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Mansfield Park
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'We have all been more or less to blame ... every one of us, excepting Fanny'
Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighbourhood bringing ...more
Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighbourhood bringing ...more
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Paperback, Penguin English Library, 512 pages
Published
October 25th 2012
by Penguin Books
(first published July 1st 1814)
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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 are pretty hila ...more
Most of the characters in this book singlemindedly pursue wealth, status, and pleasure regardless of their personal and moral costs. Their antics are pretty hila ...more

Jun 06, 2021
Tharindu Dissanayake
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Tharindu by:
RoshReviews
Shelves:
favorites-fiction
"I am of a cautious temper, and unwilling to risk my happiness in a hurry."
This has to be the only Austen book I felt apprehensive of reading: there is a lot of controversy around this book, to make one re-think if diving in to this would be a good idea. It turns out, at least for me, the forebodings were for nothing. Despite several shortcomings of the characters, including the heroine - Fanny Price, and a hurried ending, I liked the overall story. But it does fall behind Persuasion and Pri ...more
This has to be the only Austen book I felt apprehensive of reading: there is a lot of controversy around this book, to make one re-think if diving in to this would be a good idea. It turns out, at least for me, the forebodings were for nothing. Despite several shortcomings of the characters, including the heroine - Fanny Price, and a hurried ending, I liked the overall story. But it does fall behind Persuasion and Pri ...more

Most Austen aficionados agree that Pride and Prejudice is a great book. Jane Austen thought it might be too "light and bright and sparkling"--that its comedy might outshine its serious points--but its continued popularity today indicates that her recipe for brilliance contained just the right ingredients.
Yet a lot of modern readers loathe Mansfield Park, despite its being thought by others the greatest of all Austen's work. What's going on here?
Frequently leveled criticisms:
* Fanny is a stick ...more
Yet a lot of modern readers loathe Mansfield Park, despite its being thought by others the greatest of all Austen's work. What's going on here?
Frequently leveled criticisms:
* Fanny is a stick ...more

Upping my rating from 3 stars to 4 on reread. Mansfield Park isn't as easy to love as most of Jane Austen's other novels, but it has a lot of insights to offer into the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of not just Fanny, but all of the other characters who live in and around Mansfield Park, a country manor in England. Like Kelly says in her truly excellent review of this book, it's called "Mansfield Park" - not Fanny or Foolishness and Awkwardness - for a good reason.
The other thing that ...more
The other thing that ...more

(Book 937 from 1001 books) - Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
Mansfield Park is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime.
The novel tells the story of Fanny Price, starting when her overburdened, impoverished family sends her at age ten to live in the household of her wealthy aunt and uncle; it follows her development and concludes in early adulthood.
Frances "Fanny" Price, ...more
Mansfield Park is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime.
The novel tells the story of Fanny Price, starting when her overburdened, impoverished family sends her at age ten to live in the household of her wealthy aunt and uncle; it follows her development and concludes in early adulthood.
Frances "Fanny" Price, ...more

Jun 04, 2007
Kelly
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
only hardcore Austen fans
(This is usually the part where I offer abject apologies for my review's length, but I don't feel like it this time. It's long. Continued on the comments section. You have been duly notified.)
Ah, Fanny Price. We meet again.
Our previous meeting was…. How shall I say? Underwhelming. Unsatisfying. …Lacking is really the word I’m looking for. There was something missing in every encounter I had with you that made me want to tear my hair out.
Now I know why, and it was entirely to do with what I brou ...more
Ah, Fanny Price. We meet again.
Our previous meeting was…. How shall I say? Underwhelming. Unsatisfying. …Lacking is really the word I’m looking for. There was something missing in every encounter I had with you that made me want to tear my hair out.
Now I know why, and it was entirely to do with what I brou ...more

I apologize if you were in any way affected by the recent tilting of the world off its axis. For the first time ever, I was disappointed by something by Jane Austen, and it threatened to destroy the basic functioning of the universe.
Mansfield Park is just...not very good.
There’s that whole romance-with-your-first-cousin thing, for one. No blame on ol’ Janie, she was merely a victim of her incestuous nineteenth-century society circumstances, but like...yuck. Gives you the heebie-jeebies all the s ...more
Mansfield Park is just...not very good.
There’s that whole romance-with-your-first-cousin thing, for one. No blame on ol’ Janie, she was merely a victim of her incestuous nineteenth-century society circumstances, but like...yuck. Gives you the heebie-jeebies all the s ...more

The impossible happened! I read something by Jane Austen and I didn’t give it five stars! What is the world coming to? I don’t even know who I am anymore.
Though this was awfully dull. Austen has never be renowned for her fast moving plots, so I know what to expect when I go into one of her novels. What makes her writing so compelling is the social commentary and the razor sharp wit. The woman holds nothing back! And she’s ever so subtle. Her characters are often caricatures and she exploits the ...more
Though this was awfully dull. Austen has never be renowned for her fast moving plots, so I know what to expect when I go into one of her novels. What makes her writing so compelling is the social commentary and the razor sharp wit. The woman holds nothing back! And she’s ever so subtle. Her characters are often caricatures and she exploits the ...more

I hated Fanny Price.

I'm supposed to like her because she has a deep appreciation for nature, understands her place in society, is happy to be useful to her betters, is pained to the point of tears when anyone other than Edmund pays any attention to her, is gratingly proper, and can't walk more than 10 steps without having to sit down?
Yes, more of that kind of heroine, please!

And as much as I disliked Fanny, I loathed Edmund even more.
He is one of those people who will adhere to the rules of soc ...more

I'm supposed to like her because she has a deep appreciation for nature, understands her place in society, is happy to be useful to her betters, is pained to the point of tears when anyone other than Edmund pays any attention to her, is gratingly proper, and can't walk more than 10 steps without having to sit down?
Yes, more of that kind of heroine, please!

And as much as I disliked Fanny, I loathed Edmund even more.
He is one of those people who will adhere to the rules of soc ...more

3.5
Fanny is one of my favorite Jane Austen protagonists. She's often criticized for not being outspoken and fiesty like the other Austen leads, but Fanny has a quiet strength that I love. In the face of her manipulative and abusive family, she stays calm and strong and refuses to budge on what's in her heart. She fights for her own heart despite tremendous pressure and I love her so much for that.
However, the story was too long for the amount of content in it and the romance was almost an after ...more
Fanny is one of my favorite Jane Austen protagonists. She's often criticized for not being outspoken and fiesty like the other Austen leads, but Fanny has a quiet strength that I love. In the face of her manipulative and abusive family, she stays calm and strong and refuses to budge on what's in her heart. She fights for her own heart despite tremendous pressure and I love her so much for that.
However, the story was too long for the amount of content in it and the romance was almost an after ...more

Mar 30, 2018
Lisa
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
1001-books-to-read-before-you-die,
jane-austen
Jane Austen's take on Cinderella!
From the very first moment, the reader knows just as well as Fanny herself that she is meant to marry Edmund. But reader and heroine alike also know that by the social standards of Jane Austen, that is a Mission Impossible. Fanny is a true fairytale Cinderella, raised by one negligent and one malevolent aunt at Mansfield Park. She is reminded at all times that her cousins are superior to her in all respects, and that she has to serve them and be grateful for th ...more
From the very first moment, the reader knows just as well as Fanny herself that she is meant to marry Edmund. But reader and heroine alike also know that by the social standards of Jane Austen, that is a Mission Impossible. Fanny is a true fairytale Cinderella, raised by one negligent and one malevolent aunt at Mansfield Park. She is reminded at all times that her cousins are superior to her in all respects, and that she has to serve them and be grateful for th ...more

As the once all-reaching Victorian values had already began to lessen their hold over British everyday life Austen put together this tale of the landed old-school Bertrams, the idle young but enriched Crawfords and our uniquely situated and characterised heroine (she often wilts in hot weather or after light exercise!) Fanny Price, with supreme and at times savage pokes at Victorian society and the way they lived back then - although this was contemporary at the time of publication.

When I first ...more

When I first ...more

2021 review: With the Regency era in full flow and seeping into even the most staid and prudish communities, Austen inducts that transformation and its effect over everyday life with this tale of the landed old-school Bertrams, the idle young but enriched Crawfords and our uniquely situated and characterised heroine (she often wilts in hot weather or after light exercise!) Fanny Price, with supreme and at times savage pokes at Victorian society and the way they lived back then - although this wa
...more

Dec 13, 2016
April (Aprilius Maximus)
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics
You can't see me right now but i'm rolling my eyes so hard i can see the back of my head.
...more

Fanny Price's mother had two sisters as beautiful as she, one married an affluent gentleman Sir Thomas Bertram, and everyone said this would enable her siblings, to do the same. Nevertheless little England hasn't enough rich men, to accommodate deserving ladies. Another married a respectable quiet clergyman, with little money. Sir Thomas's friend, Reverend Norris good yet dull , gets him a church and a cottage in Mansfield Park, Northampton, on his vast estate. The kind Sir Thomas is very willin
...more

“The best things in life are free,
but you can give them to the birds and bees.
I want money.” – The Flying Lizzards

This is the last of Austen’s books that I’ve finally finished, a goal I’ve been working towards since I was sixteen. I saved this one for last because although it’s one of my favorite films, it seemed like it would be a clunky and slow-paced novel. I was definitely wrong. Maybe it’s the timing of it. This book will forever remind me of my grandmother’s passing. She passed away two w ...more
but you can give them to the birds and bees.
I want money.” – The Flying Lizzards

This is the last of Austen’s books that I’ve finally finished, a goal I’ve been working towards since I was sixteen. I saved this one for last because although it’s one of my favorite films, it seemed like it would be a clunky and slow-paced novel. I was definitely wrong. Maybe it’s the timing of it. This book will forever remind me of my grandmother’s passing. She passed away two w ...more

I'm so surprised this book isn't more beloved. It's now my second favorite Austen, for sure. I made an impassioned defense of Fanny Price in a Booktube video.
...more

Update
Further musings on MP turned frivolous after reading Anne's very funny and gify review.
After writing Pride and Prejudice and creating Elizabeth Bennet as her heroine, it has to be owned that Jane Austen did a kinda Monty Python with Mansfield Park and Fanny Price, no?

PLUS, she turned Elizabeth to the dark side and this is how Mary Crawford was born. ;)
And this leads me to a total irreverent and irrelevant moral summary of MP á la STAR WARS.
Mary C. wants Edmund (honest & upright & nice, but ...more
Further musings on MP turned frivolous after reading Anne's very funny and gify review.
After writing Pride and Prejudice and creating Elizabeth Bennet as her heroine, it has to be owned that Jane Austen did a kinda Monty Python with Mansfield Park and Fanny Price, no?

PLUS, she turned Elizabeth to the dark side and this is how Mary Crawford was born. ;)
And this leads me to a total irreverent and irrelevant moral summary of MP á la STAR WARS.
Mary C. wants Edmund (honest & upright & nice, but ...more

May 18, 2020
Piyangie
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
brittish-lit,
my-library
Mansfield Park is quite a different work from the rest of Jane Austen novels. I can safely say so since I've read all other novels prior to reading this. Jane Austen novels have a sort of set form, characters, and a passionate and exuberant writing style. Even in her mature work such as Persuasion, where the tone is much graver than the rest of her works, these elements are present to a varying degree. But in Mansfield Park , a certain attempt to deviate, experimenting a new writing style mo
...more

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

I have a feeling that Fanny Price is more like the real Jane Austen than, let's say, Elizabeth Bennett or Emma Woodhouse. I think Jane wanted to be like Elizabeth and Emma, but she knew she was really Fanny. The book had a different feel to it than the others, more serious characters, more real life issues. All in all, I liked it. I would rate it somewhere in the middle of the pack of her novels. But Fanny is one of my favorite Jane Austen heroines.
...more

Feb 10, 2008
Holly
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Holly by:
hollygoguen@gmail.com
Shelves:
favorites,
literature
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

This definitely wasn't Austen's best novel, and it has nothing on Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Instead of it being the plot or the characters, it was purely Austen's wit and uniquely wonderful writing alone, that carried me through Mansfield Park.
To be frank, I don't like Fanny Price. She was too accepting of her situations, she remained silent when she could have spoken up, and it was painfully clear to me that she thought it dreadful to exert herself too much in fear of beco ...more
To be frank, I don't like Fanny Price. She was too accepting of her situations, she remained silent when she could have spoken up, and it was painfully clear to me that she thought it dreadful to exert herself too much in fear of beco ...more

This edition of Mansfield Park comes with a great introduction and notes, containing interesting information about the publication of this novel and historical context.
I have been a huge Jane Austen fan ever since I first saw P&P and shortly thereafter read the novel, leading to me falling in love with the dignified wit and sass this author has had. It can't have been easy in her time, which makes me appreciate her dry humour and social criticism even more.
A fair warning to you all: I cannot rev ...more
I have been a huge Jane Austen fan ever since I first saw P&P and shortly thereafter read the novel, leading to me falling in love with the dignified wit and sass this author has had. It can't have been easy in her time, which makes me appreciate her dry humour and social criticism even more.
A fair warning to you all: I cannot rev ...more


Aug 12, 2017
Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics
I've just reread Tadiana's review of this wonderful book & I very much agree with her central point - Austen's novels are not romances & you are doomed to disappointment if you expect them to be. Pride & Prejudice has the most romantic elements, but also enough bracing realism to act like a bucket of water thrown over the face! The books are more very interesting character studies.
Fanny comes to Mansfield Park as a shy & not very robust ten year old. Although the Bertram family find her useful ...more
Fanny comes to Mansfield Park as a shy & not very robust ten year old. Although the Bertram family find her useful ...more

May 07, 2011
Jason Koivu
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
vagina-soliloquies
"I can not but think good horsemanship has a great deal to do with the mind." Jane Austen always did a great job of planting ridiculous declarations in the mouths of characters she wished to discredit. Character was her strong suit and there's some good'uns here in.
Within Mansfield Park there are characterizations so delicate and actions of importance utterly unassuming. Some seem meaningless in their modesty. Excellent work by a diligent author. Dangerous pitfalls for the casual reader.
The who ...more
Within Mansfield Park there are characterizations so delicate and actions of importance utterly unassuming. Some seem meaningless in their modesty. Excellent work by a diligent author. Dangerous pitfalls for the casual reader.
The who ...more

Jul 23, 2018
Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen)
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics
Quiet strength is STILL strength
(Aka, my girl Fanny gets a bad rep.)
Edmund was a boring ham sandwich of a person.
But he’s still kind of cute and even though the whole thing feels like a church special, you still root for them.
(Aka, my girl Fanny gets a bad rep.)
Edmund was a boring ham sandwich of a person.
But he’s still kind of cute and even though the whole thing feels like a church special, you still root for them.
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Play Book Tag: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, 4 stars | 1 | 7 | Apr 01, 2022 02:19PM | |
Play Book Tag: (WPF) Mansfield Park / Jane Austen - 4**** | 3 | 12 | Mar 31, 2022 06:13PM | |
Play Book Tag: Mansfield Park - Jane Austen - 3 Stars | 1 | 9 | Mar 30, 2022 07:12PM | |
Book Nerds: Mansfield Park | 2 | 18 | Mar 01, 2022 02:29PM | |
Play Book Tag: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - 3 stars | 1 | 11 | Nov 08, 2021 08:19AM | |
Jane Austen: The Miss Bertrams | 30 | 34 | Jun 13, 2021 02:15PM |
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Jane Austen 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 the lower fringes of the English landed gentr ...more
Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentr ...more
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