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Oct 26, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

Vladimir Nabokov didn't like Jane Austen. He didn't appreciate her minimalist approach to writing. Why spend time on imagery or metaphor? It's not like there were a lot of examples around for her to work from. Besides, the story is supposed to amuse ones family and friends by holding a mirror to them, without their realizing it, not really anything more. Well, of course, there was the possibility of also making money from the book but she had seen little of that so far. But he wasn't wrong when More...

71 comments like (43 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Greyeyedminerva rated it:

I was astounded to find that many of the reviews on this site criticize this book for the main character, Fanny Price, & her timidity and morality. It is very different from Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, whose smart, sensible heroines make the novels, but I actually enjoyed this book immensely for its social commentary.

Most of the characters in this book singlemindedly pursue wealth, status, and pleasure regardless of their personal and moral costs. Their antics More...

2 comments like (38 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Kim rated it:

This review contains some spoilers.

About a year ago I started a Jane Austen project, which has involved listening to the six major novels on audiobook, most of them narrated by Juliet Stevenson, who is simply wonderful at bringing Austen’s characters to life. It says something about me that in this period I have listened to Persuasion twice. It says something else about me that I left this book until last. That I did so won't come as a big surprise to admirers of Jane Austen's More...

78 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2008

Holly rated it:

I have seen no small amount of reviews toting Fanny Price as Austen's least likable heroine, and to be honest...I'm not sure where they get that impression from. Granted, Fanny's characteristics often shine by what they are not, next to the undesirable character traits of those around her.....but does this appropriateness of demeanor, attention to honor and morals, and respect toward elders (especially the ones least deserving of it) truely mean she is not fit for her lead status? I think not. A More...

9 comments like (26 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2008

Rebecca rated it:

I don't think this book would have been so disappointing if I hadn't just seen the movie adaptation of it (specifically, the 1999 version). I saw the movie first, and liked the plot so much that I started the book. I enjoyed reading P & P and S & S, so I assumed I would enjoy Mansfield Park also. I quickly found out that the movie was much more entertaining -- but more importantly than that, its social/political message was more palatable to me than the book's.

In the movie, the pr More...

3 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2011

Holly rated it:

I'm really not surprised that not a lot of people like Fanny Price. She's timid, moralistic and extremely passive. But really, what were people expecting her to do, exactly? Tell her cousin she loves him? B-slap Miss Crawford? Fanny is low in society, brought up to be grateful to everyone, and has no independence (dowry, etc,.). A lot of women were like that in those days. Many shy people also have a higher regard for authority than others, because of authority's 'better' judgement, and that is More...

2 comments like (12 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Dear Jane,

Please accept my profound apologies for what I am about to write. I would be most grateful if you would be inattentive to the following review. Please believe in my most profound respect and adoration for you.

Yours & etc,

Kelly

This book is god awful. Do not read it. The writing is fine. This is no fault to any technical flaw. But the heroine is absolutely awful. I have no sympathy for her and her life, and no interest in it either. She is More...

8 comments like (22 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2011

Jeannette rated it:

2nd review December 2011

I started this read of Mansfield Park with the goal of determining why this is my least favorite of Austen’s works. I also decided to give Fanny a closer scrutiny, to see if my opinion of her is unjust.

What I found to be sorely lacking in Mansfield Park is Jane Austen’s snarky humor. In her other works, there is always someone or something to laugh at or about. In P&P we have Mrs. Bennet’s flutterings, and Mr. Collins’s groveling. Mrs. Jennings More...

46 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2008

Yennie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 11, 2011

Charity rated it:

Argh! I am very surprised that I was able to finish this book. I found it to be completely tedious. If this had been the first book I had read by Jane Austen, it would have been enough to turn me off from the rest of her works.

Fanny was too virtuous a character to be likable. She was dull as powder and entirely too submissive. I would have much more enjoyed reading about the spunky Miss Mary Crawford. She would have proved to be a more approachable heroine and her high jinx could nev More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2009

Sandybanks rated it:

I initially thought that this novel is not on par with the other Austens that I have read, it being nothing more than a didactic novel about morality and propriety as conceived by the provincial English gentry at that time. Fanny Price's timidity, shyness and physical weakness did not endear her to me. Edmund, the oh-so-proper clergyman, who disapproves of theatricals and other improprieties, seemed to be an incredibly boring 'leading man'. His sudden turn from being a big brother to Fanny to h More...

27 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2008

Jessica rated it:

This has become one of my favorite Jane Austen books. I could not get through it as a teenager, but now that I am older, I like it and find myself re-reading it often.
The heroine, Fanny Price, is unusual for Austen; unlike the confident, clever heroines like Elizabeth, Emma, and the Dashwood sisters, Fanny has no real talents, except that she is kind, a good listener, helpful, and tries to do the right thing. This is sometimes a nice change, though occasionally as a modern women I someti More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 23, 2008

Amber rated it:

The first part of this book is a little slow but as you come to the end of the book all of this background information makes the story and characters much more complete in my opinion, and therefore worth the effort. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was sad to see that so many did not because they were expecting Fanny to be like Elizabeth, or Emma, from Austen's other novels. I, as many, did not first love Fanny but as I came to understand her more I really came to admire her strengths and want More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

Oceana9 rated it:

Fanny Price. Yes, the protagonist's name is really Fanny Price. This book is uber-Austen, so expect all the Austenish things: a saintly heroine, clever talkin', love triangles and love squares. Much walking amongst the shrubbery. Letter-writin'. Good brother vs. bad brother. (Both are hot.) Evil rich sisters (both are hot.) Poor, destitute cousin taken in by "charitable" impulses (Fanny is not hot, but then, of course, gets hotter and hotter as people begin to notice her. She is hottes More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2010

Ian rated it:

Okay all my English Lit friends, please be patient with me and cut me some slack. I want to enjoy classic English literature, and some of it I do, but for the most part it's really tough for me to maintain concentration and absorb it in any meaningful way. Jane Austen in particular is one I wish I could enjoy because she just seems so ... I don't know, foundational? Fundamental? Insightful? Real? Maybe even sexy in her own early-nineteenth-century way? But when it comes down to it I always fa More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2011

Valerie rated it:

I remember watching Mansfield Park on the TV before I knew it was called Mansfield Park, before I knew it was a Austen novel, before I became a reader and even knew who Jane Austen was. Some years later, when I found out about all this I was excited about reading Mansfield Park. I've been meaning to ever sense reading P&P.

But...*sigh*...Fanny, Fanny, Fanny, she is one of the most difficult heroines that I've ever encountered. I just didn't know how to take her. All the characters ar More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2008

Annalisa rated it:

Of all the Jane Austen, I've read, this is the one that shows the distance of time the most. I smiled at terms like "knocked up" or "fagged" for tired and "conjugal felicity" and "making love" as completely innocent terms. Certainly not word choices one would use today without someone misinterpreting your meaning.

And the characters seemed removed as well. Most of Jane Austen's heroines seem strong, against her social ideal in that day and there More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Karen rated it:

This has always been my least favorite of Austen's novels. I cannot fault her writing (perish the thought!). The social commentary is fascinating, as always. It is simply that I cannot stand the heroine, Fanny Price.

I was certainly too young to appreciate it when I first read it, but even recently when I listened to an audiobook version I kept wanting to slap her.

On the other hand, I adore the movie, Mansfield Park, precisely because the filmmakers departed from the More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2008

Maggie rated it:

In my opinion the most difficult of Austen's books to get through. Fanny, while similar to other Austen heroines, is a borderline curmudgeon, so staunch is she in her convictions. Of course, the villians (if they can be called that) are so terribly naughty, by the standards of the day, that this almost becomes a comedy of extremes. But, all's well that ends well, and one day the heroine's beloved suddenly notices her and they all live happily ever after. Sorry, Jane, this isn't one of my fav More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2009

Jen rated it:

The edition I have is actually different and has several commentaries, and the full script for the play "Lovers Vows."
One of the commentaries stated how many people didn't like this story because they felt the heroine, Fanny Price to be "too moral" and not as interesting as other characters. When they accused her of being excessively moral I thought of Dorothea from Eliot's Middlemarch who sucks joy out of life in a desire to be devote and useful to the world. Fanny More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Charmaine rated it:

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
I have always loved Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, so much that I have read it several times. So why haven’t read any of her other novels? I am not a prolific reader and since I have seen all the stories numerous times in movie production I didn’t think I needed to. Sometimes you just need a little fix of Austen writing and instead of rereading P&P I decided to delve into Mansfield Park.

Mansfield Park is the story of Fanny Price, the poor More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 06, 2011

Destinee rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2012

Michael G. rated it:

Some of you will agree, some may disagree, some of you may get just a bit pissed-off (that's American for angry)...but here goes.

I love Jane Austen. I love her use of the English language, and I am happy that her work is still available for me to embrace. I could not have written KING JOHN'S LADY without having been previously exposed to Ms Austen. Part of my personality is like Strider and Aragorn in Tolkien's trilogy: another part is like Bilbo Baggins. Jane introduced us to Fa More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 06, 2009

Akari rated it:

(Contains minor spoilers and slight loss of temper. But language doesn't get any worse than the word "angry" which is repeated several times. You have been warned): For me, this book was rather boring for the first 200 pages or so. After that, the plot became more interesting. But this may be because I had just been reading many Jane Austen books in a row so I was getting tired of the pace (which is pretty slow). Jane Austen was quick in resolving the entire story and fixed up everythi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 05, 2011

THE rated it:

Now how well do we know Jane Austen? I suggest that her writings are among the most significant in English literature because of her subtle characterization, ironic language, and brilliant dialogue. Even better, like all great works, we can see within them qualities that their author never envisioned in her wildest NORTHANGER ABBEY nightmares. Of feminism, we must accept that its influences were tenuous and not radical like her contemporary Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote A VINDICATION OF THE RI More...

12 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 14, 2011

Minli rated it:

Mansfield Park is far from being the most romantic of Jane Austen's novels, but I find it a remarkably astute study of character and sociality. Mansfield Park is filled with imperfect (sometimes unbearable!) individuals, from the vain and pampered Maria, to the only slightly less so Julia; from the debonair and morally cracked Crawfords to Mrs. Norris's utterly infuriating existence. Within Mansfield Park are several sets of foils, Fanny for the majority of the young women, Edmund for Henry Craw More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2011

Harmonybites rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2011

Amanda rated it:

It would be nearly impossible for me to try to describe the plot of this book without spoilers, so I’m not going to describe it at all. It’s an Austen novel. It goes without saying there will be a romance that isn’t resolved until the very end, that it will be resolved favorably, and along the way there will be lots of social commentary. However, I thought this book focused a lot less on romance and a lot more on human nature, class structure, and the contrast of good vs. the appearance of good. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2008

Johnny rated it:

It seems that readers of Mansfield Park fall into two camps: those who don't like Fanny and those that sort of, well, don't mind her so much. Hard to find someone who loves poor Fanny. I'm not saying I love her character, but I had read a little bit about the novel before I started reading and was prepared to simply tolerate her and enjoy everything else about Mansfield Park; surprisingly, I didn't find her dislikable or annoying at all. Sure, she's priggish, and no, she's not witty, but above a More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2008

MountainLaurel rated it:

OK, I agree with the book flap that Fanny does improve as the story goes on. At first the way she blindly follows Edmund around is kind of annoying, and for maybe the first half of the book she doesn't say much anyway. But after the Miss Bertrams leave and Henry Crawford decides that he wants to try and make Fanny in love with him, she actually talked more. At this point the sort of constant comparing of Fanny's and Edmund's propriety with the impropriety of Maria, Julia, and the Crawfords lesse More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)