Emma in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Sep 27, 2008 Mary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: format-paper, favorites, re-reads, format-audio, read-harder-2015, 2020-shelf, bookclub-novelpairings, 2025-shelf

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2025 re-read - final selection for Novel Pairings Classics Club ... and still so good! I treated myself to the annotated version and enjoyed all the notes and illustrations. Highly recommend for a re-read, but expect it might be distracting to have all those notes for an initial read.

2020 re-read - because I have plans to see the movie adaptation that's coming out in March 2020. Again, I'm listening to Elizabeth Klett's recording for LibriVox and laughing out loud. That Emma is a piece of work! ...more

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Feb 01, 2010 Anne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction, borrowed

Emma is one of those books that many people assume I've already read. I was an English Literature major, after all, and for many people that means a large knowledge of all the works in the past 200 years. Truth is, I hadn't read it at all -- my direct experience of Jane Austen was limited to Pride and Prejudice and . I'm happy I got to Emma at last.

I found Emma herself to be a difficult character to relate to over the course of the novel. Generally, I want to sympathize with the main character, Emma is one of those books that many people assume I've already read. I was an English Literature major, after all, and for many people that means a large knowledge of all the works in the past 200 years. Truth is, I hadn't read it at all -- my direct experience of Jane Austen was limited to Pride and Prejudice and . I'm happy I got to Emma at last.

I found Emma herself to be a difficult character to relate to over the course of the novel. Generally, I want to sympathize with the main character, and many times I slapped myself on the forehead as Emma chased another harebrained scheme. Her naivete isn't charming, and it causes problems for other characters and embarrassment for Emma. She's very insistent on observing her place in society, and has a horribly conceited attitude toward those in a lesser situation. She's been spoiled rotten and indulged, and fails to understand the complexities of someone's character AND their "place" in society.

Yet, at the same time I was slapping myself on the forehead, I was doing so with affection. I found her difficulties to be amusing. Austen drew a caricature of romantic ideals and attention to status that was very funny to read. Emma also changes over the course of the novel, deepening her own understanding of her faults. She makes efforts to change, and the novel shows her becoming less and less a caricature and more a thoughtful, sensitive young woman, who, although still prone to flights of fancy, has learned to control herself better and think about possible ramifications of her actions.

Emma was a more challenging read than Pride and Prejudice: sentence structure, length, and complexity of the characters are all more difficult than P&P. (I love Pride and Prejudice, don't get me wrong, but it's not really a difficult book.) I found myself occasionally struggling through Austen's long sentences and sometimes needing to go through a sentence or paragraph again to work it all out! Hmmm... perhaps my reading isn't challenging enough. :)

I definitely recommend Emma. I enjoyed reading it, and procrastinated other work to keep reading. It's not the typical Austen romance. ...more

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Nov 19, 2009 Jess rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: family, fiction, love

Prose so sharp you could cut yourself, if you're not careful, and wit that reminds us that Tina Fey, et al didn't invent the wickedly smart remark. Often described as a novel about moral and social education, Emma is also about the possibilities for metamorphosis and for exercising free will within the confines of a fate dictated by society. ...more

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