Emma in Our Shared Shelf

Apr 06, 2009 Colleen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: absolute-best-books-i-have-ever-rea, book-club, great-book-great-movie-or-tv-show, so-good-i-read-it-twice

I have read everything Jane Austen has written and I love all of it. How could her books, written over 200 years ago, be so relevant today? It just goes to show you that human emotions and problems are always the same--just tweaked a little in accordance with the times. I love Emma. Despite her snobbery, her meddling, and her know-it-all attitude, she means well and has a good heart. She's just a little slow to pick up on her own faults! As always, I love the humor in Austen's books. She could s ...more

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

Shelves: borrowed, fiction, classics

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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May 11, 2008 Anna rated it liked it

Jane Austen's heroines were always concentrated on getting married well, but those were times when woman's position in higher levels of society dependeded from money and status of her husband. Emma is witty and rich and tries to arrange marriage for her friends. Rather nice read, but I prefer Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice more. ...more

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