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Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen

Start date: November 1, 2014

Finish date: November 30, 2014

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Nov 21, 2010 kwesi 章英狮 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, 2011, jane-austen

This is my second Austen book and I really enjoyed it. Yes, I enjoyed it but there are parts that bore me to death, like trying to force me down to bed. I enjoyed how Austen wrote every conversation the characters trying to deliver, they are graceful, with intent and very unique. I'm not used the way they speak and maybe if somebody heard me talking like Catherine maybe people will laugh at me or get annoyed easily. But one thing that really attract me most was Austen's Catherine, she's not girl ...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Sheila rated it liked it

Shelves: owned, boxalls-1001

I behaved badly to a friend.

And then there was this book, and like some beacon the image of Henry Tilney scolding Catherine Morland immediately came to my mind, adding another layer of self-awareness to the sometimes painful, sometimes liberating remembrance of the event.

In Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia, the young hero Jesse jokes about getting a gut transplant to deal with his fear. I have a preferred elective medical procedure myself that I discovered years ago from the movie Eternal Sunsh I behaved badly to a friend.

And then there was this book, and like some beacon the image of Henry Tilney scolding Catherine Morland immediately came to my mind, adding another layer of self-awareness to the sometimes painful, sometimes liberating remembrance of the event.

In Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia, the young hero Jesse jokes about getting a gut transplant to deal with his fear. I have a preferred elective medical procedure myself that I discovered years ago from the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But poor Catherine Morland doesn't have those choices, fictional or not. Her road to redemption is much simpler, much better for her person. And perhaps for me.

The story goes like this. Girl meets boy. Boy likes girl. One day, they talk about novels, Catherine being a fan of Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. And in here, through Henry Tilney's defense of the novels, Austen famously declares:

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.

Henry's sister, Eleanor Tilney, notices that Catherine is in love with her brother so she invites her to their home in Northanger Abbey. And there she would meet a harsh awakening of the effects of her fantasizing.

Not particularly gifted in anything, the seventeen year old Catherine is not as grounded on reality as Lizzie Bennet is. But she displays the beginnings of Lydia Bennet when she goes on a trip with her neighbors, the indifferent Allens, in whose company she becomes in danger of failing in the art of attracting the good society that she deserves.

To make things complicated, Catherine has none of Anne Elliot's maturity or Fanny Price's strong moral education so she struggles to deal with the ills of the society, the Thorpes. And it would take her several attempts to do as her conscience dictates and when she triumphs, it brings her closer and makes her appealing to the Tilneys.

In other Austen novels, this pattern of putting the heroine in the society of grotesque characters is what gives her works that tartness, that give-us-the-dirt quality that makes you think twice about the norms in that era. It was almost painful to see how Isabella Thorpe embarrassed herself and her friend, Catherine here in her attempts to attract men she thought she could fool. But Austen gives her the rightful ending, bringing to mind Mr. Wickham's laughable fate.

To my delight, Henry Tilney is not the prototype of Mr. Darcy. Unlike Darcy, he's gentle and firm and intelligent and very respectful of Catherine right from the start. That he's a younger son who would inherit little compared to his older brother might have something to do with his overall, unassuming appeal. Not even Mansfield Park's Edmund Bertram, also a clergyman and a younger son, can compete with Tilney. He's my perfect Austen hero, pending my reading of Emma.

First to be drafted, but last to be published, this novel is the perfect introduction to the more famous and polished works of Jane Austen. It has romance, satire, and insights into the psychology of women. ...more

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Feb 17, 2011 Roos rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, historical, i-own, lit

One of my favorite Austen novels. And if I may blaspheme... I like Henry Tilney better than Darcy. *ducks for cover*

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Aug 16, 2010 Ali rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, rory-gilmore-book-challenge, 2017, classics

read for Popsugar 2017 challenge: a book that's been on your TBR list for way too long ...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Elisabeth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, it-s-a-classic

Enjoyable though very different to my favourite Austen's - P&P and Persuasion. I thought Catherine represented her age very well - she was a very sweet, sometimes foolish 17 year old who was unversed in the games people like Isabel and John Thorpe play. Henry Tilney was a lovely hero especially in comparison to the aloof Mr. Darcy and Captain Wentworth. He's the prototoype of the Beta hero in romance novels. It was nice to have a couple that genuinely liked one another from the beginning and tha ...more

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