Emma
by
Jane Austen
The most perfect of Jane Austen’s perfect novels begins with twenty-one-year-old Emma Woodhouse comfortably dominating the social order in the village of Highbury, convinced that she has both the understanding and the right to manage other people’s lives—for their own good, of course. Her well-meant interfering centers on the aloof Jane Fairfax, the dangerously attractive ...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
September 4th 2007
by Vintage
(first published 1815)
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This is a book about math, mirrors and crystal balls, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Village life? Sorta. The lives of the idle rich? I mean, sure, but only partially and incidentally. Romance? Barely. A morality tale of the Education of Young Lady? The young lady stands for and does many more important things than that. These things provide the base of the novel, the initial bolt of fabric, the first few lines of a drawing that set the limits of the author to writing about these thous...more
Although using this trite doesn't mean that the fact is any less true, it is still at the risk of sounding cliché when I say that Jane Austen's classic, Emma, is like a breath of fresh air when juxtaposed to the miasmal novels in the publishing market today; especially for someone who has been on a YA binge of late.
You see, the reason why I went for Emma as my first Austen read is because my mother has seen the latest movie adaptation, and she claims it to be her very favorite. Mind you, s...more
You see, the reason why I went for Emma as my first Austen read is because my mother has seen the latest movie adaptation, and she claims it to be her very favorite. Mind you, s...more
I don't like Emma.
Don't take that the wrong way. I don't like the character, Emma, not the book. I consider it yet another proof of Jane Austen's staggering abilities that I can't stand the protagonist, but love the book. Well, I sort of love the book.
It's an Austen novel, so it's got all the charm, wit, scathing pain, and tea-drinking of her other novels. I love those parts. Jane (for she is my very good friend, obviously,) writes of the most horrible things happening...more
Don't take that the wrong way. I don't like the character, Emma, not the book. I consider it yet another proof of Jane Austen's staggering abilities that I can't stand the protagonist, but love the book. Well, I sort of love the book.
It's an Austen novel, so it's got all the charm, wit, scathing pain, and tea-drinking of her other novels. I love those parts. Jane (for she is my very good friend, obviously,) writes of the most horrible things happening...more
Jane Austen seems to be a rather divisive figure as of late. You love her for her wit, her irony, her gentle but pointed depictions of manners and love. Or you hate her because she seems to be harking back to an age of prescribed gender roles and stultifying drawing room conversation. I am of the former camp.
Emma may be one of her more divisive novels and the title character one of her more controversial creations. Or perhaps that should be – one of her more irritating creations. She...more
Emma may be one of her more divisive novels and the title character one of her more controversial creations. Or perhaps that should be – one of her more irritating creations. She...more
Emma is absolutely wonderful. It rivals Pride and Prejudice for my most-favored Austen. Emma Woodhouse, a sheep in the clothing of a wolf in the clothing of a sheep, is perhaps Austen's most perfectly-developed protagonist. She is complex, witty, scathing, and, in the context of the author's oeuvre, atypically un-self-aware. She features in the most well-executed character transformation I've seen yet in Austen's works. I enjoyed the plot immensely as well, though it took a back seat, in my...more
My interpretation of the first 60+ pages of Emma:
"Oh, my dear, you musn't think of falling for him. He's too crude and crass."
"Oh, my dear Emma, you are perfectly correct. I shan't give him another thought."
"Oh, my dear, that's good because I would have to knock you flat on your arse if you were considering someone of such low birth."
Yawn. I tried, but life's too short. Plus, I like 'em crude and crass.
"Oh, my dear, you musn't think of falling for him. He's too crude and crass."
"Oh, my dear Emma, you are perfectly correct. I shan't give him another thought."
"Oh, my dear, that's good because I would have to knock you flat on your arse if you were considering someone of such low birth."
Yawn. I tried, but life's too short. Plus, I like 'em crude and crass.
Of all of Austen's books - and I've read them all several times - I learn the most from Emma. I believe that one of Austen's goals in writing is to teach us to view the rude and ridiculous with amusement rather than disdain. And in Emma we have the clearest and most powerful picture of what happens when we don't do this: when Emma speaks out against Miss Bates. Though rude on Emma's part, we can't help but love her for her mistake and feel her shame because we've all been there. When I feel I ...more
I read Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility a few years ago, but I don't remember them well at all. So, I count this as just my second Austen, Pride and Prejudice being the other.
Just like with P&P, it is easy to get caught up in the story and involved with the characters. That really is a sign of a very well written book-when instead of just noting 'oh-here is the "bad" guy', you get genuinely angry when they are in the story and breathe a sigh of relief when they le...more
Just like with P&P, it is easy to get caught up in the story and involved with the characters. That really is a sign of a very well written book-when instead of just noting 'oh-here is the "bad" guy', you get genuinely angry when they are in the story and breathe a sigh of relief when they le...more
K.D.
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Recommended to K.D. by:
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)
I approached this book with some trepidation; my smart lady friend here in Goodreads advised me to bear in mind, while reading Emma, that this book is a satire. Oh well, I did. But the more I try hard to be interested on the Georgian (1714-1830) or even Victorian (1837-1901) period, the more I get to question myself what is the use? I still could not relate to the people and practices of those British eras and what they did in their lives. Single women oogling on single men hoping to get their a...more
There's very little in life that gives me more pleasure than reading Jane Austen. Emma is no exception to this rule. In this story, we're taken to the quaint little countryside of Highbury where our title character resides with her father. Being well-settled in life, Emma isn't dependent on any man's fortune for her future well-being. So instead, she plays Cupid to the people around her. Her attempts at matchmaking, although well-meaning, have disastrous, but hilarious results. This spoiled, yet...more
Continuing our trip down Jane Austen Blvd! Emma has much the same style that Persuasion does, but with a much, MUCH lighter tone. It can afford it; while Anne spends pretty much all of Persuasion pining for lost love, Emma is far too busy meddling in everyone else's love lives to get too weepy about her own. Where they ever to meet, Emma would role her eyes, tell Anne to get over herself and then arrange some meeting with a local gentry that would probably involve a chapter-long scene where eve...more
Emma I think is my favourite Jane Austen novel because Emma as a character is so misguided and yet perversely confident in her decisions. Identifying with and sympathizing with Lizzie Bennett and Elinor Dashwood is a walk in the park (although I understand that there are those in the world who prefer Marianne; there is no accounting for taste, but I freely admit that I am an INTJ) -- Emma is more challenging and therefore in some ways more satisfying. Hating that nice Jane Fairfax? Plotting to m...more
This one I love because Jane Austen is the hardest on her protagonist in this book...she gives her more character flaws than any of her other heroines, and in so doing, makes her more like most of us than any of her other heroines. Much as most of us would like to believe we are Elizabeths, it's likely that most of us have a lot more in common with Emma than we would like to admit. For all the outer action in this story, most of the change and discovery comes from within Emma herself, which is...more
I can't do it! I can't finish it! I keep trying to get into Jane Austen's stuff and I just can't make it further than 150 pages or so. Everything seems so predictable and sooooo long-winded. I feel like she is the 19th century John Grisham. You know there's a good story line in there somewhere, and if you could edit out 60% of the words it would be fantastic. Sorry to all the Jane Austen fans-you inspired me to try one more time and I failed!
It was annoying that every single person was described as having all of these qualities or not: if they are amiable, witty, what their status is, and if they are good looking.
However, I wasn't as bothered by Emma as some other people were. Of course I didn't like her all that much when she was talking about how inferior or superior everyone was compared to others. But really I already watched the movie (with Gwenyth Paltrow) so I knew she was a big meddler.
What I didn't...more
However, I wasn't as bothered by Emma as some other people were. Of course I didn't like her all that much when she was talking about how inferior or superior everyone was compared to others. But really I already watched the movie (with Gwenyth Paltrow) so I knew she was a big meddler.
What I didn't...more
Original post at One More Page
I wasn't sure what Austen to read this year until my book club did the choosing for me. Emma won as this month's choice of read, so I knew I was going to read it early this year. Then I came across Miss Match by Erynn Mangum and found out it was based on Emma. I didn't really like the former, and that made me wary with this book, thinking maybe I wouldn't like this either (but I kind of doubted that, since this is a classic, and I've liked Austen so far)...more
I wasn't sure what Austen to read this year until my book club did the choosing for me. Emma won as this month's choice of read, so I knew I was going to read it early this year. Then I came across Miss Match by Erynn Mangum and found out it was based on Emma. I didn't really like the former, and that made me wary with this book, thinking maybe I wouldn't like this either (but I kind of doubted that, since this is a classic, and I've liked Austen so far)...more
I have always loved this most surprising of Jane Austen's books and am reading it again-it really does read like a detective story. Emma, the heroine, has always had my sympathy! She's not perfect and she never will be despite the best efforts of her friend Mr. Knightley. The romance in this book is surprising as well and it really did take the main characters by surprise too. It's an unusual romance with two people who you would never expect to well, actually BE in a romance together! Oppo...more
Rebecca
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I'm a big fan of Jane Austen's work -- in fact, I have the Jane Austen doll from the Unemployed Philosophers' Guild Little Thinkers collection on my desk at work. But Emma is my favorite, and so it's on my "Favorites" bookshelf.
Most people's favorite Jane Austen novel is Pride and Prejudice, and don't get me wrong -- I like Lizzie Bennett just as much as the next middle-class white woman. But Emma does something for me that P&P just doesn't. Maybe it's because Emma isn't pe...more
Most people's favorite Jane Austen novel is Pride and Prejudice, and don't get me wrong -- I like Lizzie Bennett just as much as the next middle-class white woman. But Emma does something for me that P&P just doesn't. Maybe it's because Emma isn't pe...more
I'd been meaning to read Jane Austen for such a long time, because whenever I'd seen part of one of the films based on her work I got completely caught up in the language. When I finally read Emma, I had the pleasure of reading it aloud with Stacey, which was lucky because hearing the words made them that much more wonderful. I have a theory that the terse and stilted style in which most modern fiction is written comes about as much because people don't read aloud anymore as because of early 2...more
Although Jane described Emma Woodhouse as “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like,” Emma possesses enough charm to engage the reader even before she gains some much-needed insight. But can a novel succeed when its main crisis is simply a rude comment made at a picnic?? With Austen’s masterful prose, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Emma presents perhaps the most wonderfully drawn characters of all Austen’s works and certainly gives Pride and Prejudice a run for its money as the most c...more
I recently watched the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam, the first time for me, and it made me curious.
Well, for those who don't like much introspection, inner monologuing, and pages and pages of babbling, stick with the movie version.
But for me, fresh out of quite a streak of fluffy historical romances (though with a grittier, darker undertone), the introspection, inner monologuing and pages and pages of babbling were quite refreshing and brain-matter-engaging.
...more
Well, for those who don't like much introspection, inner monologuing, and pages and pages of babbling, stick with the movie version.
But for me, fresh out of quite a streak of fluffy historical romances (though with a grittier, darker undertone), the introspection, inner monologuing and pages and pages of babbling were quite refreshing and brain-matter-engaging.
...more
i have to agree with the description of this book. i love jane (just look at my reviews of P&P, persuasion), but i have trouble not throwing emma across the room. she aggravates me. in fact, almost everyone in the book angers me (the one exception being knightbridge), so though i've read every other jane austen book several times a year, i have to push myself to actually finish emma. i find it amazing that an author i love so much was so multi-faceted that she could write books so very d...more
I love Emma's journey of discovery. Emma, so protected by wealth and privilege, believes she understands so much and can control events, yet she gets it all wrong. It's just such a subtle book - the first time I read it was when I was 18 and I missed so many of the intricacies of this novel; it wasn't till I read it again 15 years later that I discovered (to my delight) most of them. It's also a good study of English country life of the time. Outwardly genteel, Ms Austen reveals the snobbery and...more
Do not be deceived by my rating. I hated reading this.
Have you ever watched a film which is sold to you as comedy?
Complete with the dreaded phrases 'Laugh out loud funny! Two thumbs way up!' that are usually a solid indication that you're about to watch tedious tripe, yet you watch it against your better knowledge?
And you have found yourself cringeing painfully through the whole thing, because all you can see is plausibly wretched, game-playing wankers being plausibly wre...more
Have you ever watched a film which is sold to you as comedy?
Complete with the dreaded phrases 'Laugh out loud funny! Two thumbs way up!' that are usually a solid indication that you're about to watch tedious tripe, yet you watch it against your better knowledge?
And you have found yourself cringeing painfully through the whole thing, because all you can see is plausibly wretched, game-playing wankers being plausibly wre...more
By far the most "friendly" of Austen's books, it's also very subtle in its wit, much more so than Pride and Prejudice. It's largely a social comedy, and the characters are so like some of the people we all know (for instance, we all know a hypochondriac) that it's very easy to relate to, making it one of those truly rare accessible to everyone period works.
Well, well, well. Jane Austen redeems herself with this book. After starting my relatinship with Miss Austen with the amazing Pride and Prejudice, I had very high expectations for the rest of her books. However, I really felt let down by Sense and Sensibility. But in Emma I again found the humor and irony as well as the high amount of romantic entanglements and emotional distress that I have grow to expect from Miss Austen.
Emma is the story of a very fortunate and very spoiled young ...more
Emma is the story of a very fortunate and very spoiled young ...more
I enjoyed this book at least as much as Pride and Prejudice - maybe even more!
Where Pride and Prejudice had wit, Emma has humor. Emma is downright funny! It is a light-hearted and entertaining read; very approachable. I was delightfully engaged from the beginning, and Jane Austen's characteristic dialogue did not disappoint. As usual, I was impressed by Austen's keen insight into human nature and by the timelessness of the described emotions. She skillfully leads the reader through ...more
Where Pride and Prejudice had wit, Emma has humor. Emma is downright funny! It is a light-hearted and entertaining read; very approachable. I was delightfully engaged from the beginning, and Jane Austen's characteristic dialogue did not disappoint. As usual, I was impressed by Austen's keen insight into human nature and by the timelessness of the described emotions. She skillfully leads the reader through ...more
Ah, Emma. I'd put off reading this book for so long, because I figured having seen Clueless a zillion & one times (not to mention the Gwyneth Paltrow/Toni Colette version), I easily knew the story. Well, of course I was dead wrong! I knew the basics, but the book itself is so much more - as per usual. There were more characters, more intricacies; there was more of a story. I enjoyed this book, although it wasn't my favorite Austen. And I was anxious to be done with it when I had about 50 p...more
Not my favorite Jane Austen
In trying to make Emma a character filled with flaws Jane Austen ends up making such a real and endearing character. Of course you wont find anything endearing about Emma Woodhouse as you start the book. She is rich, spoilt, self-righteous, imprudent, conceit, naive and constantly scheming. All these traits don’t make you a fan of Emma. But as you keep reading and as the character grows you start to love her. You fall in love with her despite all her flaws and by the end find her real and endear...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is Mr. Knightley Emma's brother? or friend? | 6 | 35 | Feb 07, 2012 04:36pm | |
| Basically Books!: Emma by Jane Austen Buddy Read | 70 | 35 | Feb 06, 2012 09:43pm | |
| Why we love her? | 25 | 145 | Jan 07, 2012 04:56am | |
| Classics for Begi...: * Emma by Jane Austen | 30 | 103 | Jan 03, 2012 04:26am | |
| Why doesn't my edition seem to exist? | 4 | 50 | Dec 30, 2011 01:26pm | |
| Emma | 4 | 34 | Dec 01, 2011 11:11am |
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Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.
Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on...more
More about Jane Austen...
Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on...more
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“Perhaps it is our imperfections that make us so perfect for one another!”
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“I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”
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