but everytime I start reading it, I fall asleep after about twenty minutes. The language is just so different and I need Sparknotes to understand it entirely. This is the first Jane Austen book I’ve tackled, and it may be a while before I read another :P

I have read and liked both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. The blurb on the back cover of Mansfield Park made it sound like an interesting read, but I found it to be extremely tedious, full of moral rebuke and starring a heroine who is somewhat less than inspiring. I don’t recommend this book.

I found it to be quite enjoyable, right up until the last few chapters where Austen’s morally vengeful pen came out in full force, bringing damnation, granting redemption and bestowing happiness on the deserving. Poor Fanny is rather too angelic and virtuous, but she does have her (admittedly) few moments of spunk and liveliness. And for those who seek more than an entertaining romance, Austen’s take on society and character are as sharp as ever.

This is the least likeable and most tedious of Austen’s works. The heroine is weak, conservative and a bit wet. There is no strong masculine role there either and as a result I found I really didn’t care if they all lived happily ever after or not!

Perhaps my least favourite of Austen’s works, but still a good read. I think it is the fact that many of the characters are so unlikable in their actions (whereas Emma was still blithely charming) that makes this novel less endearing.