Emma in Around the Year in 52 Books

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

Like · see review

Mar 20, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it did not like it

Shelves: classic, romance, gutenberg, 1001-books, did-not-finish

I know this is blasphemy and all, but ... ready? .... I've never liked Jane Austen. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I read a few of her books back when I was in college - can't even remember which, the ones that have all the words starting with Ps, and I just didn't love them. But lately there's been such a Jane Austen CRAZE, and I'm so much older and more MATURE now, so I thought perhaps my tastes had changed. I knew I'd never read Emma, but I did enjoy the movie Clueless, so ... away to the ...more

Like · see review

Jul 10, 2007 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, library-audio

Emma took forever to get involved/ interested in. Even once I finally got into the swing of the novel and started to care what was going on, it was still a slow novel, with not nearly the sparkle and wit of Pride and Prejudice. I think it condensed to a movie well because so many of the dull or irrelevant details were carved out to make it movie length (the book's pretty long, for being about so little.). On the other hand, even Jane Austen's worst is a far cry better than most other novelist's ...more

Like · see review

Jul 14, 2007 Jeni rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book because I got emotionally involved. I felt bad for Harriet, I got angry at Emma for being so selfish and blind, I laughed at Mr. Woodhouse, and I loved Mr. Knightly. I think the plot isn't as good as Pride and Prejudice, but I'll still keep it in my library. ...more

Like · see review