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Nov 10, 2011

Kim rated it:

This collection of Jane Austen's juvenilia incudes the titular story, "Lesley Castle" (both of which are experiments in the epistolary novel form), "The History of England", "First Act of a Comedy" and various fictional letters.

All of the works in the collection are worth reading. "Love and Freindship", with its multiple deaths, illegitimacy and fainting fits, is a very silly satire on the sensibility evident in novels of the period. " More...

16 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 08, 2011

Jeannette rated it:

I'm reading Love and Friendship: "Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint—" I finally discover the source of this quote.

After the first three or four chapters (written as a series of letters), I thought this was rather immature. It read like something a kid would write, or perhaps one of Jo March's plays. But, as I kept reading, it dawned on me how clever Austen was at such a young age. This is so over the top, in a wickedly funny way. It has an extremely high bo More...

7 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2010

Kelly rated it:

I'm sad to say this might be my favorite Austen. I love P&P and S&S, but this bit of juvenalia is a scream. 14 year old Austen parodies the sentimental novels of the time quite deftly. My friend Jean and I loved this book so much in grad school we would sign cards to each other "love and freindship (sic)." Before I walked down the aisle at my wedding Jean stuck her head in the door and said "don't faint." (This is the book with the famous quote "run mad if you chuse More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2011

Kat rated it:

Fainting spells, arranged marriages, an excess of victuals, jealous stepmothers and...did I mention fainting spells? Such are the topics in Jane Austen's juvenilia. This book contains short stories told in epistolary form. Written by Austen when she was 14-16 years old, they are a testament to the author's wit and penchant for writing some of the most comical characters in print. I read this book on my iPod, and I love that the version I read kept all of Jane Austen's original misspellings. Some More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 09, 2011

Flaneurette rated it:

The endless swooning in "Love and Freindship" and the Stephen Fry-witty "History of England" were quite amusing, but the remaining works were indeed juvenile and not particularly stimulating. Jane clearly found her voice at an early age, and her language is as ever a delight, but any aspiring author who thinks that their diaries make interesting reads should have a glance at the young Miss Austen's letters and ask themselves if there is any resemblance; all flowery language, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 04, 2011

Martha rated it:

Jane Austen's juvenilia. The first of them written at age 14. The sharp eye for what's really happening, the ear for dialog, the unfailing BS meter, the wit that goes to the bone, the rapier-edged turns of phrase, the snobs, the bucaneers, the fortune-hunting jilters, even the names that will reappear attached to some of the most memorable characters in Eng lit--Dashwood, Annesley, Crawford, Willoughby. You can glimpse the incipient Lady Catherine, Lydia Bennett, Mrs. John Dashwood, lots of fun. More...

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Feb 25, 2011

Katya rated it:

I love Jane Austen, and, as an odd coincidence, I currently happen to study in Bath (mostly because no other uni wanted me). And here in Bath, they make a big point of the fact that this is where Jane Austen lived for a portion of her life. That means, of course, that her novels can be found everywhere, that there is a whole museum dedicated to her, and that there is Regency memorabilia offered in nearly every souvenir shop. I don't get it, since she didn't particularly like the city, but I most More...

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Oct 21, 2011

Shinn rated it:

I borrowed this book from my sister, who's the genuine Jane Austen fan (although I did discover it in the first place when out book shopping). I wanted to give Pride and Prejudice and Emma another shot, but before that, I thought I'd have a look at Ms. Austen's juvenilia.

Love and Friendship is a wildly over the top, epistolary satire which starts off with a plot hole - why couldn't Isabel tell Marianne Laura's story if she knew it as well? In any case, the letters are a fun excuse for More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Katniss rated it:

I didn't notice the typo in the title, and just get into reading. I was surprised, and checked if this was really Jane Austen... It's only after a lot of fainting scenes that I found out that this was the teenager Jane Austen writing, and then the book started to look cute. Not interesting, just cute, when you keep in mind that this is a teenager girl in England in the 19th century keeping herself busy with writing.

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Darkiknowwell rated it:

Love and Friendship was the Juvenilia of Jane Austen, which I thought was an immense let down compared to the rest of her novels. If I'm being perfectly honest the only reason I even finished the book was because it was written by her. If it had been by anyone else I don't think that I would have been able to get through it. Admittedly though it was exceedingly interesting to see the growth that Austen's writing underwent, both in style and plot.
I don't think that Austen was ready to w More...

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Aug 09, 2010

Jane rated it:

The title's spelled wrong! (It's Freindship as fourteen year old Jane spelled it.) Juvenilia, epistolary form, and a satire of Gothic romances, this book is priceless for the Austen fan.

"Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint --"

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Sam rated it:

Having studied Austen extensively (ok, that makes me sound snobby- i've done a lot of critical work with her) I was at first put off by this early work of hers. After reading it again I realized how hilarious and sharp this book really is. Many criticize this Austen work and others for what they percieve as shallow plots or heroines- which is a reasonable conclusion if you read her in the same way you read George Eliot or the Brontes. This work could easily be put in the same category with Nort More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Serena rated it:

Love and Freindship by Jane Austen is among her earliest stories written for her family’s entertainment, and she’s said to have written it sometime between ages 14 and 17. Yes, it is complete with misspellings in the title and throughout the short story, which unfolds in letters mostly from Laura to Marianne. Laura tells a tale of misfortune and love to an apparently young and impressionable Marianne, her friend Isabel’s daughter.

The story begins with a plea from Isabel to Laura to More...

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Aug 09, 2010

Laura rated it:

'At M——. we arrived in a few hours; and on sending in our names were immediately admitted to Sophia, the Wife of Edward's freind. After having been deprived during the course of 3 weeks of a real freind (for such I term your Mother) imagine my transports at beholding one, most truly worthy of the Name. Sophia was rather above the middle size; most elegantly formed. A soft languor spread over her lovely features, but increased their Beauty—. It was the Charectarestic of her Mind—. She was all sen More...

1 comment like

Oct 09, 2011

Taylor is currently reading it

"...and no sooner did I first behold him, than I felt that on him the happiness or Misery of my future life Must depend."

"Does it appear impossible to your vile and corrupted Palate, to exist on Love? Can you not conceive the Luxury of living in every distress that Poverty can inflict, with the object of your tenderest affection?"

"We fainted alternately on the sofa."

"Ah! What could we do but what we did! We signed and fainted More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Maria Grazia rated it:

When I studied Jane Austen at university I imagined her a middle-aged, strong -willed , intelligent woman who happened to live in the wrong age for her wish for independence and was quite angry for her unlucky fate. I thought her as proud as Elizabeth, as sensible and good mannered as Elinore, quite reserved and very generous like Anne Elliot. Anyhow, I got the image of the serious, reserved spinster feeling rather superior to many other women who had to come to a compromise with marriage.
More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Brenda rated it:

Four examples of Jane Austen's juvenalia.

Love and Freindship (sic) - A woman tells the daughter of a friend all about her tumultuous past. Told through letters, this is an hysterically funny piece when you keep in mind the gothic, melodramatic literature that Austen is skewering. I'd love to turn this into a theatre piece.

Lesley Castle: an Unfinished Novel in Letters - Two young women (plus a few friends and relations) share the difficulties of their lives through lett More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Wayne rated it:

Chapter 4 in "Becoming Jane Austen" titled "The Good Apprentice" does an amazing analysis of JA's Juvenilia, all written between the ages of roughly 12 and 18 ie. the years 1787 and 1793.
I decided I had better reread all this to fully understand said Chapter 4 ...and it is absolutely hilarious!!!

I am having a ball and can't put it down.
Very burlesque, outrageous, ruthless.

So many echoes of what she WAS to write.
Fascinating.
A More...

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Aug 09, 2010

Núria rated it:

Relato que Jane Susten escribió con sólo 14 añitos. Probablemente sólo para diversión de su familia, sin pensar nunca en su publicación. Efectivamente es sólo un divertimento. Pero tan ingenioso y bien escrito que podemos ya ver a la Jane Austen que escribió las grandes novelas. Es sólo una parodia de los tópicos y los lugares comunes de las novelas sentimentales, pero muy inteligente. Es una parodia con toda las de la ley; esto quiere decir que es totalmente inverosímil y cae en lo grotesco. Pe More...

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Aug 09, 2010

Stray rated it:

Book Name: Amor e Amizade
Author/s: Jane Austen
Language Portuguese
Original Title: Love and Friendship
Publisher, year: Europa América 2006
Page total: 119
Date Read: July 19-20
Genre/s: Classics, Romance, Short Stories, Fiction
First line of Book:"How often, in answer to my repeated intreaties that you would give my daughter a regular detail of the misfortunes and adventures of your life, have you said 'No, my friend never will I comply with your requests More...

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Oct 20, 2010

Gini rated it:

Oh, now, this is a wicked little piece of work! Written when Austen was not yet 15, this epistolary novella is the most skewering and cynical bit of the gray author I have witnessed. Even more blatant than Lady Susan in its assault upon a frivolous and appalling letter writer. Austen was clearly well-read and aware of the foibles of society at a very young age; her ability to skewer slyly came later, for here the rapier is rendering Swiss cheese. Nevertheless, fun reading.

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May 16, 2011

Christine rated it:

I was barely amused.

The absurdness of the epistolary story she wrote at 14; well I keep telling myself, she was really young. For a person who is barely a teenager writing this, ok, she writes satire well.

But not much of a plot. I had the feeling it was the sort of writing you write to annoy your older sister who has a boyfriend, and you are making fun of your cousins and such at what their grown up activities (and reactions...like fainting) are in a farce.

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Oct 22, 2010

Steph rated it:

There didn't seem to be much of a point to this book, though I don't think Jane ever expected it to be published. I've noticed that all but the 1 or 2 main characters of each of her novels are complete assholes. However, I've only read L&F, P&P and am currently reading S&S, so maybe this is not a true pattern in her writting. I'll know better once I've read them all I suppose.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Connie rated it:

These are letters that were written when Jane was a young girl in her teenage years. They were compiled and tell a bit of a story between two friends. I could have lived without reading this one, but wanting to complete everything she is written, I am glad I pursued it. The spelling had not been edited and the letters were somewhat incomplete.

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Oct 22, 2011

Rrshively rated it:

Although I only gave this book 2 stars, I enjoyed reading these pieces by Jane Austen, all of which were written before she was 15 years old. They show the seeds of the great author that is to come. One that especially amused me was one that was so definitely written by a young teen that it made me chuckle.

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Feb 03, 2012

Susan rated it:

The Emperor has no clothes. I am a big fan of Jane Austen, and was eager to read this when I found it. It did have its entertaining moments, but many of the stories were plain silly. Yes, that is understandable when you consider the age of Austen when she penned them. However, that does not make this a good, satisfying read. There are many better things that I could have spent my time on.

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Jan 01, 2012

Maria rated it:

A sweet little story, obviously written at a young age, Love and Friendship is a book that, if written in modern language, would be dismissed by any editor as juvenile. The fainting fits of Laura and Sophia, their conviction that all they do is justified and good and right... you can tell they're teenagers.

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Nov 03, 2011

Carla rated it:

That Jane, she is such a naughty writer. For those of you who think her the height of Victorian respectability and prudence, delve into the tale where she shows her wickedly funny side.

This is a collection of letters, rather than a traditional novel. She wrote this in notebooks prior to becoming an adult and it reads like the 'rough drafts' it probably was. Actually most of the book reads like a really funny Saturday Night Live skit.

It is a story told through let More...

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Dec 27, 2011

Amaranta rated it:

I actually listened to the audiobook version and loved it. If you read Spanish you can read my full review: Love and Freindship, de Jane Austen.

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Mar 19, 2011

Amanda rated it:

I'm still not entirely sure what I think about this one. You can definitely see where pieces were pulled out and put into her later works. And it's meant to be a reverse point piece again, but it wasn't entirely a favorite, but I did love reading it anyway.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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