Persuasion
I'll admit that it took me several starts to actually get into Jane Austen's Persuasion.
It takes a bit to get in the right mindset to absorb the language in
the book, and I must have read the first page 4 or 5 times before
deciding it wasn't the right time and picking up something else. I
finally forced myself to read it by bringing it on a 7 hour flight, and
I'm really glad I did.
Anne Eliot may just be my favorite of all of Austen's protagonists. This is probably because she's more mature than the rest, but she takes all of their best qualities and adds a few of her own. She's kind and considerate without being a pushover. Well, she was a pushover in her early years and that caused all of her problems, so she's grown out of it. She's perceptive in a way Emma and Lizzie fail to be, picking up on what all of Captain Wentworth's varying moods and interactions mean. And she's patient. She's so incredibly patient and so completely deserving of her happiness when she finally gets it that I very nearly cheered. I definitely cried a little.
Beyond Anne, this book had some fun with class relations, with Anne ultimately rejecting the class system and considering people as individuals. But various characters prize money over social status while others feel that status is far more important than money. Their interactions (and Anne's reactions) are a lot of fun.
It may have taken me forever to actually get around to reading this book, but once I started I could hardly put it down. And not just because I was stuck on a plane. I was so eager for the happy ending that I knew was coming, that I wanted to rush right to it. But of course the journey there, and Anne and Wentworth's growing understanding of each other, was half the fun. This just may top Pride and Prejudice as my favorite Austen novel.
Anne Eliot may just be my favorite of all of Austen's protagonists. This is probably because she's more mature than the rest, but she takes all of their best qualities and adds a few of her own. She's kind and considerate without being a pushover. Well, she was a pushover in her early years and that caused all of her problems, so she's grown out of it. She's perceptive in a way Emma and Lizzie fail to be, picking up on what all of Captain Wentworth's varying moods and interactions mean. And she's patient. She's so incredibly patient and so completely deserving of her happiness when she finally gets it that I very nearly cheered. I definitely cried a little.
Beyond Anne, this book had some fun with class relations, with Anne ultimately rejecting the class system and considering people as individuals. But various characters prize money over social status while others feel that status is far more important than money. Their interactions (and Anne's reactions) are a lot of fun.
It may have taken me forever to actually get around to reading this book, but once I started I could hardly put it down. And not just because I was stuck on a plane. I was so eager for the happy ending that I knew was coming, that I wanted to rush right to it. But of course the journey there, and Anne and Wentworth's growing understanding of each other, was half the fun. This just may top Pride and Prejudice as my favorite Austen novel.
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