Week 3 - Chapters 15-21 (2015 discussion)

[Anastasia Kinderman, The Only]

Week 3 discussion will take place here.

[Anastasia Kinderman, The Only]

Sometimes I feel like Catherine is very naive and other times I feel like she can see things other people can't. I suppose her discernment depends on the topic.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

Anastasia, I think you are right. Her powers of perception, though sometimes very keen, are not consistent.

[Carolien]

Ms Thorpe is finally showing her true colors. Catherine is quite naive about her fortune hunting friend's conduct.

[Anastasia Kinderman, The Only]

Carolien wrote: "Ms Thorpe is finally showing her true colors. Catherine is quite naive about her fortune hunting friend's conduct."

She assumes the best, unfortunately.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

When I read that this book was JA's spoof or satire of the gothic novel, not knowing what I gothic novel is (I looked this up but the meaning still did not help me to understand what a Gothic Novel is!), I was afraid that I would not recognize from reading JA's "send up" of this sub-genre of fiction. Now that Catherine has arrived at the abbey, I think that I am getting the parts that are supposed to poke fun at gothic novels.

[☯Emily , The First]

It definitely would be helpful to have read a gothic novel before this! Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho is probably the most read today. Jane Austen makes fun of Radcliffe's Udolpho in several places in NA.

[Helen_in_the_uk]

I am enjoying re-reading this novel tremendously. The shallowness of the Thorpe's is nicely illustrated by this quote from chapter 15: "John ... vowed he would not drive her, because she had such thick ankles."

[Anastasia Kinderman, The Only]

The part where John is trying to insinuate he likes her and it goes completely over her head makes me laugh, haha.